I had to get this and no other German dictionary for a class in high school. This recommends the book as being well compiled and good for information. However the printing job is the worst imaginable. Ink will rub off on your fingers if you rub the pages and as you thumb through on your way to looking things up. And to make things worse the teacher who required us to buy this and only this dictionary was allergic to the ink and got ticked if we brought a dictionary to her desk. She wouldn't touch them.To a certain extent a dictionary is a dictionary. The Harrap's Concise German dictionary will leave ink on your fingers and feels disgusting to use. Even if someone gave me one I would avoid using it or touching it. Buy another brand of dictionary and never touch a Harrap's with your clean un-rash-covered fingers.