46. Buying A Dictionary When in Italy
From my own experience I would recommend that when in Italy you take the opportunity to bring back a full-sized dictionary. Your instructors could inform you as to what to buy. From Verona I brought back a Sabatini 2008 Italian to Italian, and last year from Rome I brought back a Garzanti Hazon di Inglese 2009 More importantly, I also bought their respective CD. In fact, you may be able to buy just the CD. I find I hardly use the paper version of the dictionaries, although they are useful to have.
I am sure you have discovered that often if you look up a word in the English-Italian section and then look up the Italian word in the Italian-English section you will sometimes discover a totally different word! What I do is then turn to my all-Italian Sabatini, which then often launches me into a pleasant and interesting journey as I track down the words whose meanings I don’t know in order to understand the original explanation. It can even become a lesson on its own!
I like my Sabatini because it is very easy to use on my computer. The Hazon CD is, in my opinion, a trifle idiosyncratic, but it offers, or attempts to offer features like “false friends” and other methods of searching for word usage. Once you get used to its method of accessing the features you may well like it. I don’t own the all-Italian Hazon CD, but it has an interesting feature – it has a voice pronounce the words [or so I believe]. Perhaps the latest Sabatini also offers the same feature.
If there is one feature I don’t like about the Hazon it is that one has to re-insert the CD after a month or two. I couldn’t make a backup copy of the CD, so I don’t know what happens when or if the CD should cease to function. I think this is an important point to bear in mind when selecting a dictionary on CD.
If you should pale at the thought of lugging a full-sized dictionary back to your homeland have no fear. When returning from Verona I inserted the Sabatini in the centre of my suitcase and from Rome I carried the Hazon in my carry-on. Obviously I was not burdened with excess luggage!
Why did I choose the Sabatini and the Hazon over some other? The Hazon was recommended to me by an Italian friend. With respect to the Sabatini, I was actually in search of another dictionary recommended by my instructors. However, I walked into this wonderful bookshop owned by an old gentleman totally surrounded by his books – one could hardly walk in the shop-- with whom I had a marvellous conversation in Italian, and he persuaded me to buy the Sabatini. And I have no regrets.
I am sure you have discovered that often if you look up a word in the English-Italian section and then look up the Italian word in the Italian-English section you will sometimes discover a totally different word! What I do is then turn to my all-Italian Sabatini, which then often launches me into a pleasant and interesting journey as I track down the words whose meanings I don’t know in order to understand the original explanation. It can even become a lesson on its own!
I like my Sabatini because it is very easy to use on my computer. The Hazon CD is, in my opinion, a trifle idiosyncratic, but it offers, or attempts to offer features like “false friends” and other methods of searching for word usage. Once you get used to its method of accessing the features you may well like it. I don’t own the all-Italian Hazon CD, but it has an interesting feature – it has a voice pronounce the words [or so I believe]. Perhaps the latest Sabatini also offers the same feature.
If there is one feature I don’t like about the Hazon it is that one has to re-insert the CD after a month or two. I couldn’t make a backup copy of the CD, so I don’t know what happens when or if the CD should cease to function. I think this is an important point to bear in mind when selecting a dictionary on CD.
If you should pale at the thought of lugging a full-sized dictionary back to your homeland have no fear. When returning from Verona I inserted the Sabatini in the centre of my suitcase and from Rome I carried the Hazon in my carry-on. Obviously I was not burdened with excess luggage!
Why did I choose the Sabatini and the Hazon over some other? The Hazon was recommended to me by an Italian friend. With respect to the Sabatini, I was actually in search of another dictionary recommended by my instructors. However, I walked into this wonderful bookshop owned by an old gentleman totally surrounded by his books – one could hardly walk in the shop-- with whom I had a marvellous conversation in Italian, and he persuaded me to buy the Sabatini. And I have no regrets.
posted by Toby1939 at 11:33 AM
