Selecting a Dictionary: L1, L2, L1/L2

[reineke]

For my first dictionary I would purchase the biggest, most reputable one-way L2>L1 bilingual dictionary. Everything else can wait/is optional.I've never walked around holding a pocket dictionary of any sort. Does wonders for fluency.

[William Camden]

For my first dictionary I would purchase the biggest, most reputable one-way L2>L1 bilingual dictionary. Everything else can wait/is optional.I've never walked around holding a pocket dictionary of any sort. Does wonders for fluency.

It's a matter of learning styles and perhaps lifestyle. I tend to walk around a bit and a pocket dictionary might well be in a pocket. Or I might have a small backpack and I might then have in it pocket dictionaries or even slightly larger dictionaries in more than one language, as well as notebooks, exercise books, index cards/vocabulary cards, nestling next to the bottle of water or other non-language paraphernalia. Sometimes the pocket dictionary is a little like the blanket is to Linus in Peanuts, but sometimes I want to actually say something and need to look up the word in preparation.