Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as some reviewers might have you think!
Review: This is an okay dictionary. Perhaps the reviewer "Ritter" may have had a different edition or the hardcover, because I just looked at the paperback along with about twenty others and found it definitely wanting. As a former interpreter of three languages other than Spanish, and now a student of Spanish and French...I have always gauged my dictionaries almost exclusively on cuss words. My logic has been that if they include words that anyone being polite will never use, then they will have more of what one will use on an everyday basis. While another reviewer noted the swear words (including those he had not even thought of....) I only saw these from Spanish to English here and not vice versa. Think of the worst English and it probably is not here. In fact it was only in one of about twenty works I looked at tonight in the bookstore and I settled on the "Larouse, Concise dictionary," isbn 2-03-542017-2 9 paperback or (84-8016-129-9), and this is the one I bought instead. I don't know how often I use the word "zit" or crampon (which is a cognate anyway), in English and am willing to bet that though I do have some class, I would be more likely to use the cusswords than these. However, most of the dictionaries I looked at simply did not have these and even what appeared to be a "contemporary' usage dico still left much to desire. Most of them (the dictionaries) cover the necessities and I've always liked the Langenscheidt books, though they are not all thorough-they hold up great, and are more thorough per word than this...still, I liked the fact that the Larouse went from English to Spanish, since my native tongue is English. I wouldn't know where to look going the other way around. Take the reviews with a grain of salt and think of your ultimate purpose, then get one that meets that and has thorough explanations and not simply one word traslations for anthing other than cognates or very simple.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as some reviewers might have you think!
Review: This is an okay dictionary. Perhaps the reviewer "Ritter" may have had a different edition or the hardcover, because I just looked at the paperback along with about twenty others and found it definitely wanting. As a former interpreter of three languages other than Spanish, and now a student of Spanish and French...I have always gauged my dictionaries almost exclusively on cuss words. My logic has been that if they include words that anyone being polite will never use, then they will have more of what one will use on an everyday basis. While another reviewer noted the swear words (including those he had not even thought of....) I only saw these from Spanish to English here and not vice versa. Think of the worst English and it probably is not here. In fact it was only in one of about twenty works I looked at tonight in the bookstore and I settled on the "Larouse, Concise dictionary," isbn 2-03-542017-2 9 paperback or (84-8016-129-9), and this is the one I bought instead. I don't know how often I use the word "zit" or crampon (which is a cognate anyway), in English and am willing to bet that though I do have some class, I would be more likely to use the cusswords than these. However, most of the dictionaries I looked at simply did not have these and even what appeared to be a "contemporary' usage dico still left much to desire. Most of them (the dictionaries) cover the necessities and I've always liked the Langenscheidt books, though they are not all thorough-they hold up great, and are more thorough per word than this...still, I liked the fact that the Larouse went from English to Spanish, since my native tongue is English. I wouldn't know where to look going the other way around. Take the reviews with a grain of salt and think of your ultimate purpose, then get one that meets that and has thorough explanations and not simply one word traslations for anthing other than cognates or very simple.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Dictionary!
Review: This is the best dictionary I've used. I also have the Simon & Schuster International Dictionary (hardcover), but I prefer this one. Besides the added sytlistic hints, it has the most comprehensive regionalisms and slang of any dictionary I've found. Extremely useful reference tool!
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