Franklin Electronic Spanish/English Dictionary

The Franklin DBE-1490 also contains the Merriam-Webster Dictionary with more than 274,000 English word definitions. A phonetic spelling correction feature lets you enter words phonetically. Also included are grammar guides and quizzes, verb conjugations, and word lists for help with correct usage. Games and learning exercises help you keep your language skills sharp; a crossword puzzle solver helps you when you get stuck in a crossword puzzle. The Franklin DBE-1490 Spanish-English dictionary runs on two CR-2032 batteries (included).

Product Description
Merriam-Webster Spanish/Englis

(Example: Caer;
1:to fall, to drop
2:to collapse
3:to hang down
4:caer bien - to be pleasant, to be likable
5:caer mal or caer gordo: to be unpleasant, to be unlikable
6:caerse:to fall down)

In the past, I would have been tempted to use 'me gusta' to say I liked someone; however, this would have implied I had amorous feeling for them (oops!) Who would have guessed?
This info can also be found in the book, 'Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish', which is also highly recommended, but the electronic translator keeps it right at your finger tips.

My husband was a dedicated hard copy dictionary user, who thought I was wasting my money, until he realized how fast, easy, and on-the-mark the Franklin is. He "borrowed" my 1450 so often that I finally ordered another one for him, and another one for my 13-y.o.
Verb conjugations do take a little time,(not long enough to irritate me,still a useful function), but this is not primarily what I use it for. There are so many other good products on the market for that, such as the Warren Hardy flashcards (www.warrenhardy.com), the Real Spanish Path (www.speakspanish.com), etc. I hardly ever use any of the other functions, just the translator. It's very quick to switch from English to Spanish (how do you say?) to Spanish to English (what's that word mean?) If you forget and type in an English word in the Spanish function, one button will automatically switch you over, so you don't have to re-type it. By the way, don't forget to follow the arrows on your display pad. There is always much more info than what you can originally see, so you need to keep scrolling down to read it. Also, be clear about this, the translator does not translate phrases, only single words. Bien viaje!


I think Franklin fixed all my major complaints from their previous models!   August 27, 2006
LEE (Seattle, WA United States)
77 out of 77 found this review helpful

The DBE-1490 is a very pleasant surprise for me. I've had the DBE-1440A and DBE-1450, but the DBE-1490 is alot more user friendly. I believe this model is the replacement for DBE-1470. I've never used the DBE-1470 so I can't make a comparison between the two.

The DBE-1490 is slightly larger than the DBE-1440A and DBE-1450. They have the same thickness and length, but the width is about 3/4-inch longer. If you're a guy, it's probably too big to stick in your front shirt pocket. The dimensions (my measurement) are 5-1/8 inches x 3-7/8 inches and 3/8 inch thick.

The operation and features of the DBE-1490 are similar to Franklin's other non-speaking Spanish-English dictionary. It has verb conjugations, grammer guide, conversational phrases, my vocabulary list, games & learning exercises, phonetic spell correction, SAT word list, TOEFL word list, crossword puzzle solver, and a English monolingual dictionary.

My major complaints with previous Franklin models are the keys are too small, the keys tended to stick so you had to really apply pressure to get it to register, and the display screen is so small that you always have to scroll down to read everything. The added width of this model allowed Franklin to use bigger and more responsive keys and, best of all, a BIGGER display screen.

This model does NOT have a slot for the Franklin Bookman Card. I've never used a Bookman Card so not having this feature was not important to me.

This model uses two lithium batteries CR2032. This is what my other Franklin models used. I believe recent Franklin models like the DBE-1470 uses AAA, but the downside is that they are bulkier. The upside is that AAA batteries are easier to find and cheaper. The downside to the lithium batteries is that if you're in a remote village in the Andes or Amazon, you better have extra ones because it is going to be difficult to find them.

With this model, you'll need a jewelers philips screwdriver to remove a screw that secures the battery cover. This fixes a complaint that some users had about loose battery covers on previous models.

As an owner of previous Franklin models, I can attest that the improvements with the key and display screen size make this the best one yet.


great little item   March 9, 2003
70 out of 70 found this review helpful

Though there are some small flaws, this is a great electronic spanish-english dictionary. it makes it MUCH easier to read a foreign newspaper, or any other instance when you'd need to look up words a lot faster than the awkward, slow process of using a book dictionary.

Others reviewing this product have said that more advanced speakers should "stick to the book dictionary..." I don't know about that. Only if they're so advanced that they need big, full, dictionary entries explaining every last subtlety! in that case I don't think they would be looking for a pocket dictionary. Basically: if your spanish ability is such that you still find yourself needing to find the word for something, or finding out what a spanish word means -- go for this one. it's good.

strengths:
-- handles the task well -- the interface makes it quick to type in a word and get its meaning, no wasted time dealing with bad menus or anything
-- physical design is good -- they were really smart and made the top cover of the thing have a double hinge so it can fold around the back, very convenient.
-- has some nice built-in games and grammar guides and data/calculator/clock/audio-book functions, none of which I've used much (the games aren't that good. I really wish they had created a built-in flashcard function, so it would just quiz you on definitions that you had pre-selected... they have a "spelling" game which maybe could be used for that function... i don't know.)
-- puts itself to sleep to save batteries-- cool.
-- good size/weight/general convenience. i've used it much.

weaknesses:
--keyboard is OK but could be better... buttons are a bit spongy and don't click in any nice way.
-- would be nice if it was SUPER rapid in its response... but need to wait maybe half a second sometimes for response.
-- games / "quiz me" functions could be better.


So far so good.   November 29, 2006
Good Lux (Yay Area, CA)
40 out of 40 found this review helpful

I just bought this from a store, and I reading up to make sure it was the right product. I'm mainly writing in response to a previous review I read:

"and the conjugation feature -- a feature that was a selling point for me -- is a joke: it only conjugates in first-person singular indicative mood."

This just isn't true. It looks that way if you only hit the conjucation button once. However, if you hit the conjugation button a second, third, forth, etc time it cycle through the following tenses:

present indicative
present progressive
preterite
past progressive
future
present perfect
future perfect
pluperfect
present conditional
past conditional
imperative

and it has the 1,2,3 person singular and plural.

This is an extremely useful device, for me at least!




good for beginner's   October 12, 2002
34 out of 39 found this review helpful

I asked my friend to buy this gadget for me as I am now learning Spanish and hate to look up words in the dictionary. I think it really serves me well when I am reading magazines and newspapers in Spanish. Without it, I can not understand them as there are so many new words for me and it is impossible for me to look them up in the desk dictionary. Explanation is clear and in detail, which helps me to know how the word is used. Some useful phrases are also included. Now challenging articles in Spanish will no longer be discouraging and I do not avoid reading them as I used to do. All of my classmates who are now learning spanish with me want to get this fantastic gadget. I think I will buy it on amazon for some of them when it can be shipped to China.