As if in testatment to her passion for the book, Burney was one of the guests at the launch of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD) in Pakistan at the British Deputy High Commission on Tuesday.
The eighth edition, launched by the Oxford University Press Pakistan, is the latest of the book that is internationally acclaimed for enhancing people’s understanding of the use of the English language. It has sold 35 million copies around the world since its first edition in 1948.
The new edition combines research and addresses the main areas of help that English learners require worldwide. The Oxford Writing Tutor teaches students not just to write correctly but also to write effectively. It covers writing for CVs, essays, reports, books and movie reviews, answers to questions and even a complaint letter in which latent threats are couched in polite language.
The Visual Vocabulary Builder is spread over 64 pages in the reference section and is double the size than that of the last edition. The Topic Collocation Box helps with alternate vocabulary. An economist for e.g. learns that a “stock market bubble” is ‘created’ and then ‘bursts’.
The dictionary doesn’t focus on just the meanings of words, but has explanations that make the word more familiar and less intimidating. For e.g. the definition of cat from an ordinary dictionary is: small furry domesticated carnivores quadrupled. While the definition of the same thing in the OALD is: a small animal with soft fur that people often keep as pets. Cats catch and kill birds and mice.
The eighth edition also offers The Academic Word List of 1,000 more new words and their meanings and has a trademarked list of 3,000 most desired words. Other features in the CD-Rom include The Oxford iWriter that helps students with structure and writing and checks their written pieces. The Topic Vocabulary Bank helps students with vocabulary for essays and articles on different topics and also helps them create new topics and a vocab resource of their own.
Saman, an International Relations graduate from the University of Karachi, said that she has seen it around since childhood. She recalled how her English teacher at university, Prof Kaleem of the English department, strictly instructed her follow only the OALD. “Burn all the rest,” he used to say, she said.
The annual sales of the book reaches around 25,000 throughout the country and OUP is expecting to reach the target of 50,000 for the latest edition this year. Whenever the latest edition comes, the sales double. Also present on discounted racks for the very first time was the Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary which is the English-Sindhi version of well known Concise Oxford Dictionary (9th edition). It took OUP ten years to achieve this target and the book will be launched soon in Hyderabad.
Robert Gates, the British deputy high commissioner for Karachi and director of UKTI Pakistan, said: “English is the most widely spoken and written language worldwide, with some 380 million native speakers alone. Through the global influence of science, the arts and the Internet, English is now the most widely learned second language in the world. But English is not the easiest language to master. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary can be a key and important tool to achieve this, both for native English speakers, and for those who are learning English for the first time.”
That was his soundbyte. But later, as if adding a footnote, he said: “Next time I’d like to see a section on guiding consuls general on making speeches.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2010.
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