Customer Reviews

The Collins Gem Spanish Dictionary: Spanish-English/English-Spanish (5th Edition)

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My Master's thesis was a review and rating of Spanish-English dictionaries. I find this dictionary, like all the other Collins dictionaries, to be a good choice.

Here are a few of the factors which distinguish a good bilingual dictionary from a bad one.

To begin with, ignore certain publishers' marketing ploys such as entry and translation counts. They say nothing about the value of the words chosen.

The first valid factor to consider is lexicographic technique. A bad dictionary simply lists translations. Take, for example, the entry in the Cassell's Spanish Dictionary under the English headword loop: "lazo, gaza, nudo; ojal, presilla, alamar; anillo; recodo, comba, curva, vuelta," etc. For the English reader writing in Spanish, this is hopelessly inadequate, as the dictionary provides no clue as to which translation to use in which situation.

Compare the treatment of the same word in the far superior American Heritage Spanish Dictionary. "(length of line) lazo; (coil) vuelta; (bend) curva; (circular path) vuelta, circuito; (fastener) presilla" etc. Here, the user is given glosses in the native language to assist in identifying the right word for the context. Example sentences are also a tremendous help. Collins is excellent in this respect, presenting good information to guide users through the semantic and syntactic complexities.

Second, a good dictionary should maintain an up-to-date lexicon, including such cultural and technological additions to the language as "baby sitter," "hostile takeover," "software," "flash drive." Collins is a leader in this respect; its frequent revisions are more than mere window dressing and do a creditable job of covering the most recent additions to the language.

Third, idioms, slang, and cusswords can present real problems to the language learner, and a dictionary needs to handle them in a clear and frank fashion. This dictionary gets it right, giving stylistic equivalents for translations as well as clear advice to the user.

One complaint about Collins dictionaries is that they often presents Britishisms without labeling them as such. Revisions have only partially corrected the problem. For this reason, I would not recommend this dictionary to native Spanish speakers in the US.

Be careful when you choose a bilingual dictionary, as some of the choices--Cassell's and Vox, for example--are downright terrible. The field of large dictionaries stays relatively static over time, and the best choices in it by far are Oxford, Collins, and Larousse. The field of small dictionaries, on the other hand, has many more players. While not the only good choice, Collins is a dictionary most users would be pleased with.

This review is for the Amazon listing describing the third edition of the COLLINS GEM SPANISH DICTIONARY, English-Spanish and Spanish-English, which appeared in 1993 and was reprinted in 1995.

The dictionary contains over 40,000 references and 70,000 translations. Like the Collins Gem German dictionary, this one adopts the helpful feature of boxing out "keywords", Spanish words with many idiomatic usages, and giving them appropriate coverage. The pronunciation of English and Spanish words are given in phonetic transcription (IPA). For English the Received Pronunciation is given, while for Spanish one finds the standard Castilian pronunciation of Spain. This is understandable, as Collins is a British publisher. An appendix at the end of the dictionary has a table of irregular Spanish verbs and gives numbers in English and Spanish along with information on telling time.

I've had this dictionary for a decade now, and while the paper has yellowed somewhat, it has not become brittle and the cover has withstood getting knocked about in my pocket or suitcase. It proved very useful during a residence in Spain, and I still refer to it in reading Spanish literature without encountering many limitations. I'd recommend seeking out a copy, it's well represented on the used market. Also, if you are a foreigner grappling with Spanish, I'd recommend the book Collins Gem Spanish Verb Tables and Grammar which complements the dictionary well (and matches it in appearance).