Choosing an e-book for English learners
In this article we will consider one point that is significant when choosing an e-book for people actively learning English. It will be about using built-in dictionaries, primarily English-English (explanatory) as those that most contribute to the expansion of vocabulary, actively involve the brain in creating connections between different elements of the language and develop the skill to think in the language being studied. After reading a lot of reviews and various FAQs, I found that this question is not specifically covered anywhere. Thus, I decided that it makes sense to share my thoughts and write a note without any claims to an exhaustive analysis.
When choosing a reader that will be used to read materials in English using the explanatory En-En dictionary, we must take into account the following points:
1. The presence of a touch screen.
2. The choice of dictionaries.
3. Ease of use of dictionaries.
Go.
')
Everything is obvious here, the words are best marked by touching them on the screen. In principle, you can also use a reader with a screen without touch control - with moving the cursor to the desired word with a joystick (for example, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4). As the owner of the Kindle Keyboard, I’ll say that this practice gets very annoying, so this option should be considered only if the function that is the subject of this analysis will be used sporadically and is not a priority.
Here it makes sense to consider consistently the situation with the dictionaries that are supplied officially, and then the additional features and nuances opened with the participation of skilled pens.
Hereinafter, the analysis will go with reference to the Kindle (Keyboard and Touch) and Nook Simple Touch readers as devices that I personally used. These are very high quality, affordable and very popular (gaining popularity) devices.
Here, the situation with the official supply is quite unfavorable for us - the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is installed in the device. This dictionary is intended primarily for native speakers, many vocabulary entries are quite difficult to understand. American teachers, with whom I spoke on the subject of advice in choosing a vocabulary, expressed the same opinion - this thing is not the best option for language learners.
We go further to the skillful hands. An important feature of the NST is that it works on Android. This means that currently the forums have already laid out comprehensive instructions on its root and have accumulated the experience of many people in this matter. After the root, you can install one of the most advanced Android reader for Cool Reader (there is a version specially adapted for the NST), with which vocabulary programs (for example, Fora Dictionary) are successfully integrated, where you can connect various dictionaries in popular formats.
Together with the device comes standard The New Oxford American Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary of English. Dictionaries are also not designed specifically for language learners, but, subjectively, I personally use them more comfortably than Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Optionally, you can buy the Kindle version of another dictionary from Amazon - Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary ($ 10.96), this explanatory dictionary has already been created specifically for language learners (unlike Collegiate Dictionary). The speed and efficiency of understanding vocabulary articles is strikingly different. Now he is standing on my Kindle.
Regarding the features available for skilled pens - here you do not need to jailbreak, just fill in the appropriate folder dictionaries in a format understandable to Kindle, after which they will be available in the main dictionary selection window. A large collection of such dictionaries is available on the forum www.the-ebook.org/forum . I take off my hat to the enthusiasts who have done all this work on converting dictionaries into the desired format. At the same time, in the work of those dictionaries that I needed and were available only there, some bugs were detected in the display of special characters of transcription. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the enthusiasts did a great job, I would not speak about the ideal work of the resulting product. Although, I emphasize, for most users, I think, this is absolutely not critical. It may be more annoying than to really complicate the understanding of what the main function consists of.
And about the choice of the dictionary, one of the best in my opinion is Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Extremely convenient for language learners. In this dictionary, the meanings of all (almost all) words are explained using a limited set of 2000 basic words. I wanted to put it on my Kindle, but because of the bug I mentioned in the paragraph above, I preferred to leave Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English I installed as a separate application on the iPhone, which I honestly bought for $ 25 . I hope the guys from Longman will someday release the Kindle version of their wonderful dictionary.
In addition, for those interested in choosing and comparing En-En explanatory dictionaries, you can read the materials in English under the links:
Comparative review of dictionaries for English learners.
How to buy a good English dictionary.
There is a forum on the site through links, where various nuances are also discussed.
In Nuk, in order to see a word in the dictionary in the process of reading, it is necessary to mark it with a long tap, after which a set of options will appear at the bottom of the screen (partial redrawing of the screen), from which you need to choose look up, resulting in a dictionary entry from MW Collegiate Dictionary (the screen is fully updated - flashes). And here you find completely absurd and incomprehensible things to the mind - it turns out that inside a dictionary entry you cannot recall a word from the explanation text and go to its dictionary entry consistently. Also from the main text you can not call a word ported to a new line with a hyphen. You also cannot turn on word search from the virtual keyboard. In general, the impression of the official implementation of this functionality in the NST is extremely depressing.
We proceed to the analysis of the convenience of working with the NST after the root. Here, in the course of the experiment with a bunch of Cool Reader + Fora Dictionary, the most unpleasant discovery for me was the repeated full update (blinking) of the screen during the transition from choosing a word to opening a dictionary entry. As far as I know (from forum chat), it is not possible to install a managed (partial-complete) redrawing of the e-ink screen in Android. If someone knows how to implement it, you will do a great and necessary thing by sharing your knowledge. The need to observe the repeated blinking of the screen in order to see the meaning of one word for me completely leveled the whole appeal of the root. Although here, perhaps it makes sense to conduct a deeper analysis.
The great convenience of this wonderful device is that when you move the cursor with the joystick or by tapping the desired word - the beginning of the dictionary entry (2 lines) immediately appears at the bottom or at the top of the screen without completely redrawing it and blinking it. If these definition lines are not enough to understand (this is the case in most cases), you can invoke the entire dictionary entry (a complete redraw will occur). Inside the dictionary entry, you can follow the same scheme to look at the meanings of the words of interest to you in the explanation text, you can type the desired word from the keyboard. Ideally, I would like, of course, to be able to increase the preview area of a dictionary article that goes without a full screen update and the ability to connect a full-fledged Longman in a format that Kindlu understands. And so, Kindle for this functionality leaves the NST far behind, and even the root of the Android NST is not able to fully solve this problem.
From my point of view, a good bunch for reading English literature with the active use of En-En explanatory dictionaries is the Kindle Touch reader with the optional MW Advanced Learner's Dictionary, installed as the main one. Additionally - a smartphone (on Android or iPhone) with Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English installed. I would be glad if this research is useful to someone as a ready-made solution or for someone it will become a starting point in the conscious selection of another combination taking into account individual needs and preferences.
When choosing a reader that will be used to read materials in English using the explanatory En-En dictionary, we must take into account the following points:
1. The presence of a touch screen.
2. The choice of dictionaries.
3. Ease of use of dictionaries.
Go.
')
The 1st point is the easiest - the touch screen is highly recommended for your reader.
Everything is obvious here, the words are best marked by touching them on the screen. In principle, you can also use a reader with a screen without touch control - with moving the cursor to the desired word with a joystick (for example, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4). As the owner of the Kindle Keyboard, I’ll say that this practice gets very annoying, so this option should be considered only if the function that is the subject of this analysis will be used sporadically and is not a priority.
2. The choice of dictionaries
Here it makes sense to consider consistently the situation with the dictionaries that are supplied officially, and then the additional features and nuances opened with the participation of skilled pens.
Hereinafter, the analysis will go with reference to the Kindle (Keyboard and Touch) and Nook Simple Touch readers as devices that I personally used. These are very high quality, affordable and very popular (gaining popularity) devices.
Let's start with Nook Simple Touch (hereinafter referred to as NST)
Here, the situation with the official supply is quite unfavorable for us - the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is installed in the device. This dictionary is intended primarily for native speakers, many vocabulary entries are quite difficult to understand. American teachers, with whom I spoke on the subject of advice in choosing a vocabulary, expressed the same opinion - this thing is not the best option for language learners.
We go further to the skillful hands. An important feature of the NST is that it works on Android. This means that currently the forums have already laid out comprehensive instructions on its root and have accumulated the experience of many people in this matter. After the root, you can install one of the most advanced Android reader for Cool Reader (there is a version specially adapted for the NST), with which vocabulary programs (for example, Fora Dictionary) are successfully integrated, where you can connect various dictionaries in popular formats.
Kindle
Together with the device comes standard The New Oxford American Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary of English. Dictionaries are also not designed specifically for language learners, but, subjectively, I personally use them more comfortably than Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Optionally, you can buy the Kindle version of another dictionary from Amazon - Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary ($ 10.96), this explanatory dictionary has already been created specifically for language learners (unlike Collegiate Dictionary). The speed and efficiency of understanding vocabulary articles is strikingly different. Now he is standing on my Kindle.
Regarding the features available for skilled pens - here you do not need to jailbreak, just fill in the appropriate folder dictionaries in a format understandable to Kindle, after which they will be available in the main dictionary selection window. A large collection of such dictionaries is available on the forum www.the-ebook.org/forum . I take off my hat to the enthusiasts who have done all this work on converting dictionaries into the desired format. At the same time, in the work of those dictionaries that I needed and were available only there, some bugs were detected in the display of special characters of transcription. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the enthusiasts did a great job, I would not speak about the ideal work of the resulting product. Although, I emphasize, for most users, I think, this is absolutely not critical. It may be more annoying than to really complicate the understanding of what the main function consists of.
And about the choice of the dictionary, one of the best in my opinion is Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Extremely convenient for language learners. In this dictionary, the meanings of all (almost all) words are explained using a limited set of 2000 basic words. I wanted to put it on my Kindle, but because of the bug I mentioned in the paragraph above, I preferred to leave Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English I installed as a separate application on the iPhone, which I honestly bought for $ 25 . I hope the guys from Longman will someday release the Kindle version of their wonderful dictionary.
In addition, for those interested in choosing and comparing En-En explanatory dictionaries, you can read the materials in English under the links:
Comparative review of dictionaries for English learners.
How to buy a good English dictionary.
There is a forum on the site through links, where various nuances are also discussed.
3. Usability
NST
In Nuk, in order to see a word in the dictionary in the process of reading, it is necessary to mark it with a long tap, after which a set of options will appear at the bottom of the screen (partial redrawing of the screen), from which you need to choose look up, resulting in a dictionary entry from MW Collegiate Dictionary (the screen is fully updated - flashes). And here you find completely absurd and incomprehensible things to the mind - it turns out that inside a dictionary entry you cannot recall a word from the explanation text and go to its dictionary entry consistently. Also from the main text you can not call a word ported to a new line with a hyphen. You also cannot turn on word search from the virtual keyboard. In general, the impression of the official implementation of this functionality in the NST is extremely depressing.
We proceed to the analysis of the convenience of working with the NST after the root. Here, in the course of the experiment with a bunch of Cool Reader + Fora Dictionary, the most unpleasant discovery for me was the repeated full update (blinking) of the screen during the transition from choosing a word to opening a dictionary entry. As far as I know (from forum chat), it is not possible to install a managed (partial-complete) redrawing of the e-ink screen in Android. If someone knows how to implement it, you will do a great and necessary thing by sharing your knowledge. The need to observe the repeated blinking of the screen in order to see the meaning of one word for me completely leveled the whole appeal of the root. Although here, perhaps it makes sense to conduct a deeper analysis.
Kindle
The great convenience of this wonderful device is that when you move the cursor with the joystick or by tapping the desired word - the beginning of the dictionary entry (2 lines) immediately appears at the bottom or at the top of the screen without completely redrawing it and blinking it. If these definition lines are not enough to understand (this is the case in most cases), you can invoke the entire dictionary entry (a complete redraw will occur). Inside the dictionary entry, you can follow the same scheme to look at the meanings of the words of interest to you in the explanation text, you can type the desired word from the keyboard. Ideally, I would like, of course, to be able to increase the preview area of a dictionary article that goes without a full screen update and the ability to connect a full-fledged Longman in a format that Kindlu understands. And so, Kindle for this functionality leaves the NST far behind, and even the root of the Android NST is not able to fully solve this problem.
Eventually
From my point of view, a good bunch for reading English literature with the active use of En-En explanatory dictionaries is the Kindle Touch reader with the optional MW Advanced Learner's Dictionary, installed as the main one. Additionally - a smartphone (on Android or iPhone) with Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English installed. I would be glad if this research is useful to someone as a ready-made solution or for someone it will become a starting point in the conscious selection of another combination taking into account individual needs and preferences.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/135831/
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