Why shouldn't you use Google Translate for learning English and which dictionaries are faaaar better
languages·@cwbrooch·
0.000 HBDWhy shouldn't you use Google Translate for learning English and which dictionaries are faaaar better
<html> <p>Hi guys! This is my first post on this site. It is actually a repost from my original blog with minor changes, so, <strong>YES</strong>, you will find something very similar on the web and<strong> NO</strong>, it will not be plagiarism as I am the author of the original post :) If you like the post below please subscribe @cwbrooch :)</p> <p> </p> <p>I am an English teacher (EFL - English as a foreign language, ESL - English as a second language), and have been one for more than seven years. I taught English to adults in Russia, the UK and of course my homeland Poland. No matter the country, I get a lot of questions about dictionaries and which I would recommend to students.</p> <h1>A Big No-No to Google Translate (Sorry Google...)</h1> <p>Google translate is not the key to everything! Once in a while, sure, especially if, like me, you know the English phrase but for some crazy reason you cannot remember its <em>(insert your native language here)</em> equivalent and looking up the word is simply a matter of reminding yourself of the word.</p> <p>Google translate (GT) is a quick fix if you need something ASAP but not if you want to learn something (hopefully) permanently.</p> <p>The magic of the dictionaries I want to show you is that they are all recognised and respected sites which definitely give you accurate information in various contexts and clear examples. </p> <p> (Let it be known that I am not actively promoting any particular dictionary, no one is paying me for endorsing these sites and all I get is the satisfaction of letting you know that these websites exist :) )</p> <p>Let's start...</p> <h1><a href="http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/"><strong>Oxford Learner's Dictionary </strong></a><strong>(O)</strong></h1> <p>- an Advanced Learner's Dictionary but could also prove useful for less proficient learners. </p> <p>Might be perfect for many <strong>native speakers</strong>, as very often they do not understand why there are using the language they're using :)<br> <br> <img src="https://s11.postimg.org/bsqv2gbyb/dog_oxford.jpg" width="500" height="422"/></p> <p><br></p> <p>As you can see above, it is quite straightforward. <br> </p> <p>It gives you the part of speech, very often the most common synonyms. And what is most important for me: <strong> examples, examples, examples</strong> of various meanings. </p> <p>A nice nice touch is also the British and American pronunciation. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Now, the million dollar question: what is this <strong>little key</strong> next to the word?<br> <br> This is Oxford's way of indicating that the phrase/word is part of the group of 3000<a href="http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/about/oxford3000"> most common words in English</a>. Whether a word/phrase belongs to this group depends on its <strong>frequency, </strong>so how often it appears in written or spoken texts. All these texts are stored in the British National Corpus and the Oxford Corpus Collection.</p> <h1><a href="http://www.ldoceonline.com/"><strong>Longman English Dictionary</strong></a><strong> (L)</strong><br> </h1> <p> - A dictionary that prides itself on giving definitions of words that use only 2000 of the most common words. This means that you do not need to be a proficient English speaker to understand the definitions AND you can stop relying on bilingual dictionaries all the time!<br> </p> <p>The difference between (L) and (O) is that in the latter you can get lost in the list of all the phrases and meanings of one phrase/word. You need to scroll down to the bottom of the page if you are looking for idioms or something more complex than the simple "dog".</p> <p><br> In (L) you type in the word in question, and the first thing you need to do is decide exactly what phrase you are looking for:</p> <p><img src="https://s11.postimg.org/m437v43nn/dog.jpg" width="400" height="345"/><br> <br> This is a great opportunity to actually learn new stuff, as even if you are looking for a simple definition of "dog" you see there are countless other options and start browsing. You don't get lost or discouraged by the vast amount of text like in (O).<br> Also,</p> <p><img src="https://s11.postimg.org/bepj2urur/dog_days.jpg" width="400" height="125"/><br> what you don't get in (O) is a <strong>professional pronunciation of not only the phrase you want but also (many of) the examples! </strong>Because it is not read by a machine ( at least from what I've noticed) you can listen to the stress and connected speech which is a huge advantage if you don't have access to a teacher. :)<br> </p> <p>Longman's dictionary also shows you how often a word is used in English (according to the Corpus). It uses a different method, though. </p> <p>You will not see this with every entry but it looks like this: <img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o17kqveeuoQ/VyEM6Dx349I/AAAAAAAAAGM/bB5EMPkLMxkyyhaFyyOB83Lq3eklyRDJgCLcB/s1600/longman2.PNG" width="96" height="41"/>Where W=used in writing, S= used in speech, 3= 3000 most common words, 2= 2000 most common words.</p> <p><br></p> <h1><strong> </strong><a href="http://dictionary.cambridge.org/"><strong>Cambridge Dictionaries Online</strong></a><strong> (C)</strong></h1> <p>The EXTREMELY useful thing about Cambridge is that it offers you a bilingual option for many popular languages!<strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>This means you have a much more reliable source of information than Google (again, sorry Google...)</strong></p> <p><img src="https://s11.postimg.org/rn15ylbb7/cambridge.jpg" width="800" height="525"/></p> <p>It is very similar in its layout to (O) with more phrases on the right in the corner; it gives you both British and American pronunciation. And also allows you to check the word/phrase in various languages. But, to me, it seems to be less detailed than (L) or (O).</p> <p>It does, however, have a feature that I find very useful as a teacher:</p> <p><img src="https://s11.postimg.org/yc7pelwn7/cambridge_2.jpg" width="500" height="298"/> </p> <p>It states what level (according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages">CEFR</a>) a word/phrase belongs to.</p> <p>I hope you found this post useful. Subscribe to me @cwbrooch for more awesome English and more :)</p> <p>Thank you @noisy for introducing me to this site :)</p> <p> <br> <strong>Peace and love people. Happy studying!</strong><br> </p> <p>CWBROOCH :)</p> <p><br></p> <p>CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER LANGUAGE POST -> <a href="https://steemit.com/languages/@cwbrooch/how-to-learn-vocabulary-effectively-in-any-language">How to learn vocabulary effectively in any language!</a> </p> </html>
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