Customer Reviews

Langenscheidt Universal Dictionary Portuguese/English-English/Portuguese

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

 

 

I was barely a beginer at portugese when I left on ym trip, and this dictionary was a huge help. When I didn't know a word all I had to do was look up the word and if all else failed point to it so that a Brazilian could explain. It worked beutifully for being able to stick it in my pocket and not having it get in the way for the month I was there. Small, portable if you are looking for somethign to take with you get it, if you are studying, get a better one.

Overall a good dictionary, but lacking in one key area.

First the good. The words are broken up by syllable, and in portuguese that's very important because of how important stressing the penultimate syllable is in portuguese.

Now the bad: If you're an english speaker like me, and you're trying to figure out past tense of portuguese, you're out of luck. Common past tense words like "foi" (past tense of portugese's "to be" verb, ser which is irregular) do not get referenced to their infinitive. In fact theydon't get referenced at all. In the english to portuguese section of the book, they list irregular verbs and their other forms so that portuguese speakers can learn them, but a similar feature is absent in the portuguese to english section.

This bad point makes this reference useless for me as a beginning student. I have bought this, but I'm going to have to get another dictionary.

Note: the dictionary I have is last copyrighted 1989 and doesn't feature such recent common words as "internet".

I've always been very impressed with Langensheidt's dictionaries, but this one is terrible. The editors did not do a very good job in streamlining it to make it a tiny pocket dictionary. Some definitions appear to be simply wrong. Many common words are missing. And words that are in the English section are not necessarily in the Portuguese section and vice versa. (For instance, look up the English word "helmet," and you are given the Portuguese word "elmo." But "elmo" is not listed in the Portuguese section of the dictionary. My Portuguese-speaking friend and I find this book of little help in trying to communicate with each other. Look elsewhere.

If you need a reference for pronunciation of
words like 'São' and 'Informações',
This is not your dictionary!
Dipthong pronunciation seems to have
been completely overlooked in this
dictionary.
(Dipthongs are two letter combinations
with a unique sound)