Sunday, January 4, 2015

Dictionaries are your best friends!

"Dictionaries are your best friends!" why? they never lie, they tell you everything they know, be there for you whenever you need them....Yes! I know. I sound like I've forgotten they're not people!....
Seriously though, dictionaries, can be qualified to be your best friends!

But are all dictionaries equally good?!
the simple answer is "no".

But no one ever said that you can use only one or two! you can stack up dictionaries as you like. For years, I've been trying & comparing dictionaries restlessly. after some studying, I became able to know the pros & cons of each dictionary that I came through.

REMEMBER: you need at least 2 dictionaries:

1, Monolingual (English-English)
2.Bilingual (English-your language, or your language to-English).
These are the best dictionaries that I've used:


(click on the links to download them):


1.CALD (Cambridge Advanced Learner' Dictionary):an English- English dictionary dictionary that explains the meaning of words in a simple language.
CALD offers: Pronunciation (British & American), Examples of usage, common mistakes, Differences of British & American words plus other features. I recommend it for learners of all levels, but especially intermediate learners and above.
getintopc.com/softwares/education/cambridge-advanced-learners-dictionary-free-download/
2.Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary:Also an English-English dictionary. Merriam-Webster is specialized in American English. It uses a little bit more advanced explanations (but that way, you could learn more words!).
It offers: Pronunciation, origin of the words, & synonyms.
http://getintopc.com/softwares/productivity/merriam-webster-dictionary-free-download/
3.Golden Alwafi  (English-Arabic):
Direct English-Arabic translation, but no phrase translation. Be careful not to get the wrong meaning of the words. Right click on the word, select "meanings" to get all the possible meanings for the word
It offers Arabic-English translation; Click on the "glasses" icon, it will open a new window, tick Arabic to green & type the word.
4.Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary:
Similar to Cambridge but more focused on British vocabulary.
getintopc.com/softwares/education/oxford-advanced-learners-dictionary-free-download/

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