Soon-to-be-five Kevin hears his phonics lesson pronounced with the help of the new Macmillan CD-ROM dictionary (open on the top right of the computer screen). Hint to the developers: He would really REALLY like to hear his name. Why not include a list of common names in the next edition? |
I must admit that I almost never use a dictionary anymore – in the book form that is. Instead, I have become addicted the new CD-Rom advanced learners’ dictionaries that I have installed on my office and home computers. All of the major publishers have them and they include everything contained in the book version plus much more.
Each one is excellent and each has many more features than I can describe here. Here are some of the highlights from the four products I have been trying out.
Macmillan English Dictionary
Here is the ultimate dictionary for those of us who hate having to turn pages to find a word. Just move the cursor over a word in your word processing programme or your Internet browser and it will look up the word for you – instantaneously. It will automatically pronounce the word for you too if you set up that option. The default is British, but the American pronunciation is just a click away.
Choose between the quick view – a small box with just the definition – or the full view with additional information including related words. Make sure you look through the menu at the top to discover all the options. The study guide (under the view menu) is excellent and you will be amazed at all there is on offer.
Oxford Student’s Genie
This product is another technological marvel. It automatically looks up words for you in word processing programs, Internet browsers, and, in many cases, e-mail. Click for either the British or the American pronunciation. The Genie even has a bit of artificial intelligence. It is generally able to distinguish idioms and phrasal verbs and it looks at the text to determine which definition to list first. It’s not perfect, but it’s quite good.
The Genie opens in a small moveable box similar to the Macmillan quick view. I couldn’t find a full view option which would have been nice for finding more detailed information.
Collins Cobuild
There’s nothing really fancy about the electronic version of the Cobuild dictionary. There is no automatic lookup and no connectivity with word processing programmes or the Internet, so you have to type in the words. Spoken pronunciation is included, but it’s strictly British.
What the dictionary lacks in excitement, however, it makes up in speed and power. This is truly an industrial-strength product – a dictionary, a thesaurus, a usage guide and a five-million word corpus all rolled into one. If you like examples, this is the product to choose – just make sure you click on the "full text" option.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Like the Cobuild Dictionary, the electronic LDOCE generally requires you to type in the words the old-fashioned way. You can – with a little effort – configure it to work with Microsoft Word, but as far as I could see, it won’t yet work with other programmes including Internet browsers.
This is an excellent dictionary, however, and includes spoken pronunciations (British), an extensive library of helpful illustrations, and a verb dictionary with complete verb conjugations. One minus: it was the only product that required me to keep the CD in the tray, i.e., it didn’t seem to allow the full install option.
All these products should be available at many major bookstores around Bangkok. The DK Today branch at Makasan is usually a safe bet because it tends to specialise in language learning material. Be sure to check out the dictionary from Cambridge as well.
terryfrd@ksc15.th.com |