Larousse Student Dictionary: French-English / English-French (Larousse School Dictionary) (French Edition),   ISBN:9782035420558

Customer Rating: 

I'm in my first semester of French at a university and I decided it would be wise for me to invest in a good dictionary. Online translations and google have always been my primary tools for translating, but because I have a serious addiction to googling useless facts all the time (think of those new [...] commercials where people, like drones, keep reciting useless facts), I knew I needed a physical book to purchase.

With that all said, let me say that this dictionary has definitely exceeded my expectations. The most difficult part about learning a new language is not necessarily having very little knowledge of a foreign vocabulary but rather how to actually correctly form sentences. For example, I turn to page 200 on the English half of the book and come across the entry for the word 'night'. Whereas googling/using free translators will only yield 'nuit', the entry for night yields 'nuit' with three examples of its use in sentences, 'soir' with two examples of its use in sentences, and ways to say in French 'at night', 'to have an early night', 'to have a late night', and 'good night!'. For me, I've always been a person that needs a solutions manual whenever taking a math or science class because I can't stand not knowing if my thought process is the correct one. With the numerous examples provided, this dictionary works in the same way that a solutions manual does (remember, first semester French), I'm always getting practical exposure to French, and from there I can piece together the little (but important!) differences in expressing myself in English and in French.

Is the vocabulary in this book limited? Yes. For very specific words, you probably won't find them in here (I just looked up the word 'shingle' right now to make a point and I was right. It's not in there). However, if this fact really concerns you that much but you still want all of the practical examples provided in this book, I'd recommend just buying two dictionaries - one advanced one and this one here. The textbook and workbook I purchased cost me over [...] (couldn't buy it on Amazon, agh) so what's an extra [...]?

PS. It has a semi-hardcover. Not quite a soft-cover that bends easily like those old, yellowed Merriam-Webster Dictionaries but not quite a hard cover that's hard to maneuver. To me the cover is perfect, and it really adds a nice flare to it.

Customer Rating: 

It is the book I need now, though at first I expected there could be more about verb conjugueur.

Customer Rating: 

I understand the gripes of both beginning and advanced students of French. I have taken two elementary French courses so far and this dictionary has been useful for the second half, especially with the illustrations of family relationships, the classroom, the dormitory, among many others, but the use of sentences along with the definitions could really confuse beginning students (as it has me at times) if they are not familiar with French sentence construction to know why the example was written the way it was.

Even though this is not a textbook, there is no mention of verb conjugation, which is extremely important in any language, and also pointing out the big differences between the present, past-tense and imperative. Just looking at this dictionary will result in someone being able to identify objects and speak in incomplete sentences - just enough to be (barely) understood by someone who's fluent.

Sure, the format's easy on the eyes, but the content itself can be confusing to the beginner and not of much help to the advanced (as we've seen on this page).

I knew I should have stuck with Merriam Webster. - Donna Di Giacomo

Customer Rating: 

the color is easy on eye to read and the fomat is very nice.although it has only more than 20000 definitions and phrases,it is enough for elementary students of French.the definition is such beriefly and the words which has been collected in it are good for survival.I feel you must to prepare a large dictionary after your start level.but it is so good,so I give it 5 stars.

Customer Rating: 

a very nice and helpful dictionary for all students. not overloaded with too many examples and translations. very good for beginners.