I am going to be studying beginning Spanish for two weeks in Sevilla at the end of this month. It was suggested that I bring an English-Spanish dictionary with me. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, easy-to-use, fairly comprehensive but not too bulky dictionary? I've got a few in mind but I'd love to hear what people have used in their actual studies. Thanks.

larousse pocket dictionary (a paperback-- normal size) will be just fine for a two week course and if you need anything more comprehensive they will have it at the school. The dictionary should cost about $6. Have fun

Hi --

Congrats on the upcoming trip!

When I used to work as a translator, I liked both Cassell's and Collins' Spanish-English / English Spanish dictionaries. From what I've seen, Larousse also publishes excellent ones.

No matter what dictionary you consider, look at the most recent copyright year (not just the printing year) and don't buy anything over six years old. Also -- especially if you're going to buy it in North America -- make sure it covers European Spanish, not just Latin American.

¡Buen viaje!

You will love Spain, just don't tell everybody about our secret treasure.

As for the dictionary, I would recommend you buy one in Spain. Most bilingual pocket dictionary available in the USA are targeted toward the Mexican dialect. If you have to buy one in the USA, then I would recommend the ones made by VOX. Vox is a Spanish publisher, so the translations are more standardized than the ones offered by the popular University of Chicago dictionary.

It is amazing how most of the bilingual dictionaries in the USA, give words like "linda", "valija", and "anteojos" for "bonita", "maleta", and "gafas". The first three words are not currently used in Spain, yet many bilingual dictionaries fail to mention this.

Cheers

I do believe that "linda" is still used in spain, at least in the canary islands. My mother in law, from Gran Canaria, says that my daughter is " la nina mas linda del mundo", and she is by the way.

Mencey,

I'm sure you are correct about the usage in the Canarias. I should have stipulated peninsular Spanish, since the Canarias have a lot in common linguisticly with Latin America. Perhaps, Fernando and Pim could comment on their usage. Maybe, I am wrong and "linda", "anteojo", and "valija" are commonly used in Madrid. I never heard them in Valladolid, except in literature.

Cheers

You're right, here linda it's not such a common word, anteojos means binoculars instead of glasses, and valija it's used normally just for diplomatic lugage. Anyway, everybody would understand you with those words as you can get from the context if you're talking about binoculars or glasses for example.