Oxford vs Cambridge
2005.07.23 20:58

My favorite dictionary is *Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English -Fourth Edition 1989*, but also Cambridge University Press issued a similar series -the title is *Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English 2003*.
I bought it with great expectation. It might be one of my favourite dictionary. Cambridge ALD is so revolutionary in that it edited all words according to its meaning, not from parent form and its derivatives. So there are many entries for the same words. 5 or 6 in Cambridge compared to 1 or 2 in Oxford. 10 or 11 compared to 3 or 4 etc. Its editorial policy was never tried before, only it was followed in its predecessor *Cambridge International Dictionary in 1995*, which also I tried buying, so I conclude as follows.
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English -Fourth Edition 1989 -succinct concise easy to carry in many aspects it is a good dictionary, but sometimes (not often) I was unable to find the words that was unknown when I encountered in reading
Pocket Oxford Dictionary -Ninth Edition 2001 - It's perfect to just know the meaning of the words but for foreigners it is not enough to know the usage of the words. So two dictionaries supplement one another.
Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English -2003 Both in the number of entries and how to use the words properly, I must say it leaves much to be desired.
Cambridge International Dictionary -1995 Both in the number of entries and how to use the words properly, I can say it's enough but it is too easy for intermediate learners to use this dictionary and too heavy to carry in our every day use.
Cambridge first published its English dictionary in 1995. Unbelievably newbie when it comes to it. As opposed to Oxford, it has a long history of publishing English Dictionaries. Above all the facts I noticed the reason I bought Cambridges was its unique editorial policy - one word, one definition.
I am expecting to buy the newer edition of Cambridge, in which I hope editorial board make the revised one referring to my comment above.