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Old March 10, 2008, 02:20 PM
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Rusty Rusty is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,299
Native Language: American English
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Costa Rica is a wonderful place to visit!

If you don't mind, I'll correct your Spanish.
Voy a viajar a Costa Rica por una semana. ... Muchas gracias.

I can't recommend any handheld translators, as none will do a great job. There are handhelds that talk (some with voice recognition), and there are those that let you type in a word or a sentence at a time. There are several web sites offering these.

The important thing to remember when dealing with a mechanical translator is to provide plenty of context and choose ordinary words. Avoid idiomatic expressions and words that have double meanings. For example, typing in 'can' by itself will probably retrieve lata. But, if you meant 'I can,' it should return puedo.

Maybe others have a favorite brand or can steer you in the right direction. I don't like mechanical translations.

Depending on where you go, there are tour guides that speak English.