Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Dictionary review transcription

Guess who's back? Today I have to write a special post about a video we did in English class last week. I have to tell that we had quite a lot of fun recording our voices and filming the computer screen :D In a group of four we had to make a presentation of an online dictionary. We actually got very lucky with the OALD (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary). I did not know this dictionary before but I have to admit that it is really helpful and I started to use it nearly every day. 
However, as I am not a perfect English speaking person (yet) I unfortunately found a couple of mistakes as I was listening to my part. 
My part was about the disadvantages,(almost none), and the special features of the monolingual OALD. The first thing I immediately recognized was the word order of the third sentence. I said "So if you are searching for a word which you only know in German it probably is not the best choice to use this dictionary". If I could correct myself I would say "So if you are searching for a word that you only know in German using this dictionary is probably not the best choice". I would also change the sentence "And it also has some good features.." into "It offers some good features as well..". So if I would be able to write everything down before I am talking, it would probably sound a little more professional ;)
All in all I realized that I have to work on my vocabulary when I am speaking. It is always easier to express yourself in a written text than in a spoken one. I also heard that I was using the word "dictionary" very often as well as "so" at the beginning of a lot of sentences. 

According to this my aim is to expand my vocabulary and try to use it also in the spoken language. But to mention a positive thing as well, I have to say that I think I am talking quite fluently and without many "ums" :) 



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