How are all you dictionary users doing? For one thing, you’re here and not thumbing through the pages of your nearest word-book tome. Times have changed and the excellent thing is that publishing a dictionary online means that we can change too. We can now work at the same pace as English as it grows, with loan words and coinages pouring into the language coffers at an hourly rate; with vowels and punctuation being put out to pasture willy nilly; with reborn words, double-speak and txt spk requiring new definitions on the hoof … Granted, not everything sticks, but what does, and why? and what doesn’t, and why not? We like that sort of question. And we like that we can wonder about that here and that we can ask you to wonder about it with us. So that’s why we’re here, and why we’re happy to be here.
The other thing about being an online dictionary is that we now have all sorts of visitors and we can learn from you and get to know what is most useful to you and most interesting to you on your quest to learn, chat, and even argue about this language that’s having its day in the sun. And what we’ve discovered over the past two years is that there are three different ways we can be useful, three different types of visitors who frequent our residence – not to label or generalize, ok … to label and generalize. We’ve divided you into three types, but please don’t be offended, please feel free to travel if it suits you better. We’ve done this so that we can give you exactly what you need whether you’re learning English, using English for a specific purpose or are a first language or fluent English speaker who just loves words – now you can choose your channel.
You’ll notice that here and on the dictionary homepage things have changed a bit. Take a look at the What’s your English? introduction page to get a clear idea of how we’ve changed things, how to sign up to the channel that suits you best, and also to read about the What’s your English? campaign if you aren’t familiar with it yet.
If you are already following What’s your English? on Facebook and @Macdictionary on Twitter, or Learn English on Facebook and Twitter, please be aware that this content will now change focus. Although it may still be interesting to you, we want to be sure that you benefit from the extra resource from the channel that most suits your need.
As always we’ll be providing top blog posts throughout the week. This month and next we’re looking at pragmatics in Learn English, life skills in Live English, and language and technology in Love English.
So there we are. Thanks for following and participating. We enjoy it hugely because we really are a bunch of logophiles.
Email this Post
