This dictionary is more for use with the Modern Hebrew language than Biblical Hebrew language. All the Hebrew words in this dictionary are transliterated into English and is a good resource for those who do not know the Hebrew alphabet. The most difficult part about using this book is its difficulty in looking up a Hebrew word since you must find it phonetically rather than alphabetically.

This innovative dictionary makes the Hebrew language more accessible to students by eliminating the formidable barrier of the Hebrew alphabet. It's easy to locate words quickly with the Webster's New World Hebrew-English Dictionary, because the Hebrew-to-English section is alphabetized according to the transliterated English spelling. The English version is marked for correct pronunciation and followed immediately by the Hebrew spelling of the word. This breakthrough work of linguistic scholarship is packed with useful features that guarantee rapid progress, even for those with no familiarity with the Hebrew language. It contains:

• Extensive grammatical information including parts of speech, variant verb forms, and the formation of feminines and plurals .
• Listings of idioms and compounds and indications of colloquialisms and slang .
• Common variations in pronunciations .
• Geographical, historical and cultural entries.

• Preface and Acknowledgments.
• Guide to This Dictionary.
• Introduction to Hebrew.
• Pronunciation Key.
• Transliteration Alphabet.
• Abbreviations Used in This Dictionary.
• Hebrew-English Dictionary.
• English-Hebrew Dictionary.
• Hebrew Title Page.

Lloyd F Botway from Los Angeles, CA USA
As I have studied Hebrew the last three years, I have found Webster's NewWorld Hebrew Dictionary to be the most valuable tool amongst my texts, tapes, and teachers! If you're studying Hebrew, don't be without this dictionary...it's incredible!

rachamim from Steilacoom, WA United States
Having shopped just about every bookstore on the West Coast and purchased several other Hebrew/ English dictionaries, and several on learning Hebrew, I can -- contrary to some reviewers -- recommend this book strongly.

Nothing else comes close in the ease of use, clear print, grammer, and pronunciation guides. There is no other book I have seen which comes close to being as useful, a fact the other reviewers fail to note.

Perhaps that's a sad statement on the lack of popularity of learning Hebrew for adult readers, but it's true. I do agree, however, that you need other books to learn Hebrew. A dictionary is not the best choice for that.

Despite the other negative reviews, in my opinion this is a very good dictionary, and have no trouble in recommending it as your first choice amongst Hebrew/ English dictionaries.

Shemayah Phillips from huntsville, tn United States
I agree with Alexis. The good point (why it has two rather than one star) is that the font is large. A plus for someone like me who misplaces his glasses.

WNWHD features the main word entry in transliteration, not actual Hebrew script. But although transliterations are just fine there are two big problems. First, transliterations can be non-standard and confusing---they should have used an symbol for symbol of every consonant and vowel-point as most of us use in biblical Hebrew. But worse than this, and second, is that when reading Hebrew you will be seeing either consonants (as in most modern Hebrew publications) or vocalized (i.e., with vowel-point/niqqudim) and that's what you'll want to look up in a dictionary. You want to be assured by seeing the direct correspondence between the word you are reading and the one you look up. For some beginners, this means do all the funny symbols look exactly the same in both??

But in this dictionary you have to know how the word sounds, then compare to their transliteration, and only then do you see the actual Hebrew characters. This seems unnecessary and convoluted.

After some practice you can "get the thing to work." But the approach may be revolutionary to some, but bass ackwards to me. ;-)

A reader
I found this dictionary to be of no use in my learning Hebrew. I was attracted to this dictionary because the format and fontsize suggested that my eyes would not suffer the fate of the old Persian miniature painters while using it. However, its primary (and critical) failing is that if you are trying to translate a Hebrew word whose pronunciation is unknown to you, you are really out of luck. You have to guess at several different transliterations; this can be a very lengthy chore, sometimes without reward. If your only need is to translate from English to Hebrew, this is indeed a very nice dictionary. But if you need to translate words in Hebrew to English, get another dictionary.