Translator Lounge

As an English teacher, I am a first-hand witness to the “zest” for vocabulary acquisition students have when they are visually stimulated. For the most part, we teachers rely on flash-cards or real-life examples of the pertinent vocabulary being taught. It seems that not any more…

Merriam Webster has taken the old adage “one image is worth a thousand words” to its highest technological level with its Visual Dictionary Online. The idea of pictionaries, or dictionaries which teach vocabulary by means of illustrations, is not a new one. But what Merriam Webster has brought to the game is a completely new concept of visual dictionaries.

For a start, one can easily search and receive the right term definition at a simple glance. It also includes exquisitely detailed illustrations, pronunciation of key terms and an outstanding 20,000 thousand terms, all contextualized within the most varied topics embracing virtually all aspects of life, from Astrology to Sports.

Here is one example picture:

At my school, we have Babylon translation software installed on our computers. It is a pleasure to use and all the students love it! For the more advanced pupils, I encourage them to define the words they do not know using the Merriam Webster Dictionary which comes together with the Babylon software for an extra nominal fee.

Needless to say, I am already looking forward to the time when Babylon will have Merriam Webster’s visual dictionary added to its range of one-click-translation products. I will love it, the students will love it.

The only problem, perhaps, will be that my pupils will only want to learn vocabulary once it happens. “Forget about grammar!”, they’ll say.

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Martin Werthauser teaches English at the Bundesgymnasium Völkermarkt, Austria.