Dictionaries between two languages word to word always give a sense of 'half truth' and you're never sure about the accurcy of the translation. Let's say you want to lookup a Spanish word, if you've gotten to the level where you're comfortable using a regular Spanish dictionary then this is probably the best choice. But if you're not there yet, then the definitions in Spanish may require to much effort to understand. My suggestion is to create a Spanish-English dictionary by taking a Spanish dictionary and translating only the definitions to English, this way you get the richness of a dictionary without the risk of not understanding the definition (of course a possible single-word translation can appear at the end of the definition).
-- gamb, Apr 13 2004

This is not a bad idea but ultimately this is probably it would only be needed for the transitory stage when you are unable to read a Spanish dictionary in Spanish. I've reached that stage in my French, for example, and to get there I recommend people read newspapers in your second language of choice.
-- Aristotle, Apr 13 2004


Mis-read this at first, thought it was "Excuse the French." That would have been a dreadful idea. This one's quite good though. +
-- spacemoggy, Apr 13 2004


Like this: "panadería - Office of baker. Site, house or place where the bread becomes or sells."?
-- FarmerJohn, Apr 13 2004


nice idea.
-- po, Apr 13 2004


Works only insofar as the definitions match, which they generally don't. You're still essentially thinking in English: you need to make the jump to think in French (say), where the very thoughts and concepts you are trying to express are different. (This is why you get culture shock going from Britain to America and vice versa: it doesn't matter that you're using the same words, because you're using them differently.)
-- DrCurry, Apr 13 2004


What [DC] said.
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Apr 13 2004


thats true! the trouble I get myself into is no-one's business!
-- po, Apr 13 2004



random, halfbakery