All I Want for Christmas is my...
Monolingual Dictionary!
What's the biggest difference between
Webster and Langenscheidt?
No, it's not the color of the cover...
A guest article by Kevin Pfeiffer
When you first start to learn a foreign language, you take it for granted that in your dictionary you'll find the "foreign" words and the "familiar" words: German-English, English-German. "Ohne geht es nicht!" (lit. "Without, it doesn't go!"). This type of dictionary is called, logically, a bilingual (zweisprachiges) dictionary and has been in use as long as people have been learning new languages.
Times change though, and one of the best new tools the German language student can invest in today is the einsprachiges Wörterbuch (monolingual dictionary). Why? Because it provides much greater language exposure; reading word definitions in German means using your existing language skills to learn new language – you practice German while learning German. This encourages you to begin to "let go" of your native language and to start thinking in (and using) German.
The problem with this has always been the dictionary. Dictionaries are usually written by native speakers for native speakers. A quick glance at the Duden (once the official dictionary of the German language) will send all but the hardiest of German students running for the tried-and-true "bilingual" dictionary. But times are changing.
A few years ago, dictionary editors and language specialists realized that conventional dictionaries were not the best source of help to non-native speakers. Traditional dictionaries were weak in areas where non-native speakers needed the most help, including collocations, idioms, appropriateness, and frequency of usage. Except for indications of slang or vulgar usage, traditional dictionaries rarely provided any of this "extra" information. This is particularly true for foreign language dictionaries, which are burdened with space limitations caused by having to reproduce their entire vocabulary twice (German-English/English-German).
A traditional desk reference bilingual dictionary has about 1400-1500 pages, divided between German and English. A typical standard monolingual German dictionary has 4300-4500 pages... all in German.
So for example, even though you could look up fraglos and learn that it is an adverb meaning "undoubtedly," you wouldn't learn how to use it in a sentence. The monolingual dictionary gives you the definition (ohne Zweifel), a sample sentence ("Rom ist fraglos eine interessante Stadt.") and two synonyms (sicherlich, zweifellos). If still unsure of the meaning, you can still fall back on your German-English dictionary, but when it comes time to write that essay about your summer vacation, which book do you think will be more useful?
Today, relying on modern computerized language analysis, better dictionaries are being produced specifically for the non-native speaker. An example is Langenscheidt's Großwörterbuch: Deutsch als Fremdsprache ("Langenscheidt's Large Dictionary of German as a Foreign Language"). First published in 1993 and still rarely seen in bookstores outside of the German-speaking world, this dictionary is a must-have for the serious student or non-native German speaker. Full of illustrations (ever wonder what the parts of a bicycle are called?), with numerous grammar tables and more than 66,000 references, it has answers to most of the questions the language student struggles with daily. Entries were chosen based on their frequency of usage with a strong emphasis on the spoken language and the Alltagssprache (everyday language).
The Langenscheidt dictionary, 1200 pages, is available in both hardcover (ISBN: 3-468-49026-7) and paperback (3-468-96700-4) from Amazon.de and other sources. (See More Dictionaries and Sources on next page.)
Now a second, nagelneu (brand-new) monolingual dictionary, the first designed specifically for students at the elementary and intermediate levels, is available.
PONS Basiswörterbuch: Deutsch als Fremdsprache consists of approximately 8,000 main entries and 16,000 expressions within 496 pages, and was developed by lexicographers and experts in the teaching of German as a foreign language (DaF).
Like the Langenscheidt, the PONS dictionary is rich in illustrations (400) and offers numerous sample sentences demonstrating authentic usage. Both dictionaries conform to the newest Rechtschreibung (standard spelling) and are well-designed, with excellent, easy-to-read typography. Effective use is made of typographical markings (indicating usage context, etc.) and PONS goes a step further, providing a second color to highlight the declination of nouns (der, die, das), special cultural features and the Wortschatz (vocabulary) necessary for the "Zertifikat Deutsch."
The PONS paperback dictionary (3-12-517203-9) is available from Amazon.de and other sources.
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