The Bantam New College Spanish & English Dictionary

This dictionary was on my sons school list as a must have. It was bought used, although it looked brand new. Shipped in a sealed plastic bag, it was received in great condition.

Even though the description was correct on this dictionary, print is too small for my aging eyes. In fairness, it was a very old version and the pages were beginning to turn. What can one expect for $1.00! Newer version may be better.

This is the best paperback dictionary around: it's not an abridgement of a larger dictionary, but the full version of a hardback dictionary. It's also available in a somewhat compact hardback edition, which is handy. A previous reviewer is wrong: all nouns show the gender, both in the Spanish-English and English-Spanish parts of the dictionary. There are lots of phrases, English and Spanish, that are translated into idiomatic, natural language. If you can love a dictionary, this is the one.

This bilingual dictionary's two greatest virtues are its compact yet readable format and its affordable price. And, as a bonus, there are brief summaries of irregular verb forms, which occur with frequency that keeps a novice like me guessing. These reminders are packaged with the two-way translations for convenience, never meant as a substitute for an exhaustive reference.

This meets my limited needs, as someone who comes across the occasional unfamiliar word in newspaper-level reading. Most high school language students will also find that it has all the vocabulary they need. This isn't a scholar's reference, though. Translated definitions tend towards the terse, so they won't cover all usages of a term. And, to keep cost down, it's printed on pulp stock, so it won't last forever even if handled gently. It offers plenty if you don't need much, and that's good enough for me right now.

//wiredweird

This book is excellent. I refer to it often in order to clarify
fine nuances in the Spanish language. The work has a beginning
section which focuses on pronunciation of the Spanish
alphabet. Afterward, the Spanish word is listed and translated
into English for A-Z. At the midway point, the English word
is listed and translated into Spanish. In addition, there is
an extensive section on verbal tenses. The origin of words
is fully described . For instance, there are distinctions
for Spanish/American, Cuban and Puerto Rican vocabulary.