CROSSROADSCROSSROA DS Language StudioÊs Newsletter April,April, 201
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While learning a foreign language most ofus use a "dictionary". However, how muchthought do we put into who makes
dictionaries? What about who decides which
words to include or exclude? Who does the"translations"? Who makes the examples?
These are questions to which few bother toexplore.
A good dictionary should containdefinitions, examples of usage, pronunciation
andspelling
variants.
Theearliest
dictionaries in the English language wereglossaries of French, Italian or Latin wordsalong with definitions of the foreign words in
English. The word dictionary was invented by
an Englishman called John of Garland in
1220 and an early non-alphabetical list of8000
Englishwords
wastheElementarie created by Richard Mulcaster in
1592.
Samual Johnson's "A dictionary of theEnglish Language" (1755) is considered to be
the first reliable English Dictionary to havebeen commercially produced.
Johnson's"Dictionary" remained the English-language
standard for over 150 years, until the Oxford
University Press began writing and releasing
the Oxford English Dictionary in shortchapters from 1884 onwards. It took nearly 50yearstocompleteandthecompleted OED was released in twelve
volumes in 1928. It remains the mostcomprehensive and trusted English language
dictionary to this day, with revisions andupdates added by very sad people every threemonths. One of the main contributors to thismodern day dictionary was an ex-armysurgeon, William Chester Minor, a convictedmurderer who was confined to an asylum forthe criminally insane.

Dictionaries for languages
where the pronunciation ofwords is not clear fromtheir spelling, usuallyprovide the pronunciation, often using
the International Phonetic Alphabet.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists over
250,000 distinct words, not including manytechnical, scientific, and slang terms.
Henson Recording Studios, LA, USA
When considering which dictionary topurchase it is recommended here that you
choose one that contains the phrase"COBUILD". COBUILD isanacronymfor Collins
Birmingham
UniversityInternational Language Database, and is aBritish
research
facilitysetup
atthe University of Birmingham in 1980 and isfunded by Collins publishers. The language
database contains vast amounts of language
sourced from the media including television,
radio, newspapers and books. The language has
been separated and analysed in order toprovide information about a particularword's usage. For example, it tells us that 85%of native English speakers say "have a shower"
while 15% say "take a shower". This
information is useful when choosing which
examples to select for usage of a word alongwith definitions and therefore can help you as alearner identify which is the "best" or most"natural" way of using a particular word in aparticular way in a particular situation.

Article by Matthew

NET LESSONS: Are you too busy to come to
CROSSROADS?....Try our lessons on the Internet!

SITE OF THE MONTH:
For a really unique on-line dictionary, try this site:
http://www.visuwords.com/

Joshua Says: This spring our roof-top garden is looking better than itever has. The wisteria is amazing. Last year I think we had one or two
flowers but this year, it’s hard to count them! The jasmine is in bloom andmany of the new plants we have added are flowering too. And soon the firstlavender will also be out. If you have a spare few minutes, go up to theroof-top and take a look around. There are a few shots on P3 here also.

Junko Says: Okaido’s new car park has just opened in front of the 2bancho entrance of Mitsukoshi. You can park your bicycle there for up totwo hours, free, or ¥100 for 12 hours; a motor bike is also free for up to twohours and then ¥200 for up to 12 hours. Parking your car there will cost¥100 for 50 minutes. I hope this new car park proves to be very convenient
for you. If you want more details, come and see me in our office.

Matthew Says: It came to my attention recently that to be depressed is tobe living in the past and to be anxious is to be living in the future and if you
are at peace you are living in the present which explains why my three
goldfish Ace, Jack and Queen always seem so content! Enjoy your spring!

Avril ou le mois des cloches, des œufs en chocolat etn’oublions pas la fameuse chasse aux œufs! En Europe, on fête Pâques ettous les enfants ont 2 semaines de vacances, tandis qu’au Japon c’est larentrée des classes. Du plus petit au plus grand, tous se mettent sur leurtrente-et-un pour commencer cette nouvelle année scolaire en beauté.
Melissa Says:Arnaud Dit: Avril, la saison des cerisiers. Vous pourrez peut-être me

trouver au parc de Dogo en compagnie de mes amis français (mais iln'y en a pas beaucoup), et japonais. En France, il n'y a pas de cerisiers"en fleurs"! En revanche, nous avons des cerisiers qui donnent desCerises! Et les cerises, c'est quand même vachement bon!

…and the jasmine
is looking terrific too!

Our wisteria has
never look thisimpressive before….

Professor
Matt’samazing
experiment

Some new “faces” toadd to the fun.

Strawberries!
So, you want a pet, but
you’re too busy or too tired
to take proper care of one. How would
you like to have a pet that doesn’t need feeding, washing,grooming or being taken for a walk every day? A pet that isalways quiet, undemanding and won’t cost you a penny? Sucha pet would be all the rage, you’d think. And back in the 70’s it
was. It seemed then that everyone had one of these adorable
critters, but the craze only lasted for a short time then, sadly,
many of these poor creatures were just abandoned, left to fend
for themselves. How sad, as they were really the ideal pet forbusy people. But you canstill have one. They are
everywhere. You mighteven find one justoutside your front door.
And all you need to do isreach down and pick it
up. “Pet rocks” are freeand very easy to take of.

Don’t forget… Our SPECIAL 1+1 Campaign offer! Up to 50% off!!
See our notice board, or ask Junko in our office, for the details.