Milet Bilingual Visual Dictionary: English-Bengali

A couple of drawbacks however: first, in addition to genuinely useful beginner everyday vocabulary, there are extraneous sections which must be borderline useless to even the more advanced learner (for example phases of the moon, hydroelectric energy or gothic cathedral). And the level of detail is a little overwhelming (for the "communications" section we get words not only for video camera, but for "data display", "cassette compartment", "battery eject switch"). I suppose you can skip past all of this, but it's frustrating to have to page through to get to the good stuff and to have so much vocabulary in front of you and not feel the need to learn any of it.

Secondly, this is one of a series (there is also English-Turkish, English-French, etc.) so none of the vocabulary is specific to Bangladesh or even South Asia (no Bangladeshi foods, locations, seasons, etc). This also results in a lot of words simply being transcribed in the Bengali script (national park is translated as "nashnal paark" for example).

Overall, this is no substitute for a proper dictionary or Bengali textbook (apart from anything else, you need to know the script first), but as someone pointed out there aren't too many books available to students of Bengali. So as a cheap and attractive addition to a library for the Bengali learner, this is a good book to have.


For Every Child in the World   July 25, 2003
Lazar Grudnikas (Rishon Le Zion Israel)
2 out of 11 found this review helpful

I just would like to say :
it is will perfect if Every Child in the world
has this book .
it is so beautifull and perfect with so many picturs .

thank you Millet !


Good but could have been better   January 7, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I got the Bengali version of this book for my nieces in Bangladesh, so they could learn some English. It is great for teaching nouns but unfortunately it doesn't include any verbs or adjectives. I think this is a good book to buy for children who are in the process of learning English. It is also good if you would like to introduce a child to English even if they are not actively learning it.

I also agree with the previous reviewer that this is great for someone who wants to build their vocabulary in Bengali (or one of the other languages the book is available in). However you will have to know the script of the language first.

Again a very good book but it would have been more useful if they had included some verbs and adjectives.


Excellent way to build your Bengali vocabulary   September 10, 2002
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

Forget the listed Reading level of Ages 9-12, this book is excellent for anyone who wants to build their Bengali vocabulary. The book has pictures of various objects such as the human body, trucks, etc. and uses arrows that give you the Bengali word for various parts. Its a fun addition to flashcards. Anyone who is learning Bengali knows that there aren't many resources available for learning the language, so I highly recommend that you get this book. My one complaint is that the book does not include transliteration, so you won't always know the correct pronunciation. If you don't know Bengali script yet I recommend that you learn it before you tackle this book. Both "Bengali : A Complete Course for Beginners (Teach Yourself Series)(BOOK & 2 Cassettes)" and "Lonely Planet Bengali Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Survival Guide)" will help in this area.