Again, we have to post a rewritten version of our homework on our blog. This time we had a look at monolingual dictionaries in order to find out which one is our favourite.
Having looked at a number of monolingual print dictionaries in class this week, I have decided to buy the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. It is an excellently structured, not too bulky book containing all the information an advanced English learner could possibly need. Not only does every entry come with phonetic transcription and an explanation of the word but there are also tips after most of the words informing you about strong collocations or other characteristics. If a word is mainly used in British English, for example, you will find ‘BrE‘ written next to it, which is helpful especially if you try to (or have to) aim for a certain standard of English. I couldn’t find any disadvantages to this dictionary, except for the exorbitant prices of print dictionaries in general maybe. For a bibliophile like me, a good monolingual dictionary is certainly worth the investment, so I am going to put the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary on my birthday wish list.
I was pleased that Fiona liked my homework, but of course it can always be improved on. :-)
Instead of looking up German words in online dictionaries because I want to know their English equivalents, I should rather try to describe them in another way. By choosing from a long list of English suggestions, there is a good chance you will pick a word you can't use in a certain phrase.
I should also try to avoid words such as "good" or "nice" and find synoyms for them instead.
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