Bengali (Bangla)-English / English-Bengali Practical Dictionary

Earlier Hippocrene dictionaries made a very poor impression but this recent one from respected expert Hanne-Ruth Thompson is excellent, and includes a set of brief but useful appendices on grammar and other topics. Her transliteration system also makes the important distinction, invisible in the Bengali script, between the two types of 'o' and the two types of 'e'.BUT her transliteration system has a big flaw too. It simply transliterates, letter-for-letter. It does not always represent actual pronunciation. So for words like jawa, dhowa and onno (go, wash, other) the transliteration is far removed from the actual pronunciation. What is the point in this? Why transliterate letter-for-letter a spelling system which does not always reflect actual pronunciation? What is gained by this? If you can read the Bengali script, you don't need the transliteration. If you can't read the Bengali script, the transliteration is often deeply misleading and therefore pointless.If you can tolerate this one big flaw, then I wholeheartedly recommend this dictionary.

This is an excellent dictionary. It has good transliteration. The advantage it has over the Oxford dictionary is that it is bilingual, it has Bengali to English definitions, in effect you are buying two dictionaries. The disadvantage is that it doesn't cover enough words. The challenge for the author is to write a more comprehensive dictionary, an advanced one for those aspiring to read at an intermediate to advanced degree level. This dictionary is a good start for the learner. The author is to be congratulated for bringing the beauty of Bangla/Bengali to a wider international audience. She has done a great service to those seeking to understand and appreciate language and culture which ultimately will lead to the peaceful engagement and enjoyment of diversity between communities.

Thanks a lot.This Dictionary makes me to write and read in Bengali usefully.I tried writing review in Bengali, but the review was invalid. Therefore, I rewrite this review in English.Thanks again.

Very useful for learning bangla.

good