Swedish Dictionary: English/Swedish Swedish/English (Bilingual Dictionaries)

I was nearly put off buying this dictionary after reading the review by "campbell j w" but I bought it anyway and found many of the criticisms to be either unfair or unfounded.As with German dictionaries, the pronunciation is not usually given for each and every word, because the rules for pronunciation are very regular (unlike in English); indeed there is a section on pronouncing Swedish words at the beginning of the dictionary. The pronunciation IS given where it is needed, and not where it would be superfluous.It is also standard to refer to noun 'rules and codes' in Swedish (similar to, but not as clear cut as, Latin) as it is to refer to verb conjugations. The Swedish grammar books I have read refer to these rules too, and it would make the dictionary needlessly big if the endings were listed for every single noun.There are introductions and abbreviation lists in both Swedish and English so I expect this dictionary was made for both markets, rather than being a 'patched up' Swedish publication, and even if it is, that does not detract from its usefulness for English speakers. It is certainly the best Swedish dictionary I have seen, and perfectly good for a beginner such as I am. Grammar sections in dictionaries are normally only useful as an overview anyway, so a much better option would be to get something like  Swedish: An Essential Grammar (Essential Grammars)  along with the dictionary.The dictionary is a good size: comprehensive, but compact, and contains even colloquial terms like 'subba'. The definitions are succinct and accurate. It is beautifully bound and uses good quality paper.A good dictionary is absolutely essential for learning a language and I highly recommend this one to anybody interested in Swedish.

Swedish has two key features of importance to people who want to learn it.First, the pronunciation has three characteristics that are essential: vowels can be "long" (open) or "short" (closed); they can be stressed or unstressed; and the language is tonal, unlike English. This dictionary provides a pronunciation guide. If the pronunciation is straight-forward, no guide is given. If something about it is not obvious, a partial phonetic transliteration is provided, and if the pronunciation is really unexpected, the whole word is transliterated.I've provided a "customer image" so that you can see what I mean.Second, nouns come in two flavours, so-called "neuter" (ett words use ett as the indefinite article) and "common" (en words). Within these two flavours are embedded several distinct strains that follow their own rules when creating plurals (that is, they inflect differently for both number and definiteness). As in other languages, this is important not only for the noun, but also for any adjective modifying the noun. This dictionary provides an indication of the inflection by showing which of the strains each noun belongs to.The dictionary also provides useful glimpses of phrases using some of the words.This is definitely the best dictionary I've found (I've reviewed  Lilla Engelska Ordbok: Engelsk-Svensk/Svensk-Engelsk  and  English-Swedish and Swedish-English Dictionary ) for Swedes wanting to learn English, and for people wanting to learn Swedish.

As far as the meanings of words go this dictionary is good. It also provides numerous useful examples of how words are used in context, which is one its greatest strengths. I have occasionally looked up a word and failed to find it, either because it was too technical or too colloquial, but this has not happened often.It has one main disadvantage. Information regarding the definite singular and plural forms of Swedish nouns is not included with the entry, so the user wishing to know either or both of these things must then look up the dictionary codes in the front of the book for the inflection of nouns. This means that the user has to look up each noun at least twice, once under its entry and again in the codes. With compound nouns you may have to conduct a third search. Say you check `statsvetenskap' (political science) you will find it listed as a compound of `stats'. So you will find both the word and its meaning, which is good. But if you want to find its dictionary code then you will also have to look up `vetenskap' (science) then revert to the codes.Although Swedish is normally described as having five declensions, this dictionary lists nine class of noun (s1 to s9) plus a further 26 unnumbered sub-classes. It is often clear from the codes what the definite singular and plural form of a given noun is, but since the classes are defined in the codes by example, if there are several of different types within a code classification then user must decide which of the examples given comes closest in structure to the word he/she is looking up. Usually it is obvious but sometimes it is less so, leaving room for doubt. (There are also codes for verbs and adjectives.)In short, the classification system of this dictionary is time-consuming for the user. If the information were provided as part of the entry for each noun - for example, using the usual abbreviations such as (er/O) - then the dictionary would be easier to use and more definitive. If such a dictionary exists it would be worth considering. However, if your main interest lies in the meanings of words and associated phrases this dictionary is excellent and will suit you well.(The only other Swedish dictionary I have used is the pocket Berlitz, which is good for its size and very useful when traveling. It tells you whether a given noun is common or neuter as part of each entry and also provides a phonetic guide with each entry.)

Good dictionary! It would have been perfect if they had made more clear if the word is an "en" word or an "ett" word. You have to check online for most of the words, that is pretty annoying. I buy a dictionary because I want to study without a computer. Otherwise, the size and the selection of words are quite good.