Customer Reviews

Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just coming from the bookstore I felt like writing a positive review about this book. In particular, I'd like to comment on how impressed I was at the clarity and legibility of the typography in this particular dictionary.

I own the "DRAE" (Diccionario de la Real Academia) in two volumes, small edition, also published by the "Real Academia Española". The small and narrow printing in that edition of the DRAE is truly aweful, making it really uncomfortable and uninviting -even painful- to use. This dictionary, on the other hand, and in my humble opinion, is a showcase of typographical clarity.

The paper used in this book is extremely smooth to the touch and very slightly smoked clear white. Letters are precisely imprinted over that smooth canvas using truly sharp black ink, providing excellent contrast. Absolutely no fuzzy/faint/smeared letters. Moreover, the letters are printed using a really nice type, and what is more, in a size particularly comfortable to read. This is such a fortunate combination of typographical variables, in my opinion not that common to find in dictionaries nowadays, regardless of language and publishing company.

The layout is not perfect though. The inner margins of pages could be wider. A narrow inner margin leaves text quite too close to the center of the book. So if the book is bulky enough like this one, it's not so easy to read the entries closer to the center of the book. You need to open it up further, enough to get the inner half of the page flatter in front of you to read it more comfortably. Not a huge deal here, but wider inner margins would have made this dictionary even better.

This dictionary is an "Essential" version of the Spanish language. So while it naturally might not have all the entries in the DRAE, it should have the most important and most useful entries (and then some.) Keep in mind, quite a few entries in the DRAE are actually regarded as useless (obsolete) even by professional writers. So the fact that this dictionary contains just an "essential" selection of the language makes it in my opinion quite an authoritative-enough generic Spanish dictionary, even in front of the DRAE.

But the main point in my review, I wish some of my other many dictionaries (both in Spanish and English) had been printed as nicely as this one, or at least even with a fraction of the combination of printing and typographical choices used in this book.

Thanks and congratulations to the Real Academia for such an improvement over the DRAE 2 vol small edition. This is a much more ergonomic and nicely readable dictionary. (Please don't forget slightly wider inner margins next time :-)

PS. I take the opportunity to recommend an awesome Spanish Usage dictionary, which is also wonderfully printed, a pleasure to use: "Diccionario de Uso del Español Actual CLAVE", Ediciones SM, Madrid, 2003.

Excelente Diccionario -- estoy muy contento con mi compra.
Este es el mejor diccionario de la lengua española que he tenido.
Es muy claro y muy fácil de leer -- de alta calidad.

Muy moderno -- la obra fue registrada en 2006,
pero la primera impresión fue distribuida en 2007-01-15.

En mi opinión, toda familia hispana debería tener una copia de este
diccionario en casa y en la oficina.

Este diccionario NO es un diccionario únicamente para los Españoles de España.
Es un diccionario para todo el mundo Hispano.

Quiero aclarar que, aunque este diccionario fue publicado por
la Real Academia Española, también han contribuido las respectivas academias
de la lengua en América Latina y Las Filipinas.

También, contiene bastante definiciones o notas para usos que son únicas
y específicas de los países de las Américas y las Filipinas.

Ademas, contiene bastante definiciones para palabras vulgares como por ejemplo:
-- chingadazo
-- chingadera
-- chingado
-- chingar
-- chingón

La siguiente lista de asociaciones (que participaron en esta obra)
se encuentra en el dorso del diccionario -- indicando la amplitud
de esta obra -- y su relevancia a nivel global.

La Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española:
=========================================
(1713) la Real Academia Española
(1871) la Academia Colombiana de la Lengua
(1874) la Academia Ecuatoriana de la Lengua
(1875) la Academia Mexicana de la Lengua
(1876) la Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua
(1883) la Academia Venezolana de la Lengua
(1885) la Academia Chilena de la Lengua
(1887) la Academia Peruana de la Lengua
(1887) la Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua
(1923) la Academia Costarricense de la Lengua
(1924) la Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española
(1926) la Academia Panameña de la Lengua
(1927) la Academia Cubana de la Lengua
(1927) la Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española
(1927) la Academia Boliviana de la Lengua
(1927) la Academia Dominicana de la Lengua
(1928) la Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua
(1931) la Academia Argentina de Letras
(1943) la Academia Nacional de Letras del Uruguay
(1948) la Academia Hondureña de la Lengua
(1955) la Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española
(1973) la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española

En el dorso del diccionario se encuentran las siguientes notas:

"El léxico esencial y actual del Diccionario académico:
45,000 artículos
110,000 acepciones.

Incluye todo lo aprobado por la Real Academia Española
y la Asociación de Academias en los últimos cinco anos."

También, les recomiendo que visiten el sitio de la Real Academia Española (RAE)
donde encontraran una versión digital de mayor amplitud que contiene muchas
mas palabras y otros recursos -- el sitio se encuentra en: www.rae.es.
Por igual, el diccionario en linea también abarca la lengua española a nivel global.

Las definiciones son claras y modernas. También me gusta que se hayan omitido las palabras arcaicas y que hayan colaborado las academias de prácticamente todos los países de habla hispana. Excelente publicación.

El precio es bajo comparado con la alta calidad de presentacion e impresion. El tamano de letra es perfecto. Hasta el momento todas mis preguntas han sido respondidas. No necesitas mas.

Este diccionario es muy bueno! Despues de considerar varios diccionarios de la lengua española (incluyendo el DRAE) para comprar, llegue a la conclusion que este era el mejor. Uso este diccionario mayormente para mi estudio biblico ya que el diccionario biblico es limitado. Hasta el dia de hoy, no me arrepiento de la compra----he podido encontrar todas las palabras que busco. El tamaño de las letras es perfecto!

A comment for Spanish students, not native speakers.

I've been learning Spanish for several years and I've acquired several dictionaries: big, unabridged Sp-Eng items and several specialized Sp-only dictionaries. I like them all.

I bought this Diccionario out of curiosity. After all, it's from the Academia! [Note that they also publish delightful editions of famous Spanish literature]. The "good" about dictionaries is that they are relatively inexpensive. Another "good" is that each dictionary has a place in your library. The "bad" is that when you want to dig deep, sometimes no single dictionary suffices.

I've spent several hours with this dictionary, browsing favorite words,etc. and compared its entries with my big, fat Sp-Eng book (there are plenty to choose from). Neither excelled all the time, but por lo general, when I need a dictionary I'd probably grab the big, fat Sp-Eng book before this one. The entries seem more comprehensive and perhaps more entries (though I'm not sure of that). I agree with other reviewers that the book is nicely bound and very readable.

Dictionaries are fun and useful. Fill your shelf with them. Buy this one, but perhaps not the best choice for your first one.

This dictionary is perfect for anyone wanting to move beyond intermediate level Spanish. It contains a vast vocabulary and most of the definitions are clear, simple and easy to follow. The sturdy hardback binding is excellent value for money.

Many words are missing, even though on-line with Real Academia, you can find them. This is an abbreviated dictionary. The full one is two volumes, but its cost was prohibitive. This is a good compromise.

I'm a brazilian person which is very interested in literature. I've been studying English for a good time already, and decided I should finally start studying Spanish. Before anything else, a good Spanish dictionary seemed essential. After weighing up several dictionaries , I thought the "Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition)" would be the best choice.
I'm sure it was a fortunate choice, for the book is beautiful, practical, strong and so on. I commend this book to everyone.

This is the best spanish dictionary hands down- written in Spain by the Academia Espanola.