Oxford Russian Dictionary

For a great university publisher this is (as people have already said, much more knowledgeably than I can) really disappointing. It was originally the work of one author, around 1970, which was pretty impressive then - but its coverage was insufficient, even for literary language, and OUP have failed to expand or update it enough. It misses aspects of the meaning of basic words, and doesn't capture the breadth of usage in contemporary Russian: if you're working with the language, or even reading classic literature, it's so often better to look up a term on the Internet, e.g. on a site like **academic.ru**. This is not a comment you could make of OUP's other flagship bilingual dictionaries. All in all, it's a shame - let's hope they invest in producing a serious new edition some time.

I really enjoy using this dictionary. Clear and not too small print, with each entry beginning in bold print making it easy to access. The pages have a good feel and can be turned quickly. The abbreviations are easy to interpret/remember. The word stems which remain constant are neatly divided (by a thin vertical line) from the grammatically variable endings, and a few common examples of these are provided. The usage examples of any slightly ambiguous words are helpful in conveying more accurate meaning. I have not yet seen a better Russian/English dictionary either in UK or Russia.

I read some of the reviews above and decided to buy the dictionary anyway. My last one dated, with the emphasis on "dated", from the late 'nineties and so much has happened in 10 years.Let's be clear, for me any Russian dictionary is measured against the two volume Oxford English-Russian / Russian-English Dictionaries 1984 (1987 reprint) that were the compulsory purchase for my University degree course. £45 a piece for a student in 1987! They are both extremely well-thumbed and still frequently used with an irrational affection that is hard to shake. I do not know how they compare to older editions, but any new edition has the bar set extremely high.There are both pluses and minuses to the presentation of the current edition. The overall feeling is vastly more modern and "user-friendly" than it's older counterpart with the now ubiquitous explanatory boxes on points of interest, model correspondence and the like. The font is somewhat lightweight, but this probably just reflects my personal feelings of lofty academic superiority in choosing Russian rather than French (of which English is merely a dialect according to one of my erstwhile professors).I have to agree with other reviewers that the omissions present a real problem. I had looked for some while for a comprehensive, advanced Russian dictionary before deciding that the Oxford was my only real hope. However, within a few minutes of starting my first game of solitary dictionary word association I'd come up with several glaring omissions. It seems pointless to name any particular examples, but these are words and phrases which are common and not the fare of technical dictionaries. When translating, this could present real difficulties. And this is where my other experience comes into play. More and more when translating I find myself turning to tools like the multi-language paged Wikipedia or Google for Russian vocabulary (almost exclusively nouns, admittedly). Okay, I know I said I wouldn't give examples, but take "strimmer" - not there. Within a few clicks on Wikipedia you find the strimmer page in English, choose the Russian page in the list on the left-hand side and hey presto with the added beneift that there are pictures so you can be sure you've found what you're looking for.I also agree with other reviewers that critics should suggest a better alternative rather than just criticising this dictionary. I am increasingly afraid that, if they haven't, it's because it doesn't exist.

Fantastic for students of Russian. You'll find going through a dictionary and finding an unknown word forces you to remember it later down the road. Ideal.

I have my copy which is doing me a lot of good, but where this exceeds, is that I sent a copy to my girlfriend in Ukraine and she loves it, not only to learn English but to learn the difficult words that she couldn't quite pronounce properly.For that this edition is 10 out of 10 and we are both very happy with it .It is a must for all those who want to learn RussianIt is a must for all Russian speakers to help them learn English. Many thanks Marcus ....

At intermediate level Russian class and found that my smaller dictionary did not contain all the word definitions that I was searching for. This dictionary is the consummate reference book, has not yet failed me on any word search, and is fairly essential for the serious Russian language student. Be aware, however, it is physically very large, and quite heavy.

Brilliant, a really large edition, not for walking around but if you are studying hard, and need something that is not in tiny print and well laid out, and designed, this is the dictionary for you.

Perfect for my Russian studies