Harper Collins Spanish Pocket Dictionary [Paperback]

HarperCollins Publishers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0060956607 | ISBN-13: 978-0060956608 | Publication Date: May 30, 2000 | Edition: 1st

The HarperCollins Pocket Spanish Dictionary offers quick, at-a-glance coverage targeted for students and travelers. The comprehensive entries provide a wealth of modern and idiomatic phrases not normally found in a dictionary this size.

The special puzzle and word game supplement offers an entertaining way of improving dictionary skills.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

HarperCollins Publishers is one of the world's leading English-language publishers with headquarters in New York. The company is part of News America Publishing Group, a division of News Corporation. The house of Mark Twain, The Brontë sisters, Thackeray, Dickens, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Maurice Sendak, HarperCollins was founded in New York City in 1817 by the brothers James and John Harper. The worldwide book group, which was formed following News Corporation's acquisition of the British publisher William Collins in January 1990, has significant publishing interests in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Collins Reference; 1st edition (May 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060956607
• ISBN-13: 978-0060956608
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,313,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better Spanish-English dictionaries, September 9, 2006

By 

Doug Rice (Twin Falls, ID USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harper Collins Spanish Pocket Dictionary (Paperback)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good overall, better for beginning students, March 25, 2002

By 

Christopher Pohlad-Thomas (Roanoke, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harper Collins Spanish Pocket Dictionary (Paperback)

This is a good dictionary, consisting of over 70,000 translations, with an interesting game section in the middle to hone your skills. More geared towards the beginning Spanish person.

4.0 out of 5 stars Needed resource, March 29, 2011

By 

Diane Blodgett "Spanish dancer" (Perkasie, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Harper Collins Spanish Pocket Dictionary (Paperback)

I have a copy of this dictionary but it has been used so much it is falling apart. I needed a replacement. I teach ESL to mostly to Spanish-speakers so this book is invaluable.