英語学習に辞書は欠かせません。辞書を有効に活用することで、効率よく英語学習を進めることができます。みなさんは、どんな辞書を使っていますか？ここでは、英英辞書の利点について考えてみました。

I have used many E-E dictionaries. Why? Because they are really useful. They explain important nuances that E-J dictionaries sometimes are not able to deliver.
I began to use English-English dictionaries about six years ago. The reason was that my co-worker at a company used an English dictionary. We did not discuss much about why she was using the dictionary, but I was quite motivated to use an E-E dictionary because her English was very good. At that time, she had come back a few months before from the UK.

At first, using the dictionary was awkward for me because I was not able to completely absorb the explanations in the dictionary. After a while, however, I noticed English dictionaries sometimes go beyond the limitations of E-J dictionaries. There are cases where E-J dictionaries are not able to convey subtle nuances implied in a word. By using an English dictionary together with an E-J dictionary, I think I could much better understand the meaning of a word.

For example, one meaning of the word, 'process,' is defined in an E-E dictionary as 'a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.' The Japanese counterparts are 過程, 方法, 経過, 手順, etc. 過程 is the one that usually works well for translation. However, I think the translation is not able to clearly convey the implication of 'actions or steps.' 

If I take another translation such as 方法 or 手順, then the translation includes the meaning of actions or steps, but does not sufficiently represent the meaning of 'a series.' 

Now I understand why several Japanese words need to be shown for one definition of an English word. There are many words that cannot be simply replaced by another word in a different language. Using an English dictionary would help us to grasp the whole idea of an English word definition that needs a combination of several Japanese words for the replacement.

In about six years, I have become comfortable with an English dictionary. Also, an electric dictionary shortens the process of checking a word using a couple of dictionaries. I am thankful to my colleague for showing me a good way to improve my English vocabulary.

日本語の解説：
英文を正しく理解するには、文の中で使われている単語を日本語で理解しただけでは不十分な場合がよくあります。この理由の一つとして、日本語の訳語が英単語の意味を伝えきれないことがあげられます。英語も日本語も、それぞれ一言では表しきれない微妙なニュアンスをもった単語を多く含んでいます。英単語のこうしたニュアンスを理解するには、英英辞書が大変役立ちます。異なる言語に置き換えずに、元の言語の平易な言葉と表現で説明されているので、言葉を置き換えることで生じる意味のズレが少なく、単語の意味が理解しやすくなります。