Inspired by Clibiste‘s post, I decided to share with you the books I own, in reply to the question “What’s on your bookshelf?”. I must confess I feel like I should be a more dedicated reader, but hey, no one can say I don’t own good dictionaries:
I was always fascinated by dictionaries. However, my greatest fear with the advance of technology was to have to get rid of my beloved smelly old books. Fortunately, up to this moment, they are still quite useful and operational.
In the photo, the first red ones you see are what I consider to be the best English-Portuguese-English dictionaries ever. They are part of the old Barsa Encyclopedia’s collection and were organized by the great Antonio Houaiss – does his surname ring a bell?
This edition is from 1978, I got them in a used books shop in Brasilia (Sebinho, highly recommended). They were actually recommended by my translation professor in college, who proved to be, once again, absolutely right. Both dictionaries are amazing, in particular for translation jobs into English. It suggests great equivalents for our peculiar Brazilian specifics, let me give you an example:
coco m. (bot.) coconut; (Braz.) coconut-shell drinking container; (colloq.) head, noggin, (Braz. N.E.) popular dance.
Any good Brazilian used books shop offers this pair for reasonable prices. They come in two volumes: English-Portuguese and Portuguese-English. It’s a great deal, believe me, you won’t regret.
On monolingual dictionaries, I love Longman’s Dictionary of Contemporary English. This was the very first dictionary I bought while still a freshman and it’s been of outstanding help since then. It’s the second one I have, reason why it still looks brand new. I keep my old messed up Longman on the shelf for nostaligc reasons, though it’s falling apart.
The one beside it, is a Legal Dictionary by Deocleciano Torrieri Guimarães, which is currently out of stock in all main book shops but it’s available on Estante Virtual. It was of great help when I started doing legal translations – again, back in college – but nowadays my legal reference is Marcílio’s, which isn’t in the picture but is a great tool for any legal translator. It’s bilingual and just like monolingual legal dictionaries, it explains the definition, and suggests a translation. Rumor has it there will be a new edition of Marcílio’s soon – so take your spot in line! 🙂
You can also see on the pic the other legal dictionary I was recommended in college, the Noronha one. I should be honest: I rarely use it these days. It’s a great book, but many times it lacks context. I tell you, Marcílio’s was a turning point to me in this sense, amazing. But then again, I’m not originally from the legal field, so maybe these other works I mentioned are more valuable to bilingual lawyers, who knows?
There’s also an oil and gas specific dictionary by IBP, the Brazilian Oil Intitute, but it lacks some more updated terms in the indutry (my issue is from 1985 – my uncle gave it to me from his old job). I also love Marcia Buckley‘s dictionaries for this field, it’s my favourite reference these days.
Finally, I have some Larousse ones, one from English and the other from Spanish into Portuguese (and vice-versa). I have only used the Spanish one so far (my mom gave me them for Christmas), and I’m really pleased. I’m a great enthusiat of good dictionaries from Portuguese into foreign languages, they are not that many.
Next time I’ll share my digital dictionaries, you just wait.