Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic

List Price: $45.00 Discount Price: $24.99

Customer Reviews:

Good but... [Posted on 2008-03-01]
Everything everyone has said about this dictionary is basically true, but let me give a slightly different take on it. I was a DLI student too, and I can confirm that this dictionary which is issued on arrival to Arabic students does enjoy an almost religious following. However, most teachers there who are native speakers but not trained linguists or teachers, will tell you that they really didn't learn the root system as students in their native countries and many of them have a hard time using this dictionary themselves. One such teacher helped us order copies of the Mawrid alphabetically-arranged dictionary which we ended up using more. I think the Mawrid is a better choice for starters. To me, the Hans-Wehr dictionary is more of a tool for linguists or serious students. As a teacher, I actually think students should stay away from dictionaries the first year or two because they end up being a distraction or a crutch. If you decide to buy this as your first and only dictionary, just be very aware of how it's organized, and be ready to learn how to identify roots.

The problem of dictionary remains open also with this dict. [Posted on 2008-06-14]
This well known dictionary received much praising from many reviewers. And there is no doubt that it is a very valuable scholarly study indeed. But it is highly demanding from the user and one must be very carefull not to fool himself that the ever-lasting problem of looking up to an Arabic word shall be solved fore once and all by this one. Far from it! It is even very hard to say that Hans-Weher dict is better and easier than other root-based ones in this respect. I believe that there are so many Arabic words that even a highly educated native speaker of Arabic would no be able to pin-point in this dictionary. I am rather inclined to say that ,with this dictionary, the infamous vicious-circle of root recognition is so much pronounced for so many entities, unless you are a master of the language and know already that difficult word very well. But ,then, why to look for it at all, if you are not an Arabic scholar with some special purpose?. I forward my strong warnings to those who are at some middle level of their Arabic adventure: Don't belive to the story that Arabic is a highly rule based language, so that it is trivial to recognize roots, plurals etc easily. Yes rules are there in Arabic and so many of them. But with as much exceptions as you would (not) like! Involved in Arabic since fairly a long time and able to recognize so many words from my own native language (Turkish) which have borrowed so heavily from this comprehensive one, I ,more often than not, am bwildered in deciding which one has the upper hand; exceptions or rules! Once more don't deceive yourself into believing that the regular three consonant-root pattern is ,by far, the dominant one as told by the grammar books. Even it might be so on sheer statistical basis, those with weak consonants and the more and more troublesome "hemzet" as well as the brooken plurals are by far the most frequent ones in actual usage.

Surely for any one seriously concerned with Arabic an alphabetically ordered dictionary such as Al Mawrid (if you know a better one please let me know) is inevitable. As for a root based one as Hans-Weher, I would rather recommend to those who know French, Larousse's bilingual dictionary, at least as a supplement.

The standard for Arabic students [Posted on 2008-06-17]
The Hans-Wehr is the standard for Arabic-English dictionaries. The comprehensive manner in which it explains the word forms provides you with a fantastic picture of meaning.

Although it is laid-out in word root order, once you get a handle on how to approach it, it's English-style layout makes searching for words simple and relatively quick. The layout (root order) also provides you with an insight into where common meanings are derived from a single idea (i.e. the word for United comes from the root which also gives you the word for the number 1). If this doesn't suit you, maybe you should also have a dictionary such as Al-Mawrid.

A word of advice to anyone looking at the Hans-Wehr: Read the introduction. If you don't, you probably won't know what's going on at all and I suspect this is the problem that some have had (and subsequently rated the dictionary poorly). From this book, you will get context, grammatical info and even a degree of pronunciation guide.

Good luck!

The fundamental Arabic learning tool [Posted on 2008-07-12]
I can't say anything more than what has already been said by the majority of the other reviewers. Great resource for students of Arabic once past the basics.

An outdated, frustrating reference book. [Posted on 2008-09-12]
I was very excited about getting my Wehr dictionary having read so many good reviews about it, and was very disappointed when I began to use it. First of all I got the small 3rd edition, which uses size 5.5 print, which is small enough to give one a headache when reading. Also, the print process is obviously insufficient, as many pages are not printed evenly, which, when combined with the already tiny type, makes them almost impossible to read. Also, some of the pages in the "ya" section were blank; not just extra pages added in, but missing words.
As for the content, it is indeed comprehensive, but not very useful. Many modern terms are not included, and a large amount of the lexicon is extremely outdated and obscure. Very often I've found terms in my Awde & Smith Arabic Practical Dictionary which the Wehr won't have, which is surprising given the difference in number of words between the two. The simple fact is that this is an outdated book. I might recommend it for someone studying scholarly or Koranic Arabic, but for the modern student, I found it more frustrating than useful, and more trouble than it was worth.

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