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 Room for improvement March 19, 2009
Delia L. Swords (Monterey, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I feel like I need a magnifying glass to read this dictionary. I appreciate the fact that it has thousands of useful words, but could we make the font just a little larger. Also, it would be nice to have indented letter tabs for quick reference since there are so many words. I feel like it takes forever to just find the letter...
 Best Farsi English Dictionary I've used. January 19, 2007
Zeno
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is the best dictionary of the 5 or 6 Farsi to English dictionaries I've come across. Obviously, the more Farsi you know the easier it is to use. What I like about this dictionary the most is that it has Farsi to English and English to Farsi in one volume. Furthermore, definitions for common words are usually followed by synonyms, related words and contextual examples, sometimes sentences utilizing the word being defined, sometimes common phrases. I don't know of any other Farsi dictionary that does that. This is also the dictionary that the U.S. military uses at the Defense Language Institute.
 No Farsi Pronounciations & No verb declination September 14, 2006
Charlie S.
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Old "French-English"", "German-English", "Italian-English" and "Spanish to English" dictionaries (even back in the 80s) had verb declinations and pronounciations in both languages. This dictionary one has no verb declinations in either language and only English Pronounciations. More helpful for Farsi readers than for English readers trying to learn Farsi. Also, In the English to Farsi section, there can be several words translating into 1 English word but there is no explanation as to the difference and when one word should be used over another.
Not perfect, but the best one out there August 3, 2005
C. Legendy (New York, NY)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
If you're looking to buy a Persian dictionary, and don't already know it, there's a reality you have to face. Persian-English dictionaries are a lot worse than dictionaries for most other languages.
That said, Aryanpour is the best one out there, at least for MODERN Persian. If you're dealing with medieval texts, there is no better book than Steingass.
In every Persian class I've taken, people have started out with an assortment of dictionaries, and by the end of the course most, if not all the students decided to buy Aryanpour. I think that speaks volumes for its thoroughness and ease of use.
Copies of Aryanpour that I've seen were not very well printed-- the inking is uneven, sometimes the text becomes crooked --but far from illegible.
As for organization, I'd say the Persian-English section is much better than the English-Persian. The English-Persian section gives direct translations without context (for instance, if you're looking up the word "sentence," the author does not give you any way to distinguish between the word for "prison sentence," and that meaning "a group of words"). However, whenever there are multiple meanings in the Persian-English section, the author provides generally solid context.
Two more strenghts of this book: it includes prefixes and suffixes, explains how to use them, and gives definitions for a good number of words which take them; and it includes a lot of the Arabic words commonly found in the Persian language.
My main complaint about the book, besides its weaker English-Persian section, is that it does not always include diacritical marks on Persian text, which is particularly annoying if you're looking up an English word and have to guess on the pronunciation.
One complaint I've heard about this books is that it doesn't include transliterations, like some other dictionaries. I can only agree with this insofar as I have a problem with those words where the authors decided not to include the diacritical. Otherwise, it's really the reader's responsibility to learn to read the Persian script.
The bottom line is, this is book is worth having. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the ones currently on the market.
Best I've used April 21, 2004
Lance Erickson (Tx)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This dictionary is very useful. It has thousands of entries and is written by two men, one of whom is Iranian and studied in England for years. One may have to cross-reference some words, because it is a foreign language and meanings do not exactly correspond sometimes, until you find the one that fits best.
It even gives example uses, and derivatives of usage. I challenge you to find a better one, even in Iran...
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