Cheap Webster's New World Spanish Dictionary: Spanish/English English/Spanish (Book) (Mike Gonzales) Price

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Customer Reviews of Webster's New World Spanish Dictionary: Spanish/English English/Spanish

Being a foreign-language tutor, I frequently thumb through some of the pathetic dictionaries my students bring in and I realize exactly why they have difficulty learning Spanish, or at least a big part of it -- their dictionaries don't provide adequate examples of how Spanish actually functions.

Very few people realize how to use a foreign-language dictionary effectively. You shouldn't regard it as just a "reference" to turn when you can't figure out what a word means. The dictionary is equally as important as the grammar -- that is, when you have the right one. A dictionary should be more than a list of words. It should include examples of how each word is used in different circumstances, illustrated by REAL SENTENCES.

This is something most dictionaries lack. If I wanted to say, for example, "Mercedes is not involved in this," the average dictionary would leave me in the dark. I look up the verb "to involve" and I find "involucrar" and "comprometer." Should I could conjugate one of these and say, "Mercedes no está involucrada con esto"? -- That'd be a clunky way to say it, if not in fact incorrect. Something more fluent and idiomatic like, "Este asunto no tiene nada que ver con Mercedes" might never occur to me. But that's the very example this dictionary gives to explain the verb "to involve."

Under each word heading, you find a wonderful list of how each word is used in different circumstances. You find this in all dictionaries to some extent. The number of examples this one gives is what distinguishes it from the rest. In fact, there are so many of them, organized so well, that when I started studying Spanish myself, I actually read the dictionary, or at least copied out some of the many entries, playing around with them, comparing related words and expressions. If I had done this with any other dictionary, my brain probably would have dried up!

If you're looking for an excellent German, Italian, or French dictionary, I recommend the other titles in the Webster's New World series -- all of them are organized along the same lines as this one. A pity Webster's doesn't release titles for some less popular languages!

No Spanish pronunciation
While this is a substantial dictionary for such a low price, I was quite disappointed to find that it doesn't include pronunciation for each Spanish word (it does for the English entries). One could make the point that Spanish pronunciation follows consistent rules and that therefore a pronunciation guide is not needed for each word, but think about how many people are going to see the word "viejo" and pronounce it "vee-ay-hoe" instead of "vyeh-kho." I'm sorry I bought this dictionary.

i have to agree
This is the best Spanish language dictionary I've come across thus far. I've had my copy since high school. It's almost eight years-old and well-used. I usually find what I'm looking for in this dictionary and sometimes it's just fun to read entires randomly, there's so much to learn. But like another reviewer, I must complain about the physical condition - the binding is not that great. I've had to tape mine back together, but alas - it has come undone again. Nevertheless, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Webster's New World Spanish Dictionary as an essential resource. If this is only the concise edition, I'd love to get my hands on an unabridged version! But hopefully, with better binding... :)