Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2011 February 20

I am interested in learning German, and I am curious to know what is considered the "standard" or at least most widely accepted translation dictionary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.16.177.127 (talk) 14:31, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

:Possibly Langenscheidt which has a very good reputation.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:32, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

::Langenscheidt certainly has a good reputation, but you should also consider the [http://www.pons.de Pons] dictionary - I haven't worked with the Pons German-English dictionary, but their German-French and German-Italian dictionaries are worlds better than the comparable Langenscheidt dictionaries. For the same price and for books about the same size, they offer almost twice as many entries (by using a slightly smaller font), their translations appear more idiomatic, and they have very useful usage sections for common words. If you have a chance, go to a bookstore or library and compare them side by side - I'm pretty certain you'll find the Pons dictionary superior. -- Ferkelparade π 15:56, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

:If you're looking for something free online, LEO seems to be the most popular with the Germans I know, although I don't know about the "officalness" of it. -- 174.21.250.120 (talk) 18:27, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

:The Oxford Duden (produced jointly by Oxford University Press and Dudenverlag) is another heavyweight, alongside the Collins.[http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aatp-dict.htm][http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/german/courses/ugrad/alevel.html]. --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:50, 21 February 2011 (UTC)