Customer Reviews

Langenscheidt Standard Dictionary Italian: Italian-English/English-Italian (Langenscheidt Standard Dictionaries)

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I'm very pleased with this dictionary. I keep it handy while researching and learning. My level of expertise in the language is, to say the least, at a beginner level, so it's great to have a dictionary around when I completely forget what "scarpa" means. Like any less-than-OED dictionary there are some baffling omissions (for example, there's no entry for "bell pepper," which is not good because one thing I need to know how to say when I visit Italy this fall is "my dear friend here is violently and deathly allergic to bell peppers," though I notice now that I look again that it's located under "green pepper" instead, so maybe it IS more complete than I'd thought). I got this from the library, but I'm going to be buying it on payday now that I've gotten to test drive it a bit (read: "the library is getting sick of me re-checking it out and is going to demand I return it one of these days"). It's satisfyingly thick with tabs that make finding words easier, and it does have a wealth of idiomatic expressions that are proving quite handy to have. I recommend it to any student of the language.

I won't have a lot of luggage room, but my copy of this dictionary's coming to Italy with me.

This may be the ideal dictionary to take with you when travelling and an extensive vocabulary is needed. The print is a little on the small side so a magnifying glass may be necessary for older folk (like me). I have both the thumb indexed and the plain versions and I believe the plain version is better because the format isn't large and the holes cut out to accomodate the thumb index make for a very scalloped edge which tends to tear more easily than than the plain one. The cover is easily cleanable should this be necessary. Also, the tables of irregular Italian verbs are very extensive. The dictionary also has an extensive section giving most Italian abbreviations.

We own four of Langenscheidt's Standard Dictionaries... and they
are nice because they are durable as well as go beyond a child's
vocabulary.

I haven't been using the dictionary for long, and I tend to use it in conjuction with an online dictionary, but it seems pretty good so far. I like that it has gramatical tables in the front. I've only noticed one conflict between it and my Italian composition professor(who is a native speaker) and that was with the word for 'sunday school'.

I found this dictionary to be most helpful in overall word translation. However, I believe it absolutely needs pronunciation keys (or explanations)with each word being translated. Yes that may add a few more pages overall, but it would be well worth it. It also has a good listing of verb endings and some key pronunciation information. During my initial purchase on Amazon, I could have sworn that the description listed that some key words were printed in blue. I have yet to see that in the dictionary I was sent.

Overall, I would recommend purchasing this book for school or work, but I also strongly suggest purchasing a copy of "Italian for Dummies" as well. "Italian for Dummies" is terrific for learning overall pronunciation, verb usage as well as useful information on Italian protocols.