35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Okay for travelling students and reading the newspaper. Bad otherwise., January 26, 2006
This review is from: Larousse Pocket Dictionary: French-English/English-French (French Edition) (Paperback)
I'm studying in Switzerland right now. I came to this country because it has 4 official languages, and I'm studying two of them. What that means for me is a massive backpack, and thus, when I went to purchase a French dictionary, I chose a Pocket-size one - in this case, the Larousse.
While its bigger brothers may be good dictionaries, this cut-down version contains literal translations of words and very little if any contextual information. Even if you know the word, the 1-to-1 match-up game doesn't work in learning foreign languages, and that's where this dictionary can lead.
I think it's most useful for reading the journal, esp. for students who have Romance Language background and simply need to know what a word is but have the capacity to put it into context. All and all, not a bad reference text, but nothing exciting.
One plus is that there is a black lining to distinguish the French from the English section, and there are over 80,000 translations contained in a relatively small, portable format.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, September 8, 2005
This review is from: Larousse Pocket Dictionary: French-English/English-French (French Edition) (Paperback)
A rather disappointing compact version of the much better larger format Larousse dictionary. I bought it for travel purposes, and was alarmed at how many French words I encountered on signs, in newspapers and elsewhere which were not in this dictionary. If you're serious about the language, this pocket dictionary is less than satisfying. Even for casual references, I found it less than helpful.
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62 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best In It's Class, May 21, 2004
This review is from: Larousse Pocket Dictionary: French-English/English-French (French Edition) (Paperback)
The Larousse Pocket Dictionary manages to walk the line between too much and too little. Many compact translation dictionarys have too few words. They are so compact that they become impractical. While on the other hand, this little book is complete while not exhausting. You will be able to find the words for:
---"Excuse me, I am a member of the Tunis Police Force and you seem to be parked illigally"
you will not however find the words for:
---"Confound it, Stop snorkeling your hot-n-tots at that Yak"
Happy Translating...
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