G'day mate, how are you going? Going well? Today, I'm gonna give you a piece of useful tips as to how to maximise the effectiveness of using a paper-based dictionary. Many people who are studying English might have either a paper-based dictionary or app/online one. But, I highly recommend getting a paper-based one for your English learning. Why? Let's get into it.

First and foremost, the advantage of a paper-based dictionary outweighs that of an app/online one in terms of memorising new vocabulary. Not only can you highlight the words that you have already looked at, but you can learn a great number of derivatives or any other pertinent words such as synonyms, antonyms, and conjugates within the same page you are looking at. In contrast, as for apps or online dictionaries you can't really have such experiences, can you? And due to digital services, it's gonna be a bit hard to concentrate on having a look at it so long. Of course, someone has got used to it, which is perfectly understandable; however, your eyesight will definitely and incrementally be deteriorating. Just to defend the effectiveness of using apps or online dictionaries, which I reckon portability, audio function, and omnipresence. That's all.

When it comes to a paper-based dictionary, these things can be solved by not bringing it to outside with you, and mastering the 44 sounds of IPA pronunciation. Some people tend to say like a paper dictionary is too heavy to bring it with me, but the thing is this: do you actually and realistically have a chance to use it outside? Most likely no. So, you don't need to bring it with you when you are going out. How about audio function? Well, that's a simple question, mate. In fact, you don't need this sort of function unless you've mastered pronunciation or practising every day. First of all, the mastery of pronunciation is critical to boosting your English proficiency, which is entirely and undeniably true. So, the first thing you should aim for is to get used to all 44 sounds of pronunciation, but not relying on a native-speaker's audio recording. Why? Because you need to learn pronunciation along with a neutral accent, which means that it doesn't have to be sounded like American, British, Canadian, Australian, whatever. It doesn't matter whether you have your own accent influenced by your first language. What matters, however, is that you're making an effort to imitate a native-speaker's pronunciation without proper knowledge about IPA phonemic symbols. And, worst of all, you might have got accustomed to incorrect or inaccurate pronunciation based on your misunderstanding of proper American or British pronunciation. And, as a consequence, you're gonna be disappointed yourself, and the worst case scenario would be like whingeing about the product itself of the dictionary, not your inappropriate practice. To avoid this consequence, the use of a paper-based dictionary is more recommendable, and you should practise pronunciation in accordance with the proper understanding of IPA 44 sounds. Please don't rely heavily upon apps or online dictionary's audio.

If you're keen to learn English pronunciation without the heavy reliance upon a native-speaker's audio recording, then please do not hesitate to contact me via leaving a message here or emailing me. Or please consider taking one of the on-going lessons such as ZOOM Group Lesson seriously. I'm sure you can learn so many important and useful things for your English learning journey.

Thanks for reading today. Have a good one lad.