Traveling and need some help with the local language? The Ascendo Dictionary may be just what you need

If you are traveling to Spain, Germany, Italy or France and either feel the need to brush up your language skills or just need some phrases at hand on your BlackBerry for emergencies, the Ascendo Dictionary may be just what you need. Designed to do the above, the application may well be a life saver. For this review I have chosen the English Spanish dictionary but they all work in exactly the same way. See what you think.

The Review

All the Ascendo dictionaries come with a free 30 day trial. After that you will need to dip your hand into your pocket. While running the trial the application will tell you how many days you have left each time you launch it. You also have the option from here to purchase the full version or enter your registration code.

As you may well have seen in the above video you are presented with three tabs at the top of the screen once in the app. The first of these is the dictionary feature and this is where you can search for a particular word you are looking for.  

Once you select the word you are presented with both the English and Spanish variations. Below that are examples of the word in use with other words. All very straight forward and simple to use.  

Tab number two is verbs. Here you can search for verbs and once again you get search results in both English and Spanish.  

The phrasebook tab is the one that will come in really handy if you are on holiday and just want key phrases at hand for communicating with the locals or in case of an emergency.
As you can see the phrases are grouped into categories. Once a category is chosen you just scroll through the list until you find the phrase that suits your needs.

The final thing I wanted to mention was the quiz feature that I found within the menu. If you have been working hard to teach yourself a new language then this is the perfect way to test yourself. The application will show you a word in English and below it are four possible options in Spanish. Select the correct answer and the app will tell you if you got it right or wrong. A neat feature.

Ascendo Spanish English dictionary by Ascendo Inc
Simple user interface coupled with the easy naviagtion and seach results makes the Ascendo Spanish English Dictionary a joy to use.  As I said at the start of the review; it may well be a life saver.	The only real downside to the application I can see is it's price. At $19.99 it isn't cheap but you really have to way up its benefits. If you can afford to go on holiday you can probably afford the app. That said there may be cheaper alternatives.
The Ascendo Spanish English Dictionary is maybe the perfect holiday companion. Whether you are trying to learn a new language or just need some help with certain words and phrases the application will give you what you need within seconds. I am pretty impressed.	Download Ascendo Spanish English Dictionary for your BlackBerry smartphone Ascendo Dictionary web link