Review: Longman Dictionary App

Review by Ping Zhang, former student, class of 2011-2012: All students and former students are invited to write a review, short or long, about their favorite iphone apps for ESL) 


 As a former student, I learned a lot in Andy’s class. I’d like to recommend a Longman dictionary App for iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to future ESL students who are really eager to improve their English.There are at least five reasons I like Longman dictionary very much as following:
1.       It gives very simple and easy to understand definitions in English which you don’t need to worry about new words in the definitions you have to keep looking them up like other dictionaries;
2.       It gives examples to show you and reads it for you showing how to use the vocabulary; it tells you where the word came from: such as date, language, and origin. Knowing the origin of a word can help you understand more and enlarge your vocabulary quickly: for instance, when you see the same prefix or suffix, you might figure out the meaning even though you never learn the word;
3.       When you use iPhone or iPod touch, Longman dictionary gives you several menus on the bottom: one is “search”, just type your word into search box, click “search”, the definition will appear in the window; another is “history” which you can use for review what you recently searched and the maximum words in “history” are up to 99; “bookmarks” also can be very useful because you may bookmark a word which you might try hard but still could not memorize it, and you can edit it and add sentences wherever or whenever you read or heard;
 4.       It’s an English-English dictionary, so when you read the definition in English, it really helps you to get used to think in English which will be a quantum leap for you;
5.       You may use it in your PC when you read an article in Word document or make a vocabulary list in Excel spreadsheet. Click “WEB/EMAIL POP UP”, it will read a word for you and give you the definition when your arrow stays on the word. You can highlight the definition and drag it to your Word document or Excel spreadsheet if you want.

How do you get a Longman dictionary?

1.       You can download a free online dictionary which is only for search vocabularies, and there are no voice pronunciations for some words. http://longman-dictionary-online.fyxm.net/ 
2.       You can buy a book with a digital CD ROM for about $36 in a book store which allows you to install the software once in your computer.
3.       You may buy it in App store for $29.99 which allows you to use it on your Iphone, IPod touch and I Pad (I’m not sure whether it is available for Mac or not).