Using a monolingual dictionary can be hard work, especially if you have
to carry it all the way to class yourself! There are lots of good reasons why your
teacher might want to train you in using an English-English dictionary,
however, so if any of the reasons below are true for you or for your class it
is probably worth listening to your teacher and putting in the extra effort. There
are a few times, however, when a bilingual dictionary (e.g. a French-English
dictionary or a Chinese-English dictionary) is better and you might want to
insist that your teacher let you use it. These reasons are listed at the
bottom.
Good reasons to use
an English-English dictionary in class
1. Stop translating
The most important reason to start using a dictionary that only has English
in it is the same reason teachers insist you use only English in the classroom.
If you can switch off the L1 part of your brain in class it will eventually
become possible to think in English and so speed up your comprehension and
production of the language. Using a monolingual dictionary not only means you
are reading in English and avoiding your own language, but that you can also copy
the definition down into your notebook and so increase your use of English
outside class as well.
2. Double practice
Many students are worried that when they look for one difficult English
word in the dictionary they will just find it explained with another difficult word
they also don't know. This will rarely happen with the right dictionary and if
this happens all the time you should probably be using an easier one such as an
Elementary Learners' Dictionary. If this still happens occasionally even when
you have the right dictionary, that means that the word you don't know in the
definition is also very useful and you are therefore getting double practice of
English by learning that one too.
3. Grading
As mentioned above, English-English dictionaries are available in many
different levels. By using an Intermediate Learners' Dictionary, for example,
you will know that any words which you read in a text that do not appear in the
dictionary are not important enough to learn at this stage of your English
studies and so can be ignored. If there are many words in the article you are reading
that are not in the dictionary for your level, that is also a good sign that
the text is too difficult and you should reading a graded text instead.
Bilingual dictionaries are not often graded this way.
4. Words that don't
translate
Another problem students have if that they understand the English definition
but still can't think what that word is in their own language, and so they go
to a bilingual dictionary to check. Usually, though, this means that the translations
given are not really the same thing as the English word. This is particularly
true with personality words, where seemingly the same word in different languages
might have very different positive and negative meanings. This is another case
in which stopping translation helps- in this case to really learn what the English
word means.
5. Learn English
grammar words
Students also sometimes complain that words like "noun" and "adverb" in
the English-English dictionary make the definitions difficult to understand,
but these are words you will also need in order to be able to study English without
using your own language. A dictionary is a very good place to learn grammar
words from because the same words are repeated many times. Copying these words
down (or short versions like "n" or "adv") when you learn new vocabulary can
help you learn the vocabulary better and learn the grammar words at the same
time. Knowing these words in English will also help you discuss the language
with people who do not speak your language, for example if you study abroad.
6. More information
A good English-English dictionary for foreign language learners includes
lots of extra information for study that most bilingual dictionaries leave out,
such as the most used words in the English language, more definitions for each
word, common confusions and mistakes, and the phonemic script for pronunciation
7. Checking with the teacher
If the teacher does not speak your language very well, the only way they
can check if you have the right meaning of the word you are looking up is if
the definition is in English.
8. Tying in with
the textbook
Some textbooks have exercises that need monolingual dictionaries.
9. Learn to explain
language in English
The way that a dictionary explains a word in simple language is very
similar to what you will need to do if you can't think of a word in English and
have to explain what you mean in other ways. Reading those kinds of explanations
will make it easier for you to make explanations yourself such as "I can't
think of the word, but it is a kind of...".
10. Cut down on
dictionary use
Because using an English-English dictionary takes more time than using a
bilingual one, especially an electronic one, this can stop students using dictionaries
too often when they should be listening to the teacher or guessing words from
context.
11. Quality control
By using a good English-English dictionary for learners recommended by your
teacher, you can avoid the problems that some bilingual dictionaries (especially
electronic ones) have such as lots of useless or out of date words no one uses
and a lack definitions for each word.
Good reasons to use
a bilingual dictionary in class
There are a few times when monolingual dictionaries are better, such as when
you are looking for something that you know the name of in your language but
can't explain or draw. Words that are almost impossible to explain just in English
include vegetables and other plants, and fish and other animals. If your
teacher has seen that you have make a good effort to use English only as often
as possible, they will trust you when you sometimes say that the only way for you
to find this word is to use a bilingual dictionary.
