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Rating: 
Summary: Well balanced dictionary. I use it more than any other!
Review: I was surprised to see that this dictionary shared many of the definitions with the Harper Collins Italian College Dictionary. Then I noticed that Catherine E. Love was involved in the editing of both. It appears that the Harper Collins book is an expanded version of the Webster's New World Italian Dictionary.What do I love about this book? (1)It's size is perfect for carrying from room to room. The larger dictionaries are too heavy and large. (2)The print, while not as large as the College format, is large enough to read comfortably. (3)the definitions are robust enough for most of my needs. For the price, it's a "no brainer" to buy. If you have the money, I'd also get the Harper Collins College version, if only for those instances where it has a definition that's lacking in the Webster's "concise" version. It happens rarely, but it does happen.
Rating:
Summary: Great Dictionary
Review: I'm a student in a beginning Italian class and I found this book to be excellent. Easy to use and full of information, I'd recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Great Dictionary
Review: I'm a student in a beginning Italian class and I found this book to be excellent. Easy to use and full of information, I'd recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Basic Dictionary with One Small Caveat
Review: I'm new to Italian. I'm studying the language in college. So I was looking for a good dictionary and this is a good one. It has quite a few idiomatic expressions in it as well as the standard definitions of words. My professor has had a few minor disagreements with the dictionary in regard to a couple of definitions. For example, her word for graceful is different than the one provided. But she didn't say the word the dictionary gave was wrong, just not as commonly used. My one caveat is that this is actually a British-Italian dictionary; after all, it's printed in England. As an American, for the most part, that doesn't matter much. When you look up the Italian word, colore, you'll find the British spelling, colour. That's very minor. However, it does make a bit more different in the examples provided. Sometimes, when words are used in a sentence in this dictionary, the example is specific to England. For example, they'll use Pound Sterling in a sentence about money instead of dollars and Euros. Still not a big deal, but something you might want to be aware of. That may explain some of the differences my Italian professor had with the definitions of certain words. But overall, a good basic Italian-English (with a British slant) dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: The best affordable Italian dictionary on the market.
Review: If you're not willing to spend fifty dollars or more and buy a really massive Italian dictionary, this one is the best. For its value, it sells for an absolutely unbeatable price. I've used my copy for about a year and a half and have never ran across a better dictionary. Having tutored several Spanish and German courses, I frequently thumb through some of the pathetic dictionaries my students bring in and I realize exactly why they have difficulty learning a foreign language, or at least a big part of it -- their dictionaries don't provide adequate examples of how the language they're studying actually functions. Naturally, the same goes for Italian. Very few people realize how to use a foreign-language dictionary effectively. You shouldn't regard it as just a "reference" to turn when you can't figure out what a word means. The dictionary is just as important as the grammar -- that is, when you have the right one. A dictionary should be more than a list of words. It should include examples of how each word is used in different circumstances, illustrated by REAL SENTENCES. This is something most dictionaries lack. If I were a beginning student and I wanted to say, for example, "How did he come to be involved in that?", I wouldn't know where to begin using any other dictionary. I could look up the verb, "to involve" and find several verbs, but I'd have no idea which one to pick and what to do with it -- "coinvolgere", "implicare," "essere coinvolto in qualcuno"? At best, most dictionaries only hint at how to use these verbs. The Webster's New World Dictionary not only illustrates how they are actually used by including them in a sentence or two, but also suggests some more idiomatic phrases that might not come to mind. For instance, to say "How did he come to be involved?", a student might put together something like, "Come è venuto essere coninvolto?" -- which is clunky, if not in fact ungrammatical. Something more fluent like, "Come ha fatto a trovarcisi in mezzo?" might never come to mind. But that's one of the examples this dictionary gives to explain the verb "to involve." In addition, the dictionary clarifies how each word is used in different circumstances. While you find this in all dictionaries to some extent, the number of examples this one gives is what makes it better than all the rest. In fact, there are so many of them, organized so well, that since I started studying Italian myself, I've actually read a good part of the dictionary, or at least been copying out some of the entries, playing around with them, comparing related words and expressions. If I had done this with any other dictionary, my brain would have dried up by now! And if you're looking for an excellent Spanish, German, or French dictionary, I recommend the other titles in the Webster's New World series -- I've used them all except the French. Hopefully Webster's will eventually release titles for some less popular languages, too!
Rating:
Summary: The best affordable Italian dictionary on the market.
Review: If you're not willing to spend fifty dollars or more and buy a really massive Italian dictionary, this one is the best. For its value, it sells for an absolutely unbeatable price. I've used my copy for about a year and a half and have never ran across a better dictionary. Having tutored several Spanish and German courses, I frequently thumb through some of the pathetic dictionaries my students bring in and I realize exactly why they have difficulty learning a foreign language, or at least a big part of it -- their dictionaries don't provide adequate examples of how the language they're studying actually functions. Naturally, the same goes for Italian. Very few people realize how to use a foreign-language dictionary effectively. You shouldn't regard it as just a "reference" to turn when you can't figure out what a word means. The dictionary is just as important as the grammar -- that is, when you have the right one. A dictionary should be more than a list of words. It should include examples of how each word is used in different circumstances, illustrated by REAL SENTENCES. This is something most dictionaries lack. If I were a beginning student and I wanted to say, for example, "How did he come to be involved in that?", I wouldn't know where to begin using any other dictionary. I could look up the verb, "to involve" and find several verbs, but I'd have no idea which one to pick and what to do with it -- "coinvolgere", "implicare," "essere coinvolto in qualcuno"? At best, most dictionaries only hint at how to use these verbs. The Webster's New World Dictionary not only illustrates how they are actually used by including them in a sentence or two, but also suggests some more idiomatic phrases that might not come to mind. For instance, to say "How did he come to be involved?", a student might put together something like, "Come è venuto essere coninvolto?" -- which is clunky, if not in fact ungrammatical. Something more fluent like, "Come ha fatto a trovarcisi in mezzo?" might never come to mind. But that's one of the examples this dictionary gives to explain the verb "to involve." In addition, the dictionary clarifies how each word is used in different circumstances. While you find this in all dictionaries to some extent, the number of examples this one gives is what makes it better than all the rest. In fact, there are so many of them, organized so well, that since I started studying Italian myself, I've actually read a good part of the dictionary, or at least been copying out some of the entries, playing around with them, comparing related words and expressions. If I had done this with any other dictionary, my brain would have dried up by now! And if you're looking for an excellent Spanish, German, or French dictionary, I recommend the other titles in the Webster's New World series -- I've used them all except the French. Hopefully Webster's will eventually release titles for some less popular languages, too!
Rating:
Summary: Best Italian dictionary on the market!
Review: In the three years that I have been studying and speaking Italian, this is the single best dictionary that I have come across. I have several others (Oxford, Langenscheidt's, etc.) which are all fine, but don't come close to the Websters. The Websters includes practical examples, idioms, verb conjugation and several other useful tools that really make it top notch.
I spent the better part of a year at a language school in Italy, and the Websters was invaluable. When I was preparing to return to the U.S., my instructors asked if I would leave them my copy!
I will concede that the Websters is too big for carrying on your travels, but if you are studying or corresponding with Italians, you simply cannot find a better dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: websters new italian dictionary
Review: just what I was looking for. simple and easy to use.
Rating:
Summary: websters new italian dictionary
Review: just what I was looking for. simple and easy to use.
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