Dictionaries & Thesaurus

Here’s a list of my favourite online dictionaries & thesaurus. They will be of great help while you are studying English online and writing and doing tasks. Check them out by clicking on the links.

Dictionaries

• Dictionary.com (My favourite one. It is considered the largest free online dictionary and  you can also check out the audio pronunciation feature)
• Cambridge Dictionaries Online (good for students and it also includes a phrasal verb & idiom dictionary)
• alphaDictionary (This one has a lot of features free English dictionary, grammars for 350 languages, crossword puzzles, word games, language jokes, and the “Word of the Day” kinda thing! worth checking)
• The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (good for teachers and students as well. Some things you might like are audio pronunciation features, illustrations and word-root appendixes)
• Infoplease (Another free dictionary with  encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, dictionary and much more)
• AllWords.com (English dictionary with multi-lingual search – French, Spanish, German – as well as links for word lovers and crosswords)
• Urban Dictionary (by far my favourite one – click here and check out why)
• The Compact Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford always has the best dictionaries and this one is not different. Thus, you can check out the writing tips)
• Fact Monster (A good free reference site for students, teachers, and parents. It includes other things such as sports, science & math)
• Webster’s Online Dictionary (This one claims to be Earth’s largest dictionary with 90 modern and 10 ancestral languages. Plus, word of the day, hour & minute)
  
• Rhyme Zone (This one is not only a dictionary and thesaurus but also a thesaurus and it includes the functions of a rhyming dictionary & spelling checker. How cool is that?)
• Wiktionary (Wiki dictionary from the Wikimedia Foundation – more of a complement to Wikipedia)
• Ultralingua Online Dictionary (What I like about this one is the fact that you can download it to your Iphone, laptop, etc.)

Thesaurus

• Thesaurus.com (It is claimed to be the largest free online thesaurus including antonyms)
• Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus (Contains more than 5000 synonyms and over 250000 cross-references. Thus, an alphabetical Index list)
• Aiksaurus (not one of my favourites but still somehow useful)
• Merriam-Webster Online (both dictionary and thesaurus)
• yourDictionary.com ( Another free online dictionary/thesaurus that offers definition search from Webster’s dictionary for word meanings and thesaurus. It also has forums and language articles, not mention brain games)
• Dictionary – MSN Encarta (It’s a dictionary, thesaurus and also contains a translation section. To my view, it is very limited)
• TheFreeDictionary (What I really like about this one here is the fact that you can create your own homepage by adding or removing things such as quotes, words, weather, etc)
• Wordsmyth (The only turn off of this one is that you’ve got to create an account)
• WordWeb (downloadable dictionary and thesaurus. Can be used offline. Pretty good)

The last dictionary/thesaurus I want to mention is actually my favorite one among all of the other ones I have talked about. It is called VisuWords. It is a graphical dictionary and thesaurus that uses word webs to find meanings and associations with other ideas and concepts. Here’s an example with the word “plausible”

Pronunciation III

Here’s another post and more links and videos, as requested. I will not stop posting about pronunciation, but the next posts will be about different subjects, including our book club.

If you haven’t tried the BBC Learning English website, you have no idea of what you are missing. The website is complete and has a section entirely devoted to pronunciation. It includes:

• The sounds of English – all those weird symbols that I keep teaching in class and students are always complaining about how hard it is to memorize them;
  
• Features of English – lots of information about different elements of English pronunciation;
• Quizzes – tons of quizzes to help you improve your knowledge of English;
  
• Programmes – A couple of radio shows that you can download to your computer (all with audio and tapescript)

Another interesting pronunciation video is this one that became a huge hit on YouTube a couple of months ago. Amy Walker, 25, posted a clever video on the Internet of her performing 21 English-language accents not long after moving to Philadelphia recently. In this video, she does a little tour of 21 accents in 2 1/2 minutes. Accents vary from UK to Ireland. Can you spot some of them? (Tip: She does the Torontonian accent)

Finally, a video that will make you laugh (especially if you are into accents and are not easily offended). It features Canuck comedian Russel Peters making fun of different accents. Enjoy!

Pronunciation

Everyday I get tons of e-mails from readers, current students, old students, among others asking me how they can improve their pronunciation. They all have something in common. They want to speak English clearly and confidently

I think it is everybody’s dream to be able to speak English like a native speaker, but  English pronunciation is always a big problem to ESL/EFL learners. I don’t think you should try to have a native speaker accent, especially because even native speakers have their own accent. I mean, my wife is Canadian from Ottawa and my best friend is Canadian from Toronto and they have slightly different accents. So my question is, why bother?

I think you HAVE TO worry about having bad English pronunciation. I say that because bad English pronunciation may confuse people even if you use the most advanced English grammar. After all, we can always use simple words and simple grammar structures that will make people understand you but we cannot use “simple pronunciation”.

On the other hand, we have good English pronunciation and what I mean by good English pronunciation is being understood by people and people be willing to listen to you!

So, how to speak English clearly and confidently? There are three ways: practice, practice and practice!

I know you must be a little bit disappointed, but the truth of the matter is that there’s no secret to learning and improving your pronunciation. I remember as a student I used to listen to music, practice tongue twisters, repeat individual sounds, among other things.

So, starting now I will publish a series of posts devoted to learning and improving your pronunciation skills. I hope you all enjoy!

Tongue Twisters

According to wikipedia‘s definition, “Tongue Twisters” are phrases that are designed to be difficult to articulate properly. Tongue-twisters may rely on similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., s [s] and sh [ʃ]), unfamiliar constructs in loanwords, or other features of a language.

Try practicing the tongue twisters to improve your pronunciation and have fun!

and here’s a funny video about a French guy trying to learn English.