Do you look up the dictionary when you don't know what the words mean?

English is my second language but I pride myself in being fluent at it. I might not have a very extensive vocabulary that most people would say they'd get nose bleeds just to hear me talk or read some of my writings.LOL But still, at least I can communicate well with it, or die trying. Im really not fond of bringing dictionaries in my bag, but we were always required to do so during elementary. I dread bringing it because the dictionary that I have is not a pocket sized one. Its almost the same size as my notebook and 5x thicker. Though I love the definitions that it gives because its clear, to the point and not like those other dictionaries that tells you to look up other synonyms just to get to the meaning. Now I always make use of my Encarta Dictionary here in my computer whenever I need to use other words that have the same meaning as what I wanted to say. And of course I use it too whenever I read something that I absolutely have no idea of its meaning even when trying to understand its context in the sentence/paragraph.

Anyone who knows the English language still need to look up the dictionary once in awhile. We cannot simply know all the words, it's too vast. There will always be words that you never heard of or words that's new. It is the same with other languages. Not even a professor of languages know all the words. So I guess we will always need that Concise Oxford Dictionary after all.

I used to do this but not anymore! I found that it would take too long just to get through one book! Still, I genuinely believe that the more you read the better your vocabulary will become. When you read you start to pick up the author's usage of the English language and it can only benefit you in time. When you read a lot you also start to find yourself speaking more fluently and understanding more too I think. Well, I love to read and I have noticed this for myself. Andrew

yes, i do that! i'm not perfect and english is not really our native language but I believe that I can speak well with the English language. Though there are times that I hear some new vocabs whether it be British English or American English. In my laptop, I do have this software called wordweb. It has keyboard shortcut keys so you can easily open the program if you find a word that you wanna look up. It's great, every one should try it!

o yeah..i do! i must say I am good in english as it is almost my first language.. i was born in the PI but my mom's an American...so we speak a great deal of English ...I worked as an English instructor for years in the past. ...but I can't help it, I always come across words that are new to me -the dictionary always come in handy!

It's the first place I look, after I asked my memere if she knew the word.

Its really convenient that you can just simply install a dictionary on your computer so that you can just browse for the word that you don't understand or not sure of when it comes to spelling. I sometimes look up words that are not familiar to me as well as check if I am spelling them right whenever I use them in my compositions. Its always good to make sure. When it comes to knowing the meaning of the word by looking on the parts that it may have, like prefix, rootwords or so on, I sometimes assume how the word would mean, especially when they quite familiar but, when it comes to words that I simply don't understand, I just look it up in the dictionary to see what it means. There are also good dictionaries which even provide the etymology of the word which would really help retain the meaning of such words that we don't know and even those words that we sometimes take for granted for its simplicity.

If I am not sure of the meaning of a word, or if I cannot figure it out by the context in which it is being used, I will look it up in the dictionary. English is probably not the easiest of languages to learn. There are many rules of grammar to learn before it gets easier to understand. The longer one practices English and use it, the easier it becomes.

Sometimes we can guess the meaning of the word we don't know by checking on how it was used in a sentence but as long as it was used correctly. When I came accross to said words, I would refer these to my daughter who is an Englisg major or to my son who's a Psychology major. Should no one of us know that's the only time we would refer these to the dictionary.

Yes, sometimes English works in that way, but the words which helps in understanding the meaning of the main word is itself not known most of the time, so as a result We have to take the help of dictionary to know the real meaning of that word. You can know more if you study English literature where students learn how to understand a meaning of word just by looking at the spelling, sometimes contextual meaning also matters, this is necessary and most widely used in CAT exam for MBA degree.

Long time I am not use a paper dictionary, It is realy very heavy to carry. When I met some new words I don't know, I will try to use the software like a electric dictionary. Sometimes I can't find the mean from that, I will try to find the meaning from the search engine. From the internet you can find the special meaning of the words, like internet language. happy mylot!

English kind of works like that, but I am addicted to my dictionary. I love learning new words and even have word of the day in my email, and on my Ipod. Now if I can't get to a dictionary I can usually figure out the meaning of the world from the context of the sentence. Basically not from the spelling but from the words around it, and the overall meaning of the sentence. :D

Yes, it becomes sometimes necessary for me.Also I like to ask from my friends and elder people.It becomes necessary only when the word is tough or is rearly used.It mostly happens while reading books.

Yes. Looking up the meaning of a word is a good practice especially that English is not our main language. We just have to familiarize ourselves with the suffixes and prefixes together with the different forms of the words.

I do have the habit of looking up words that I don't understand or don't know. Why wouldn't I want to learn a new word and how to use it. I am always excited to learn something new that I can use in my daily talks or even in my writing.

yes i do but once i'm online, i used to just surf it online. most of the times if i'm curious about one word, i'd research the meaning. English is not my first language so there are a lot of words that i'm curious about but i used English language in a day most of the time. I'm a customer service representative by the way and we are required to speak the language. as much as possible, i use simple words.

I rarely consult the dictionary. Sometimes I do check up a word's definition in the dictionary.

to tell the truth,my vocabulary is poor,so i need dictionary all the time,but i have a desktop dictionary,which is very convenient.

If i'm not clear on the definition i look it up in the dictionary. But if it's spelling i'm having trouble with, i usually just ask someone on msn. You learn quickly which of your friends can spell, and which can't. Lol.

I do look up words, at times I just want to know where the word comes from. As long as you can figure out the root of the word you often can figure out the meaning of it.