Tuesday, April 5, 2016
D is for Dictionaries
Dictionaries, actual paper books of words, are essentially obsolete. I certainly enjoy the ease of looking up words online or using Google Translate to start working out communication. Still, there was a time when I collected bilingual dictionaries with delight. I had pocket dictionaries for Norwegian and Danish, and a one thousand word list that told you common words in Russian, Latvian, and English. Because I was learning Latvian, I had a picture dictionary, a two-way dictionary that was adequate, and a Latvian-English dictionary that was much more thorough, but didn't allow for the essential cross referencing that helps to ensure you're getting the right shade of meaning.
I miss that, the working out of the spelling of a new word, the examination of the various meanings when translated back, and the choosing of which one best served my needs. I miss my dad's name scrawled on the inside of the Russian phrasebook, the hunt through Powell's for Latvian English dictionaries, the thrill of imagining that someday I might find use for a Georgian-English dictionary. Those are amongst the only books that survived my "Do I really need my own copy?" purge a few years back. I don't much miss three ton Websters', but I can't bring myself to give up those bilingual dictionaries.
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Ha-ha. I carried around a Norwegian dictionary when I visited. Now you take a smart phone and can google the translation. Things sure have changed. I have a collection of dictionary, but rarely use anymore.
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Wow! I'm impressed! I tried learning some German, but didn't get too far with it.
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www.jasperlynnblog.wordpress.com
I would probably never give up those dictionaries either. You never know when you might need them. I love books!
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Sunni
http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/
I still have my insanely large, hard-cover dictionary. I haven't been able to get rid of it yet even though I probably haven't opened it in a decade. Not sure why I keep it.
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Weekends in Maine
My mother still uses dictionaries to do her crosswords - she doesn't like computers. The books are so well used they are falling apart :). I remember having to lug a huge once around for school.
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