Which is the Best Engish/French Dictionary?

[Mme poivre]

Hi my dictionary is falling to pieces and though i would buy a new one i would apprecieate any comments on which dictionaries you think are worth the money.

Thanks

Judith

[Clair]

Some suggestions in previous discussions:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1196416/ShowPost.aspx

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/638089/ShowPost.aspx

[mint]

I bought le Robert & Collins via Amazon, had free delivery to the UK and had a friend bring it over.  It is a hefty tome but I have found practically everything I need in it.

I lug it to French class, as much to impress the other students as anything else.[;-)]

Today, I looked up brise-jet and, sure enough, it's there!  And that's about as specialised I need my French to be at the moment![:D]

[Tancrède]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

I bought le Robert & Collins via Amazon, had free delivery to the UK and had a friend bring it over.[/quote]

And another enthusiastic vote here for the large Collins/Robert.

[Chancer]

That is the one that I use and would recommend except brise jet is not in mine [:(] although I do know what one is.

At the moment I have more need of un brise glace [:)]

Mine is a 1996 edition, what is yours SW17?

[mint]

2006, Chancer!  Sorry, some of us are just more advanced than others![:P]

[Frenchie]

I also use the Robert & Collins, very useful and clear.

[Mme poivre]

Thanks for all the responses appreciate it

Clair i did try to search but i keep getting signed out and got annoyed so stopped' lol

[Chancer]

[quote user="Frenchie"]I also use the Robert & Collins, very useful and clear.[/quote]

So thats a 3 way thumbs up for Roberts and Collins, it seems I am in good company [kiss].

I pinched mine off of my neice who whilst being an A grade student at school now has no interest or seemingly any remaining ability in French [:(]

Better that it is in daily use than gathering dust I say.

I still have my little Collins gem E/F F/E dictionary from junior school circa 1969, the typface is a little difficult to read now [;-)]

[mint]

Typeface or eyesight, Chancer?  No, I'm NOT being unkind but I know you like a joke against yourself as well as against somebody else!

[NormanH]

 From this thread, and Cathy's a bit further below I am interested that people still use book form dictionaries.

Perhaps for academic work I might have consulted the OED, but nowadays with sites such as

http://www.online-translator.com/

and more importantly perhaps the associated forum

http://forum.wordreference.com/

where you can ask questions and discuss the best translation, or how to get a phrase which matches it seems to me that the Internet is a more flexible tool.

For a quick solution an electronic dictionary, is the preferred option of a couple of translators I know, and more easily portable than a book.

[Mme poivre]

The reason is NormanH is that i am trying to complete a GSCE in French and am not allowed to use the online translators to complete the work.

I am at present trying ( not very successfully) to write two short essays for the next module.

I find the writing of french much more difficult than the speaking and reading so i am trying my hardest to learn to.

[NormanH]

I didn't realise the precise context

I understand about online translators of a whole passage. Anyway they often come up with nonsense.

There are however online dictionaries (the site I linked to was one), as there are electronic ones.

On any case good luck with your studies...[:D]

[Mme poivre]

Thanks NormanH

It might be a good idea it would also fit in my hand bag when in france if a small one.

Thanks i need all the help i can get.

[allanb]

[quote user="NormanH"]From this thread, and Cathy's a bit further below I am interested that people still use book form dictionaries...[/quote]I think book-form dictionaries will survive.  They continue to work during power cuts, and can be taken to meetings.  They can also be used to prevent important papers from blowing away. 

I have the Collins-Robert and I particularly like the section at the back suggesting different ways of expressing things, under headings like "doubt", "disagreement", "approval", "apology", and so on.

Incidentally, I didn't know brise-jet and wordreference.com didn't find it, but it's in my Collins-Robert together with seven other compounds of brise; wordreference.com only had brise-glace and brise-tout.  Of course, that may not be a typical example.

[Chancer]

[quote user="sweet 17"]Typeface or eyesight, Chancer?  No, I'm NOT being unkind but I know you like a joke against yourself as well as against somebody else![/quote]

Definitely eyesight hence the [;-)] smiley!

[Judith]

[quote user="Chancer"]

I still have my little Collins gem E/F F/E dictionary from junior school circa 1969, the typface is a little difficult to read now [;-)]

[/quote]

Me too!  Hubby usually (or at least used to) carry it in his jacket pocket - hence it is rather dog-eared, and I agree, the print is a little small - these days!  But still useful and often guides you to a way of saying / asking for something, even if not perfect.  A good aide-memoire even now!

[NormanH]

[quote user="allanb"][quote user="NormanH"]From this thread, and Cathy's a bit further below I am interested that people still use book form dictionaries...[/quote]I think book-form dictionaries will survive.  They continue to work during power cuts, and can be taken to meetings.  They can also be used to prevent important papers from blowing away. 

I have the Collins-Robert and I particularly like the section at the back suggesting different ways of expressing things, under headings like "doubt", "disagreement", "approval", "apology", and so on.

Incidentally, I didn't know brise-jet and wordreference.com didn't find it, but it's in my Collins-Robert together with seven other compounds of brise; wordreference.com only had brise-glace and brise-tout.  Of course, that may not be a typical example.

[/quote]

But does your Collins-Robert have pictures?

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=brise-jet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=-0ZHS5KkA5C14gauy62IAw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCEQsAQwAw

[mint]

I enjoyed allanb's post, Norman, and therefore, on this accasion, I have to say that pictures are for the verbally challenged![:D] Please, don't take offence, that remark's a bit tongue in cheek.

BTW, Gengulphus told me months ago (after I told him that I read books on line) that books on line just aren't the same as real books because you can't take them to bed or read them in the bath,etc.

So, I do agree that dictionaries have to be portable to enable one to take them to meetings, French classes, the doctor's and so on and that on-line dictionaries just do not "do it" for me![:D]

[Clarkkent]

Well, I'm quite happy with my Oxford-Hachette. It looks very academic with its blue binding and blue jacket.

It may not be on-line, but it does tell me how to use the internet and e-mail as well as giving me lots of sample letters - in English and French and lots of information about grammar and aspects of culture. Oh, and it contains an entry for brise-jet.

[Mme poivre]

My dictionary that is falling to pieces does nto have any of that or the workd brise-jet so will definitely be looking for a more up-to-date/modern dictionary

[allanb]

[quote user="NormanH"]But does your Collins-Robert have pictures?[/quote]

No, I have to admit defeat there.  But I like pictures too, and being a bit of a dictionary nut I also have the Petit Larousse Illustré, which does have pictures - very good ones.  It's not so petit, actually: a bit heavier than Collins-Robert.  (Useful on an exceptionally windy day.) 

Sometimes you need an explanation rather than a translation, and then a "native" dictionary can be very useful, with or without a picture. 

I've found that you can often acquire dictionaries quite cheaply if you look for the previous edition soon after a new one has come out.

 

[Gardengirl]

We also have the Collins Robert, which lives in France. In UK we mostly use a 1995 edition of a smallish Collins one. Also on the shelf is a very small Collins edition dated inside 24/03/1967. I bought it just before leaving for a course in Paris, with very little knowledge of French. The price was 5 shillings, and it's in pretty good condition, considering the amount of use it used to get!

[Chancer]

I stopped carrying a dictionary with me outside of the house in my very early days as it had become a crutch, once you master being able to say "I didnt understand *********, what does it mean, can you give me a synonym" you dont really need one and you tend to learn words and phrases much faster, albeit sometimes incorrectly as later on you may hear them spoken in a different context. This is where I now use my dictionary, to check or confirm my understanding of something I have heard or read.

I reckon that I stopped carrying it even for important meetings after about 3 months, its funny now to look back and remember the feeling  of horror (in the early months) at having arrived at a destination only to find I had left the dictionary at home [:'(]

Does anyone else remember or identify with that feeling of panic?

[mint]

Bien sùr, no dictionary, now what?

But, as you say, you soon get used to flying by the seat of your pants.  Now, I'd even pick up the phone without first preparing what I'm going to say!

Went to the carrossier about my car and even negotiated a reduction in the price by saying I'd pay him in "especes", so you see, all things are possible!