Dictionary use

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

What do you need:

You only need your dictionary and your iPad on your desk.

At the end of today's lesson...

You will be able to efficiently look up words in a dictionary.

You will be able to choose the correct translation that you're looking for. 

You will be able to guess the meaning of a word from the context.

Dictionaries...

Why though?

Dictionary skills

It is definitely true that you will most likely pick up a dictionary only once every 10 years, but... 

Certain (physical) dictionary skills are also useful when using online dictionaries. 

Before we start...

Quickly read throught the manual (gebruiksaanwijzing) and the list of abreviations (lijst met afkortingen). They're at the beginning of your dictionary.

Yes... these exist!

Dictionary tips #1

1. Know your alphabet! 
2. Use the two-letter indicators on the sides of the pages to quickly find the page you're looking for.

Let's see what you can do!

Look up the correct Dutch translation of the highlighted word:

'Their parents separated last year.'

Please stand up if you think you found it!

Think - pair - share

What did you do to find the correct Dutch translation of separated?

What does this sentence say?

'The adoption of loanwords into Japanese and their subsequent function adhere to three main rules of thumb.'

You can only use your dictionary and your brain (if you didn't forget to bring either of them...). 

How do we find out what these words mean?

'The adoption of loanwords into Japanese and their subsequent function adhere to three main rules of thumb.'

Dictionary tips #2

1. You can only find base forms of words in the dictionary.
   'I am very worried about her.' - worry
   'He worked here for 5 years.' - work
2. Expressions with more than one word can be found by looking up the first word.
   'Three main rules of thumb.' - rule

What now?

In order to fully comprehend the role of English loanwords (ELWs) in Japanese, we first need to explore contemporary Japanese and the general role of loanwords. Modern Japanese consists of three primary word-types, Chinese words, Japanese native words and foreign, non-Chinese loanwords. Each respective word-type is represented by its own unique script: kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana (native Japanese), and katakana (foreign, non-Chinese). Hiragana and katakana are phonetic syllabaries, with both scripts being on a one-to-one ratio with pronunciation, and Kanji characters are logographic/ideographic (Igarashi, 2007; Stanlaw, 2004). This paper primarily focuses on the words associated with the Katakana script as it is specifically designed to accommodate non-Chinese loanwords. These make up a large portion of the Japanese language, which needs to be taken into account for the context and results of this study.

Dictionary tips #3

1. DO NOT translate a whole sentence or text! It is usually enough to look up the nouns (zelfstandig naamwoorden) and verbs (werkwoorden), because these carry the most meaning.

Reading strategy:
Guessing meaning from context

It is not always necessary to look up words in a dictionary.

Sometimes you can figure out what a word means by looking at the rest of the sentence for context clues (aanwijzingen).

Practice

Now that you know about dictionary skills and guessing from context, let's see if you can actually use them while reading!

Practice reading by yourself on ReadTheory.org.

What have you learned today?

How well prepared do you feel for tomorrow?

1 = not prepared / 4 = fully prepared

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Recap

Reading strategies:

1. Skimming

2. Scanning

3. Efficient dictionary use

4. Guessing meaning from context

Good luck tomorrow!