How and Where to Buy
an Electronic Spanish Translator

Hopefully this article can give you some help in figuring out which one works best for you and where you can find them.

First of all, it's important to realize that at least in the United States, it's not very easy to find a quality electronic Spanish translator in your typical brick-and-mortar electronics store. If it does sell electronic translators, they are more likely the cheap versions that won't give you the power you need, no matter what that need is. So I would stay away from at least most of the electronic dictionaries you see in stores.

And that leaves your shopping limited to online locations.

There are a couple of places online that I recommend using when purchasing an electronic Spanish translator: Ectaco.com and Amazon.com.

Ectaco.com is a site that only sells electronic dictionaries so they know what they're doing. They offer translators in all sorts of languages. They also sell electronic translators specific to different industries, which can be a big help if you need something more specific than a general electronic Spanish translator.

The other place I go to check out electronic Spanish translators is Amazon. The reason I like Amazon is that you can find all sorts of different brands and the prices are usually very reasonable. Sometimes you can even find used ones that are much cheaper than their brand-new counterparts.

I've already written about some things to look for when choosing an electronic Spanish translator, but here are a couple of additional features you might want to consider:

1. Talking Dictionary Feature

A talking electronic Spanish dictionary has the ability to voice a word or phrase out loud so that you can know how to pronounce it. The talking features of many of the early electronic dictionaries weren't very good because of the poor quality of the computerized voices, but quality has improved with time and are actually pretty good these days.

This feature is very nice if you're going to be using the device to supplement your language learning and need to know how to pronounce the words correctly. This is especially helpful if you are learning a language that is difficult to pronounce.

2. Speech-to-Speech Dictionary Feature

Speech-to-speech dictionaries are a relatively new addition to the electronic dictionary world due to the improvements in technology. The speech-to-speech feature lets you say something into the dictionary in your own language and then the dictionary converts it and says it back to you in the foreign language. It's a pretty cool feature, but be careful. The technology isn't totally foolproof and still has some issues.

This feature is helpful for travelers, either those traveling for business or as tourists. I mean, if you go into a hotel and need to ask where to eat, or where to take the train, or where to grab a cab... you get the idea... you can use this feature to speak a simple phrase in your device and then have that device say the corresponding phrase in the target language to the person you are conversing with.

Obviously this can get awkward for longer exchanges and many times can actually lead to more confusion, especially if the speech coming from the device is not recorded very well, or the phrasing is off.

Wherever online venue you decide to get an electronic Spanish dictionary, be sure to check around the various sites online so that you not only get the base deal available, but you get the dictionary that is going to give you the features that you need.

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