foreign languages

Overall, I found this to be the best Russian-English dictionary that I have used to date. However, I think its worth a note that it does not fare well with regular use. I used mine as a reference for my russian courses for less than one year and the binding split in two. Now all of the pages are falling out, which I find a bit frustrating. In my opinion, reference books should be durable, as they are meant to be used regularly, and this dictionary just didn't hold up. Given the price, I was fairly disappointed with the quality.

One of the residual after-effects of the Cold War is that most Russian/English - English/Russian dictionaries were written using British English. While in many ways I appreciate British English, such dictionaries come up lacking for Russian-speakers that want to learn American English or for American-English-speakers that want to learn Russian. For instance, most Russian-published dictionaries use British English, which can be a trifle annoying for all those Americans who don't know what a pram is!

Kenneth Katzner's wonderful dictionary was the first (or at least one of the first) dictionaries specifically written using American English. As a former Russian teacher in the United States, I found this book a "God-send" for some of the things that my students in the United States wanted me to teach them. While I'm a fluent Russian speaker, I simply don't use some types of vocabulary anymore since I live in the United States and sometimes I have great difficulty recalling certain sorts of words and acronyms in English let alone Russian. This dictionary was wonderful not only for me as a Russian and English literate teacher, but also for my students who often times couldn't find words exclusive to American English in their dictionaries.

Some versions of the dictionary have handy grammar and culture references as well (There have been several editions published over the years and Katzner wonderfully updates this book every few years). I say different editions because I have owned several copies of this book over the years (I bought a few and others were publisher's samples) and usually keep just one, giving any extras away to my students (usually as a prize in class). One of my favorite features of one of the editions was a reference glossary with commonly used abbreviations (such as Dr., Str., etc.). Other additions also have Russian/English glossaries of place names (countries, geographical features, states, etc.). Try to buy the most recent edition of this book if possible since it will have the most updates and helpful features.

I highly recommend this book for either American -English speaker trying to learn Russian or Russian-speakers trying to learn American English. It's the very first dictionary that any American-English-speaker studying Russian should buy.

This is the dictionary the US military issued to its Russian language-studying soldiers at DLI in Monterey. It has excellent coverage of most basic and general vocabularies, and goes into depth on many other subjects (including military jargon). It is far easier to use than the Oxford Dictionary, as it lists each verb (glogol) with the prefix and/or suffix as an individual entry. Words are extremely easy to find here--unlike in many dictionaries of this type. Of course, there are some very specific Russian-English dictionaries out there that specialize in specific categories of the language. (Such as dictionaries of slang, or of obscenities) If you're a a generalist OR specialist who doesn't have a copy of this book, it is recommended. My copy is dog-eared and I did have to tape the cover (the paperback), due to frequent use.
Many of my Russian friends have used it to find the "right" word in English, and it has proven to be an exceptional resource in both directions. A must have for any student of Russian.