Clave diccionario de uso del español actual [Hardcover]

C. Maldonado Gonzalez (Author), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Other Contributor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 2056 pages
• Publisher: AIMS International Books (October 1996)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 8434851938
• ISBN-13: 978-8434851931
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #964,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ideal for students of Spanish, October 5, 2000

By 

MR R D SMITH (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clave diccionario de uso del español actual (Hardcover)

I found this (and especially the CD ROM version) an ideal Spanish-Spanish dictionary for people learning Spanish. At the time I had been studying Spanish for about a year and I found it distracting to keep "switching out" of Spanish into English when I came to a word I didn't know in a book I was reading, for example. I think you can pick up a language much more effectively if you learn the meaning of words in the same langauge and refrain from thinking in your native language where at all possible.

I have rarely, if ever, encountered words not listed in the dictionary. Each and every meaning of each and every word has a usually well thought out example illustrating its usage. There seems to me to be quite a good coverage of colloquial words not in the DRAE (there is quite an amusing example for the definition of "zurrapa"!).

In short, this purchase (first on CD ROM and then in hardback in my case) helped me more than anything to improve my fluency in Spanish.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, October 5, 2002

By 

"trangell" (Florianópolis, SC, Brasil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clave diccionario de uso del español actual (Hardcover)

It's really a shame that this gem of a dictionary is not readily available through Amazon. Clave strikes a remarkable balance of thoroughness and simplicity, which makes it the most useful and enjoyable Spanish dictionary I own.

There are not many Spanish words which Clave does not include. Each entry is defined in the simplest way possible, referring to the most common contemporary usages of each word, and every definition comes with a sample sentence in italics.

Students of Spanish should make it their aim to switch from an English/Spanish dictionary to an all-Spanish dictionary as soon as possible, and Clave is "the" dictionary to move up to. It's so well-written that students will find it enjoyable just to browse through at leisure to improve their vocabulary. People who are already well-versed in Spanish will find it very useful as well. The Manuel Seco and María Moliner dictionary sets are more thorough and certainly not to be dismissed (like Clave, they borrow liberally from the DRAE without being enslaved to it), but for most practical purposes Clave fits the bill of an excellent arm's-reach dictionary. Seco and Moliner are like owning a Humvee, the ultimate vehicle that will do just about anything but is rather large and difficult to park. Clave is like the Ford Taurus that gets you to work and around on errands efficiently, providing you with a decent amount of comfort and amenities along the way.

Now, how to acquire a copy? Clave is readily available in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries in either the paperback or CD-ROM version, and the paperback version seems to be available from some Amazon sites by special order. The book version is easier for just leafing through and building vocabulary, but the CD-ROM version is very handy as a reference if you work at your computer a lot. One little drawback to the CD-ROM version is that the entry box does not erase or reset itself like other dictionaries, i.e. to look up the next word you have to hold down the backspace button and erase the previous word-- weird. Speaking of the CD-ROM format, Editorial Gredos has just released a second version of Moliner on CD-ROM, for those who want its thoroughness without the bulk of the paper version.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, August 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Clave diccionario de uso del español actual (Hardcover)

I purchased this dictionary in Mexico City after seeing the recommendation of Garcia Marquez on the cover. I find this a fabulous buy. The etymological information and the sentences that explain the use of each word clarify subtle shades of meaning brilliantly.