What is the best Croatian-English dictionary for a Croatian student in the US?

September 14, 2012 9:04 AM

What is the best portable Croatian-English-Croatian dictionary for a college student in the US?

One of my students is Croatian. He needs a Croatian-English-Croatian dictionary he can bring to class. He is enrolled in a four year college in the US.

What is the best Croatian-English-Croatian dictionary for him that is portable?

posted by vincele to Education (3 answers total)

I can't search it now, but I love ultralingua's French-English dictionary which I have on my iPod. If they have one in Croatian I would highly recommend it.

In fact I would recommend any iPhone or android app dictionary. I've used this one far more than any physical dictionary I've owned. (just makes sure you're buying one that downloads, and doesn't depend on Internet connectivity)
posted by raccoon409 at 10:11 AM on September 14, 2012

Best answer: If he's not politically wedded to something called specifically "Croatian," you/he should investigate the much larger selection of dictionaries of Serbocroatian, which is what the common language of Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia was called before they all decided to split up and hate each other. I personally would use Morton Benson's superb SerboCroatian-English Dictionary and its English-SerboCroatian counterpart, but I may have a higher tolerance for lugging largish books around than most people.
posted by languagehat at 11:49 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not familiar with the one languagehat recommends, but I'd trust him on pretty much any dictionary recommendation. I would avoid anything too small - a college student in the US will know most of those words and will (I imagine) be looking for the more elevated vocabulary one won't find there. I don't think you'll find any good "Bosnian" dictionary, but don't be put off by "Serbian" or "Serbo-Croatian" ones - it's all the same language, really! Please avoid anything that says "Hippocrene," as it's awful.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 1:45 PM on September 14, 2012 [2 favorites]