Harrap's Spanish and English Dictionary

I just finished a month long trip to Chile and found this dicitonary to be quite useful. This dictionary is not truly pocket sized, but it is more compact than most. It has many definitions by region (e.g. ostión = pacific oyster in Mexico, but scallop in Chile; frutilla = strawberry in Bolivia, Ecuador, Southern Cone; llanta = wheel rim, but tire in Americas). It has a useful center section of verb conjugations and a wonderful conversation-travel phrase guide. Word definitions are often accompanied by their use in combination with other words both in english and spanish (e. g. spring, the lid sprang open, to spring a leak, to spring up, are all covered together; tiempo, a tiempo, a su tiempo, a un tiempo, al mismo tiempo, al poco tiempo, antes de tiempo, con el tiempo, cuanto tiempo, demasiado tiempo, estar a tiempo de, hacer tiempo, and many more uses are all covered together. Most of the time I find every thing I am looking for and the few instances where I can't find a word in this dictionary I simply use the web to find the definition.

This is the best dictionary I have found. It not only gives current words and translations (this is important as language changes) but it puts these words into commonly used phrases or sentences. This is extremely helpful. It also has an excellent comprehensive grammar review in the middle of the dictionary. Finally, it covers Spanish words (and their translations) that are found over all parts of the Latino world, not just Spain. I use this dictionary constantly in my ongoing study of Spanish!

An excellent, comprehensive dictionary. Useful for the high school student who wants to keep a good dictionary in his/her locker for use in class or for school assignments.

This book is almost identical to the "Webster's New World Concise Spanish Dictionary" produced by the same publisher, but under a different brand name. But the "Harrap's" version of the dictionary has the advantage of being about an inch smaller in width and length and a little cheaper, while appearing to be just as complete. This dictionary is clear, well laid out, quite comprehensive, and includes a helpful number of idioms and examples. It's overview of the Spanish language and grammar is perhaps the best I've seen in a dictionary. An unabridged dictionary like the Oxford or Harper-Collins will be more comprehensive of course, but at a great increase in size, bulk, and cost. This volume strikes a superb balance of usefulness at a moderate size. (NOTE: this review does not refer to the "Pocket" dictionary published by Harrap, but to the somewhat larger concise edition.)

I shopped extensively for a good dictionary at Barnes & Nobles, Borders and libraries and this one is the only one that met all of my requirements: * lots of idiomatic phrases under relevant root words * slang and "dirty" words with idiomatic usage * recent edition with modern technology terms * thick--no skimping on words * flexible binding so it would stay open on a desk Additionally, it has an excellent, 100 page summary of the Spanish language with lots of examples.