My daughter is teaching herself Spanish and has found this dictionary to be very easy to use and extremely helpful to her studies.

This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). One of the most recognized and trusted names in reference books, you expect a dictionary from Merriam-Webster to be high quality, and the Spanish-English Dictionary doesn't disappoint.


Many words include sample sentences so that you can see how the word is used in context, allowing you to make suitable word choices or extract even subtle meanings. These phrases are often useful and a handy way to build your vocabulary.

The dictionary is up to date, with many modern and idiomatic words and phrases to help you translate even slang Spanish. While other dictionaries may be old fashioned in their choice of what words to include, or may not cover some more modern expressions, this reference tool is comprehensive and contemporary.

With a helpful section at the front on the basics of Spanish grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and conjugation, the dictionary is great for brushing up on any language issues that you are struggling with.

The introduction on how to get the most out of the dictionary is also a useful resource, ensuring that you can find what you are looking for quickly and easily.

All of the definitions are laid out in familiar Merriam-Webster format, and are clear and easy to read despite the dictionary's small size.

Ideal for checking spelling, meaning, context and conjugation, the dictionary is aimed primarily at English speakers looking to learn Spanish, but works well for native Spanish speakers learning English as a second language too... a testament to just how accurate and useful both the definitions and examples are.

As tiny in size as it is big in usefulness, the dictionary will fit into just about any bag or purse and is sure to be used time and time again. Much more comprehensive than most travel or pocket sized dictionaries, if you are looking for a portable but powerful Spanish-English dictionary then this is the one to buy.


In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.

1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasent to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.

2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity

3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one only because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish.

Middle school kids use this often to assist with their homework. Print is small for Mom, but kids have found this book very helpful.

The old saying about dictionaries being obsolete by the time they are printed is less true now, with our modern technology, but there remains another weak link in the chain that we seldom talk about when reviewing dictionaries: the user. As a professor of Spanish (Golden Age) and as a professional translator (technical and literary), I am a dictionary junkie. That means I have all sorts of dictionaries, each with its particular strengths.

If a person uses a dictionary for what it is not meant to be and encounter problems, it is not from a weakness of the dictionary, but rather a misunderstanding of the user. "Don't use a screwdriver for a hammer" and then complain that it doesn't allow you to drive or remove nails well.

This dictionary is not going to give users the regional nuances of certain words. It isn't a source of information about comparative usage. For that, there are other dictionaries and reference materials, such as Cassell's beyond the dictionary in Spanish;: A handbook of everyday usage -- with a slight inclination toward Peninsular Spanish, written from the perspective of British English -- and a wonderful book. There is also Dictionary of Spoken Spanish.

This is a small dictionary with everything you need, including phrasing examples. I know very little Spanish, but needed something quick to talk to the crew which was working on my house. I found the task frustrating, as I am sure they did as well. This little book did the trick. Was able to explain exactly what I needed and get a job well done.

I have about fifteen copies of this dictionary in my high school Spanish classroom. I think that it is more than adequate for most levels if Spanish learners.

I am bilingual, English/Spanish, and have forgotten words I learned many years ago. This book is a boon, helpful if you need a specific word translated. I use mine often, practically every day. For those who need a little extra help, this is the book to use.

This dictionary was highly recommended by my instructor who has taught Spanish for over 25 years.

This is an additional resource to my Spanish-English software, audio CD's and internet forums and online dictionaries. Very helpful when on the go.

Looks like its gonna be able to do the job i bought it to do. Have no complaints what so ever about it.

Susan Stubbs makes a great point about vulgar word warnings. I would add this: I suppose this dictionary will help you with reading but suppose I want to SPEAK the word? This dictionary does not indicate how to say the word. I suppose that would be an inclusion of a phonetic pronunciation that I'm looking for.

ESL students love this dictionary. It's inexpensive and easy to carry and use. Students learning English and/or Spanish can use this dictionary. It's appropriate for use at every skill level from beginning to advanced.

Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is a gem for the money. In it you will find every useful word and verb in the Spanish language. It is compact, concise and a true value for the money.
In order to learn more in depth how to pronounce and use the Spanish language, I would highly recommend you try Behind the Wheel Spanish CDs
Behind the Wheel - Spanish 1

Your Spanish-English dictionary is helping two Spanish speaking house-holds in Washington DC to have a more filfilling life at work and at play.

Dictionary is helpful. It lets you know if words are masculine/feminine in the Spanish language and easy to read.

This is the absolutely perfect spanish/english reference dictionary. It is compact, easy to use & access.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R30GE5FXG5K9ZE Watch my video review and I will tell you what's good about this dictionary and what's bad about it.

I use this dictionary quite a bit as it is small enough to be light and easy to carry and big enough to contain most everyday words. I think that the content is good but I compared to my other (larger) dictionary by Harper Collins the paper is somewhat gray and the words don't stand out as well. Also the ink is not the most permanent so if you are not careful you can end up with gray stains on your fingertips. I would recommend spending slightly more to get something with a higher quality of paper and printing.

Great little pocket dictionary for those who don't want to carry around a heavier full-sized eng/span diction. It's not 'quite' as complete, but it's about 99% there. It's going to have all of the important words

The best SPanish-SPanish dictionary is of course the academy dictionary agreed upon by all the Spanish language academies in every spanish-speaking country. However, for smaller ENglish/Spanish, this dictionary is pretty good. It's the one I give to relatives or friends studying Spanish.

This book is easy to use and full of excellent vocabulary for a beginning Spanish speaker. On a few occasions I was not able to find the word I was looking for but I did find close substitutes and was able to complete my assignments for my Spanish class.

This is great for high school Spanish. I recommend it because of it thoroughness and price. Great for quick reference as well as travel.

This product has helped me tremendously with my homework. I am really happy that I purchased it.

The Merriam-Webster paperback Spanish-English Dictionary is an excellent reference for my high school Spanish classes. I teach 1st through 3rd year Spanish and I recommend this book to all my students. Not only does it contain 80,000 words and 100,000 translations, its comprehensive treatment and vast store of various usages and phrases is invaluable to a student learning Spanish (and a teacher teaching it). The first 20-some pages explain how to best use the dictionary, and the next 40 pages are a mini-course in Spanish grammar, punctuation, and parts of speech. And at a listed price of $6.50 it is a bargain! Besides straight definitions of words, many synonyms and idioms are included. I highly recommend this dictionary to anyone needing to translate from English to Spanish or Spanish to English.

This is more complete than my mini spanish-english dictionary, but less complete than some of the bigger ones that my classmates own. The beginning has some information about spanish and some practice activities, which several classmates have found helpful. Great price and reasonable size.

I had to learn Spanish for a business trip down to Mexico. I had to assemble the best language materials I could find to accomplish this task quickly, since I really had no time for a class.
I had to choose between Websters and Velazquez Spanish-English dicionary.
I found Websters to be much more compact and easy-to-use than the Velazquez monster dictionary that was recommended to me by a friend. I have used my Websters repeatedly.
Behind the Wheel Spanish and Conversational Spanish in Nothing Flat formed the best of the audio and written portion of my self-designed 'crash course'. It's one thing to see a definition of a word in a Spanish dictionary, but it's quite another to know how to pronounce it or use the word or verb effectively in a sentence.
I found that this and all the other materials I used were much more effective with ASIN:1893564428 Behind the Wheel Spanish/Complete Illustrated Text/Answer Keys/8 One Hour]]Behind the Wheel Spanish/Complete Illustrated Text/Answer Keys/8 One Hour

I had to learn Spanish for a business trip down to Mexico. I had to assemble the best language materials I could find to accomplish this task quickly, since I really had no time for a class.
I had to choose between Websters and Velazquez Spanish-English dicionary.
I found Websters to be much more compact and easy-to-use than the Velazquez monster dictionary that was recommended to me by a friend. I have used my Websters repeatedly.
Behind the Wheel Spanish and Conversational Spanish in Nothing Flat formed the best of the audio and written portion of my self-designed 'crash course'. It's one thing to see a definition of a word in a Spanish dictionary, but it's quite another to know how to pronounce it or use the word or verb effectively in a sentence.
A great verb reference I found was '501 Spanish Verbs'.

I bought this book to help me communicate at work. I ended up actually giving it to a Spanish speaker to help her with her language acquisition. I no longer need it at work as I have a translator now but if I ever loose my translator I'll be picking up another copy. I'm sure this would be great for traveling too.

This one has it all! An overview of the language structure, irregular verb conjugations, context-driven definitions, pronunciation guide, etc. I have been working to learn Spanish for the last five months using an excellent software product and this dictionary is a terrific addition. Additional vocabulary is very useful and their ideas about usage coincide with a fluent co-worker's views. Extremely useful.

There are plenty of books and courses that will help you learn Spanish. But there are only about 5 or 6 that I would consider mandatory if you want to learn Spanish easily. A dictionary such as Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is one of them. If you are serious about learning to speak Spanish I encourage you to get the following:

1. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions
2. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses
3. Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1
4. 501 Spanish Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barron's Foreign Language Guides)
5. Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary
6.1001 Most Useful Spanish Words (Beginners' Guides)

That's how I built a solid foundation. Just using the above 6 tools. Everything else is supplemental but these 6 tools are mandatory. If you cannot not afford everything I listed, then for now start with this dictionary, 501 Spanish Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barron's Foreign Language Guides), and the best audio course for speaking real practical Latin American Spanish: Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1

I am not fluent but I am able to communicate confidently and say just about anything that I want to say in Spanish and understand native speakers unless they are speaking at the pace of rapid machine gun fire.

This dictionary has been lots of help. There are so many dictionaries that don't have the Spanish words that I am looking for. This dictionary is far from perfect but compared to the other dictionaries that I have used, I must say when using this dictionary it was less frequent that I would look for a word and not find it in this dictionary. I have some other helpful advice about using dictionaries, but this advice only applies to intermediate level and advanced students.

Once you reach an intermediate or advanced level, it is time to stop using Spanish-English dictionaries. Once you reach an intermediate or advanced level, it is time to start using Spanish only dictionaries. You'll will find it a greater challenge to look up a Spanish word and have to read and understand a definition in Spanish. The only draw back of this technique is that if you want to translate an English word to Spanish, you will not be able to with a Spanish only dictionary.

This dictionary is fairly comprehensive. My only complaint would be the print is a little small for my aging eyes...

like most of our dictionaries, this book begins with Explanatory Notes, which includes gender labels, inflected forms, pronounciation, etc. this category is followed by Spanish Grammar, which is limitlessly priceless when you move to the conjugtive verbs and forward.

an ideal tool for reeeally learning Spanish. a lot more than just conversationally.

It is exactly what I asked for; NEW. It came in a reasonable amount of time and there were no hassles.

It is exactly what I asked for; NEW. It came in a reasonable amount of time and there were no hassles.

I am a Spanish teacher and have had my students purchase this dictionary. It is wonderfully written, with very clear definition key words in English to help choose the correct Spanish word according to its use. I don't usually even have to get out the big hardback dictionary. It has most any word we need to find.

I first bought this dictionary when I was starting to learn Spanish in 10th grade. I found that it was very helpful with basic translations of nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. It gives references to already conjugated verbs often, but not all the time. The best part about it is that it's small and portable, while the worst part is that, for a more advanced student/speaker, there are quite a few words that can't be found in it. While sometimes there are phrases given that relate to a certain word, the phrases are limited.

If you're just starting out with Spanish, this is probably perfect for you. If you're more advanced and coming across a lot of idioms and other phrases that you need translated, I'd recommend the Webster's New World Concise Spanish Dictionary.

With 80,000 entries along with the compact size and low price, Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is the best in the west, not the least in the east.
I use this dictionary constantly for all my Spanish-English needs.
I have an excellent car Spanish course named Behind the Wheel Spanish which fortunately does not require the use of a dictionary while I drive, but rather gives me all the meanings instantly.
Still, if you need a reference, this is the best for the money.
If you really want to learn to speak Spanish, then I recommend you also buy Behind the Wheel Spanish 8 CD and book version.
Great combo overall.

Okay, but the print size is too small for the average older person to easily read without eye strain. And the book is rather bulky for travel use (4 1/4 x 6 7/8 x 1 3/8).

This Dictionary hasn't let me down, whatever word in Spanish or English
I've looked up. If you want to study etemology, it isn't for you. But if
you want a handy compact dictionary that has the word you need,
when you need it, this is the one to buy.

I honestly don't think you will need anything better than this. BTW, I'm very fluent in English and Spanish so I should know. Some smart a##es will say, if you are so fluent then why do you need this? Well, I don't know every word there is in either language but I'm good enough in both to read whatever I want with a handy dictionary by my side ;)

where are the words "Podemos" and "Entiendo" in the Spanish part of the Dictionary?

Also the English part of the dictionary gives pronounciation, but the Spanish part does not.

Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is highly recommended as a good,solid basic Spanish-English dictionary. The cost is low, the size is perfect and the contents are complete.
The most complete Spanish dictionary in the world is the Velasquez, which is simply too big for lugging around with you on your travels or to the office.
Amsco has had a good dictionary out for years and is quite good as well.
What I like about Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is that it clearly delineates between Latin-American and strictly 'Spanish' usage.
This is an important feature to consider.
If you are interested in actually learning to speak Spanish, I would highly recommend you try Behind the Wheel Spanish 8 CD with text. The 8 CDs and text come with immediate translations but the Merriam-Webster's Spanish English Dictionary is useful in that it gives additional definitions and provides an immediate Spanish to English reference to individual words.

Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is highly recommended as a good,solid basic Spanish-English dictionary. The cost is low, the size is perfect and the contents are complete.
The most complete Spanish dictionary in the world is the Velasquez, which is simply too big for lugging around with you on your travels or to the office.
Amsco has had a good dictionary out for years and is quite good as well.
What I like about Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary is that it clearly delineates between Latin-American and strictly 'Spanish' usage.
This is an important feature to consider.
If you are interested in actually learning to speak Spanish, I would highly recommend you try Behind the Wheel Spanish 8 CD with text.

With respect to my qualifications, I am the founder of the Learning Spanish Like Crazy method. I am also the author of several articles written on the topic of learning Spanish. And now for my review . . .

I tend to judge a Spanish-English Dictionary by the following criteria:

1. Does it provide 21st Century Spanish vocabulary words or only outdated
Spanish vocabulary?

2. Does it provide BOTH the words that are commonly used in Latin America
AND Spain or only one or the other?

Using yardstick number one this book did fairly well. I found words such as "raton" not only defined as "mouse" as in the rodent but also "mouse" as in "computer mouse." And "pantalla" wasn't only defined as a "screen" but a a 'computer monitor' as well. However, it only used the original definition of "bajar" (to lower, to descend, or to go down). It lacked the 21st century definition which is "to download."

Using yardstick number two, this dictionary did well. For the English word "block" I found the Latin American definition of "cuadra" but I also found the European definition of the word which is "manzana." Several Spanish-English dictionaries that I have used in the past only define the Spanish word "manzana" as the English word "apple," and only define the English word "block" as the Spanish word "cuadra."

It is important that a dictionary provides both the Latin American and European Spanish words. From my experience, Latin Americans tend to use
different vocabulary words from one country to another. But if you use the European Spanish word, even though they may not use the word, they will be familiar with it and will understand you.

Overall, I give this dictionary "cuatro estrellas" (four stars).

All reports come through that the dictionary was most helpful in understanding the other person's culture and traditions. The two men keep the dictionary within reach at all times.

For basic classroom use, I think the "New" Merriam-Webster's is fine and the verb references back to examples shown for irregular conjugations are quite helpful. However, while I found this dictionary somewhat useful, it fell short of my expectations and left me feeling short-changed. The upfront introduction is hard to decipher, the fonts used throughout aren't reader friendly and the overall quality of the paper used is obviously cheap. I also agree with another reviewer that the absence of any warning as to potentially offensive nouns and verbs could cause embarrassment if not something worse. Since the book does disclose familiar usages specific to locality, I think potentially vulgar usages would have been appropriate. I've also found myself returning more than once to an extremely worn pocket edition from the University of Chicago to either find words not listed or to supplement and/or clarify certain words, idiom phrases and reflexive verb definitions included in this paper back. Ironically, my purchase was intended to replace this old sidekick which I'm now thankful that I didn't toss.

... this dictionary of English and Spanish words is a good one to have. It's small, can be carried with you, and is great for quick look ups when you are stuck on a word. If you don't know a bit of Spanish already, though, you really won't benefit from the book all that much.

This is just a very basic Spanish-English dictionary. It will help with simple things, but there are much better dictionaries available.

...because that is my reaction to this book.

The pocket size is nice, however that's about the only thing I liked about this dictionary. I can't believe how often I can't find the words I look up. Also, if you hold the Spanish-English pages with your fingers, it is half as thick as the English-Spanish section, and it has a very cheap feel to it.

I also have the NEW WORLD "CONCISE" SPANISH DICTIONARY, and even though it is a little bigger, it is much much better. I bought this one because I gave my CONCISE to a relative. I ended up buying another CONCISE.