21
Sep
2009
Language Dictionaries
Language Dictionaries
While there are different types of dictionaries (compact, historical, etc), the most common is a general purpose dictionary. The dictionary will give definitions of the target language word in the same language (i.e. it will give the definition of an English word in English). Many dictionaries are special-purpose, designed to define terminology of a particular speech community or industry, otherwise known as jargon (or as Webster’s online dictionary defines it: the specialized vocabulary and idioms of those in the same profession, often implying unintelligibility).
The functions of the general purpose dictionary are to provide definitions, proper pronunciation, correct spelling and derivations. It will also indicate which part of speech the word belongs to (verb, noun, adjective, adverb, article, etc), and will give examples of common usage of the word.
Dictionaries will give the generally accepted pronunciation. There are at least 47 sounds in the English language which are represented in dictionaries by using accent marks above emphasized letters (there is usually an explanation of the system used at the front or back of the dictionary). The dictionary will usually use italics to indicate the syllable in a word to be stressed. If a word is marked ‘informal’, ‘colloquial’ or ’slang’ it should not be used in formal settings.
Bilingual Dictionaries
Bilingual dictionaries are specialised dictionaries that translate words or phrases from one language (source language) to another (target language). They can be unidirectional, where it translates only from the source language into the target language, or bidirectional, where it also translates from the target language into the source language. Often bilingual dictionaries will indicate grammatical features of the word to show how it is to be used, and contain features such as verb tables and usage guides.
The most difficult aspect of creating and using a bilingual dictionary is the existence of lexemes (words that cover more than one area of meaning). The difficulty is in translating a lexeme when a word in the target language does not have an exact match of the multiple meanings of the source language word. For example, in English the word table can mean a piece of furniture or a set of data arranged in rows and columns. In Spanish, the word for the first meaning is mesa, however the word for a set of data is cuadro.
7
Aug
2009
Learning a second language
Learning a Second Language
There are many benefits to learning a second language. Being bilingual, or in other words being able to use two languages with nearly equal fluency, has the advantage of increased job opportunities, cultural awareness, ease of communicating while travelling, and gaining perspective on the mother tongue. Studies actually show that the earlier children learn a second language the better their cognitive abilities. It makes it easier to learn another language later on as they have already grasped the concept that things can be labelled in more than one way (i.e. in different languages).
Bilingual or multilingual speakers actually outnumber monolingual speakers throughout the world, whether through having parents from different language backgrounds, communities without a dominant language, compulsory foreign language education at school, or the increasing need to be able to communicate across cultures in our globalised world. Many jobs actually require a second language.
Bilingualism
There are several types of bilinguals depending on the balance between the competence of both languages. Compound bilinguals are usually fluent in both languages and equate words and phrases in both languages to the same concept (i.e. having two words for the same concept). For coordinate bilinguals, each word in each language has its own concept or association. Both coordinate and compound bilinguals are highly proficient in both languages, though one may still be dominant over the other.
Even if a child learns both languages since infancy through having bilingual parents, it is likely that overall their language ability may be less adequate not having developed neither one nor the other sufficiently. In other cases, one language may be used in certain contexts (e.g. school, work, or shopping), while the other language may only be used other particular contexts (e.g. home or travel). It is very rare for a person to be equally capable in two languages and be highly proficient in both, and exceptionally rare for a person to be so with more than two languages.