# Recommendations needed: French-American English dictionary **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 9, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-needed-french-american-english-dictionary/553220 "2010-09-09T20:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-needed-french-american-english-dictionary/553220/1 "2010-09-09T20:16:37Z")
Title mostly says it. Looking for my daughter’s high school French courses. She’s obligated to take four years. Personally I studied and know German, only flirted with French. I really like the German online site www.dict.cc which seems more dynamic and useful than most hard reference books, but she’ll need an actual reference of some sort, but recommendations for good online sites are also appreciated. Thanks, Shibb ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-needed-french-american-english-dictionary/553220/2 "2010-09-09T21:47:17Z")
I like [English-French Dictionary - WordReference.com](http://wordreference.com/enfr) for an online dictionary. Every home has a Larousse of some sort or another, and the [Larousse Concise English/French dictionary](http://www.amazon.ca/Larousse-Concise-Dictionary-French-English-English-French/dp/2035420482/ref=pd_sim_b_4) is targeted to American English (and likely France French as opposed to Canadian French though I’m not sure about that.) They have a Student Dictionary as well, though it’s probably less complete. [Webster’s French/English](http://www.amazon.ca/Websters-French-English-Dictionary-Merriam-Webster/dp/1892859793/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_2) dictionary (this is the Canadian edition) is a smaller paperback, but I think I’d still go with a Larousse myself. Oxford also publishes a Canadian edition F/E. I don’t know if they have an American English one. I know the Larousse has conjugation tables, but if your daughter wants a smaller book to carry around for that purpose then I recommend the [Bescherelle](http://www.amazon.ca/Bescherelle-M/dp/2894282591/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284068225&sr=1-1)and [bescherelle.com](http://bescherelle.com). oddly enough, there is an [English version](http://www.amazon.ca/Bescherelle-Complete-Guide-Conjugating-French/dp/2890458083/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284068225&sr=1-2)too! It seems to me the Bescherelle is the one book everyone in this province is likely to own! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-needed-french-american-english-dictionary/553220/3 "2010-09-10T00:17:36Z")
I like this website for conjugation: [Conjuin French Verb Conjugator](http://tatsuto.com/conjuins/servlet/Conjuinsx;jsessionid=aN6XrlQ0-uve) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-needed-french-american-english-dictionary/553220/4 "2010-09-10T14:34:21Z")
[www.wordreference.com](http://www.wordreference.com) has everything you need. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-needed-french-american-english-dictionary/553220/5 "2010-09-10T15:28:29Z")
I got by without ever owning an English/French dictionary. For the first couple of years I used the glossaries in the back of the textbooks. After that I started using a monolingual dictionary. It was hard at first, but I learned a lot faster after going all French all the time. I’m happy with my copy of _Le petit Larousse_. My local library has a monolingual dictionary I like a little better. I’m not sure, but I think it’s _Le nouveau petit Robert_.