Oxford Arabic Dictionary Hardcover – 28 Aug. 2014

I had been looking for a good Araic/English - English/Arabic dictionary. I had even tried bilingual dictionaries in other languages which I speak fluently ( Italian & French) but I couldn't find anything worthwhile in that the others simply gave approximately equivalent words with NO EXAMPLES.The Oxford Arabic Dictionary is truly Amazing and unquestionably thorough: Firstly it's huge and literately packed with examples of how verbs and words are actually used. For example, the verb "come" in English is rendered by several different verbs in Arabic جاء اتى حضر . so only example sentences can reveal what they mean and how and when each one might be used. In addition, all the Arabic words have been vocalised so it makes learning their pronunciation much easier. For Arabic speakers learning English, it is really excellent, too, or so it would seem, as there are several example sentences per word and entries come with a phonetic transcription, too. Its really great to know that such academic scholarship is still on the market and available to the public at a very comparably reasonable price. If you're thinking of buying a good dictionary, this is without question The Best one on the market.

I was very pleased with this dictionary because before I never had a really good English - Arabic vocabulary and this has certainly filled that gap. In the Arabic section I had been using the fanous Hans Wehr dictionary. Since both in the Hans Wehr and in the Oxford dictionaries the words are listed in the order of their roots, the Oxford one does not make it any easier to find words and also one has to get used to a different type of presentation, which for me is not quite so clear. The big advantage is that this dictionary is updated with the latest words. I considered it an excellent price especially if you get it delivered free. But attention this is not a book to carry about on trips abroad: it weighs about 2.8kg.

Oxford's new(ish) Arabic-English/English-Arabic is the first modern Arabic dictionary to take account of the needs of learners of Arabic since the last edition of Wehr's Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (1979). It's based on the same corpus that Bulaaq used for their excellent Arabic-Dutch/Dutch-Arabic dictionary. This makes it the first English corpus-based dictionary.I love the dictionary in many ways. It is modern, has many examples, has a clear layout. The dictionary is comprehensive. And yet I still use Wehr more than my paper Oxford. In part this is because I am not reading the most up-to-date literature, and the more concise layout of Wehr seems more convenient. Partly it is because the Oxford dictionary is too large – I would have much prefered Oxford to have published it in two volumes, as it is simply too heavy to carry, and most of the time I just need the Arabic-English. Indeed, I have seriously considered getting a bookbinder to split it into two volumes. But partly it is because it seems to me that a pure corpus-based approach leaves lacunae, on two grounds. Arabic has a large classical component that can find its way into today's language; similarly, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) has regional flavours, especially in technical and administrative Arabic. I am not convinced that the corpus this dictionary is based on sufficiently reflects this language, and frequently find I need to resort to Wehr.In short, the dictionary is essential, womderful, but also insufficient.

At last, a modern Arabic dictionary brought out by Oxford.This completely replaces the out-of-date N.S. Doniach 1972 edition.Before this new one came out, learners have had to rely on either Al Mawrid or Hans Wehr.Al Mawrid is aimed more at Arab readers and as a result, simple grammatical information is not shown with the base noun or verb.Hans Wehr has the root-order which is more useful for learners of Arabic but has not been updated in 25 years.The Oxford has everything a new learner could want, as well as being crammed with many extra features. The Arabic-English section is also organized by root-order and listed alphabetically, and the dictionary itself has been designed with both Arabic and English native speakers in mind.

This is a brilliant dictionary. It may not be quite as comprehensive as Wehr, but it has an enormous number of modern terms which are missing from Wehr. It is organised by root making look-ups a breeze and all the words are fully and accurately vowelled. Love it.I forgot to mention, I actually purchased the dictionary for the English-Arabic section - which is also excellent (and probably unsurpassed in the field). But I find myself using the Arabic-English section more.

This does everything you would expect a quality dictionary to do, but it constantly irritates me that the Arabic-to-English part does not run in the usual right-to-left way that most Arabic dictionaries do. I use two dictionaries, this one and the smaller Oxford Essential Arabic Dictionary. Oddly, the smaller one does run right-to-left, so switching between the two is confusing (learning Arabic is difficult enough without further, unnecessary challenges).Oxford - please make up your mind how you structure your dictionaries, and then stick to it, please.Had I known this I would not have bought it.

I've been studying and teaching Arabic for a decade. Along with Hans Wehr, this is by far the best dictionary for English speakers. Each entry in English contains examples sentences to capture various contexts. Only on the rarest occasion have I not found a word I'm looking for. The only drawback is it's expensive. But depending on how committed a student you are, that may not bother you as the quality is excellent - both content and binding/paper etc.