Buying a German Dictionary Seattle WA

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When choosing a bilingual dictionary, your first task is selecting the right dictionary. First and foremost is the size and quality. Don’t scrimp here. Take your bathroom scales to a serious bookstore at the mall and weigh all the German/English bilingual dictionaries. Pick the two heaviest ones. (Okay, just kidding. You don’t need to bring your scales, but do consider the obvious: that you’ll be able to find more information in larger dictionaries.) Then compare three different entries. Start with a frequently used verb like machen. The following shortened dictionary entry for the verb machen shows you how a good dictionary organizes the information on the first two lines: machen 1 vt (a) to do; (herstellen, zubereiten) to make. was

Sie (beruflich)? what do you do for a living?; gut, wird gemacht right, I’ll get that done or will be done (coll). You may notice two abbreviations and a symbol in this entry:

The abbreviation vt stands for transitive verb; that’s a verb that can take a direct object. Other verbs have the abbreviation vi, which stands for an intransitive verb; that’s a verb without a direct object.

The second abbreviation coll stands for colloquial; expressions or words marked by this abbreviation are used in informal conversation.

_ The

symbol represents the headword (the first word) machen. The complete expression is Was machen Sie (beruflich)? Start your dictionary comparison task by following these steps:

1. Look at how comprehensive the entries are.
Check for commonly used phrases, such as was machst du denn da? (what in the world are you doing here?), mach schneller! (hurry up!), or mach’s gut (take care), and compare their translations for detail and content. You should be able to find complete sentences and phrases using machen. Comprehensive dictionaries should offer alternative words in German (at least for frequently used verbs such as machen), along with possible translations. For example, after machen, you may find herstellen (to produce, manufacture) or zubereiten (to prepare), as in the example entry.

2. Ask yourself which dictionary is more user-friendly.
In other words, does the dictionary provide plenty of helpful abbreviations to help you understand the entries? Do you see clearly marked sections under the headword machen? They should be marked by numbers and letters in bold; in the example entry, you find 1 and (a). Some quality dictionaries indent the numbered sections to make them even easier to locate. You can compare whether there’s a phonetic pronunciation for tricky words. Also, check that the dictionary makes ample use of symbols like coll to indicate usage of the word. Apart from the abbreviations that show part of speech, gender, number, case, and so on, you find many more details in any large, quality dictionary. A (very) short list of such abbreviated terms should include fig (figurative), lit (literal), esp (especially), sl (slang), Tech (technology), Psych (psychology), Prov (proverb), Jur (law), spec (specialist term), Aus (Austrian usage), Sw (Swiss usage), and many more. Make your choice wisely, and start enjoying your new Wörterbuch (dictionary). Oh, and don’t forget to take the scales home with you, too. If you prefer an online dictionary and you’re not sure about how to make a good selection, follow the same criteria. Select a couple of reputable dictionary publishers, go to their online dictionaries, and find out how extensive and (hopefully accurate) they are. If you’re not familiar with dictionary publishers, go to www.google.de and check out the dictionaries listed under “deutsch-englisches wörterbuch.” Do a thorough Web search to find what’s available and compare the sources you find.

Performing a word search
Maybe you didn’t buy a paper dictionary because you found a nifty online alternative. That’s all right. Online dictionaries are a good backup for finding out about words if you’re on a limited budget. No matter whether you’re using a hard copy or an online dictionary, you still have to know how to find the right word. Familiarize yourself with the symbols and abbreviations used by looking up a few nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on. See whether you understand them in the context of the dictionary entry. Instead of trying to memorize the meaning of all the abbreviations, make a photocopy of the list and keep it as a bookmark in your dictionary. Better yet, laminate it. That way you can use it as a mouse pad, a table mat, or whatever. You can then cross-check definitions to get more information on words you’re looking up. When you look up a word that has several definitions, read beyond the first or second entry line and try to decide which one suits your needs. Think about context, and decide which word fits best into the rest of the sentence. Besides meaning, here are some other factors that may affect your word choice:

Nouns: Think of gender and number as the vital statistics of a noun.

• Gender is indicated by m, f, and nt (for masculine, feminine, and neuter) in some dictionaries.

• Number is indicated with the plural ending form for that noun. There are five main groups of noun endings. A common ending is -en; other nouns add -s. With some nouns, you see the genitive case ending indicated for that noun in addition to the plural ending.

Verbs: Verbs also have vital statistics you need to know. • A verb is transitive or intransitive (symbols like vt and vi). A transitive verb takes a direct object; an intransitive verb doesn’t.

• A transitive verb may have a separable prefix (vt sep) or an inseparable prefix (vt insep). If the prefix is separable, it usually gets booted to the end of the sentence when the verb is conjugated.

• Some verbs are reflexive (vr), meaning they require a reflexive pronoun.

• The simple past form and the past participle are also indicated (in some
dictionaries with pret and ptp, respectively).

Prepositions: Prepositions in German dictionary entries show which case they have: accusative (prep + acc), dative (prep + dat), or genitive (prep + gen). Some prepositions have more than one case, and most prepositions have more than one meaning.

Pronouns: Pronouns include personal pronouns (pers pron), such as ich (I); demonstrative pronouns (dem pron), such as denen (them); relative pronouns (rel pron), such as das (that); and reflexive pronouns (reflexive pron), such as mich (myself). Adjectives and adverbs may be the same word in German. Memorize both, and you have two words for the effort of looking up one. Look at the dictionary entries and answer the questions about the words and abbreviations. Key for abbreviations: m = masculine, (Brit) = British usage, (US) = North American usage, pl = plural, f = feminine, nt = neuter

Q. In the entry for Reise-, which word is feminine? Is it one word or two words in German?
A. Reiseversicherung is feminine, and it’s one word in German.

26. The headword (first one) has a hyphen at the end of the word like this: Reise-: What does the hyphen mean?
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27. What’s the word for destination, and which gender is it?
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Reise-:

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