Diccionario español/inglés - inglés/español: The Pocket Oxford Spanish

Series Copy:
The new Pocket Oxford Dictionaries are complete and handy references to foreign languages designed to meet the needs of the native English speaking student. Based on such landmark editions as the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary and Oxford Spanish Dictionary, the Pockets offer the same breadth and depth of scholarship in a convenient carry-along format. Each dictioanry provides extensie guidance to the meaning and use of over 80,000 words and phrases, and more than 100,000 translations, making them the most authoritative and succinct lexicons on the market. From the student to the business person to the traveler, these are essential resources for anyone hoping to perfect their language skills.
Praise for the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary:
A treasure which comes at a bargain price."--American Translators Association Chronicle
Praise for the Oxford Spanish Dictionary:
"Gives users all the necessary and expected helps for pronunciation, regional labels, subject labels, collocations, colloquial usage, style levels, and the more popular technical and scientific terms....It carris a responsible price, is based on a corpus of contemporary material, and is recommended for its helpfulness in choosin which word of many offered is le mot juste."--American Translators Association Chronicle Covering the most commonly used vocabulary of the Spanish speaking world, the Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary offers over 80,000 words and phrases, and more than 115,000 translations from twenty-five varieties of Spanish with fuller coverage of Latin-American Spanish and contemporary American English than any dictionary of comparable size. This outstanding dictionary is based on over ten years of research and has been compiled from a unique electronic database of current language reflecting the efforts of a team of lexicographers from the United States, Latin America, Great Britain, and Spain, who painstakingly investigated vocabulary, meanings, and grammatical usage in their particular regions. The result is a work of unprecedented authority that accurately reflects how both languages are spoken and written in all contexts--from literature to informal speech to technical and scientific publications--and in all locales. Throughout, thematic boxes deal with key areas such as age, time, countries, and sports, while a center section provides sample letters, CVs, small advertisements, job applications, tips on making reservations, and general advice on formulating letters in Spanish. In addition, comprehensive and lucid guidance on key constructions, complementation, and difficult points of grammar, as well as complete verb tables make grasping the Spanish language less daunting and more enjoyable.
Completely up-to-date with the latest words and expressions and thousands of example sentences carefully selected from real speech and written sources to illustrate the full range of meanings and typical contexts, The Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary will be indispensable to anyone looking for a quick and easy reference to the Spanish language.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195213467
• ISBN13: 9780195213461
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 992 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 1.8" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Great dictionary, same as the Oxford Spanish Desk Dictionary

I did a lot of comparison shopping among Spanish-English dictionaries of similar size (or slightly smaller) and like this one best. I wanted to mention an interesting detail: For some inexplicable reason, the Oxford Spanish Desk Dictionary and the Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary appear to be the same book, and are the same size. The only difference is that the "desk" dictionary is the hardcover version (the listed dimensions are very slightly larger because the hard cover extends beyond the page edges just a bit). The "pocket" dictionary is just the softcover version of same. Now, why the "desk" version and the "pocket" version are the same size, I'll never know -- and, in fact, this "pocket" dictionary is much larger than a pocket-sized paperback -- not a big deal as long as you know what you are getting. Nonetheless, a great dictionary, and I highly recommend it. I just thought this was an interesting bit of information.

Among the better Spanish-English dictionaries

My Master's thesis was a review and rating of Spanish-English dictionaries. I find this dictionary, like all the other Oxford 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. Oxford 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." Oxford 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. 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, Oxford is a dictionary you would certainly be pleased with.

IT'S A LITTLE BIGGER BUT WORTH CARRYING AROUND

THIS IS A GOOD ONE. MANY SMALLER POCKET DICTIONARIES ARE WORTHLESS...THIS ONE JUST ABOUT ALWAYS HAS THE WORD I AM LOOKING FOR WITH GOOD SYNONYMS AND EXPLANATIONS. IT WILL FITIN A PURSE OR BACKPACK EASILY AND IS WELL WORTH ITS WEIGHT WITHTHE INSIGHT IT PROVIDES

The Best Translation Dictionary!

I am a student in Spainsh and this dictionary really helped me. Its easy to find words quickly and it is very up to date with the times. So if your a person intrested in learning Spainsh or are in Spainsh class this book has: pronuciation, how to write different letters in Spainsh or English, and many other useful features. So if you don't like to waste your time and want something helpful this is for you!

Not your abuelo's Spanish dictionary

After too many years I decided it was time to retire the well-thumbed Cassell's from my undergraduate days, and I'm glad I did.Carvajal's Pocket Oxford features modern word choices and intelligible definitions, in place of the quaint usages and ambiguous synonyms that used to keep me thumbing back and forth through the dictionary as though it was a thesaurus, trying to figure out which word was the right one for a given context. It offers ample pronunciation and grammatical cues for each entry, including details less sophisticated dictionaries leave out, such as the pronunciations of Spanish words which don't follow Spanish orthography (el "handicap" is pronounced /'xandicap/ not /an'dicap/) and distinctions between countable and uncountable nouns in English (you can pass "two rolls" across the table but usually not "two breads"). Where more explanation is required, it makes frequent use of sidebars (clothing measures, the rules for compound nouns, and the niceties of synonyms for "toilet"). It keeps up with new vocabulary ("el Internet") and includes ample coverage of European and American usage in both languages. Place names appear together with regular entries, not relegated to a gazeteer in the back. Clearly some real thought went into the usability of this dictionary.My one word of caution is that the word "pocket" doesn't really apply to this book any more; it's a little hefty for travel use. But at 80,000 entries it it complete enough to cover most needs without the overwhelming bulk of an unabridged dictionary.