Customer Reviews

Collins Gem Italian Dictionary: Italian-English English-Italian

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Obviously, a miniature didctionary like this one can't include the amount of information found in a home reference-type dictionary, but for a small travel dictionary, or one for a beginning student of Italian, this one is really good. I used it for a two-week, intensive language course in Rome and every word I needed for class I found in this dictionary. It's also very compact and will fit in a pocket, purse, or fanny-pack. If you want something a little more complete, yet still paperback book-size, I recommend the Bantam New College dictionary. Now, does anyone have a recommendation for a complete, home-reference dictionary???

This listing describes the 4th edition (1998) of the COLLINS GEM ITALIAN DICTIONARY, Italian-English and English-Italian. This new edition updates the original edition, prepared by lexicography firm Lexus, to reflect Collins' Bank of English corpus.

The dictionary is quite large. I've used it for a decade now and have encountered few limitations. It has over 70,000 translations and defines words not only in the standard definition but also in common idiomatic contexts. An appendix lists the numbers in Italian and English and explains how they are used in dates and times. For me, a wonderful thing about this dictionary is that it gives phonetic transcriptions in IPA for many Italian words, clarifying for example when the letter o represents an open-mid back rounded vowel and when it represents a close-mid back rounded vowel, a tricky issue for learners.

While the paper on some Collins Gem dictionaries tends to yellow, my Italian dictionary still looks good as new, and the vinyl cover has proven quite durable. All in all, this is an excellent pocket dictionary I would highly recommend. It's well represented on the used market, so it can be had economically.