I will post this in case anyone else can benefit from it...
My Spanish-English dictionary of choice -- I am practically in love with it-- is _The Oxford Spanish Dictionary_ (1994). Why do I adore it so? It is nearly 2000 pages of Spanish/English goodness, including >275,000 words/phrases, >450,000 translations, verb tables (every single verb in the dictionary is matched to a particular conjugation pattern found at the back of the book), aid with correspondence, weights and measures conversions, and lots of other helpful features.
My favorite thing about this dictionary, however, is its inclusion of regional idioms and slang. Spanish varies markedly between countries, and this dictionary includes a tremendous number of those regional distinctions. For example, "chamaco" is a Mexican word meaning "boy" or "kid"... Though it is found only in the vocabulary of one Spanish-speaking country, it is included in the dictionary with the annotation "(Méx fam)," indicating that it is a familiar (as opposed to formal) Mexican expression. The same is done for regionalisms of Central America, the Caribbean, the Southern Cone, Spain, and all the other Spanish-speaking countries/regions.
As you can see, I could go on all day about this, but I will spare you...
The _Oxford_ dictionary definitely has French, Italian, German, and Russian counterparts, which I imagine are equally comprehensive. I'd be willing to wager they also offer comparable dictionaries in other languages. (Try looking here.) The dictionaries run somewhere in the vicinity of $45, and they are well worth the price.
I have yet to find a truly comprehensive Brazilian Portuguese or Hebrew dictionary, but, then, I haven't really looked very hard. If anyone knows of one, let me know. (You can use heidipom@hotmail.com for now, as I will be switching ISPs shortly.)
I hope that from this long-winded explanation you were able to derive some substantial content.:)
Ah, true... I had not considered that because the dictionaries I have do indeed indicate how to conjugate each verb... I still would take a quality dictionary (one that includes conjugation keys, idiomatic expressions, street slang, etc.) over a mediocre web-based alternative any day though... (Sorry, I'm a bit of a language aficionado, so this is an area of particular interest to me:))
I have attempted to use babelfish for my Spanish, Portuguese, and French translations, and I have found that you'd be much better off using a current (that is, published in the last five-or-so years), comprehensive dictionary (yes, *gasp*...the kind with the actual pages...) for all of your translation needs. In my fairly extensive translation experience, I have found babelfish to be basically useless if one is looking to translate more than one word or a pair of words. It serves no purpose otherwise, as the word-for-word translations do not lend themselves to the interpretation of idioms, expressions, or even alternate meanings of words. As for the guy who wants to travel Europe, it might be best to invest in some portable language dictionaries.
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My Spanish-English dictionary of choice -- I am practically in love with it-- is _The Oxford Spanish Dictionary_ (1994). Why do I adore it so? It is nearly 2000 pages of Spanish/English goodness, including >275,000 words/phrases, >450,000 translations, verb tables (every single verb in the dictionary is matched to a particular conjugation pattern found at the back of the book), aid with correspondence, weights and measures conversions, and lots of other helpful features.
My favorite thing about this dictionary, however, is its inclusion of regional idioms and slang. Spanish varies markedly between countries, and this dictionary includes a tremendous number of those regional distinctions. For example, "chamaco" is a Mexican word meaning "boy" or "kid"... Though it is found only in the vocabulary of one Spanish-speaking country, it is included in the dictionary with the annotation "(Méx fam)," indicating that it is a familiar (as opposed to formal) Mexican expression. The same is done for regionalisms of Central America, the Caribbean, the Southern Cone, Spain, and all the other Spanish-speaking countries/regions.
As you can see, I could go on all day about this, but I will spare you...
The _Oxford_ dictionary definitely has French, Italian, German, and Russian counterparts, which I imagine are equally comprehensive. I'd be willing to wager they also offer comparable dictionaries in other languages. (Try looking here.) The dictionaries run somewhere in the vicinity of $45, and they are well worth the price.
I have yet to find a truly comprehensive Brazilian Portuguese or Hebrew dictionary, but, then, I haven't really looked very hard. If anyone knows of one, let me know. (You can use heidipom@hotmail.com for now, as I will be switching ISPs shortly.)
I hope that from this long-winded explanation you were able to derive some substantial content. :)
Ah, true... I had not considered that because the dictionaries I have do indeed indicate how to conjugate each verb... I still would take a quality dictionary (one that includes conjugation keys, idiomatic expressions, street slang, etc.) over a mediocre web-based alternative any day though... (Sorry, I'm a bit of a language aficionado, so this is an area of particular interest to me :))
I have attempted to use babelfish for my Spanish, Portuguese, and French translations, and I have found that you'd be much better off using a current (that is, published in the last five-or-so years), comprehensive dictionary (yes, *gasp* ...the kind with the actual pages...) for all of your translation needs. In my fairly extensive translation experience, I have found babelfish to be basically useless if one is looking to translate more than one word or a pair of words. It serves no purpose otherwise, as the word-for-word translations do not lend themselves to the interpretation of idioms, expressions, or even alternate meanings of words. As for the guy who wants to travel Europe, it might be best to invest in some portable language dictionaries.