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.