Test-drove a few of these, none of them are all that great.
I feel there simply MUST be something decent out there. What have you come across?
Not looking for phrasebooks, grammars, or Teach Yourself books. Just a decent bilingual e-dictionary. THANKS!! :-)
How are they falling short for you? Too big? Too small? I used a Larousse dictionary in a portable form that I bought in a Paris bookstore and was satisfied with it.
Thanks! Are you talking about a hard-copy book?
I pack as lightly as possible and only use e-books on my tablet.
No, I went downstairs and looked at my box of travel stuff. The Larousse book is a small and fat paperback, about 3"x4.5"x 1.5" with a blue paper cover. It says "mini" on it. I have another decent one that is a larger but thinner size by Langenscheidt which has a more durable yellow plastic cover, that has a tougher binding and paper.
I haven't tried it but I met a Scottish gentleman my last trip to France who used Google translate on his phone. He put it in conversation mode, spoke English and his phone would say it, over speaker, in French. The lady he was talking to knew very little English, she understood then spoke French to his phone and the phone then said it in English. It seemed to work really well. He said he had used it on his trip to have much more than simple conversations with Airbnb hosts who didn't speak English.
Thanks Brad!
I don't have a data plan, so I can only use Google Translate when I'm near WiFi.
I'm looking for an e-dictionary you can fully download for that reason.
Cheers, RON
Found this resource. It only translates from English to French, however, so if you want it both ways you will need to purchase another book. It is an ebook, however, and description says it works with Kindle for Android. https://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-English-French-Translation-Dictionary-French-ebook/dp/B002NLKWY8/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1A2MNEG3WX5K0BK9YNV7
But can't you download, say, a French vocabulary using WiFi and then use it offline ? Pretty sure I used Google Translate without data in a Budapest grocery store to read a package label. (Because, believe me, I do NOT read Hungarian.)
Thanks Laura B!
This article - https://is.gd/D1BoOA - says you can use Google Translate offline.
But this feature is not available for all Google Translate languages and, of course, you need to have enough storage space to be able to download the dictionary itself.
I've downloaded both the French and Dutch language files for off line use without issue. The Google translate file for French is only 35MB.
Thanks! These answers do the trick!
I'm turning off receipt of further responses.
Cheers, RON
I use exactly what Stan has, the non-tech way, ie, a real pocket size bilingual dictionary, one by Langenscheidt and one by Larousse, French/German//German, French and a phrasebook in Eng,Fr//Fr,Eng and one Fr, Ger//Ger,Fr. I pack at least one of these little books.
How do you, "----turn off further responses." on this Forum? Had no idea that was possible.
