How to use a bilingual dictionary?
It’s really not that simple…

1) Do you have a decent dictionary?

What you must have:

• each entry should have one or several examples of a sentence using the word in different contexts
• You should have separate entries for different meaning of the word, or at least different entries for noun/verb/adjectives/ adverbs… (and verbs have to be differentiated into transitive/intransitive = takes direct object (without preposition) / takes indirect object (with preposition) and the different possible preposition and different meaning
• Indication about the different fields/context this word could be used in

                  i.e. CULIN. means the context is food.  If you’re writing about base-ball, look further, SPORT maybe, or even BASE-BALL. One student used the word for batter (“ pancake batter”) while meaning baseball batter.  Also a strike (base-ball) ended up being a strike (workers on strike for higher wages)
                   i.e: the word to translate “suit” in French is different if you are talking about a “wedding suit” or a “diving suit”.  Good dictionary will give you contexts, or type of situations when these words would be used.

• Somewhere in the entries for a word there should be one or several entries for all different locutions or idioms.  Idioms are ways to use a word in a set sentence that is very loosely related with the actual meaning of the words.  i.e.: “I have a frog in my throat”.  If you know what frog and throat mean, you might still not understand what the sentence mean.
• You will get to know your dictionary, and learn the meaning of different symbols (n., v., v.i., fem., pl., Culin., …).  They should all be written down somewhere at the start.  You need to eventually learn what they mean to be able to use a dictionary efficiently (and find their meaning when you don’t know)
• Level of language (old, slang…).  Words will have different levels of use, an old word usually means it’s not used very much any more (but you might find it in a literary text).  A slang word is best not used in a dissertation.
• Phonetics is a plus (but not compulsory)

2) How to look up a word?

• Do NOT trust electronic dictionaries, or use with caution.  Words have different meaning in different context, and computers are not clever enough to know what context you are talking about.  An electronic dictionary should have the same amount of information as a normal dictionary (see above) to be trusted, but electronic dictionaries often aim at being portable, which is good to travel and order at the restaurant, but not good enough to study French at university.

      YOU are the computer deciding which definition to use. 

• Do NOT trust online translators.  Translating entire sentences with an electronic translator is cheating, but also completely inefficient and painfully obvious for the teacher.

• NEVER pick up the first meaning you come across, check all the following first:

• Are you looking at the right type of word (verb, noun, adjective, adverb)?

                  i.e.: Do not put the equivalent of “a squash” when you really want to say “ to squash” , unless you want to entertain the teacher.

• Is there more than one context this word could be used in?  Find the right context          i.e.: “diving” or “sport” for diving suit, “marriage” or “formal dress”  for wedding suit.
• Are you looking at the most important word? 

                  i.e. “diving suit”: the main word (noun) here is “suit”, try to find the “diving” context into the “ suit” entry.  If this is not successful, go to the other word.                                      Same for verbs, i.e: se rendre compte, the main verb is “ rendre”, “ compte”  is just hanging behind, find “ se rendre compte” under “ rendre”.
                                           i.e.:  “avoir besoin”, look up “ avoir” and find it in combination with “ besoin”.

• The word is not there.  For a verb: Is it conjugated?  Is it a past participle?  Most dictionary will only have the infinitive.  Usually they are pretty close, but if you are looking an irregular verb, you might not find it (i.e.: “soit” is a verb, but the infinitif is “ être”, so you might never find it if you do not know the conjugation.  Dictionaries cannot do everything for you.

                                          For a noun: maybe you are looking for an irregular plural = (un cheval/ des chevaux).   Nouns are usually close enough to find.

• If you look up 2 words separately and the combination of them does not seem to make sense, ask yourself whether it is a set phrase or an idiom.

                  i.e.: in English if you read: “ he gives in” and looked up “ give” and “ in” separately, it would not make any sense.  They work together (= same for “ se rendre compte” )
                  i.e.: if you look up “ frog”, “throat”, and still cannot figure out what “ having a frog in your throat”  means.  This is an idiom, it should be found in your dictionary somewhere in the “ frog”  and/or  “throat entry”

• Look at the examples of sentences, see if they fit with the kind of things you want to say.
• If looking up a verb, check out if it’s used with a preposition, and if different prepositions mean different things.  Prepositions can make a big difference.

                  i.e.: parler à quelqu’un (= to talk to someone) / parler de quelqu’un (to talk about someone)/ parler pour quelqu’ un (to talk for/ in the name of someone)

• Look at the level of language.  Is it neutral, old-fashioned, slang?  Beware of slang, it always seems milder in a foreign language.  Better be too formal than not enough.

• Most of the time, trust the grammar structure of English and transpose it to French.  It will not always work, but mostly if you know where is the verb, the subject and the object in the English sentence, there should be in the same place in French.  Make sure you are indeed using a verb to translate a verb

• Using a dictionary is like doing a puzzle, it’s fun.  At some point everything falls in place and fits.  If one piece does not fit quite right, you’re probably not done with the game yet.

3) Other examples of mistranslation (intermediate/advanced level):

 Swim team= (wrong translation :  équipe de nager).  Swim is a verb, you cannot have a verb (nager) as a noun complement in French, find out the noun equivalent of swimming= natation, therefore: équipe de natation

Community pool= (wrong translation: “ étang de communauté” ) beware of shortened words.  A pool in English is a natural pond, which is how this would get translated by electronic dictionary.  What you mean is “ swimming pool” = “ piscine”.
Community pool: try to simplify, rephrase with words you are sure about: town swimming pool= la piscine de la ville.  Set phrases that sound really good and natural in English might sound awkward in French.  What we would say for community pool is “piscine municipale”.  You might not find that in the dictionary and don’t have to, just think about what a community pool simply means.  SIMPLIFY.

 “ I will look after the pool, life-guard and teach classes.”   (wrong translation: je regarderai la piscine, maître-nageur et enseigner des classes.)
            There are three verbs here (to look after, to life-guard, to teach).  These 3 verbs are conjugated in the future (will..), and have the same subject (I).  When you translate you need to find the equivalent of these 3 verbs and conjugate them in the future with the same subject (in the wrong translation, the last verb “enseigner”is left in the infinitive).              “to look after” is a set phrase, you need to find not just the translation of “ to look” (= regarder) , but the translation of “ to look after”(=surveiller). 
            “ to life-guard” is a noun turned into a verb.  It might be difficult to find a direct one-word translation for this verb.  If you only find the noun, maybe make up a sentence (= to be a lifeguard)
(good translation: je surveillerai la piscine, serai le maître nageur et enseignerai des classes)