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Oxford Russian Minidictionary (Dictionary)
by (Editor: Della Thompson)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: OUP Oxford (2006-05-25)
ISBN: 0198614578
EAN: 9780198614579
Dewy Decimal #: 491.7321
Turtleback: 768 pages
Edition: 2
SKU: B404-1383
Condition: New
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Customer Reviews
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Thorough mess
Rating  (1)
Date: 2006-08-24
Let me start by getting physical: this new edition of `The Oxford Russian Minidictionary' (henceforth ORM 2) is admirably petite and lightweight, if massively overthick at 40mm -- a consequence of using poor-quality paper, which has the additional disadvantage of discolouring rapidly. Although small, the type is generally clear and easy to read. The unsewn flexicover binding is adequate for its intended market.
No sooner has the first page of ORM 2 been opened than the first proof-reading errors jump out at you. To take only the worst of them: on the endpapers the abbreviation for `genitive' is given as `g', although the unlisted form `gen' is what is actually used in the text.
Moving to the editorial side of things, prospective purchasers are advised that its A-Z content remains -- like that of its predecessor (first published in 1995) -- little more than a cobbling together and cut-down of an unmatched pair of, at best, lacklustre Oxford pocket Russian dictionaries compiled more than a quarter of a century ago. Whilst just enough new material has been added to create the illusion of freshness and modernity, fundamental shortcomings of both the parent works and the previous edition have not been addressed.
For a start, the Anglocentric nature of the interface -- notwithstanding the claim in the Preface that the work "is designed for students of both Russian and English" -- places the Russian user at a disadvantage. In contrast to the competing, and superior, `Collins Gem Russian Dictionary' (CGRD), there is no Russian version of either the Contents, the Preface or the Introduction. There are also no Russian abbreviations.
Unlike its predecessor, ORM 2 supplies phonetic transcriptions for English headwords, but the symbol `x' -- needed to render the sound of `gh' in `ugh' -- is missing from the list of phonetic symbols supplied. The user is further handicapped by the lack of equivalent assistance for Russian and the Editor's Britocentric disregard for the norms of US pronunciation (e.g. `z' being pronounced `zee', rather than `zed').
The Britocentrism of the work's A-Z content is also evident in its non-inclusion of Americanisms as either headwords or translations. Common words like `drugstore', `pocketbook' and `sidewalk' have therefore been excluded.
Further evidence of poor editing is the ease with which one can find words in one half which are translated by a word that is missing, or differently translated, in the other: in the English-Russian section `mistletoe', `rockery' and `elf' are listed, but none of the translations provided are to be found in the Russian-English section; the translation given for `parlour' is a headword in the Russian-English section, but `parlour' is not among the English translations provided for it. Similarly, the English translations for the common Russian words `shashlyk' and `grechikha' (`kebab' and `buckwheat' respectively) are missing from the English-Russian section. The text is littered with such examples. What should have been an exercise in scientific lexicography has thus been turned by editorial incompetence into a game of Chinese whispers.
Although ORM 2 claims in its Preface to have been "updated to include the latest familiar terms in areas such as computing and business", basic terms such as AGM, ATM, RAM and ROM are lacking. These omissions and the fact that crass errors have been carried over from the previous edition (for example, the words `cautious', `manly' and `vendetta' are still out of alphabetical order) reflect the unscientific way in which ORM 2's entries have been selected and treated. This is particularly true of the Russian-English section, where space is found for exotic terms such as `fermata' (pause, in music), `inok' (Orthodox monk), `prosvira' (communion bread), `pyrey' (couch grass) and that favourite of all entry-level dictionary users, `pachydermatous' (as a translation of the Russian headword `tolstokozhiy'), but not for words as basic as `yogurt' (yoghurt!) and `putch' (coup). Similarly, ORM 2's English-Russian section excludes `could' and `shall', but includes the likes of `madrigal', `swingeing' and `winy'.
Another major shortcoming is the total lack of sense differentiation of Russian headwords. Take, for example, the everyday and hugely important Russian verb `idti', the principal meaning of which is `to go (on foot)'. No fewer than ten possible translations, crammed into just four lines of text, are flung at the user without a scrap of guidance. In the CGRD the same entry runs to thirteen lines, with each and every sense differentiated. Mercifully, the English-Russian section of ORM 2 does incorporate sense indicators, although not always consistently.
The provision of grammatical information in the body of the work is inadequate. In the Russian-English section it is patchy and poorly presented. On the English-Russian side, no help whatever is given to the Russian user, except for the decidely sketchy list of irregular verbs at the end of the dictionary. There is, for example, no guidance as to the irregular plural of such words as `half', `child' and `mouse' and common inflected forms such as `him', `me', `them' and `us' are not listed.
Finally, a wholly new feature of ORM 2 is the presence of a so-called `Phrasefinder' section running to 18 pages. Unfortunately, this mini-phrasebook -- which has clearly been compiled by someone completely ignorant of the content of the dictionary proper -- has simply been grafted on to the work, with no thought for its editorial implications. This is, for example, the only place in the dictionary where you will find Americanisms -- such as `subway station', `call collect', `check' (in the sense of `bill'), `bills' (in the sense of `notes') and `zucchini' -- and American spellings of words like `colour' and `centre'. Some of the Americanisms are labelled as such, although the abbreviation used for the purpose (Amer.) is absent from the list of abbreviations on the work`s endpapers. To add to the editorial chaos, a number of words and phrases in this section, both general English and Russian, either do not occur in the dictionary proper or are differently translated.
Whichever way you look at it, ORM 2 is a thorough mess. My advice to would-be purchasers is to look elsewhere.
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Sorry, but not impressed
Rating (1)
Date: 2006-04-29
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This has got to be the most frustrating dictionary I have ever had to use. If you have to look up a Russian word, in particular if it contains a prefix or is a verb, it is a very hard job indeed. Although a great size, the dictionary is not set out well enough for practical use as it takes ages to look up anything. The whole appearance of the dictionary is completely inappropriate for a beginner, or in fact, any user.
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