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What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | I use them

expressisverbis — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:52:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: I use them

I still use the dictionaries and reference books I have collected over the years.
I have kept many of them since my university days, and I have no intention of throwing them away or giving them up.
To me, they have both monetary value and, more importantly, personal value. They represent years of study, efforts, work and professional growth.
One day, when I'm no longer here, I hope they will be donated to someone who will truly appreciate and make good use of them, rather than simply becoming part of an inheritance.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Obsolete knowledge

PAS — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 13:15:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: PAS
Post title: Obsolete knowledge

@Peter Motte - I understood the question to be placed in the context of professional use in our field, rather than "an item of interest to be read as literature".
I seem to recall my father telling me that his father had a physics textbook that still discussed the concept of ether.
And schoolbooks or not - depends what you need them for - as items of interest, or even if you need to learn something from them for yourself - fine. As tools for use in the 3rd decade of the 21st century - less so.

That said, I have one or two atlases of the world printed in the early 1970s - I keep them as memorabilia because I remember I used to love looking through them when I was little :)

My Oxford reference dictionary is from the 1990s, so its geographical, political sections are long obsolete, but I kept it for other reasons.

[Edited at 2026-07-21 13:17 GMT]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Keeping dictionaries

Mario Chávez — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 11:53:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Mario Chávez
Post title: Keeping dictionaries

I want to thank everyone for your considered and sometimes moving comments on what to do with dictionaries and similar books.

As I was reading some of your comments this week, I thought: “How about donating them to a local public library, the foreign language reference section?” A more remote, but not impossible possibility: “what about donating those beloved dictionaries to the library of a language or translation school?”

I owe my start to the New York Public Library, Sciences Division, in midtown Manhattan in the early 90s because a) I got to use a handful of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries to complete some of my first translations, and b) using those resources cost me nothing.

On a related note, I may write a blog on this question and the answers received. So, may I have your permission to quote all of you?

Thanks.

Mario Chávez

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:

I keep them. Not only out of nostalgia, but also because they're often a baseline. [/quote]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Not about schoolbooks

Peter Motte — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 15:56:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: Not about schoolbooks

[quote]PAS wrote:

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:

what's in math books, never grows old. All axioms etc. still hold. [/quote]

Yes, but methods of presenting the knowledge have changed radically over the years (I refer to primary and secondary eduction). I used to teach, my wife still teaches and we both hoarded all kinds of text books, exercise books etc. but at some point the changes in curricula and, what's more important, teaching methods, even the order in which knowledge is presented have changed so that those old books have become all but unusable. Verdict - recycling box. The same goes for old (obviously not referring to truly old ) encyclopedias etc.

All my remaining paper dictionaries are at arm's reach and yet I don't recall when I last used any of them. [/quote]

I wasn't actually talking about schoolbooks.
And old encyclopedia's often have content which you don't find in new ones, because most of the current public isn't interested anymore. Encyclopedia's don't only update by adding more recent knowledge, but also by deleting older facts. And even if some of that old knowledge is actually obsolete in the true sense of the word, you would sometimes be surprised if you learned what that obsolete knowledge is (or was).

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | I will probably take mine to the local second-hand bookshop

Christine Andersen — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:36:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Christine Andersen
Post title: I will probably take mine to the local second-hand bookshop

We have a second-hand bookshop in town, and I will probably take my dictionaries there. I will ask them to select which ones they can sell. Then I will take the rest home and consider what to do with them. I suspect a lot of them have no value in money, and I will certainly not spend a lot on postage or shipping - it is simply not worth it!

I might take some back to the UK and ask charity shops there whether they can sell them - the chances might be better at an Oxfam Academic bookshop or whatever they call themselves these days. (Some of my dictionaries came from there in the first place!)

Someone may enjoy my mother's embroidery stitches or the four-language visual dictionary, even though they date from the last century.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Sell them to an online bookseller

Jeff Whittaker — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 19:28:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Jeff Whittaker
Post title: Sell them to an online bookseller

I have used this company [url removed]

Enter or scan the ISBN and they will give you an instant offer (which you can accept or decline). You then put all the books into a box and mail it to them with a postage-paid label and they transfer the money to your account. Tip: take photos of the books before you send them because they do inspect them and sometimes make mistakes.

Option 2 is to create a lot of books and sell them on ebay. You can find their resale value here: [url removed]

I also remember a company that used to rent dictionaries (they used to attend the ATA conferences). This was handy when you only needed a dictionary for a specific project (back in the day when we also had months to complete a job). If you liked the dictionary, you could buy it and keep it by paying the difference between the sale price and the rental amount.

[Edited at 2026-07-08 19:33 GMT]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Axioms yes, communication methods no.

PAS — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:58:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: PAS
Post title: Axioms yes, communication methods no.

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:

what's in math books, never grows old. All axioms etc. still hold. [/quote]

Yes, but methods of presenting the knowledge have changed radically over the years (I refer to primary and secondary eduction). I used to teach, my wife still teaches and we both hoarded all kinds of text books, exercise books etc. but at some point the changes in curricula and, what's more important, teaching methods, even the order in which knowledge is presented have changed so that those old books have become all but unusable. Verdict - recycling box. The same goes for old (obviously not referring to truly old ) encyclopedias etc.

All my remaining paper dictionaries are at arm's reach and yet I don't recall when I last used any of them.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | That's why I started selling some books

Peter Motte — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 12:20:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: That's why I started selling some books

[quote]PAS wrote:

At the risk of sounding lugubrious, there is one other overarching concern - after your kids come home from your funeral, they will look at all your clutter and say "what do we do with all this junk?" I want to save them the bother ;) [/quote]

That's why I already started selling some of my books, years ago, but I still keep the dictionnaries.
And if you sell them at a serious price, you know they end up with people who actually want them. If you sell them at ludicrously low prices, like 1 euro/kg, changes are they end up with people who will throw them away anyway.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Awfull, indeed!

Peter Motte — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 12:16:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: Awfull, indeed!

[quote]Christine Andersen wrote:

It saddens me when I see dictionaries used før creative purposes - pages folded into sculptures and sprayed with paint, or stacked up as insulating wallpaper, but that is the way I fear they will go in the end. Just as people make bowls out of LPs and bird-scarers out of CDs ... Or mouldering at recycling centres. I can´t save them all, but I still take the most interesting ones home with me.>[Edited at 2026-07-06 13:26 GMT] [/quote]

Some years ago the local art school asked people to give their old books, so they could "do something with them". Which finally meant that children splattered paint all over them, and although the books were old, some of them were still useable and worthwhile, like math books: what's in math books, never grows old. All axioms etc. still hold.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Dictionaries and art books

Mario Chávez — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 12:04:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Mario Chávez
Post title: Dictionaries and art books

I do much the same with my dictionaries, graphic design and typography books. It doesn't matter if our descendants think little of them, it is enough (for me at least) to have had them as steady companions.

MC

[quote]Josephine Cassar wrote:

I keep them, I refuse to give them away. Books are precious to me and though I've taken to reading on a Kindle, I just won't give up such precious books. You never know and maybe, nostalgia, yes even books I used for university courses even though some of them, not my art books, are so old now. [/quote]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Gave some, kept a lot

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:47:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: Gave some, kept a lot

I gave many dictionaries and other books when in 2015 I moved from Bussels to Lisbon, but even so kept a lot of them. Some are still in my basement in boxes; others are on my bookshelf near my desk. Even if I don’t use most of them anymore, I love the sight of them, as they have been my faithful companions for a long time...

I should add that I have one or two dictionaries – which were quite expensive – in duplicate (such as the Stedman, for example) because for a few years (2006–2015) I divided my working time between Lisbon and Brussels…

[Edited at 2026-07-07 10:11 GMT]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Specialized dictionaries ctd.

PAS — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:37:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: PAS
Post title: Specialized dictionaries ctd.

@Daryo - Definitely, but the question is - will you ever translate in that particular specialized field? I am slowly approaching the end of the line (meant to say: the end of my career) and chances of working in other fields are diminishing. So...

At the risk of sounding lugubrious, there is one other overarching concern - after your kids come home from your funeral, they will look at all your clutter and say "what do we do with all this junk?" I want to save them the bother ;)

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Never had them

Gianni Pastore — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:47:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Gianni Pastore
Post title: Never had them

By the time my career was up and running, you could already find anything you ever needed on the web, so I never bothered.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Keep them

Daryo — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:28:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Daryo
Post title: Keep them

Some are so specialised that you can't find any 'online alternative'.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Gave some away, kept some

PAS — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:24:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: PAS
Post title: Gave some away, kept some

I gave away some really basic (generic) dictionaries that I have in electronic form. Some are also available online (I know, don't say it ;-) )
I kept some specialized dictionaries, but some have become obsolete. I used to have a thing for collecting oddball dictionaries ("Multilingual Dictionary of Forest Humus Terms"), so I still have them, even though I never had a need for them.
Here, selling dictionaries is an exercise in futility, mostly. Libraries don't want them either.

[Edited at 2026-07-06 18:36 GMT]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | i keep them

Gregor Trebec — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:45:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Gregor Trebec
Post title: i keep them

I keep them and they have special place on the shelf. :D This year i bought one from Craigs list, an English - Croatian dictionary.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | I keep them

WolfgangS — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:42:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: WolfgangS
Post title: I keep them

Otherwise I would feel like in Fahrenheit 451

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | Taking up a lot of space.

Lingua 5B — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:45:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Taking up a lot of space.

I created a small library of a sort in my basement, dictionaries were also sent to it. Some of them I also donated, some sold away.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | I keep them :)

Morano El-Kholy — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:21:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Morano El-Kholy
Post title: I keep them :)

I will arrange them with great care on the library shelves and keep them.
Who knows? I might need them someday.
Over time, they will become part of my precious possessions.
I certainly won't get rid of them.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | It is going to be a problem

Christine Andersen — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:20:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Christine Andersen
Post title: It is going to be a problem

I keep old dictionaries, and I have a great collection of them. In charity shops in England you can buy used dictionaries very cheaply,and some of them are really great as bedtime reading. (Illustrated furniture, anyone? Or the sweets we ate as children :-D Art and architecture? Or the food and restaurant lexicons - delicious, but not fattening.)
The chapters are short, and the plot is not exciting enough to keep you awake!

It saddens me when I see dictionaries used før creative purposes - pages folded into sculptures and sprayed with paint, or stacked up as insulating wallpaper, but that is the way I fear they will go in the end. Just as people make bowls out of LPs and bird-scarers out of CDs ... Or mouldering at recycling centres. I can´t save them all, but I still take the most interesting ones home with me.

As long as I have space for them, they stay on my shelves, and sometimes come in useful for solving crosswords or similar. One day they will have to go, but I prefer not to think about that!

[Edited at 2026-07-06 13:26 GMT]

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | I keep them...

Josephine Cassar — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:06:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Josephine Cassar
Post title: I keep them...

I keep them, I refuse to give them away. Books are precious to me and though I've taken to reading on a Kindle, I just won't give up such precious books. You never know and maybe, nostalgia, yes even books I used for university courses even though some of them, not my art books, are so old now.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use? | I keep them

Peter Motte — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:02:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: I keep them

I keep them. Not only out of nostalgia, but also because they're often a baseline.

What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?

Mario Chávez — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:08:00 +0000

Forum: Translator resources
Topic: What do you do with dictionaries you no longer use?
Poster: Mario Chávez

We translators end up collecting a variety of dictionaries, from monolingual general-purpose dictionaries to bilingual specialized ones, and a few others in between.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I didn't buy a specialized bilingual dictionary in chemistry (an example) just in case I would come across a project on chemical formulas or additives. At the start of my career in New York City, a 9,000-word document on a particular food additive landed on my desk. Having few, if any, contacts in the profession, I couldn't ask around for the best bilingual dictionaries for that job. So I went to the New York Public Library and spent hours perusing over dictionaries that came the closest to my needs.

Later on, when I was an ATA member with some contacts, I rented specialized dictionaries for some projects. It was cheaper to rent such dictionaries (say, $30 a week) than spend $300 or $400 on one, especially not knowing if that project would bring similar ones in the near future.

Years later, I would buy new and used dictionaries in different specializations. Didn't spend hundreds of dollars on most of them, but I ended up with dictionaries on specializations I never touched in my projects. I don't see that situation improving in future years. But I don't want to get rid of them. Some of those dictionaries are no longer in print.

So, what do you do with specialized or treasured dictionaries if you're no longer receiving projects in those particular specializations?