Dictionaries, Thesaurus and assorted questions

Question

What resource do you use to find out if a word is common, that is frequently used, or if it is rare? Sometimes when studying Spanish I come across words and if a native speaker is nearby they might say that is a very uncommon word. Now here I am devoting the same energy to learning it as a more common word.
The next question is what are some of the best online dictionaries? For spanish-english I have not found a better one than spanishdict.com but for a "pure" Spanish the only one I know is rae.es/ which I think is pretty good. Does anyone know about a good thesaurus in Spanish either online or in print, which brings up the question if I wanted to purchase books in Spanish what is a good website for that? Final question here is what techniques, tools, tips can you give to finally stop thinking in English and translating and just speak Spanish? Sorry for the all over questions but I rarely post messages, but read many, and this is just easier for me... Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Answer 1

I am also interested in any tips or advice that anyone can give me on how to improve on speaking spanish instead of always trying to translate ..... I would love to communicate smoothly with out constantly translating

Presently I am learning Chinese. I watch Chinese television, listen to Chinese Radio and I walk around listening to my ipod with hundreds of Chinese lessons. Also, all my friends are Chinese, I teach them English in exchange for some practice in Chinese. Sometimes I'm busy with other projects and I have to lay-off of the Chinese for a while, but whenever I get a new opportunity I'm right on top of it again. What I'm telling you is that you need to immerse yourself in the language and the culture to be able to become truly fluent in it. Eventually you will be able to "think" in Spanish without the need to first translate in your mind anything you want to say.

Answer 2

I am also interested in any tips or advice that anyone can give me on how to improve on speaking spanish instead of always trying to translate ..... I would love to communicate smoothly with out constantly translating

Answer 3

HI sharp, I use this dictionary frequently, especially for synonyms etc.

el mundo.es

Look, you get all these options:

Elige el diccionario:
de la Lengua Española
de sinónimos
de antónimos
de español a inglés
de inglés a español
de español a francés
de francés a español
de medicina