Buy a bilingual dictionary with translations in both your native language and your target language. If you want to translate words from English to Spanish, buy an English-Spanish dictionary. Make sure the dictionary you purchase has both an England-to-Spanish section and a Spanish-to-English section.
Look up a word or phrase you want to translate. If you want to translate the word "bank," for example, go to the English section of the dictionary and find the word. There you will find a Spanish equivalent for the word. However, because not all languages are the same, more than one translation might be provided for a particular word. In Spanish, "bank" can be "banco" or "orilla." To determine the correct word for "bank," you will need to perform a reverse lookup.
Perform a reverse lookup by finding the words "banco" and "orilla" in the Spanish section and translating them back to English. This process will help with accuracy when looking up ambiguous words like "bank." In English, a "bank" can be defined as an institution that safeguards money or as a slope that immediately borders a river. The reverse lookup method will help you find the correct Spanish version of "bank" that you are looking for.