Monolingual dictionaries
When I dropped Vietnamese definitions, and how to switch without the shock.
⏱ About 3 min read
A monolingual dictionary explains English words in English.
Switching to one was one of my biggest jumps. It was also the step I put off the longest, because it scared me.
Why switch
A one-word translation almost always loses the nuance. Vietnamese has nhìn, ngắm, liếc, trừng. In English those become several different words. It works the same way in reverse — and a bilingual dictionary usually gives you exactly one.
Reading an English definition is itself a small reading exercise. A few dozen lookups a day is a few dozen reps, entirely free.
You gradually stop translating in your head. This is the one that matters most. As long as you route through your own language, you are slower than real conversation.
When you are ready to switch
The 30-second test
Look up a word you already know well, but read its English definition.
If you understand the definition without having to look up anything else, you are ready.
For me that landed somewhere around a vocabulary of 3000–5000 words.
I tried switching earlier and failed: I would look up one word, find three unknown words in the definition, look those up and find six more. Demoralising.
Switch gradually, not all at once
This is the least painful path I found.
In Ddict, instead of flipping the target language to English straight away, I did this for about a month:
1. Read the English part first
On every lookup, force yourself to read the English definition and the example sentence first.
2. Only fall back to the translation when genuinely stuck
Treat it as a safety net, not the first place you look.
3. After a few weeks, switch the target language to English for good
By then you will notice you barely touch the translation any more.
Which kind of dictionary
| Kind | What it is | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Learner's dictionary | Definitions written with a limited ~2000-word vocabulary | Start here |
| Full native dictionary | More precise and detailed, but harder definitions | When the above stops being enough |
| Collocation dictionary | Shows which words habitually go together | Very useful once you start writing |
| Frequency dictionary | No definitions, just how common a word is | To decide which words are worth a card |
I started with a learner's dictionary and only moved to a full native one after about a year, when the simplified definitions stopped saying enough.