|
 |
Using a dictionary | ||
Tags: Dictionaries | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| speightashley Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4706 days ago 17 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 1 of 13 20 February 2012 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
At what level of your language learning do you feel it necesary to start using a dictionary? Should I be using one straight away? Should I wait until I finish the courses I am working on at the moment? How do you go about learning from a dictionary? Do you take chunks of words are decide to learn that many in a day or do you just use it passively and look up a word as and when needed?
I'm a little confused as to how I am supposed to learn from a dictionary because I didn't learn many words in my first language from a dictionary. Any help appreciated :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5481 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 13 20 February 2012 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I use dictionaries whenever I'm wondering about the meaning of a word, or when I'm wondering about what something is called in my target language.
I don't see any reason to wait.
I just look up words as and when needed. I find learning from wordlists rather boring and uninspiring, but that's just me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6731 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 13 21 February 2012 at 11:02am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I use a dictionary from the beginning, and it has to a fairly good one too. If I can't get that I wouldn't even contemplate starting to learn a language.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5875 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 13 22 February 2012 at 6:56am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I also buy a dictionary from the very beginning that I learn a language. Small dictionaries don't help me doing serious language study, so I need a dictionary with at least 50,000 entries.
Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| shapd Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6177 days ago 126 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Modern Hebrew, French, Russian | Message 5 of 13 22 February 2012 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
You can use a dictionary as soon as you are good enough in the grammar to be able to recognise the head word that your query word will be classified under - not always as easy as it sounds. I personally do not learn word lists taken from dictionaries as Iverson does, but do use them to pad out my knowledge of related families of words.
Most importantly, unless you have a good dictionary, you can only use formal courses. As I usually find them deadly dull, I get through the basics as fast as possible and then move to genuine material, preferably with a translation. Popular novels are good for that, as many have been translated into many languages. Many on this forum have started with Harry Potter, if that is your thing - I am in the wrong age group for that to be appealing. (Classic literature is usually too difficult for beginners). Iverson prefers non fiction, and I have also used popular science magazines or National Geographic, where many words are international and the context is clear. Wikipedia articles on subjects you know about are also useful. Then you really need a dictionary to identify and learn what you are reading, even if you have a translation. Most people agree that you should only look up the minimum that you need to follow the thread unless you are doing intensive study of a particular passage. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4696 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 6 of 13 22 February 2012 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Small dictionaries are good for learning vocabulary.
If you're an advanced learner of English, so you should be familiar with most words in a 20 000 word dictionary. So, small dictionaries can be helpful for vocabulary assessment. Large dictionaries are good for reference. ;) I'm always sad when a dictionary lacks a certain word. My favorite learner's dictionary (MW's Learner's; with 100 000 words) does not have the word FEY. :( So, by using some words you can test a dictionary, is it good or bad? For example, a good Spanish dictionary should have words/meanings like GUAY (=awesome in Spain) , MOLAR (=to be cool in Spain) or CURTIR (=to enjoy; in Argentina), and the newest meaning of the word GUAPO (=nice, as used with things: un coche guapo: a nice car; common in Spain), and the oldest meaning of the word GUAPO (brave, fearless; as used in South America). Edited by Medulin on 22 February 2012 at 8:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5481 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 7 of 13 22 February 2012 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I prefer small dictionaries in the very beginning. Large or even medium sized dictionaries contain an overwhelming
amount of information. When my abilities improve, I move on to larger dictionaries. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4937 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 8 of 13 25 February 2012 at 4:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
It's not been mentioned, but I have enjoyed using a frequency dictionary in my recently started French studies. I am using several textbooks, and at the moment I only learn the vocabulary from these books. However, I often check the frequency of words, and note that on the corner of my cards. Until I'm reading native material, I won't need to consult a regular dictionary much.
To answer your questions, use a dictionary as soon as you need to. If you're just working from textbooks at the moment, then you won't really need one, but it might be useful to check because the textbook definitions only give a small proportion of the uses of a word. Once you're on to native material, use a dictionary to look up any words you can't figure out from the context, and any words which seem interesting. If a word seems to be used in an unusual way, a good dictionary should clarify that particular usage. By the way, could anyone comment on what they would consider a "good" French-English dictionary? And for the OP's sake, do the same for Spanish-English. Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
