The new features of Google dictionary can literally save my life

Being in a multilingual working place is sometimes stress-out, especial when you just started to work. Working in creative industry means everyday I need get work done super efficiently and effectively. 

I used to reply on Google Translation heavily when I was studying in Warwick Business School. But most of time I don't find it very useful because the translation (especially for sentence translation) usually don't make sense in Chinese. I still use it very often to listen to the sound of the word, or simply let it read through the whole paragraph. But if I really need the accurate meaning of the word or phrase, I need to use other dictionary tools such as  http://dictionary.reference.com/ or Wordweb app (which is very useful for searching latest Internet expressions daily slangs). 

However, this morning, I had some interesting finding on Google!! Not only its Google dictionary extension but also its update features on Google dictionary.

The Google dictionary extension allows you to directly click on the word and show sound and definition in a very user-friendly way. You don't need to jump around different browsers again anymore!

The update Google dictionary is a wonderful surprise too. For example, when you type in "contend", beside the definition of the "contend", Google dictionary would also show you sentences that contains the words, their synonyms, as well as their origin and translation (supports 60 different languages), all in one place!

                       

In addition, and this is what I think the coolest part, Google adds a word's Etymology 

 (which sometimes showed as a flow chart and sometimes as regular text) underneath the translation section so we can see how often the word was used over time, and whether it is still using in recent times. Isn't it cool?!

I believe most of the Chinese english-learners have the same problem - our English reading and writing skills are much better than our speaking and listening, which is resulted from our English education system. I still remember how shocked I was when I first came to the UK to study my master degree and realised I cannot even understand daily conversation between classmates as well as lectures from professors.....although I have no difficulty to read through the content on textbooks and pass writing exams. 

So I always try to find ways to improve my listening and speaking, from watching more BBC programs, movies, making international friends, practising to think in English.....etc. I found the most important and efficient way is to immerse yourself to an English-speaking environment (or to create a language bubble by yourself). After all, language is a lively thing. It would change over time, and differ in different places depending on how local people using it. 


The only pity of Google Dictionary is that the translation hasn't feature any sample sentences yet. Hope they will add it on very soon!