Recorded dictionary on cd? I am trying to increase my vocabulary and spelling skills ...?

Question

and am looking for some help. If one existed, I would love to have a dictionary "on cd" that would randomly play the meaning, pronunciations , and spelling of uncommon words., Your help would be kindly appreciated.

Answer 1

I don't think hearing random words spelled and defined is really going to help your vocabulary that much. Otherwise the most erudite (having or showing profound knowledge) people would cite using those 'word-a-day' calendars as the source of their immense diction (the manner in which something is expressed in words)... and the fact of the matter is that they don't.

Instead, I recommed doing what people have been doing for hundreds of years - read good books! If you read classics, it pays off doubly well: many of today's obscure words were common parlance (a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language) a few decades or centuries ago, and further many of the stories you'll read are also referred to as part of the 'cultural background' that educated people are presumed to possess. Get a good dictionary and don't just infer definitions of words by context, but also see the exact connotation (an idea that is implied or suggested) of each new word as you come across it - there are many words that SEEM to be synonymous (words meaning the same thing) but in fact have slightly different flavours, the knowledgable use of which can distinguish between a mundane user of language and a virtuoso.

Best of all, you may have a lot of fun doing it too!

Answer 2

Couple of ideas:
1. download a Talking Dictionary to your mp3 player, listen on the go;
http://www.rwfts.com/html/talking_dictionary_.html
2. Or buy the CD.