This Dictionary is the “Real” Deal

Many students use English-Spanish / Spanish-English dictionaries to aid them in their studying.  But to go the extra mile in your studying, try out the RAE Dictionary.  This is a Spanish dictionary, so it contains definitions in Spanish rather than translations.  You can find it here: http://www.rae.es/

 
Why would this be helpful?  By looking in a Spanish-only dictionary, you’ll be thinking more in the target language than you would if you just saw the word translated to English.  Let’s say you don’t know what the word casa means.  You could look it up in an online translator and see that it means “house.”  Or, if you look in the RAE dictionary, you’ll see that it means edificio para habitar.  You can easily translate this on your own by finding similarities to English words: edificio looks like edifice, or building; and habitar looks like inhabit; so the definition is building to inhabit…..which is a house!   By doing this you not only have built your Spanish vocabulary a bit,  but you are analyzing language in a way that you never would have with an online translator!

The Diccionario de la lengua española is the authority on words in Spanish.  In fact, “RAE” stands for Real Academia Española, or “Royal Spanish Academy”.  It’s the official Spanish institution aimed at regulating the Spanish language – its use, spellings, grammar…they even decide what letters to include in their alphabet!   It has been around for almost 300 years, so you can bet what you find in this diccionario is the “real” deal!