This new, up-to-date Portuguese language dictionary is a heavyweight contender for your reference shelf. If you’re an intermediate or advanced student of Portuguese looking for a real Portuguese dictionary, this is one of the most impressive.

It’s published in Portugal by the staff at Dicionários Editora, O Porto. It includes the spelling reform rules, listing before and after examples of impacted words. It’s Portuguese-only, meaning that it offers words, parts of speech and definitions, NOT translations between Portuguese and English. It’s the right tool for someone who already knows some Portuguese, but not for beginning learners.

Cons:
includes Brazilian words but is published in and focused on Portugal; must know Portuguese to get full use; many versions are older (I referenced one from the eighties); price; size (if need to use on the go); some potentially confusing variants still missing keyword cues

As you might have guessed by their names, the Dicionário Inglês-Português and Dicionário Português-Inglês are dictionaries published in O Porto, Portugal for Portuguese speakers. Because of that (and their large size and depth), let’s establish something before moving towards a review: intermediate and advanced learners of European Portuguese are the target audience, and should read on to see why I’ll recommend this dictionary. If you know enough Portuguese, this dictionary “não requer instruções prévias especiais”.

The English-Portuguese and Portuguese-English translations are split between two volumes. Each book is well over 1,000 pages, and almost every one of those 1,000+ pages is devoted to doing what a language dictionary should: they offer you translated words to look up.

Entries are in bold type, and set apart from the rest of the text by a reverse-indent. IPA phonetic spelling is listed to the right of each entry. Parts of speech are given as well, in abbreviated form (vt for transitive verb, s for sustantivo (noun), etc.).

Each word is covered by a robust number of translations, including variants. Where unclear, variants are accompanied by key terms in parentheses. For example, the use of dub includes the translation “dobrar (um filme)”, specific to dubbing a movie.

The top of each page includes page numbers and the first three letters of the first and last words on the page. Pages are divided into two columns, and the font is small enough to bother weaker eyes, but standard for a dictionary.

The sheer number of terms covered is unmatched by foreigner-targeted Portuguese dicitonaries, at least any that I’ve seen. The drawbacks I noticed in the copy I reviewed included its awkward size, its older date (1980s) and its lower relevance if you’re dealing with Brazil. If you need a serious European Portuguese and English language dictionary, these dicionários are my best recommendation so far.

Cons:
price for the number of words (and lack of extras); nothing added, such as helpful verb tables; meager, especially the English-Portuguese section; some mistakes; doesn’t offer cues to clarify difference between word choices (catastrophic in English-Portuguese section)

Living Language offers the Portuguese Learner’s Dictionary as part of the Brazilian Portuguese Complete Course: The Basics. Those 250+ pages of lessons offer vocabulary & phrase lists, grammar instruction and exercises. (Be careful to note whether you’re purchasing the hardcover book, paperback book, audio CD or the full book & CD set.)

Since I have found this dictionary sold separately at some bookstores for around $7-$8 US, I’m choosing to review it as a stand-alone resource.

This dictionary is split into two sections: a Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese. The longer Portuguese-English section prints entries in bold. Adjectives are indicated by adj., noun genders as m. and f. Some Portuguese entries are written in all-caps, presumably more basic or important words.

The information given isn’t always accurate. For instance, ACASO is listed as an adjective, not as the adverb it really is.

This dictionary’s strongest feature is the inclusion of short Portuguese phrases and sentences below some entries. Unfortunately, the translations and examples aren’t always specific enough to clarify the varied uses of tougher words. What’s more, these sample phrases seem to be substituted for something better – relevant key terms used when words have multiple (and potentially confusing) translations.

The English-Portuguese section shares all the same properties, except that it doesn’t regularly indicate parts of speech and it’s much shorter. Even worse, the lack of differentiation between words with multiple meanings in Portuguese makes looking up tough words a disaster – you can only guess that you’re using the right one. A concise list of proper names is found after both sections.

If you’re using the Portuguese Learner’s Dictionary alongside Living Language’s Brazilian Portuguese course (see first paragraph), you will profit from it as long as you think of it as an extended vocabulary list. If you’re looking for a dictionary, my recommendation is that you spend a bit more for a better one.

The Pocket Portuguese Dictionary offers great coverage of loads of useful terms, words and phrases and learner-friendly language help sections in a highly compact, downsized package.

The body of the dictionary has all that I’ve come to expect from similar works: parts of speech, meaning hints for ambiguous entries, usage examples and the like. Terms are colored blue for handy reference. The layout is clean and useful.

The biggest extra is a middle blue-page insert that introduces “Portuguese in Action”. This section overviews how to use dates, times, numbers in Portuguese, gives false friends to avoid, lists Portuguese and English irregular verbs, and even has sample phone conversations and e-mails and letter writing suggestions.

At my level of studies, the “Action” section didn’t appeal to me much, since I’d just as soon have extra phrases and usage in that space, leaving the details to a grammar or conversation course. But, considering this dictionary targets a beginning crowd looking for a few bells and whistles, I applaud the inclusion.

Keep in mind that this is a small, pocket-sized dictionary. Its size limitations means it covers less of the language. You can buy a dictionary with better coverage by paying just a bit more, but the overall package presented in this handy little volume is very attractive to beginning Portuguese students.

The latest in a string of similar Portuguese-to-English and English-to-Portuguese dictionaries I’ve reviewed, the Harper Collins Concise Portuguese Dictionary broadly offers what the best of the others did (compare Oxford and Larousse): IPA phonetic readings for all entries, parts of speech marked, a list of irregular verbs, meaning cues for ambiguous words, useful phrases and usage examples.

Some slight differences exist. The quick listing of irregulars is found at the beginning of the dictionary, and only gives the irregular forms of irregular words. You’ll need your language skills and grammatical wit to fill in the rest. The dictionary explicitly marks “keywords” (like the preposition “in”) that have frequent and multiple uses. The dictionary is bigger than and has more entries than Oxford’s, and is competitive in coverage with Larousse.

Some Amazon reviewers complained that the binding fell apart after a short while, a worthy complaint if you beat up your dictionaries or carry them around on the go. Picking up a copy at the bookstore, I don’t personally notice any problems with the binding that aren’t found on similar dictionaries. Additionally, the dictionary I find on Amazon is different than the edition at one bookstore, which had blue color entries.

All in all, I’m reluctant to rate this above or below its peers. From my calculations and time spent with the reference, Harper Collin’s translation aid offers the highest number of words and phrases per dollar, making it the best bang for your buck.

Larousse’s red and green cover Concise Portuguese Dictionary is larger and thicker than the Oxford New and Oxford Color I last reviewed on this site. As you might expect from its size, it offers more coverage of terms, phrases idiomatic expressions than those dictionaries at a reasonable price.

The start of the book has a quick introduction to IPA used for phonetically representing the pronunciation of Brazilian and English words, but these one and a half pages hardly count as a pronunciation guide. There is a goodly number of usage examples and clarification on basic terms. Meaning cues in brackets guide learners to the right meaning choice if there are multiple, ambiguous translations for a single term (a crucial feature missing from the NTC and Langenscheidt Portuguese language dictionaries). In the middle of the book you’ll find samples of written letters, following a trend that’s popped up in learner dictionaries.

Irregular verb tables at the end of the volume don’t only cover irregular verbs, but also spelling-changing (“orthography-changing”) and stem-changing (or “radical-changing”) verbs that plague those who learn Portuguese during their early years. Still, the chart typically only gives the “eu” (first person singular) form of a verb, leaving your grammatical intuitions to fill out the other five forms. Knowledge of Portuguese verb conjugation and grammar is best left to a more specialized reference work, anyhow, like Barron’s 501 Verbs, also reviewed on this site.

This dictionary will be a great sidekick for beginners and intermediate students in the market for a reference dictionary. It offers more coverage than basic dictionaries, but isn’t too large, detailed, or unabridged, so it’s great for on-the-go use.

The Oxford New Portuguese Dictionary is a small, convenient dictionary with plenty of useful terms and phrases, especially considering its size. Its two halves cover English to Portuguese translation and Portuguese to English.

Both English and Portuguese entries include phonetic transcription in IPA, as well as expected grammatical cues like masculine/feminine noun gender and transitive and intransitive verbs. There is, however, no indication of which forms are irregular. A list of irregular verbs, conjugated in all forms, is found at the end of the book.

Semantic hints clue you into the meaning of multiple equivalents for the same term. Looking up “be”, we find “(permanent quality/place) ser; (temporary place/state) estar; (become) ficar.” Usage instances, phrases and expressions are given for clarity and completeness: “take” includes “take away from”, for example.

The introduction contains a short guide to Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation, a note about pronouncing European Portuguese, even an English pronunciation guide for Portuguese speakers.

The Oxford Color version offers an updated, sleeker version of this same dictionary, with standout blue entries (terms, irregular verbs, etc.), but its higher price earns it the same rating.

If you’re a beginner or an intermediate student looking for a good dictionary to have at hand while you learn Portuguese, this actually compact dictionary will more than meet your needs. I especially recommend spending extra for the more appealing color version.

As you recall, I wasn’t a fan of NTC’s Compact Portuguese and English Dictionary. If my eyes don’t deceive me, fellow Portuguese learners, this dictionary has the EXACT same lexical entries with the EXACT same problems!

NTC publishes the ever-abundant Teach Yourself educational series, which means they have no shortage of experience in language learning materials. NTC’s Compact Portuguese to English & English to Portuguese Dictionary is a basic “compact” dictionary. The book is noticeably larger than other compact dictionaries on the market that I tend to prefer – search for our Oxford and Larousse reviews for physically smaller books that merit the title “compact”.

The vocabulary entries display a wide variety of pertinent, learner-aware choices, with everything from slang to Brazilian food and cultural items. The dictionary disappoints only students learning the European dialect of Portuguese, since the choice of vocabulary includes a bare minimum of European usage, and virtually no alternate European spellings.

The structure of the dictionary’s individual entries, however, lack helpful examples and indicators that benefit the very learners who tend to buy this kind of reference. For instance, a search for “guy” turns up a list of five Portuguese nouns that might match, with no further information. I would already have to know Portuguese to pick the right translation! Further, the dictionary lists noun genders and irregular noun plurals, but fails to indicate irregular verbs. Beginner dictionaries aimed at beginners label their entries more clearly.

A sidenote. NTC publishes the TY series, and I find it odd that their initial Portuguese course by Manuela Cook (also reviewed on this site) aims at European Portuguese, while their dictionary aims at Brazilian Portuguese learners, with IPA for the São Paulo dialect. Of course, they’ve since specialized with a course specific to Brazilian Portuguese, also reviewed on this site.

This dictionary has a scant few nice extras, like the pronunciation given in IPA for each and every entry in Portuguese (which assumes that you can read the International Phonetic Alphabet). You don’t get much in the way of an index – a table of weights and measures, a short introduction, and English irregular verbs (but no Portuguese irregulars!).

If you’re in the market for a Portuguese dictionary, I would spend less money on a more user-friendly volume. Additionally, if you dislike what you read in this review, I also recommend avoiding Langenscheidt’s Pocket Portuguese Dictionary. The two dictionaries are nearly identical, as far as these eyes can see.