Franklin BES-1840 Speaking Spanish/English Dictionary

by Franklin Electronics

Product Details

Product Manual [443kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches ; 9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00000JSFW
• Item model number: BES-1840
• Batteries: 4 AAA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 1, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Franklin's BES-1840 Speaking Desktop Spanish Master with the Larousse dictionary is a portable electronic Spanish dictionary with an eight-line display. Its features include over 2.5 million translations, ClariSpeech, advanced verb conjugations, cultural notes, travelers' phrases, grammar guide, Test of English as a Foreign Language word list, and much more.

With this electronic dictionary you can translate words instantly and hear how they are pronounced or conjugate verbs at the touch of a button. You can use the grammar guide to learn parts of speech and verb tenses. You also have access to a variety of helpful travelers' phrases recorded in a human voice.

To expand your knowledge of Spanish culture, you can explore the built-in cultural notes. This unit allows you to create your own study list of words and instantly highlight a word and find its translation. Franklin's BES-1840 teaches a new Spanish word each time you turn the unit on. This dictionary is so powerful it can find words for you even when you've misspelled them.

Product Description

Over 2,000,000 Translations on an 8-line display with 100% more viewable text and Calrispeech pronunciations; expandable BOOKMAN, advanced verb conjugation, grammer guide, TOEFL, plus over 1,000 travelers' phrases.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Looks great, but sadly has many usability design flaws., May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Franklin BES-1840 Speaking Spanish/English Dictionary (Office Product)

I have been using Franklin translators for a few years. This new model has great software and is very attractive, but has serious design flaws. The buttons are too small and hard to push. Entering words is slower on this model than on the older, uglier, yet better designs. The screen design is severly flawed. The first line (which is the most important) is very hard to see unless there is light directly on it. It always seems to be hidden by the shadow of the case. VERY frustrating. The four keys to the left of the screen are way to small and way to hard to push. The "lang" key is used often, and it is very frustrating to have to push so hard to make it work.

If you're looking for a translator for merely occasional use, this would be okay. But for anyone that wants a useful tool, you will find the BES-1840 to be terribly frustrating to use.

It's sad that Franklin decided to go for looks over functionality. It could have been an amazing product. Look for older models if you can still find them, and hope that Franklin solves some of these design problems in their next model or an upgrade.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Functions but could have been built better, December 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Franklin BES-1840 Speaking Spanish/English Dictionary (Office Product)

I bought this as a Gift. While the functions are great, and the dictionary and "Say" feature are outstanding, we did have some problems with the device. Because of the way the display is built, it is very difficult to read the top line of the display when the ambient lighting is not perfect. We also had some problems with the unit locking up and not working until we took the batteries out and re-inserted them. All in all Great content and functions, but there may be some problems with reliability. I hope Franklin will keep that in mind for the next version.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars excellent software, poor design., July 20, 2000

By 

LIF Master (Boston, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Franklin BES-1840 Speaking Spanish/English Dictionary (Office Product)

This product is a mixed blessing. The software and the features it offers are outstanding: it has full comprehensive English/Spanish, Spanish/English translations including complete conjugation of verbs, numerous useful phrases, expressions and idioms, plus the ability to pronounce all words. These features make it an invaluable tool in learning Spanish or English.

However, it is mindboggling why the people at Franklin decided to make this electronic translator aerodynamic. It's not supposed to fly after all! Unfortunately, they have traded functionality for looks: the buttons are very small and hard to press which gets to be very annoying after a while. Most importantly, the screen is hard to read (you have to look at it at an angle to avoid seeing the reflection of yourself). Finally, the top line is generally hard to read which is very disturbing since it is usually the most important line.

I sincerely hope that the design flaws will be fixed in the next version - it would make a trully exceptional product.