I suppose I have to write in english . Therefore please apologise my errors .
I wonder why when there is so many good ( I suppose ) english dictionaries yuo only choose this one from Harper Collins . I'm not suggesting that this bad choise or that you are in some way biased but I would be glad when you would do some reviews and perhaps comparisons of some other dictionaries , especially Longman .
Thanks for your suggestion. We may review other dictionaries at a future time, but at the beginning our priority is to write about those which we think are the best.
Longman dictionaries are okay. They are only a little worse than Collins COBUILD dictionaries. Collins introduced a couple innovations. The other publishers are catching up, but in my opinion, they are still a little bit behind.
Many people in my country prefer Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary. I think it's a good one too.
First I would like to thank you for answering my post.
Secondly , at some time I'd had to buy English dictionary and I’ve noticed that the main problem in learning proper English is that after reading in a dictionary definition you know to less to use it properly and the Polish-English dictionary although it might be helpful some time does not provide the information you need too.
What I find great about Longman are the usage notes were there are about three hundred of those in the electronic edition.
But I think for the most advanced learners the Merriam Webster would be much better - they have many more notes about some advanced vocabulary.
I will give another tip - Longman essential activator, language activator , or Oxford word finder and of course Swan – Practical English usage- when you want to learn how to use the words correctly I think there are indispensable. But I would like to hear your opinion of them
Each meaning in Longman has a headword which enables you to find out quickly the meaning you are seeking. And of course there is possible to copy part of the text and there is a phonetic transcription and sample sentences too.
But if you could possibly pointed out why the Collins is better in your opinion I would perhaps buy it if it appears necessary.
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What I find great about Longman are the usage notes were there are about three hundred of those in the electronic edition.
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Could you give an example of a usage note?
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But I think for the most advanced learners the Merriam Webster would be much better - they have many more notes about some advanced vocabulary.
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I use Webster's dictionaries (from various publishers) mostly for American pronunciation (British dictionaries are too unreliable). Whenever I can, I read the definitions and EXAMPLES in Collins COBUILD. They're like 3 times more useful.
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Swan – Practical English usage- when you want to learn how to use the words correctly I think there are indispensable. But I would like to hear your opinion of them
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I like Practical English Usage -- it's probably the best grammar/usage reference out there. I would like to see it give more example sentence (in some chapters the number of examples is ridiculously low). Also, I've seen things in books that Swan says are incorrect...
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Each meaning in Longman has a headword which enables you to find out quickly the meaning you are seeking. And of course there is possible to copy part of the text and there is a phonetic transcription and sample sentences too.
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Are you talking about the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English on CD-ROM?
I think that Oxford Advanced Learners Dic is the best one. You getthe
meaning,pronunciation(Phonetic script asin Daniel Jones books)and a few
sentences are given as examples.
For American pronuciation, I use a paperpack edition of Oxford American Dictionary. It doesn't use international phonetic symbols but it's very easy to understand. Actually I prefer it.
It's not a learners' dictionary, but I sometimes find its definitions of words easier to understand than Longman's. Its definitions are concise and straight to the meanings of words.
Moreover it's cheap!
I sometimes use online dictionaries like Encarta or Webster to hear pronuciation.
Nobuo in Tokyo
If you can afford, I suggest you have at least two different dictionaries on the same purpose.
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I use Webster's dictionaries (from various publishers) mostly for American pronunciation (British dictionaries are too unreliable).
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Does this mean that the phonetic transcription for American pronunciation in Longman and Cobuild is sometimes wrong? Could you give some examples?
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If you can afford, I suggest you have at least two different dictionaries on the same purpose.
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Exactly! I was talking with Michal the other day, and he pointed out that the whole discussion ("how much Collins COBUILD is really better than the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English or the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary") is quite unimportant. I completely agree with him.
First of all, you should have many dictionaries (as Nobuo wrote above). There is no reason to restrict yourself to one particular dictionary.
Secondly, the most important thing is to read and listen to a lot of English --and not whether you use COBUILD which is 10% better than LDOCE.
Michal and I used a number of dictionaries when we were learning English in high school. For most of my learning time, I used a Random House Webster's which was not a dictionary for learners and had TERRIBLE definitions (too complicated, and often not useful). Still, we managed to learn good English.
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Does this mean that the phonetic transcription for American pronunciation in Longman and Cobuild is sometimes wrong? Could you give some examples?
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Most of the time, it's just incomplete (only one variant is given, while many more may be given by an American dictionary). I also remember finding mistakes a couple of times, but I can't give you any specific examples.
Additionally, Longman has this weird habit of transcribing words like "pot" like this: Br [pot], Am [pa:t].
You wanted some example hear it is :
"...WORD CHOICE: clothes, clothing, piece/item of clothing, garment, something to wear, cloth, material, fabric, dress Clothes is the usual word for things we wear: She's got some beautiful clothes (NOT cloths ). Clothing [U] is a more formal word for clothes in general: The workers here all have to wear protective clothing (NOT clothings). ).| a clothes/clothing shop. When you are talking about clothes for a particular event, you often say something to wear: It's Gloria's wedding tomorrow and I haven't got anything to wear (=I have no suitable clothes). ......."© Pearson Education Limited 1999 Longman Interacktiv English Dictionary ( Includes LdoCE) .
Will I find these notes in Collins? But I really must say that I think about going to the shop look at collins ones more .
I think with the last answer I have replied the second question too - yes I was talking about cd-Rom version , not the ordinary but the one enhance with the commom errrors dict. and Language and Culture dict.
I am using British National Corpus nowadays. It follows all qualities of what Tom described thorougly about Co-build dictionary for Advanced Learners.
If there is anything lacking, i.e showing frequency of words. It doesn't provide how many times a word is used in English language. That's what I differentiate co-build dictionary from all other dictionaries.
It also provides over 1000 usage notes. Here are some of them:
- A baby bull is a calf.
- Bulls and cows are cattle.
- The opposite of bring forward is postpone
[
- Bring: towards me :Mary, bring me some coffee
- Take: away from me: Take these cups away.
- Fetch: from somewhere else and bring to me:
Fetch me my book from the bedroom ]
- By is used for forms of transport: by train, by land, by aeroplane,
by sea
[
A cat purrs or mews
A baby cat is a kitten
A male cat is a tom ]
- The opposite of certain, meaning without doubt, is uncertain
- Celsius ends in -sius (not -cius)
[ childish means silly : a childish joke.
childlike means innocent, full of trust : childlike obedience ]
- electric current (not currant); current (not currant) affairs.
- curriculum is spelt with -rr- and -c
- to go despite (not despite of ) the warnings.
- the sahara desert (not dessert)
- to describe (not describe about) a scene
- to describe the accident in detail (not in details)
- different is followed by from ( not than)
[ A dog barks or growls
A baby dog is a puppy
A female dog is a bitch
A dog lives in Kennel ]
and many more. Of course Each word contains many definitions and their example sentences. There might be 2,3 4 and 5 sentences of each word.
What is British National Corpus ? Where can I find it?
The British National Corpus is a collaborative initiative carried out by Oxford University Press, Longman, Chambers Harrap, Oxford university Computing Services, Lancaster University's unit for computing Research in the English language and the British library.
It is a dictionary for lower intermediate students who have already started to learn English and who need help in widening their English vocabulary and their knowledge of how to use the English language.
It is the aim of this dictionary actively to teach and guide, as well as to be an accurate reference for words and their meanings. Special help in avoiding common errors and pitfalls is given in tinted boxes, and extra help -
with grammar, spelling rules, and several topics - is given in the appendix section at the back of the book.
ISBN 0 550 10732 0
Well, I bought it in my local market. If It is available in the poorest country of the world, You will certainly find out in your local market as well.
