Choosing the right Spanish dictionary for your studies isn’t easy. Yes, it’s actually easier than ever to compare dictionaries as we now have the internet, but many booksellers won’t let you see the content to check out if it’ll fit your needs. And that sucks.
I mean, a good dictionary isn’t cheap. In fact, a good dictionary will be pretty expensive, especially if you’re a poor student. Now, we all have different needs while learning Spanish. Some love technical and sophisticated definitions, while others just like to keep things simple. Also, the amount of words and expressions a dictionary contains differs a lot, even between editions.
Anyway, no matter what kind of dictionary you choose, there are some things you absolutely need to have. That’s why I’ve come up with this humble list of things a dictionary has to have, and at the end I’ll provide some titles of dictionaries I think meet the requirements of a good one.
- Simple definitions. Although some of you can perfectly understand academic English, you want to keep things simple. You’re already doing something memory-intensive (learning Spanish), so why crack your brain decoding this long-ass English sentence with difficult words, explaining you what estar means?
- Lots of words. The more words it covers, the better. Nothing is worse than looking for a word you’re never going to find. So choose one that covers many words and a broad range of subjects.
- Lots of example sentences. Unfortunately, most dictionaries only give the translation of a Spanish word, as if it were possible to map one language to another. So look for a dictionary with loads of example sentences, with an English translation of course. Also, a dictionary with many example sentences will make it easier for you to expand your sentence collection.
- Comes in a digital format. Now, a paper dictionary is nice to carry around and to look up a thing or two, but for serious use and serious sentence collecting, a digital dictionary is a must. Some paper dictionaries come with a CD-ROM, containing a digital dictionary, but these are often the more expensive ones. If you use your computer a lot, go for one in a digital format. Just be sure it has example sentences.
- Isn’t just for beginners. The key to a good dictionary is that it isn’t for beginners only. Some of the better dictionaries have special tables with words and example sentences for the more advanced learner, which drastically lengthens the period you can use it. With the ones for beginners you’ll spend a lot of money, but if you’re a serious learner it’ll soon be pretty much useless for you.
Now, these are some points you should think about before buying a dictionary. I recommend just going to a book store to check some out, to see for yourself if it’ll be worth the money. For digital dictionaries there’s often trial period in which you can use pretty much every feature, before paying a dime.
Here’s a list of my personal favorites. Some are free, while some aren’t.
- Oxford Pocket Dictionary. Thisone is pretty bad-ass, and has a free online version hosted by WordReference.com. Has lots of example sentences.
- Oxford Concise Dictionary. The expanded version of the pocket dictionary, but isn’t free. Also comes in an online format, to which WordReference.com is happy to give you access for €30 per year. Has even more Spanish sentences.
- EsPara Dictionary. This one comes in two flavors: Spanish-English and Spanish monolingual. Both are bad-ass, and both are available freely on the internet. Where, you ask? Oh, just at WordReference.com, again. Has a fair amount of example sentences.
These are the three best dictionaries available online, in my opinion, that is. The EsPasa dictionary is also available on CD-ROM, although I don’t know where to buy it.
Now, what about the paper variants? Again, go for the Oxford dictionary* if you’re looking for a good Spanish-English/English-Spanish dictionary. As for a good monolingual dictionary, I’d go for the EsPasa diccionary de la lengua española – para estudiantes de español. This EsPasa dictionary is a bit different that the online version, but very good. Unfornately it’s a bit heavy, so not very suited to use while traveling.
What is your favorite dictionary?
*Affiliate link.
Photo by sergis blog.
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For paper, I'm a fan of the Collins dictionaries. But I'm really finding it a drag to have to keep searching through it when I need a word quickly! I've been trying some desktop dictionary software (most of them provide free trials) and I've found Ultralingua to be better than the Collins app by far. I find it really useful to be able to simply press F2 when hovering over a word to get an instant translation.
Have you ever tried any dictionary desktop apps? If you have, any recommendations would be VERY helpful!
I use the EsPasa application for Windows, which is monolingual. Still, I don't know where to buy it as I got mine.
Great post! Thanks for the info, I'll see if I can get my hands on the Oxford pocket dictionary.
I find that if I only use one of the dictionaries above, I always end up with an awkward translation. They are good, but when you are only looking at one definition option, you are doing yourself no favors. Honestly, I prefer the spanish dictionary from SpanishDict.com because they give you the definition results from Velásquez and Chambers Harrap. It is pretty amazing to see the differences in the two and make a more educated decision on how to translate something.
Hm, SpanishDict.com is pretty bad-ass indeed. Is there also a monolingual version?
No, there is no mono-lingual version. That would be cool though.
watch ur mouth
I use two dictionaries for daily use:
1) Spanish monolingual: Larousse Diccionario de la lengua española
2) Spanish-English: Webster's New World Concise Spanish Dictionary
I also use Merriam Webster's Franklin Electronic Spanish-English DBE-1500 dictionary-very handy for travel.
Also, Larousse Diccionario de sinónimos y antónimos is excellent!
Is that electronic dictionary a device or software?
A device of 5.25 inches x 3.5 inches by 0.5 inches. It can fit in a large pocket of your shirt or pants.
I'm curious, other than WordReference, what types of dictionaries do you use for French? Are there any equivalents as good as EsPasa?
At the moment: none. I'm currently in a phase I just try to get as much input as I can get, and I use FrenchPod to get sentences for the few words I really want to remember.
I'm just lucky that for French I have 3(!) language I can pull from; English, Spanish and Dutch (there are many French words in Dutch). So I'm fine without a dictionary at the moment.
ok and why dont u go find a life and start trying o worry about ur language instead of others cuz i saw u cuss in that sentence
Does Ramses the Great, the Merciful, take requests?
This post got me thinking about reading in Japanese (my L2), and I realized that maybe reading is a form of output. Sound crazy? Think about it- every time we read a word, an internal voice pronounces the word in our heads. So if every time I read a word I mispronounce it internally, isn't that screwing up my pronunciation? I've been reading Keith's Chinese blog lately, and I'm starting to believe in his spoken language-only approach, at least in the early stages of language learning. It's certainly closer to the way languages are naturally learned, as opposed to this artificial reading stuff. What are your thoughts on this?
The Merciful? The Great? I'm 'just' 6 feet and 4 inches tall! Haha
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I've written a comment about this in the past, but I can't find it. What I do is getting the audiobook version of the book I'm reading, and just read along while I'm listening. This prevents me from thinking in the language, and I get both text input and audio input at the same time.
Another option is just doing what Keith does: watching television for 1000 hours before starting to read. After those first 1000 hours of audio-based input, it's safe to produce output.
Still, I don't know how 'dangerous' it is to 'produce' in your head. Only when you pronounce something you can hurt something, I'm not sure if silently think in the language would hurt it. Still, just getting 1000 of audio-based input first is the safest thing you can do.
it is not daangerous but u are interacting with urself
I've got the Oxford Spanish Dictionary CDROM which is the desktop software version of the paper dictionary. Actually, I got the paper version free with the electronic one but I've never used the paper version. I can't even give it away as it is too heavy too post cheaply! The software OSD is a 100% copy of the paper OSD which is a bit disappointing as there is lots of room on the CD for more definitions (never mind what DVDs would hold). Despite having about half a million translations, it's still fairly easy to come across words that aren't in the dictionary. It's the third edition I have as I've had it for some time, so maybe they have added more definitions to the latest edition.
It's a talking dictionary too with a choice of Spanish or Mexican female 'robot' voice. The Spanish sounds better as the Mexican one seems a bit depressed! Actually the voice is pretty good for a computer generated voice but it still has a lot of rough edges. You can get it to read phrases and even whole passages and amuse yourself trying to guess what certain phrases mean by just playing them out loud. The software is fairly easy to use and reverse lookup is instantaneous but the search could be better. It can be difficult to find phrases in the dictionary. On the plus side, you don't need the CD to be in the CD drive when you use the dictionary or anything silly like that. But on the minus side, copy and paste is a bit more convoluted than it ought to be.
One interesting thing I found was that it lists the differences between British and American English for a lot of entries, which I found rather fascinating. I wasn't aware there were so many differences.
I've also used the Collins equivalent but I found the software to be pretty clunky. If you need a dictionary, the on-line ones are easily good enough for most people – nowadays, I wouldn't bother buying either a paper or a software product. They are really just a waste of money. In any case, they aren't essential, by any means, for language learning. I would only maybe buy a cheap, paper dictionary to take on holiday.
I "use" five languages and, leaving out German as I hardly ever read any, I use EN/SP, FR/SP en Dutch/SP dictionaries.
EN – whilst I usually prefer Collins paper dictionaries, the dictionary I have and occasionally use is the 2.5+ kilos of "Oxford Spanish Dictionary". Very good, excellent, but I don't use English as "base" language, and rarely "need" this book.
FR – here I have a 956 gramme "Le Robert & Collins" two-way book. I consider it relatively worthless, even though that's not the whole truth. But not my piece of cake; somehow french and spanish make a bad marriage.
DUTCH – my standard companion is the 930 gramme SP-DUTCH volume of the two-part "Koenen woordenboek". I try to carry it with me wherever I carry a Spanish work of literature to read. Excellent dictionary.
Now, if I don't find a particular word in any of the above, I switch to the unwieldy two-volume "María Moliner Diccionario de Uso del Español". As SP-SP dictionaries go, I know of no better reference.
But there are quite occasionally words I don't find in any of these. Mostly slang. Google is a helpful tool.
Sometimes I read (and write) without any dictionary at hand. I just pretend to understand, because it sounds familiar. When travelling "light" (…in Spain…), I carry one of those plastic-covered "Collins" dictionaries, amazingly handy and it contains most words one hears.
what on earth does bad-ass mean? Since you apparently like the dictionaries the answer is not intuitive. You might as well write in Dutch for those of us who do not speak US dialect.
Otherwise i appreciate the opportunity to follow your experience, being myself at the "plateau" stage.
Come on, not so negative. I use bad-ass as another term for 'cool' or 'great'.
Did you read my post about making progress as an advanced learner? I don't think you need a dictionary if you are one. This post is pretty much geared towards beginners.
okay it doesnt matter yer being so dumb and u need to watch ur mouth young man