New Yermolovich dictionary

[Kim Braithwaite]

Dear seelangers: I've been trying in vain to find specific details about the latest Yermolovich R<>E dictionary (pub by Hippocrene) that Lynn Visson alerted us to recently. The descriptions my google searches come up with are skimpy and vague. Most don't even distinguish one edition from another, number of pages etc.



Ordinarily I avoid the mass trade "handy dandy" dictionaries, many of which are not worth the shelf space let alone 25 bucks, but maybe Yermolovich's new Practical Dictionary is different.

 

I'm prompted to think it might be good because I have been using Yermolovich's big New Comprehensive Russian-English Dictionary (one way, with 110,000 words and phrases) as my reference of first resort almost since it came out in 2004, easily superseding the Oxford that used to serve quite well.

 

Despite NCRED's many shortcomings I recommend it to anyone doing Russian translation. Although it's not "handy" sized, it's easy to take along when I'm working out of town. Like any dictionary it has a lot of gaps and, indeed, wrong steers and dead ends.

 

When NCRED does fail me, I almost always find the missing word or phrase I need (or nuance) in Stephen Marder's incomparable Supplementary Russian-English Dictionary, 2nd edition (ASRED2, Slavica, 2007). Obviously, no single dictionary has it all, hard copy or online.

 

Back to the new Practical Dictionary from Hippocrene.

 

How many pages in the latest version? 

 

How many entries in each side? I don't mean the combined entries of both sides; lumping them together is, to my mind, misleading - a blurb marketing ploy. Even the 2000 Oxford R<>E was guilty of it, while the blessed Katzner (and his back cover blurb writers) gave honest numbers for each part. It would surprise me if the new Practical Dictionary can do justice to 35,000 in just one side of even 700-plus pages. Katzner's, with its slightly larger format and nearly 1100 pages, has 40,000 R>E and 26,000 E>R.

 

I'll appreciate any input.

= = = = = =
"Good is better than Evil, because it's Nicer" - Mammy Yokum (Al Capp)
Mr Kim Braithwaite, Translator
Russian and Georgian

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