pontalba Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 I checked off that I look unknown words in a dictionary, however, I often use Google instead, easier, and usually the computer is handy whilst reading. I was happy to see that I'm not the only one that has read the dictionary. I used to just pick it up and randomly read, all sorts of interesting words! I rarely have to look up a word anymore though. It's mostly when I began reading Nabokov about 6 years ago that I needed one occasionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 I went through a phase when I was a teenager of learning several new words each day (I started at the beginning of the dictionary and worked onwards) and trying to work them into conversations so I would remember them! Of course, I wouldn't bother with the words I already knew, but it made for some interesting conversations! I can't remember if I ever made it to te end of the dictionary, but I thnk I got pretty far into it. Maybe I should take that up again - could be fun! That actually sounds fun!! I'm going to do it when I save enough to buy the largest dictionary I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escargot Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 I usually can figure out the meaning within the context of the sentence, but if not, I will look up a word I don't know. Same here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 I can only think of having come across words I don't know twice in the last twenty years, and I did go and look them up. Like others have mentioned, I do often read randomly in the dictionary just for pleasure.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 I don't want to mess with the flow by looking up words. Also, I can usually figure them out in the context. I had no idea, though, that natives would also find words they didn't know in books. When I'm reading in Finnish, there's hardly ever words I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Perhaps the English language has more words? I think I've read somewhere that English has more words for different things than other languages. I could be wrong though. And you would know better the difference between the Finnish and English languages Frankie. I wouldn't expect to have to look up words in Harry Potter books, but for more wordy authors, such as Vladimir Nabokov, I have more difficulty with the language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Perhaps the English language has more words? I think I've read somewhere that English has more words for different things than other languages. I could be wrong though. And you would know better the difference between the Finnish and English languages Frankie. That might be a reason, you know you have a more 'common' word for something and then the more refined French/Latin-originated (or other) word for it, so I guess you have a lot of synonyms I discussed this with BF and he said it might be because Finnish has so many compound words, but I'm not buying it. I'm sticking to my own theory: the loan words we have in Finnish have been around for so long that we don't even think of them as originally foreign anymore and we know their meanings. You guys on the other hand have so many words that come from French, Latin, maybe German and the likes. Very intriguing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Yes, we like to steal from all cultures equally. Can you give some examples of compound words? (Maybe I should be asking this in your cultures thread...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Yes, we like to steal from all cultures equally. Can you give some examples of compound words? (Maybe I should be asking this in your cultures thread...) Yes maybe we should discuss it in the culture/language thread because I'm not sure what BF was after with his theory, it's not like our compound word equivalents in English would be so strange and foreign.. I'll have to ask him about that. We could also discuss this next question in the language thread but I'd like to ask it here because people might want to discuss it here as well: What kind of words do you guys look up in the dictionary when and if you do? Do you find a connection between them, them having originated from French or Latin, or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Hmm, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but I know they're usually just synonyms of much easier words. Usually it's a case of the author trying to be clever and using big words where an easier one would do just as well. I don't usually notice any connections to other languages. I would love to get an etymological dictionary one day so I can look up the origins of various words. I'm really interested in the origins of words in the English language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Hmm, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but I know they're usually just synonyms of much easier words. Usually it's a case of the author trying to be clever and using big words where an easier one would do just as well. I don't usually notice any connections to other languages. I would love to get an etymological dictionary one day so I can look up the origins of various words. I'm really interested in the origins of words in the English language. I have a fantastic book called Brewers book of Phrase and Fable which gives historical and background to english phrases and words its a fascinating book, not quite a dictionary but similar in vein, it was first published in the 19th century but its been updated to keep up with modern phrases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 I don't usually notice any connections to other languages. I would love to get an etymological dictionary one day so I can look up the origins of various words. I'm really interested in the origins of words in the English language. That's so Rory! Remember when she was so happy that Chris bought her that huge dictionary on 1st season? Although I'm not sure if it was about etymology, it was maybe about when each word came to be used and what the meanings of the word are. One thing that comes to mind is that there are a couple of German words in English that you guys don't have your "own" word for, such as 'dachshund', 'doppelg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 (edited) That sounds great Pickle. I saw a dictionary the other day that was full of the meanings of various saying. It was so cheap and I dithered over buying it but finally decided against it. I might have to go back for it though. ETA: That's so Rory! Remember when she was so happy that Chris bought her that huge dictionary on 1st season? Although I'm not sure if it was about etymology, it was maybe about when each word came to be used and what the meanings of the word are. Yeah, I've been thinking of that dictionary during this conversation too. I practically drool whenever I see her with that dictionary. I think it might be the Complete Oxford English Dictionary, but I would have to watch it again to be sure. Hmm, I wonder why that book isn't on Rory's list? One thing that comes to mind is that there are a couple of German words in English that you guys don't have your "own" word for, such as 'dachshund', 'doppelg Edited July 7, 2010 by Kylie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara23 Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 I never used to bother but now I have most of my books in eBook format so I can read on my laptop. That way I can just keep the internet tab open too and just copy and paste any words that I'm unfamiliar with. I can generally figure out what they mean but it makes more sense to know exactly what they mean instead of guessing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 Yeah, I've been thinking of that dictionary during this conversation too. I practically drool whenever I see her with that dictionary. I think it might be the Complete Oxford English Dictionary, but I would have to watch it again to be sure. Hmm, I wonder why that book isn't on Rory's list? I'm quite sure it was The Complete Oxford something, so I suppose it might be The Complete Oxford English Dictionary Haha, that should definitely be on the list. Do you think Rory read it religiously, from start to finish?? If she did, so should we! It's funny, but some words are just so common in English that I'm sometimes surprised to realise what language they originally came from, even though if I had just stopped to think about it, it would have been completely obvious to me. I completely understand what you mean. You are taught those words in school right from the get go, they don't go and bother to tell you about each and every single word where they come from. That would take ages! To me, as a non-native, though, words like 'dachshund' and 'schadenfreude' are so obviously non-English, because I've learnt them in my German classes first, and then I've come across them in English. Our uni professor even talked about the word 'schadenfreude' in one of our classes and I found it peculiar that you wouldn't have a word of your own for it. I guess the English speakers are not naturally keen on 'malicious pleasure', which is the English equivalent for the Finnish 'vahingonilo', 'schadenfreude' in my dictionary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emelee Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 Not unless its a really important word to understand in the text. I tend to think it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londonerinyucatan Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 It depends if I'm reading in my first or second language. I don't bother so much in English as I have a reasonably well developed vocabulary. However, in Spanish, I often write the word down, keep reading and check later. What's your first/strongest language, Vinay87? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nienna Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 A lot of the time I'm actually able to figure out the meaning of words (and I'm sure I'm not the only one on here of us bibliophiles ) from their latin roots. Like, assuming I didn't know what "pyromania" meant, I might know that "pyro" relates to fire and "mania" is an obsession with something. If I do come across a word that I don't know though I will generally go for the old lexicon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 What's your first/strongest language, Vinay87? Strangely enough, English is my primary language. Hereabouts not much importance is given to the regional languages sadly. I can't even read words fluently. I guess it is a handicap of sorts. Which is why I'm going to perfect my English at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brida Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Usually I look it up, especially if it gets repeated a lot, or if it's just a great word. I do try and make up what it means before looking it up in the dictionary, but if I can do that thenI don't consider it to be unknown. Of course, sometimes I just don't want to stop reading and then I just let it go. But if I'm reading in a language I'm not very familiar with (I haven't been studying for long and my vocab is bad ) then I'll probably mostly read for the sake of learning new words. But those readings take time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 One should keep an address book at hand and write down the word in the right place going by the first letter and write what it means. Then you have a whole book with new words after some time.I've tried putting together one such book of new & wondrous words but, as I am commonsensically challenged, I feebly attempted the task on a notebook rather than an alphabetised addressed book so it didn't work very well I think I might need to procure me one of those and give this method another shot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 I just like to read the book and so does my boss. So we can't vote as there is nothing there for us. If we we in the middle of a really exciting book theres no way it's gonna get put down to take note of a worb or even look it up in the dictionary. No way are we going to stop and lose the way of what is happening in the story. We like to carry on reading until we can put the book down. Sorry people but I can't take part in yourpoll as much as I would love too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Looked up a word I hadn't come across today - persiflage. I jotted it down while I was reading and looked it up later. (It means light, good-natured talk or banter.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escargot Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 One thing that comes to mind is that there are a couple of German words in English that you guys don't have your "own" word for, such as 'dachshund', 'doppelg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hey_books Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 (edited) Sometimes.. I had to read some books about the Great War, I had to look up numerous words to understand the story and all the war scenes... how can I read a war book without knowing what a trench is? (English is not my first language) For other books, I mostly do not look the words up, but it took me some time to understand the meaning of 'wand' while reading Harry Potter for the first time in English . Edited July 16, 2010 by BookJumper Added capitals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.