When it comes to learning a new language, what’s the purpose of a dictionary? Some language learners love and treasure their dictionaries. In fact, there’s often stress over which dictionary is the best option. Monolingual dictionaries, dictionaries entirely in the target language, are a popular option. Dictionaries filled with example sentences are also sought after.
In short, I don’t believe that a dictionary in itself is sufficient to learn new words. I know that looking up a new word once does not suffice to truly understand its use and retain its meaning. I want to be able to record my searches, as I’ll inevitably look up the same word multiple times. I want to be aware that I’ve seen the word before in a different context. I need to be able to use a dictionary quickly, and I’d like to save words that I’ve looked up for later review. Language learning is a personal process. Therefore, your dictionary should be personalized to you as well.
In this post, I’ll share with you my thoughts on using dictionaries and my preferred method for creating your own dictionary.
The Frustration of Using a Dictionary
I don’t like using traditional dictionaries. It’s a cumbersome resource to use, as I often have to interrupt my learning to look up a new word, only to immediately forget the definition. As soon as I close the dictionary, I find that I haven’t retained the word. I’ve already forgotten what I just saw, and this feels like a waste of time.
Especially with a monolingual dictionary, the experience can become even more frustrating. Definitions in the target language often contain more words that I don’t know, and I’ll have to look up additional words. I want to spend my time enjoying the language that I’m learning, not leafing through a dictionary. A dictionary should be quick and easy to use, and it shouldn’t be an interruption in my learning.
The need for a dictionary is undeniable, especially languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. To understand a text in a different language, you need a lot of vocabulary. However, you need to find a balance between looking up words and maintaining a sense of flow with whatever you’re reading or listening to.
Keep it Digital
A simple solution to reduce the time spent leafing through a dictionary is to keep everything digital. Read online and use an online dictionary. This way, I get instant explanations and translations to help me through whatever I’m reading. The process of looking up a new word is much faster, and I have less difficulty gaining a sense of momentum with my studies.
If I’m reading away from a computer, I just let the unknown words slip past me. I have to accept that it’s not worth it to use a traditional dictionary. It’s too inefficient for me to pause every time I come across something that I don’t understand. I want to look up new words and phrases, add them to a personal database, and create my own dictionary, but this needs to be done digitally.
Definitions Are Not Enough
There’s a fleetingness that comes with using a dictionary. You look up a word, but you have no search history. As a result, you’ll look up the same word multiple times. This can be improved upon. We should be able to save our searches, either to review later or remind ourselves that we’ve come across the word before.
Furthermore, we should be able to link our new words to the contexts in which we came across them. We don’t expand our vocabulary by powering through and memorizing a dictionary, but engaging with actual content that interests us. Dictionary definitions are dry and detached. An example sentence from an article we’ve read is more interesting and custom than a definition from a dictionary.
My frustration with dictionaries and other barriers to engaging with more interesting content led me to develop LingQ. I didn’t want to accept looking up words and limiting myself to simpler, less interesting content. Language learning should not be something to endure, but rather enjoy. LingQ streamlines and eases the process of looking up words and phrases, tracking and reviewing our words, and immersing ourselves in more interesting content.
You Can Create Your Own Dictionary!
LingQ empowers to language learner to tackle more interesting content by removing barriers to smoother reading and listening. On LingQ, I can find something of interest in LingQ’s library or import my own content from other platforms like YouTube, Netflix, etc.
While I read and listen on LingQ, I can save new words and phrases to my personal database for later study. The saved words or phrases, called LingQs, come with a translation and example sentences from my own reading. These LingQs are then highlighted for me when they appear in other texts later on, and I can visualize how well I know the word. I can also review with flashcards or personalized activities whenever I want. I just focus on listening to and reading content of interest while LingQ tracks my progress and builds my personal dictionary for me.
Language learning should be efficient and effective! I don’t have a lot of time to devote strictly to language learning, maybe an hour or so a day. Therefore, I want that time to be spent enjoyably, listening and reading content that interests me. To do this, it’s important to minimize the time spent flipping through a dictionary. Ultimately, this is an individual preference. However, I strongly believe that it’s more pleasant to build up a personal dictionary through reading and listening to interesting content versus sifting through sterile, forgettable definitions.
8 comments on “Create Your Own Dictionary”
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I am interested in how you set up your dynamic database. As I too find it frustrating that I forget what I have just read in a dictionary.
Regards Wendy
LingQ looks after my personal database of words and phrases. Cheers.
I prefer using online dictionaries too because it is faster. I’d like to pass on a learning tip which worked for me in the early phase of learning a language. Using a bound composition book, I created a notebook which was divided into sections based on how the words were linguistically used in sentences. Section headings were parts of speech such as verbs, articles, prepositions, adverbs, adjectives and nouns were divided again by subject (i.e. Foods, furniture, transportation etc). I treated it, not as a dictionary, but as a running word list written in the foreign language without any English equivalent. As a tactile and visual learner, the process of entering the word in the appropriate section helped me remember it. Writing the word or groups of words wherever I wanted on the page helped to create a visual memory. A grammar section was added showing learned sentence patterns to help understand and practice new sentence forms. The lack of English equivalents reduced distraction and dependence on the home language. The notebook became a meaningful way to look up, review or practice vocabulary. Supplementing the notebook with a digital spreadsheet would be helpful for reference when the notebook fills up. Even better might be to incorporate some of these ideas into Lingq where one could access specific groups of words for study. Lingq is great product. Thank you
When I import my own vocabulary in the lingq-program, I can’t learn this word in connection with my own sentence in the phrase section. Would it be difficult to make this section editable? Then I could not only learn the imported words in context, I could change also the given examples with my own sentences.
Hi Bernd, Thanks for your comment. I went in a experimented. I was able to get “other example” phrases, (although no original phrases) if these phrases existed in lessons that I had already studied. However, I discovered a number of things about the importing of words or lists of words that didn’t work they way I think they should. Let us see what we can do about this. If you want “original phrases” you can try creating short sentences of texts with the words you want to learn, and then importing this as a lesson. I think that would be a great way to really learn these terms.
Thank you very much, Steve,
your suggestion is really a good idea. If there is still a possibility to edit the sample sentences in the list of your own vocabulary in the future, this would of course be a “icing on the cake”.
A Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year
Bernd
Good