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Rating: 
Summary: You can do better
Review: As a teacher of Esperanto, I found this book to be more the work of the author's imaginatin rather than an accurate portayal of how Esperanto is used. I can spot people who speak Esperanto after learning this book and they generally need some remediation, and as far as authoritativeness, this book has little credibility. To get a better picture you have to go out and use Esperanto in chat rooms and at meetings.
Rating: 
Summary: The "dictionary" is an add-on.
Review: As others have said, this book really isn't a useful dictionary. However, as a phrase book, and quick language reference, it's great. If you plan on buying this, I highly recommend getting an actual translation dictionary to go with it. Still, the sample telephone answering machine recording is on my voice mail....Tiel alioj diris, cxi tio libro ne-estas vere vortaro utila. Ankoraux, tiel fraz-libro, kaj tiel referenco rapida lingva, gxi estas belega. Se vi planus acxeti cxi tion, mi rekomendegas ankaux acxeti vortaron efektivan tradukan. Ankoraux, la provajxa telefona mesagxo estas uzata je mia vocx-posxto.
Rating: 
Summary: You can do better.
Review: Do you want good dictionaries? I started out with John Wells and Butler and was pleased with both. Butler is a gem, a classic, as is his grammar. Benson's English-Esperanto for Americans is a breakthrough of sorts and is appropriate to the locutions of English speakers, but still needs a little work to make a really good second edition. Errors have crept in here and there, and the Esperanto translation given is not always the most popular or the most elegant. You may want to contact the Esperanto League for North America... Bonshancon!
Rating:
Summary: Good dictionary, very nice phrasebook
Review: FWIW, the book is divided up like this: 2-page Alphabet and Pronunciation guide -- 11-page Overview of Esperanto Grammar -- 47-page Esperanto-English dictionary -- 47-page English-Esperanto dictionary -- 107-page Phrasebook -- 5 pages of other sources of information, including pertinent WWW addresses. The dictionaries are quite useable, if not extensive. Where the book really shines is the Phrasebook, where Conroy sets out lists of words and short phrases, grouped by category. This is a great source of sample sentences and natural ways to say common things. A handful of the categories are: Weather, People and Places, Sayings and Proverbs, Days, Months and Holidays, Abbreviations, and The Internet. It's nice having words grouped together like this, and I haven't seen it in other Esperanto dictionaries.
Rating: 
Summary: Five Green Stars, As This Book Deserves
Review: I would like to enlighten the few people who have made some rather nasty criticisms of this dictionary/phrasebook. Do you realize that the author is perhaps the foremost authority on Esperanto in North America and perhaps even the world? Do you think for a moment that ELNA does not know, condone, or appreciate this author for advocating the learning and speaking of Esperanto? Personally, I didn't find fault that the vocabulary was a litte less haughty and a whole lot more like the way human beings actually communicate. I would also suggest that the "serious student" go find another language to smack around for a while--Esperanto was INVENTED to be PRACTICAL. Esperanto is a tool--and a useful tool at that--for international communication, and this is where I see the emphasis in this particular work. That is what recommends this book in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, for the purpose it was intended for...
Review: Let's be clear, you won't really learn esperanto using only this book. It is too limited as to it's scope. However as a simple phrasebook and dictionary for the occasional esperanto user, it does quite well. It's a great little book to carry around (unless you have room to carry a full dictionary or a complete language workbook) in your purse or briefcase. As a small travel book for travelers who "may" use esperanto in their tavels, this does the job quite nicely.
Rating:
Summary: Great phrasebook, poor dictionary
Review: The phrasebook is decent. It's got some decent sections, that would work well as a vocabulary builder. But, for a dictionary it's not good at all. The words are poorly chosen, and the definitions are limited. I'd recommend it for a beginner, but a serious student will want a more complete dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: A nice little phrasebook
Review: Yeah, the dictionary section is less than adequate, but (as another mentioned) it was an add-on, and the purpose of the book isn't to be a standalone dictionary. For my purposes, as an absolute beginner, the grammar and stock phrase portions were immensely useful. The dictionary is OK, for very light reference duty, but obviously a handbook this small is not the be-all-end-all dictionary. Go buy an actual translating dictionary to go with Conroy's handbook, and you've got a great teaching pair. The small size is handy, too, for slipping in a coat pocket or briefcase.
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