Learning English by using only an ESL dictionary

Hello,

Is it ok to learn English from reading an ESL dictionary?
I live in a rural community. I do not have access to books written in English. I do not have any English TV channels. There are not any English speakers in my village. I do have an ESL dictionary. Can I learn MOST of the language by using my ESL dictionary (that has the IPA for each word in addition to a sample sentence for each word)?

Thanking you in advance,

EnglishLearner

You don't have access to books and TV and yet you have access to the internet. What kind of rural community is that?

Hello,

I am using the internet at the library. Our library has some English books, but they are too difficult.

You'll be able to learn English well enough that any English speaker who is well-motivated to have a conversation will be able to communicate with you. Although, you seem to already at that level, so I'm not sure why you need an ESL book for other than for increasing your vocabulary. The dictionary probably won't be very good for teaching grammar or prosody, and even with IPA, pronunciation is iffy. Possible pitfalls even with a IPA are: not having good transciptions, not getting the pronunciation of the IPA symbols down quite right, not being able to pronounce certain sounds because they're not in your native language, not getting the emphasis right, not noticing that the same spelling can indicate different pronunciations in different contexts, and not paying close enough attention/forgetting the IPA transcription. On top of that, without someone to practice with, without feedback from a native speaker, and with the material being presented in discrete parts, there wouldn't be much context to put it in. A final concern is whether the dictionary fully explains the meanings of the words; many foreign language learners fall into the trap of word-for-word substitutions without considering the fact that words often don't match up quite perfectly across languages. While it's not completely useless, you'd have to have a lot of motivation and language talent to become fluent.

Interestingly "There are not any English speakers" doesn't sound right to me, although "There aren't any English speakers" is fine, as is "There are no English speakers". I guess I've gotten used to the contraction, and its absence sounds odd to me.

I guess I've gotten used to the contraction, and its absence sounds odd to me. //

But it is the contraction that is, normally, objected to, not the elegant form.


Police line - do not cross (elegant)
Police line - don't cross (sloppy)

Maybe it's that way in most cases, Kelly, but not this time. If you don't want to use a contraction, say "There are no English speakers."

"There are not any English speakers" sounds right to me but "Although, you seem to already at that level" doesn't.

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