BEST ITALIAN DICTIONARY COMPILATION Note: some of these replies were
taken from the Vocalist.org archives

ORIGINAL REQUEST: I am looking for a recommendation for the best
Italian-English dictionary for a singer who will use it to clarify her
understanding of Italian texts, not in the course of an Italian class.
Thanks in advance for your advice. Judith Higbee Church of the Saviour
Cleveland, OH higbee(a)chsaviour.org
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My diction teacher wouldn't let us use anything but Langenscheidt's.
Expensive but it has everything you need to sing.
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I like "Beginner's Dictionary" - Easy Learning Italian Dictionary published
by Harper Collins - I speak a little Italian and like this dictionary
because it uses the words in sentence context - I have a number of
Italian/English dictionaries and I like this one best
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By far the best recommendation is Cassell's Italian-English Dictionary.
It's the most economical and comprehensive I've found.
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Most Italian dictionaries will give closed/open E and O. Alas, I believe
none have consistent IPA on the Italian side, because Italian is
phonologically consistent. Use John Moriarty's DICTION as a guide to using
any dictionary. But I think Garzanti is best; my Harper Collins Sansoni is
not that great, and the paper quality is crap.
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We read with interest your posting in CHORALIST. Our Director tells me that
he would heartily recommend the Collins Sansoni dictionary, but a friend
suggested your singer might look at this website -
www.vocalist.org.uk/singing_language.html.
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I like the "Webster's New World Italian Dictionary" because it uses the IPA.
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A really great one (although expensive) is the "Word by Word Translations of
Italian Songs and Arias"
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Evelina Colorni: SINGERS' ITALIAN
Harper Collins Sansone Italian-English/English-Italian Dictionary
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If all you are looking to do is roughly translate Italian text, then I
suggest you try Alta Vista's Babel Fish. It is a free translating service.
It obviously can not guarantee to be 100% correct, but I find that it is
generally pretty good and you could probably learn a lot of Italian by using
it. Simply visit; http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?
Type or paste your Italian text in to the box, choose "Italian to English"
on the pull down menu and then hit the translate button.
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Italian songs and arias, John Glenn Paton, Editor. Alfred publishing company
This book has both word-for-word translations, as well as looser, more
poetic translations.