The Use of Dictionaries in Language Learning

[@Fendy1]

A lot of posters have the view that a dictionary is not useful. However I think a dictionary is extremely useful for language learning, regardless of whether it is paper or online, as it serves a purpose to 'enlighten' the language learner about specific vocabulary; meaning and usage (usually for those looking up a foreign language word). Language learning is only as interesting as you make it. Most people would agree that dictionaries are rather dry, however I believe that this is the nature of learning a language - particularly with relation to learning vocabulary. However, you can in fact be positive-minded about using dictionaries as a tool in itself for the purpose of language learning. For example, if you have a good L2>L1 'progressive' dictionary with example sentences which also have translations, you can do quite a lot of language learning, through an activity I have named 'Dictionary surfing' - this involves looking up the original word, trying to understand the example sentences, and if there is a word you don't know in the example sentence, then you then go to look up that word and the process continues.This in itself may sound boring, but that only depends on the degree of interest one has in the subject.

[@hyunb4steve302]

I enjoy the longer videos Steve! your insight in language learning is always nice to hear a bit longer

[@poulramirez190]

Hello Steve! I´m Poul from México. To me I´d like watching long videos about several topics. As you said, there is people that use your videos as resources for improve their english and I watch your videos with that order. Thank you for all the advices that you give us! I have watched all your english videos because I´m learning that language currently and you has been a great inspiration in my learning journey. Greetings from México!

[@poulramirez190]

+Poul Ramírez And sorry for my grammar mistakes.

[@EverthingsApple]

+Poul Ramírez You're doing great!

[@poulramirez190]

+Explore Westeros Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it a lot :) Greetings!

[@ThatCreepypastaGuy]

i would love longer language learning videos where you let your mind wonder and talk about whatever you feel at the time

[@2tz02]

I use dictionaries, they are very helpful for me. Some dictionaries have example sentences that can help to create my own sentences.

[@criskity]

I've long said that dictionaries can be your best friend and your worst enemy. For instance, they often omit usage subtleties, modern usages and alternative meanings.

[@Halmayo]

I'd like to hear about your biggest problems when you're learning a language and the way you get over with it.

[@jackwong9007]

I enjoy short vids, talking about learning experience and methods. You are one of my favorite you-tubers, big fan.

[@drtodd0]

I like the longer videos for they encourage me to keep going, but I understand it may be more difficult to continuously make them. Your suggestion of one long/one short video a week seems reasonable. Also, a suggestion for a video would be comparing how you learned early on (i.e., French/Chinese) to how you learn now. In other words, discussing what/how you learned over the years. As always, thanks for the videos!

[@qqqrrr2556]

The long 1 hour Q&A videos are the best in my opinion.

[@jasiunightingale4555]

I would like to see how you take notes as you learn a language, if you do that is. On top that, it would also be helpful to see a conversation in another language, specifically Chinese, translated literally into English, so it would follow the exact same sentence structure as the Chinese format. I haven't seen it done yet and I think it would help English speakers such as I, understand the language. And thank you Steve for all the tips and tricks you gave out so far! They really do help.

[@arvidfalk5719]

Yes, those long rants are particularly enjoyable and interesting. I for one really miss them...

[@ohwaititsbait]

I have to say - I don't care what you talk about; I'll sit and listen to them regardless! All the best.

[@floodland99]

I would like longer videos on an array of topics. Thanks.

[@mahsazhoghi3502]

hi steve I 100percent agree with you and the method which you just mentioned really worked for me but you know ofentimes its really tempting when you come across a new word to look it up in the dictionary and understand the meaning which doesn't reaaly works and as you said as soon as you close the dictionary you will forget it.I think another disadvantage of dictionary based language learning is it makes you doubtful whenever you are speaking or writing that prevent you become fluent in your target language and just blocks the natural learning process which make the language learner burnt out and unmotivation....finally we must remember the most important thing in learning a is not to become implacable or without any error(as we all have some error in our native language) but it's learning to communicate and make your selfish understood

[@NiyonsabaFulgence-tq3gr]

Well said,bro!

[@dark_red_blood]

The rambling ones are the best.

[@not.vinc3nt504]

Steve, I personally want you to do short videos about learning(!) languages like this one.

[@HamzaDudgeonthelinguist]

I love sitting and reading bilingual dictionaries like books. Helps me better remember new vocab. I feel like with online dictionaries I read it quick and forget it quick. With a physical book I remember better. This may be different for each individual language learner.

[@RobertHeslop]

For me, I like to use a specific dictionary - the online one by Collins Dictionary - because a lot of the nouns etc there will have translations of the English word into some 26 languages and you can click to hear that word. I would more so use the dictionary when I'm using tatoeba to see a new word I've learnt in context or I'm listening to Kpop (I've just started self-teaching myself Korean) So that's how I learnt yesterday 어머니/아버지 (mother/father)

[@ouhiaachraf8943]

Hi steve I respect your idea about using dictionary in the language learning but others said that's ok to use a dictionary but they also said you don't need to depend on it just keep listening to the world in many context and you going to understand it. for me I'd like you to talk about the situation of refugees in europe for two raisons one because it's one of the biggest problems in the world and everybody should give his opinion about it and two for improve our english of course thank you and good luck with your language learning.

[@freddom34]

Hi Steve, I watch your videos for more than 2 years everyday and if I can understand the radio et read a lot it's entirely your fault and I thank you for it. Great thanks

[@wareya]

While I disagree with a lot of your economic viewpoints, that's mostly due to generation gap, and I still enjoy it when you upload such videos. When you make such videos, it's not such a negative to me, even though I subscribed to you for the sake of language related stuff to watch between studying.

[@cassidy76767]

Mr. Kaufmann, why not make a video about your opinion on movies, TV series, music and video games in language learning? I am currently using some dubbed Game of Thrones for my russian and I find them pretty useful. Thx for your videos!!!

[@juandxb7]

I would like to hear from you topics about politics, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience and of course languages.

[@kukeccz4919]

Please make them as you can, lots of different topics, the longer even better. Great listening practising :)Thank you a lot...

[@brentroberts9341]

Steve and/or viewers would you recommend turning on (English) subtitles for a film in a foreign language.

[@beherenowz]

Would like to hear about what level of speaking you should listen to - e.g. do you think it's most effective to listen to content which is very much at your own level of learning the target language, or should you listed to a slightly higher live, or both. And is listening to much more advanced content (e.g. the radio) worthwhile even if most of it passes you by and your vocabulary isn't large enough to cope with it.

[@LinguiZt]

Hello, Steve! I want to ask you how you managed to learn the onyomi readings for kanji in Japanese as there are lots of same readings for different characters. Did you use any technique or did you just rely on your imagination and thus imprinted them in your head? I`m a beginner in Japanese, but it just implodes my head... Especially such readings as ショウ、シュウ、カン　etc. These are the most often I come across.

[@ЛораСавченко-к6т]

Hello, I like your videos, it would be great to see more videos about learning languages, for example, giving some tips how to improve listening skills from the point of view your own experience of learning languages

[@forgottenmemories21]

I would enjoy seeing some Japanese fiction and non fiction reading recommendations for the intermediate or advanced learner. Don't hold back. Please be sure to give a brief synopsis with no spoilers of these books. Thank you.

[@Syastsk]

+I Heart Nihon Pretty much any novel is good for a truly intermediate learner. There's not a lot of difference between them except, of course, sci-fi novels having heavy use of technical terminology, fantasy having more words involving aristocratic governments and weaponry, etc etc etc. You can generally delineate novels in difficulty strata of 児童書, ラノベ, and 小説 and within those strata most things you find will be roughly the same difficulty. Particular authors within the strata will occasionally push the limits of difficulty but it's not really a big deal most of the time. When you get right down to it, vocabulary is the main problem, and vocabulary can always be tackled with a dictionary. In short, what I'm trying to say is - don&'t rely on recommendations for learners. Just find a book you want to read and read it, keeping in mind that 小説 will be generally harder than ラノベ. You'll improve.

[@forgottenmemories21]

Yeah I get that.. I only said intermediate learner/advanced learner bc I did not want him to recommend graded readers or picture books. I mean literally like what are some good fiction titles to read in a variety of genres. Is there a Japanese Stephen King if so who is he and what is the best novel he wrote? Is there an author who frequently has their stuff turned into movies? If so who is he/she and what do they write about? IDK in general I was curious what fiction or non-fiction books he likes to read in Japanese if any.

[@Syastsk]

Check these people out: Yamada Masaki, Sasamoto Yuuichi, Enjoe Toh, Tsutsui Yasutaka, Kambayashi Chouhei, Nojiri Housuke, Mitsuse Ryuu, Oohara Mariko Aramata Hiroshi, Komatsu Sakyo, Miyabe Miyuki, Kurimoto Kaoru.

[@forgottenmemories21]

Cool!!! thanks :-)

[@MarkBH70]

Online dictionaries often display the word in the tab, so while you're looking at another window, you can glance up and be reminded of the word you just looked up, and it sticks!

[@MarkBH70]

+Aquarian Christianity I'd like to know how to increase your vocabulary without using dictionaries. I read and listen; mostly listen right now.

[@nextunes]

hi, steve!! I would like a video how exactly you use lingq. I know there's some video about it but it's kind off not very self-explanatory. maybe it's just me that thinks this way but think about it... by the way I'm a loyal follower of your method it's really paying off. I'm listening a lot! I'm reading,too. and doing what I like the most. merci, pour tes vidéos je les aime bien. salutations de New York.

[@sarak6860]

+nextunes I also have trouble with how to use Lingq. I listen to and read the stuff there, but I can't seem to get any credits for making links.

[@satishbhanot5157]

Thank you sir

[@pedroruiz9157]

quiero mas videos en Japones y Chino! y tambien mas videos sobre temas de polititica actual en Eapana, Francia, EEUU, Taiwan, China y Japon. es mucho pedir?

[@DiamanteDea]

you are incredible!!

[@erickaparicio6118]

Steve what do you think about frequency dictionaries?

[@ben0298]

Steve. Do you believe your method of listening and reading works for every language? I am struggling with the grammar in Russian when I try to speak, because it is quite complicated to understand. Should I keep persisting with input learning and the grammar will fall into place in time? Perhaps I am just being impatient.

[@jackolantern7342]

I like the long videos. I don't think they are rambling at all; they are more like a free-flowing chat with someone you know.

[@aminsolivana4400]

Hi I'm AMIN from iran I want to learn Chinese . I don't have apourtunity to learn Chinese. I can study myself. I know that's hard. Can you say something how we can make languages so easy to learn

[@aliaaalattar]

Mr Steve....i would u talk about how to move from intermediate to advanced level. Best Regards;

[@englishstudent223]

I would like you to meet LingQ members who have learned languages to speak about their success stories

[@Number77712]

It's so frustrating going from doing most of my reading in Lingq back to learning Hindi where I am forced to use the dictionary constantly as my vocabulary is pretty limited and reading anything literary is difficult.

[@jamescook2412]

Steve, u speak a ton of languages. why don't u do a series recommending resources u have used for japanese, german, korean, portuguese, russian, etc

[@mo5ji]

+James Cook I think that exists already

[@Account-pq1it]

My guess is he would tell you he uses LingQ

[@tomaszbeszterda7405]

1:04 - the core starts.

[@manuelcondor2469]

Guys, the best online dictionary you can find is Wiktionary.

[@abdualrahmanghamd7486]

I suggest you to talk about learning languages through translation .

[@MrZielu12]

It would be great to see you talking about presidental election in the USA. Differences between democratic and republicans. :)

[@TheTafma]

Thank you for making another video.(^^)I want to know your favorite materials that you used to use as a language learning tools more. For example, recently I read a article about 7habit effective people in Russian on Linq. This content was imspired to me because by using this method, we can review same content over and over as well as languages itself.(still hard to get foreign versions except English though )

[@lifelessperson1993]

Hey Steve, I wanna hear your take on over stretching yourself when it comes to languages, how many is too many, and in what amount of time? Learning languages as long as you have, well over a dozen languages over a period of decades is fine, very good even, but for the beginner like me who's bilingual but only recently getting serious about learning multiple languages, you're sometimes spoiled for choice. It'll be nice to have your view on language mastery, and whether it's better to be a master of the few and enjoy the many works in those languages which you've mastered, or to be a jack of many trades where the number of languages you have a rudimentary proficiency in is great, however, perhaps at the expense of high proficiency.

[@sorbead1]

Japanese:Almost intermediate level but not good at convey information 伝える気持ちやpeople's needs .feelings..........What should I do any recommendations? I would like to read....What do you think "Remembering the kanji"by Heisig.....somehow I can go on but to learn at least 2000 kanji its seems to me i need another life Yes ;....your videos are a source of resources and encouragement.Thanks

[@adamorales3367]

Hi Steve English is my second language do you have any recommendation for improve English?

[@Linck192]

anything between 5 to 20 minutes is ok for me. You can do longer videos occasionally

[@johnsmith-tf8xb]

Does comprehension matter that much in the beginning? I'm learning Japanese through a certain youtuber and it seems to be working. I can "read" well for beginner, but I do not comprehend most words I am reading. I don't think that technique would work for a language that uses the Latin alphabet because English speakers can usually read those words well, but could it work with a language that does not use the Latin alphabet and is completely foreign? When it comes to videos I say a bit of everything. Short videos discussing certain topics like this one, and longer form videos about broader topics as a whole. Keep up the amazing work!

[@MrBmarcika]

+outerheaven my best guess would be namasensei, his videos are really good, and besides being really funny, actually teach you japanese.

[@johnsmith-tf8xb]

outerheaven TheLoremasterNojah and the J-Souls series. It is mostly self learning as he encourages listeners to go out and find Japanese text to practice recognition of characters. As I said I can "read" many characters, but have no clue what it is I'm reading. And as Steve said in his videos, looking up words is meaningless if I forget them when the book is closed.

[@anaaguilar1110]

I would like to learn japanese language from you, using long videos.Thanks a lot.

[@thaiCase]

Hello, Steve.This is Penny. Thank you for your sharing. Can you speak Japanese? And could you please share more if possible?

[@brandonfraterphoenixbowers]

To my understanding, a dictionary alone will not do much in learning a language. Most read one in a certain language and cannot speak it. Like using a calculator, if one does not understand how to do a mathematical problem, the calculator will do you no good.

[@Williamottelucas]

I see the use of a dictionary as robbing a person of their increasing curiosity about word as they come across them here and there. A dictionary ought to be used when you've seen a word so many times, and have built up so much curiosity, that you simply MUST look it up. Then, you'll be likely to remember it. You use the word "sticky" for this curiosity, Steve, it seems to me.

[@FeliciaFollum]

ugh....no politics lol just my thoughts

[@jjasmanycruzmartinez6621]

Alguien que hable español

[@kerenromay1164]

:)