My Electronic Dictionary is Very Important to Me - Essay Example

My Electronic Dictionary is Very Important to Me Good communication is essential in being a successful in school, work, and relationships. Only through enlarging vocabulary can an individual enhance their ability to communicate. Avram Noam Chomsky is a professor and a linguist at M.I.T. and has been nicknamed by, his students, “Dictionary bug” (Koerner 309). This is because he always carries a small size dictionary in his pocket. Every time he finds a new word he uses the dictionary to look up its definition. When asked about his love of his dictionary he commented that he adores his electronic dictionary and it is very easy to use because it has all the essential information about millions of words. Chomsky continued that he “can find definitions for four or five words in one minute”. As an international student, I understand and agree with Chomsky love of words. Knowing the meaning of various new words is essential for learning proper English. It is impossible to carry around a huge dictionary with me all the time. However, a electronic dictionary is something that helps me avoid all of the inconveniences. Everyone can benefit from the use of an electronic dictionary because “students and scholars of language, the electronic versions open up to us possibilities for the exploitation of dictionary texts that the print versions could not begin to offer”(Jackson 72). .I use it to learn new words and I am not shy about using it in the conversations. How can I communicate effectively with people around me if I do not know the meaning of the words they say? I am very happy that I finally purchased an electronic dictionary. The dictionary is my constant companion and is always with me always. In many conversations, it helped me to find the right terms to use and not to make a fool of myself by saying something inappropriate. While, my electronic dictionary is easy to use, the purchase of it was not quite as easy One day, when I went shopping with my parents to one of the department stores in our neighborhood, I saw an electronic English dictionary that was destined to be mine. It was well designed and offered amazing features. These characteristics caught my attention immediately. The dictionary, literally, mesmerized me with its smooth silvery case. I could not divert my eyes from it. I went closer to the shelf where it laid to have a better look at it. The list of available features in the dictionary was no less astonishing than its looks. It had a vocabulary of 229,600 words, organizer, phone book, calculator, and even an alarm clock. Of course, I knew that such thing can not be cheap and I was right. Its price was two hundred dollars, and when I asked my parents if they could buy it for me they refused. I actually expected such answer and had already devised a plan of how I could buy this electronic dictionary by myself. My first step was to find work Lucky for me my aunt owns a hairdressing shop and told me numerous times that if I needed money I could work for her. Before I saw that dictionary I had no real need for money. My parents would buy me what I needed and everything else was covered with my pocket money therefor I never need to work. However, this time it was different. My parents did not want to buy the dictionary. I realized I would have to save money forever if I was to buy it with my allowance. I took a deep breathe and went to my aunt and asked her for my first job. She agreed to help me out and that marked the beginning of my working career. It was not much, but better than nothing. I was ready to do anything she told me to. We agreed that I would work there for two or three hours every day after school and a full day on Saturday. She offered to pay me hundred dollars a week and I was thrilled. It was a great of money for me then and I was extremely happy. I could earn enough money for my new dictionary in two weeks. I was eager to get started! I greeted the customers, cleaned floors, tided the area near the hairdressing shop and number of other tasks. It was not my ideal job but an image of a beautiful brand new electronic dictionary in my mind helped me overcome all of the difficulties. I did my best at helping aunt and she was very pleased with my work. Two weeks passed quic because I had no free time with school, work, doing my homework and helping parents around the house. However, in two weeks I was standing in the store with two hundred dollars in my pocket and ready to buy my little electronic dream. My dictionary has become even more important to me in my international studies. It is showing its age because of my constant use. Currently, there are many newer dictionaries on the market that are more advanced. I am torn between giving up my first electronic dictionary and buying one with more advanced features. I am quite attached to my old once because it me so many times. However, I realize that I will have to say good bye to it soon as its malfunctions occur more often. Additionally, as I grow as a student within the United States my vocabulary needs have become more sophisticated. My old dictionary does not have the necessary vocabulary or a full definitions to words I use more frequently. I have done extensive research on the Internet and decided that I have to save up for a new dictionary. My choice has become clear and I have decided on an amazing piece of equipment - Oxford English-Chinese, Chinese -Japanese Color Electronic Talk Dictionary MD-8500. It is simply incredible. It is basically a portable computer with all necessary components that one needs for working with English, Chinese, and Japanese languages. It has a bilingual interface, and a voice system that helps understand correct pronunciation. It also has latest edition of The New Oxford Illustrated English-Chinese Dictionary with both dictionary and encyclopedia functions, color illustrations for some of the vocabularies for clearer explanation, illustrated encyclopedia containing illustrations of various animal and plant structures and life scenes. In fact dmund Weiner and John Simpson, with a staff of lexicographers in Oxford “corrected and edited the electronic dictionary, and they added around 5,000 new words, to form the second edition of the OED. One other major change was to abandon Murray’s transcription system for pronunciation and to use the International Phonetic Alphabet, which has become the standard system for dictionaries.”(Jackson 58). Electronic dictionaries are essential for international students. They offer a wealth of information in a portable size which makes it easy to carry and efficient to use. The use of the electronic dictionary is viewed as so vital that “MITI initiated the Center for International Cultural Cooperation (CICC) project to assist neighbouring countries to develop an MT research programme for multilingual translation of Chinese, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian, as well as English and Japanese”(Newton 27). Looking back, buying my first electronic dictionary was the first step in my successful learning career. The purchase helped me in my English language studies and I was able to improve my grades. It allowed me to become confident in my English skills which directly lead to my decision study abroad. It gives me security and the expertise both of which improve my communication. My electronic dictionary affords me the opportunity to avoid misunderstandings with multi-cultural conversations and continue to be a successful communicator and student. Works Cited Jackson, Howard. Lexicography: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2002. Koerner, E. F.K. Toward a History of American Linguistics. New York: Routledge, 2002. Pugh, Jeanette. "Chapter 2 The Story So Far: an Evaluation of Machine Translation in the World Today." Computers in Translation: A Practical Appraisal. Ed. John Newton. New York: Routledge, 1992. 14-29. Read More