Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 (7) 8 9 10
“Four outta ten!”
Pros:
a ton of Portuguese vocabulary arranged by theme; colorful, glossy presentation full of images; each image corresponds to vocabulary words on the same page; topical arrangement (categories and subcategories) works perfectly and reflects language use in everyday life; precise selection of useful words; questions [...]
Jun
9
2010
9
2010
Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Brazilian Portuguese
Jan
7
2010
7
2010
Modern Portuguese: A Reference Grammar by Mario Perini
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (9) 10
“Nine outta ten!”
Pros:
solid treatment of huge range of grammar and sentence structure topics; plenty of examples of real-life Brazilian Portuguese in use; author focuses on grammar as it’s used by native speakers in Brazil, unlike the standard language of even Brazilian Portuguese textbooks; well organized; great [...]
Dec
30
2009
30
2009
Dicionário Inglês-Português & Dicionário Português-Inglês
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8) 9 10
“Eight outta ten!”
Pros:
dedicates all its pages to the one thing a dictionary’s supposed to handle: words to look up; impressive coverage of huge number of words; good layout; cues help pick between multiple translations of the same word (assuming you know a good deal of Portuguese); [...]
Oct
7
2009
7
2009
Berlitz Portuguese Phrase Book & Audio CD by Emily Bemath
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8) 9 10
“Eight outta ten!”
Pros:
covers Brazilian and European usage; lots of phrases; well organized; color-coded and easily searchable; audio CD reads some examples to you
Cons:
Portugal-focused, leaving out info about Brazil and some Brazilian usage; no reference page numbers in the vocabulary/dictionary (needs quick search by word or phrase); [...]
Oct
1
2009
1
2009
Harrap’s Pocket Portuguese Grammar
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 (7) 8 9 10
“Seven outta ten!”
Pros:
covers European and Brazilian Portuguese; solid organization by major grammar topics; color and formatting design clearly sets relevant topics apart for easy look-up
Cons:
too compact to cover some of the more difficult aspects of many topics; explanations focus on formation over real-life usage; index not [...]
Sep
21
2009
21
2009
Portuguese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar by Sue Tyson-Ward
Score:
1 2 3 (4) 5 6 7 8 9 10
“Four outta ten!”
Pros:
short explanations and good examples; overall decent organization; good coverage of beginner-intermediate Portuguese grammar topics; low price
Cons:
no exercises; unclear relation between some sections and chapters; missing a crucially needed look-up system for reference use
Sue Tyson-Ward’s Portuguese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar promises an in-depth [...]
Aug
13
2009
13
2009
Collins Pocket Portuguese Dictionary, 4th Edition
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (9) 10
“Nine outta ten!”
Pros:
great overall package for beginning students; nice formatting with terms colored blue; “Portuguese in Action” section a great inclusion for beginners; very complete for a very small dictionary; ambiguous translations are marked with meaning guides; IPA pronunciation given for terms
Cons:
intermediate students may begin to [...]
Aug
13
2009
13
2009
Collins Portuguese Concise Dictionary 2nd Edition (HarperCollins Concise Dictionaries)
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8) 9 10
“Eight outta ten!”
Pros:
great coverage of useful words and phrases for a dictionary this price and size; keyword usage guides your choice when translations are ambiguous; more detailed than a small pocket dictionary, less than a weighty full-coverage one; IPA pronunciation given for all terms; best “bang [...]
Aug
13
2009
13
2009
Larousse Concise Dictionary: Portuguese-English/English-Portuguese
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8) 9 10
“Eight outta ten!”
Pros:
large number of useful words and phrases for a dictionary this size; language and meaning usage hints guide your choice of ambiguous translations; more detailed than smaller pocket dictionaries, less than hefty full-coverage tomes; irregular and orthography-changing verb chart; Brazilian IPA pronunciation given
Cons:
no indication [...]
Aug
13
2009
13
2009
Oxford New Portuguese Dictionary & Oxford Color Portuguese Dictionary (Paperback)
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8) 9 10
“Eight outta ten!”
Pros:
a compact dictionary that’s actually compact in size; large number of useful entries; helpful meaning guides for ambiguous entries; usage examples; irregular verb list at end; color edition nice touch and easier to search; great for students and travelers
Cons:
no indication of irregular verbs; you’ll [...]