Customer Reviews

Concise Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary

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Due to some erroneous links and reviews posted for the unabridged edition Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary here at the "Concise" edition's product page, I'm posting notes here for clarification. N.B. the "click to look inside" function currently posted for the Concise Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary actually displays the unabridged, first edition version. One can still get an idea of the Concise's content/quality (and the second, unabridged edition's quality) from this erroneous link.

The Concise Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary (= book-jacket title; title page = Oxford Paravia il dizionario; ISBN-10: 0198607695, from book jacket; ISBN-10: 8839550380, from back cover) is an abridged version of the first edition of the Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary (published in 2001; the 2nd edition Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary is identified by ISBN-10: 0199297754, book jacket & t.p. verso; back cover ISBN-10: 8839550399. The second edition title page verso lists both 2005 and 2006 as publication dates. Amazon may still list the publication date as 2007 (which I believe is the year it was made available in the USA).

The Concise Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary has 1,627 (numbered) pages. The Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary, Second Edition ("OPID2") has "xvi, 2773" (numbered) pages. The OPID2 is a recommended purchase for dedicated students of the Italian language as it is the finest single-volume bilingual Italian-English dictionary on the market today. The finest single-volume monolingual Italian dictionary is the Devoto-Oli Vocabolario della lingua italiana (published by Le Monnier, updated annually), originally authored by Giacomo Devoto and Gian Carlo Oli, now edited by the esteemed linguists, Luca Serianni and Maurizio Trifone. (you can purchase the Devoto-Oli through several online Italian book vendors--amazon often censors URL references to other sites)

The Concise Oxford Paravia Dictionary may very well be the finest concise bilingual Italian-English/English Italian Dictionary, though it is published only in hardcover and is slightly larger in format than, e.g., the excellent Webster's New World Italian Dictionary: Italian/English, English/Italian (ISBN-10: 0139536396; paperback, c.1985, reprint 1992). If you purchase the unabridged Oxford Paravia, you may choose the that-much-more-portable Webster's to carry to Italian classes, for your backpack, etc., over the Concise Oxford Paravia.

That said, The Concise Oxford Paravia is an excellent, less-expensive choice for those who will not be purchasing the unabridged OPID2, or can wait for a later unabridged edition when they are further along in their studies. The "Concise" includes many of the "side-bar" features--themed vocabularies, added information on keywords, etc.--that are features of both unabridged Oxford Paravia editions, but are not features of the (still very fine) Webster's. [9/29/08]

[see my ITALIAN LANGUAGE STUDIES listmania and other lists and reviews I've posted for more Italian-student-friendly products]

Maria Garcia Bonini "Marcelarte"'s review is correct in saying the paper cover on this dictionary is misleading. Those seeking an Italian-English dictionary, might not realize this is exactly that. Those buying this as an Italian dictionary (in spite of the cover actually being in English) will not be getting what they want. The paper cover really should be changed.

Having said that, I really like this dictionary. I like that the beginning pages help you with Italian pronunciation and how the dictionary itself works. What I really appreciate is that most of the Italian words come with lots of context sentences so you can make sure you're using the words in the correct sense. It also seems like this dictionary would be good for Italian folks looking for the English words.

Warning: I guess in order to keep the size of this information-packed dictionary to a minimum, the print is really small, so some people (like me!) might need to put on their reading glasses during use.

The Oxford Italian Dictionary is more than we expected. Very practical in example and useful for translators. I wish I had gotten ahold of it years ago.

My husband and I are native Italian speakers and we have purchased this dictionary to help us with some English terms we might not be familiar with and to find the exact translation of some Italian words.
This is a well-done concise dictionary, perfect to keep at hand while reading a book or to check pronunciation and spelling while writing letters and emails. i would recommend this to anybody that needs a quick but complete reference book

Replaces a horrendous yellowing paperback student dictionary from 25 years ago. For less than 20 bucks ,an affordable beautifully bound wordsmith with just the right amount of explanation and just the right amount of word selection. The paper is so thin yet strong, when you leave it open at an entry, it remains so, when you do eventually put it on the shelf,it will fit, and you do not get a hernia taking it out again.

I like this dictionary so much that when I spilled coffee on my old copy I kept using it until the front cover came off. Then, I found it here on Amazon for this amazing price (it was $75 at a mall bookstore) and I finally replaced it. The definitions provide clear guidelines on usage, to help clarify precisely which definition you're looking for and it alerts you to whether the term is appropriate for British or American English. The Guide to Effective Communication at the end is priceless - I used it to decide what to record on my answering machine in Italy!

Clear, large type. Well bound: this Italian-English dictionary should well serve beginning and intermediate students (either Italians or Anglophones). An excellent value in terms of cost/quality. Exploded views of important verbs appear alphabetically in the main text, both English and Italian, as well as forms with prepositional, etc., attachments. "Lexical notes" appear between the Italian and English sections, and in the back; these notes offer paradigms for irregular verbs and, as well, provide an invaluable section devoted to examples of useful letters in English and Italian (for example, "seeking employment..."). There is even a section illustrating "Italian advertisements." Very helpful even for students of medieval and renaissance Italian literature (but not vice versa).