About the Book
The three-volume Penguin English–Hindi/Hindi–English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a landmark in bilingual lexicography. Today, just as more Hindi-speakers than ever before are eager to master English, a large number of Indians and non-Indians are learning Hindi through the medium of English. Global communication and educational systems today demand a bilingual dictionary and thesaurus that covers a wide spectrum of social and cultural terms, both Indian and non-Indian. This remarkable book, arranged thematically with two bilingual dictionaries and indexes and extremely easy to use, fits the bill admirably.
The book is divided into three parts:
Part 1 English–Hindi/Hindi–English Thesaurus
Part 2 English–Hindi Dictionary and Index
Part 3 Hindi–English Dictionary and Index
Part 1 is divided into 988 headings or word groups further subdivided into 25,562 subheadings or sub-categories, containing 548,330 expressions in all, of which 257,853 are in English and 290,477 in Hindi with cross-references to similar or opposite concepts, a feature not found in any other thesaurus.
Not only a vast repository of synonyms and antonyms in both languages, The Penguin English–Hindi/Hindi–English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a resourceful cross-cultural handbook that provides numerous references to help understand and appreciate the sense behind a word or concept in either language. When required, it provides short indicative definitions, examples, samples and references to similar and opposite concepts to further help absorb the import behind a word.
The book has been designed to serve the needs of all Indians living anywhere in the world, who use or want to use either or both languages, as well as all non-Indians who have anything to do with South Asia, who want to learn Hindi, increase their vocabulary and diction, and need to communicate fluently. In its scope and spread, it leaves all other bilingual thesauruses or dictionaries far behind.
Arvind Kumar (b 1930) has been Editor of Madhuri (1963-78) and of Sarvottam Readers’ Digest (1980-85) and is presently Editor-in-Chief of the Hindi Folk Language Dictionaries project. He is an art-drama-film critic, writer, poet and translator to and from English and Hindi and from Sanskrit to Hindi.