Recomendation for German / English dictionary Thread poster: tanaudel
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tanaudel 
Local time: 10:17
German to English
The Collin Pons Ger/En dictionary I have had since university has fallen apart. I was going to rebind it, but it may be a little out of date now.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good up-to-date general German/English dictionary?
I've also considered buying an electronic dictionary, so any thoughts on this would be helpful.
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John Jory
Germany
Local time: 02:17
English to German
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| Not much difference | Jan 20, 2005 |
I'd say that there is no great difference between e.g. Collins - Pons - Langenscheidt.
IMO the date of issue (not just reprint) is decisive.
Dictionaries are not completely revised very frequently, so you should really watch out for the newest issue, irrespective of publisher.
I do not know if this also applies for electronic dicos (I'm old-fashioned and prefer paper). It is quite possible that they are revised more frequently, and possibly offer an update service.
... See more I'd say that there is no great difference between e.g. Collins - Pons - Langenscheidt.
IMO the date of issue (not just reprint) is decisive.
Dictionaries are not completely revised very frequently, so you should really watch out for the newest issue, irrespective of publisher.
I do not know if this also applies for electronic dicos (I'm old-fashioned and prefer paper). It is quite possible that they are revised more frequently, and possibly offer an update service.
HTH ▲ Collapse
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| I agree with John | Jan 24, 2005 |
I fully agree with John's comment - as basic dictionaries I use Pons Collins Großwörterbuch (Dt.-Engl./Engl.-Dt.) and Langenscheidts Handwörterbuch. Pons Collins tends to be lazy - if they can get away with leaving the English word as a "Fremdwort" (to focus = fokussieren) they happily do so and they don't offer always as many translation options as Langenscheidt does. On the other hand: I find that Langenscheidt with all its options makes more mistakes - occasionally there are hair-raising s... See more I fully agree with John's comment - as basic dictionaries I use Pons Collins Großwörterbuch (Dt.-Engl./Engl.-Dt.) and Langenscheidts Handwörterbuch. Pons Collins tends to be lazy - if they can get away with leaving the English word as a "Fremdwort" (to focus = fokussieren) they happily do so and they don't offer always as many translation options as Langenscheidt does. On the other hand: I find that Langenscheidt with all its options makes more mistakes - occasionally there are hair-raising suggestions. I also agree that dictionaries should not be too old - generally I buy a new one every other year and I usually take a list of new words with me to the bookshop to see which dictionary covers most of them. I have never liked Cassels - but that might just be my personal taste. ▲ Collapse
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tanaudel
Local time: 10:17
German to English
TOPIC STARTER | Thankyou all. | Jan 26, 2005 |
Thanks for those recommendations - I'll take my next paycheque straight to the bookstore.
Kathleen.
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TTilch
Local time: 02:17
English to German
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| PONS/Collins or Duden/Oxford | Jan 27, 2005 |
Hi there,
I rather prefer PONS/Collins or Duden/Oxford to Langenscheidt. Langenscheidt is sometimes a bit out of date. The other two are equally good I think, though Duden/Oxford also offers a nice electronic version (I dont know about PONS/Collins).
Best regards,
Tanja
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| Get as many dictionaries as you can | Jan 29, 2005 |
tanaudel wrote:
The Collin Pons Ger/En dictionary I have had since university has fallen apart. I was going to rebind it, but it may be a little out of date now.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good up-to-date general German/English dictionary?
I've also considered buying an electronic dictionary, so any thoughts on this would be helpful.
Check out ebay.de for new and used dictionaries and CD-ROMs. The Muret-Sanders Encyclopedic is the best, but unaffordable at nearly €500. Also recommend getting a good English-English dictionary, best price-quality deal here is Merriam-Webster III New International dictionary on CD-ROM
I can highly recommend the Muret-Sanders e-Wörterbuch, it costs €200 but is the best electronic English-German dictionary available. It runs on the PC-Bibliothek program, which allows you to add specialized bilingual dictionaries from Langenscheidt (see their website) without having to start separate programs for each individual dictionary.
Second choice and much cheaper is the excellent Duden-Oxford Großwörterbuch Englisch. It goes for €50 new, but can be had on ebay for as little as €10 with a bit of luck.
[Edited at 2005-01-29 10:21]
Duden-Oxford is even available for online downloading, see:
http://www.downloadshop.bifab.de/product_info.php?products_id=83&osCsid=3039b9c4d99b3f098b8f8204598ce029
[Edited at 2005-02-01 12:30]
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| Any new info about German / English dictionary? | Aug 1, 2006 |
Hello,
This thread is over a year old, so I thought I would see if anyone has anything to add.
I am thinking of making the switch to electronic dictionaries and would like to start out with a decent German / English general dictionary, but also have the capability to add more dictionaries later.
Is the Muret-Sanders still the best option for this?
Thanks in advance.
Sonya
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| Langenscheidt now collaborating with Collins | Sep 12, 2006 |
My present Ger-Eng dictionary (Collins) is the one I used for A-levels and is now over 20 years old, so I'm also on the lookout for a good dictionary and as I was looking around Wittwer here in Stuttgart, I realised that whereas I always thought that Pons was effectively the same as Collins, Langenscheidt now seem to be collaborating with Collins and proudly boast on their back cover that they've made use of Collins' vast database to help produce their latest version of the 'Großwörterbuch'. <... See more My present Ger-Eng dictionary (Collins) is the one I used for A-levels and is now over 20 years old, so I'm also on the lookout for a good dictionary and as I was looking around Wittwer here in Stuttgart, I realised that whereas I always thought that Pons was effectively the same as Collins, Langenscheidt now seem to be collaborating with Collins and proudly boast on their back cover that they've made use of Collins' vast database to help produce their latest version of the 'Großwörterbuch'.
On the face of it, the Pons has slightly more entries and translations, but I find the Langenscheidt is more attactively laid out, easier to manage (with Daumenregister) and still has some entries and translations which do not appear in the Pons. I think the Langenscheidt is about 5 euro more expensive, but that's pretty negligable. At the end of the day, I guess it's a case of personal preference and I think I'll go for the Langenscheidt... ▲ Collapse
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gwm
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:17
Member (2005)
I bought Babylon on-line - fantastic! http://www.babylon.com/
After you have paid them (depends on what combo you go for - I think I paid £35) you can download their own stuff and loads of free dictionaries and glossaries, some government issue, many personal (use these with caution). It comes with Wikipedia in German and English as well.
I also bought online licenses for Pons and Lang... See more I bought Babylon on-line - fantastic! http://www.babylon.com/
After you have paid them (depends on what combo you go for - I think I paid £35) you can download their own stuff and loads of free dictionaries and glossaries, some government issue, many personal (use these with caution). It comes with Wikipedia in German and English as well.
I also bought online licenses for Pons and Langenscheidt, which are integrated into the Babylon platform - simple and easy (again you have a choice if both languages or just one way). The Pons is easier to read, but sometimes the Langenscheidt has the better selection of words.
You can buy lots more licenses for dictionaries and glossaries and they are all installed within the Babylon platform. It is simple and easy to use: you designate one part of your mouse (left/right or middle) to Babylon and at one click the window opens up and you can enter the word you are looking for. Or you go to the word with your cursor and then click on it and it immediately opens up with a list of dictionaries - unless you want something strange/uncommon that is.
It is mildly annoying that they populate your list with other dictionaries now and then (ones you haven't chosen yourself) and hope that you buy it. I usually just delete them.
You can also upload your own glossary into their system for everybody to share.
They do a free trial - and it was the free trial which got me hooked...
Gisela
[Edited at 2006-09-12 14:08]
[Edited at 2006-09-12 14:45] ▲ Collapse
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