Bilingual dictionary or monolingual dictionary?

Second-language English learners often feel more comfortable using a bilingual dictionary (English-Spanish, for example), since each English headword is given a translation or brief definition in the learner's native language.

Using an English-English monolingual learner's dictionary may require more effort, but can be beneficial to second-language learners:

• Monolingual dictionaries immerse the student in the target language. As students read definitions, they get practice with the English words in the defining vocabulary and see how these words are used in sentences to explain meanings.
• Second-language English students working in a group can share the same monolingual dictionary and discuss word meanings, even if they do not speak the same first language.
• Some language pairs lack good bilingual dictionaries. After looking up a word in a bilingual dictionary, students can double-check the word's meaning and usage in a monolingual dictionary.
• English monolingual learner's dictionaries often have more extensive information for second-language students: better explanations of multiple word senses, example sentences showing collocations, usage and grammar notes.

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Easy English Bible

The Easy English Bible (www.easyenglish.info/bible) is a translation of the Bible for people who are learning English as a second language. It was translated by Wycliffe Associates UK.

• This translation of the Bible is written using EasyEnglish Level A (1200-word very easy vocabulary and simple sentence structure).
• Words outside of the EasyEnglish Level A vocabulary are written in italics. If you click these words or look at the end of the page, you can see their definitions.
• The www.easyenglish.info website also contains commentaries and other articles written using EasyEnglish Level B (2800-word easy vocabulary).
• Words outside of the EasyEnglish Level B vocabulary are marked with a *star and are defined at the end of most pages.

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BBC Learning English

At BBC Learning English (www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish), you can read and listen to news stories for English learners from the British Broadcasting Corporation.

• Under the News Report feature, you can read short news stories and answer questions.
• You can also play or download an audio recording of the story.
• The website has other activities and videos to help you learn English skills.

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VOA Learning English

At VOA Learning English (learningenglish.voanews.com), you can read and listen to news stories for English learners from the Voice of America.

• Level One stories are for beginning English learners. These stories are short, and you can find nearly all of the words in the VOA Learning English Word Book or explained at the end of the story.
• The VOA Learning English Word Book lists the 1500-word Special English vocabulary.
• While you read the news stories, you can also listen to an audio recording of someone reading the story clearly and slowly.
• The website has other activities and videos to help you learn English skills.

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Simple English Wikipedia

The Simple English Wikipedia (simple.wikipedia.org) is an online encyclopedia written at an easier reading level for second-language English learners.

• This encyclopedia contains more than 120 thousand articles about many topics.
• These articles are written and edited by many people on the internet.
• The articles use shorter sentences and simpler vocabulary (such as the 850 words of Basic English), so they are easier to read for people learning English.

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What can you read?

After learning the 360 high-frequency words from the Learn These Words First lessons, you will know more than half of the words you see on any typical page of English text. Then you can start finding articles you can read with a small vocabulary, such as:

• Books written at an easy reading level for children or second-language learners (for example: Penguin Readers or Pearson English Active Readers).
• Websites for English learners, written using simpler English vocabulary and shorter sentences (for example: the Simple English Wikipedia).

Tip: When you read sentences containing some unfamiliar words, you can type the words (or copy and paste whole sentences) into the Word Finding Tool. It can show you where to find a simple explanation for each word.

What books and websites have you found that are easy to read with a small English vocabulary?

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Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary

The Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary (learnersdictionary.com) is a monolingual dictionary for intermediate to advanced learners of English.

• Headwords are defined using simple language for learners. (3000 "Core Vocabulary" words are identified here.)
• You can listen to recorded pronunciations of headwords.

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