Product Description

Authoritative and up to date, this third edition of the Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary covers over 90,000 words and phrases, and 120,000 translations of contemporary Italian and English. But this is more than just a dictionary, and also includes sections on Grammar, Culture, and Communication. The grammar supplement provides full information on all the key points of Italian and English grammar, including verb tables for quick reference. Language is now studied in the context of its culture, so the existing culture section has been revised and expanded to offer lively and useful information on life in the Italian-speaking world - everything from political institutions to how weddings are celebrated. The communication supplement gives help with all types of correspondence, including example letters, emails, CVs, and new help with text messaging. The Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary is the perfect reference for student and adult learners needing an affordable, portable dictionary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67183 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-06
• Original language: Italian, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 992 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic content ... shame about the binder!
This dictionary is perfect for any beginner or intermediate student of Italian. It has just the right amount of information for every word - little enough to make it perfect for whipping out of your handbag for a quick reference when necessary, and detailed enough to give phrasal examples of the word in question. If you are buying an Italian-English dictionary for the first time, then I strongly recommend you buy this one - not one of those [...] tiny ones. This dictionary will prove invaluable when you actually need to USE new vocabulary as it also provides the most common structures and expressions which use the words. I've been using it for over a year and still find it as useful now as I did when I was just beginning to learn Italian. I used it during my stay in Italy and it was never out of my handbag!

Unfortunately, if you plan to carry this book around in your handbag you might want to carry some selotape too. I've just read the previous reader's review on this book and while I disagree with his/her opinions on the quality of this dictionary, I have to agree strongly on one thing: THIS BOOK FALLS APART AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS! Oxford University Press, you need to package this book better! At the moment, my Italian dictionary is full of selotape and staples! I really don't understand it because I have the same Oxford dictionary in French (which has even more pages) and it's lasted me for 2 years now without so much as a page falling out. My advice to Oxford University Press is to make sure that in future they use whoever binds their French dictionaries for this one also. In my opinion, it's the book's only (major) flaw. In fact, this is why I'm currently browsing this section in Amazon - I'm forced to buy a new dictionary, and so this time I'm hoping I can find one that stays in one piece!

My verdict: If the publishers can remedy the packaging problem, then this is the best first Italian-English dictionary you can purchase.

Potrebbe provare di piu (could try harder)....
We moved to Italy early this year. My husband is fluent in Italian, I could not speak a word. To supplement my Italian classes I bought this dictionary (ISBN 0-19-860007-0) - all I can say is that the first edition needs a rapid revision. It clearly has not been compiled by native Italian speakers with excellent linguistic skills: on too many occasions I have utilised words and phrases taken from this dictionary, to find that either my Italian teacher and/or my husband needed to correct their usage (too often the context given in the dictionary was not correct).

The review is misleading when it suggests there is pronunciation assistance for every headword in Italian and English - two half pages cover the subject in summary format, in a book circa 700 pages long. This fact particularily irritated me.

To add insult to injury the binding is such that with fairly frequent use, my copy started to dis-integrate by month four.

Nice balance
Ignore the 'pocket' description -unless you consider War and Peace a pocket novel? As a complete beginner I realised the tiny dictionaries are to reacquaint the learner with words they should really get to know over time and repetition. Where as this does have the words you really will have to look up ie. 'head' or 'hat' versus: 'spine', 'spinal cord' or 'spineless'. As with good reliable dictionaries it is easy and clear, I find myself opening it often to right page in one turn. I am content with this as my first language dictionary. With my beginner status in Italian, I won't be in need of an upgrade for a very long while yet.