I'm currently studying intermediate level Spanish in Andalucia but will be in Madrid in 2 weeks. I'm not finding what I need in the Spanish-English dictionaries that I brought with me from the States. Can you recommend a good dictionary to buy here? Any ideas on where to find it? Thanks.
Marissa

At the intermediate level I switched to mostly using a Spanish-Spanish dictionary and found it quite an improvement over using a translation-dictionary. That is, I bought a compact regular Spanish dictionary thgat gave me the definitions of the word instead of the translation. I know enough Spanish to understand the translation usually and often learn something in the process.
Not good for going English -> Spanish though.

Mine is Micro Lengua Española from Vox ( www.vox.es ) bought at El Corte Inglés.

My small English <-> Spanish is Berlitz and I find it adequate...when used along with my Barnes & Noble 200 Spanish Verbs conjugator (which actually covers 2000 verbs, not 200).

Thanks Wilson for your help. I'll look for your dictionary in El Corte Ingles in Cadiz. I already have the B&N verb book and it is great.

The best I've seen is the full-sized hardback Collins dictionary, available in the U.S., Spain, Britain and elsewhere. Its breakout of different uses and contexts for different words, and its coverage of national variants is phenomenal.

Also, I find that picking it up off my desk periodically can do wonders for developing one's biceps, as it's quite the solid tome.

Why don't you try the Collins or Oxford Dictionaries? If you would like to know a good place to buy language tuition books, try La Casa del Libro Casa del Libro on Gran Vía, or the Casa del Libro in c/Maestro Victoria (just behind El Corte Ingles on c/Preciados. I would also suggest going to FNAC which is just around the corner. This way you can compare prices.

Alun
Mad About Madrid

The best selection of language learning books and dictionaries in downtown Madrid is probably the one in the basement level of the main Casa del Libro on Gran Vía. I spent about an hour down there shopping for dictionaries, translation theory books, etc.

I'm experimenting with the Collins dictionaries for the Pocket PC (also available for Palm Pilots), available for purchase and download at www.tomtom.com ("Products" tab >> "Dictionaries"). They're $35 each. So far, I've bought the English-Spanish and English-Italian versions, and I'm about to add the English-French and English-German versions.

My initial motivation was to reduce the load of dictionaries that I have to carry around. At home, I use the large hardcover Harper Collins dictionaries, and for travel, I used to carry the paperback version, but even the paperback weighs over a pound, and is bigger than a brick. Often, for walking around, I used the "Collins Gem" version, about 8 X 12 X 3 cm, and only 175 grams. For their small size, they're very good.

The Collins dictionaries for the Pocket PC are equivalent to the Collins Gem size. I've been playing with them for a few weeks. I'm leaving for Spain in two days, and I'll tell you how they work out there. So far, I love them. First of all, lookup is, for me, substantially faster than with a paper dictionary. I just write the word I'm after on the screen, and the computer jumps straight to the entry. But that's only the start. When you look up a word, and get some possible translations, the next thing you often want to do is to look up some of the translations in the reverse direction, in order to get a notion of the cluster of concepts surrounding each. You just need to double-tap any word, and you are taken directly to that entry.

Quick example: Thinking about the Spanish word "ropa", meaning "clothes" made me wonder what the Spanish word for "rope" is. I entered "rope" on the English side of the dictionary, and got a ten-line entry starting with "cuerda" and "NAUT cable". One entry down was "rope ladder", "escala de cuerda", so obviously, "cuerda" can be used for fairly heavy ropes.

But "cuerda" is an obvious cognate of the English "cord", and a "cord" is often much lighter than a "rope". How thin can a "cuerda" be? A quick double-tap on "cuerda" jumps right to its entry, also ten lines long, starting with "rope" and "(hilo) string", and ending with "dar cuerda a un reloj", "to wind up a clock". So I learned immediately that "cuerda" can be fairly light, as well as something quite thick and strong (as in "cuerda floja", a "tightrope"). I've found this ability to jump very rapidly around to be extremely valuable.

I also bought the Lonely Planet Top Cities Map and Guide for Madrid for the Pocket PC. See http://www.mapandguide.com/ , English >> Consumer Products >> Top Cities. It's a great interactive map that computes routes for you, like MapQuest. The "Guide" content is minimal, and a disappointment: only about a dozen each hotels, restaurants, etc.

I'll let you know how all this works out on our upcoming trip. I've got to get back to packing up.

- Larry, whose last day at work was Friday, two days ago.

I have several dictionaries of the Spanish language. The one that was the most helpful while living in Spain had defintions of the words used in Spain such as cerilla or ordenador. Not the words you would find in a Spanish dictionary usually found in the U.S.

I bought my dictionary at Alcampo, but I am sure that it is widely available, and costs about 10 Euros. It is called Espasa Pocket-Edición Especial Para Estudiantes. It is really for Spaniards who are trying to learn English, but I have found it to be excellent.

Buena suerte.

One thing I noticed in looking at Spanish-English dictionaries at Barnes and Nobles in the US and at El Corte Ingles and Casa del Libro in Madrid is that those in Madrid appear to be aimed more at British English than American English and also do not cover as much Latin American usage as the ones I saw in the US. Different markets, different needs. I've been spending time morphing my weak Latin America learned Spanish into more acceptable Castillano. Luckily my work mates are very understanding and willing to provide the missing vocabulary