A Spanish dictionary has been part of a Spanish student's required books for a long time. Like all things this has now improved. Today anyone can translate back and forth from English to Spanish.

One Spanish dictionary is hosted by Google. Many languages can be translated. Spanish is on the list. It can translate single words, phrases, sentences, or even entire paragraphs. They aren't perfect but they're better than nothing.

The first popular online translator was Babelfish. It still has a Spanish dictionary. That means translations from English to Spanish and vice versa. The problem with this site was at once something was translated from English to Spanish, translating it back into English would often significantly change it. Some people found this a useful feature. It could be used to generate alternate versions of sentences or paragraphs. But it also seemed to mean that the translations weren't very accurate.

The Spanish dictionary found at Google isn't like this. The text remains unaltered if translated to Spanish and then back to English. Although people who want to come up with alternate versions of a phrase or paragraphs are disappointed, people who want accurate translations are happy.

A Spanish dictionary doesn't have to translate. Oxford's Spanish dictionary translates, but also offers pronunciation keys and definitions of English and Spanish words. The word water, for instance. The result shows that the Spanish equivalent is agua. It's a feminine noun but becomes masculine when it's singular. The entry goes on to show all sorts of other Spanish verbs that mean water in different contexts. It's a very useful tool.

In the Spanish dictionary you would find madre for mother. It also brings up a transitive verb version mimar. Transitive is like the word used in the sentence: she mothers me. The Spanish version of the phrase mother tongue is lengua materna.

Jacket can be found in the Spanish dictionary. The clothing item is chaqueta in Spanish. But sobrecubierta is a book jacket.

It seems that when it comes to a Spanish dictionary, Oxford's is the best and most useful.