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Home > Chinese > Background Speakers Course > How to Approach the Exam > Advice > Using a dictionary

Using a dictionary

In the writing section of your written exam, you are allowed to use a dictionary. However, it is important to understand that you cannot depend totally on your dictionary. You need to know a wide range of vocabulary so that you minimise time spent using the dictionary. When you use the dictionary, you need to use it effectively.

It is important to:

• make effective use of your dictionary

• limit your use of the dictionary, otherwise you will not have enough time to complete all your tasks.

To use a dictionary effectively, you should:

• be familiar with your dictionary

  You are allowed to use monolingual or bilingual printed Chinese dictionaries.

  Get lots of practice in using the dictionary, especially the Chinese-English dictionary. It may be more quick to use a Chinese (Pinyin) English Dictionary.

  If you need to look up a character that you are not familiar with, you can do it in one of the following ways:

  • look it up by using Hanyu Pinyin if you already know it, as that will save time. The Chinese (Pinyin) English Dictionary is arranged alphabetically in Hanyu Pinyin.

  • use radicals if you do not know the pinyin to locate the character. In this case, you must familiarise yourself with the radicals of commonly used characters so you do not waste time looking for the radical of the unfamiliar character. Get lots of practice in class and familiarise yourself with this method.

  Once you have located the character, if you need phrases, you can find them listed alphabetically in pinyin under the first character that you have found.

• look carefully at what you are asked to do in the questions

  Read the questions carefully, identify what you are asked to do, then read through the given text, you may be able to get the gist of the text. You won't need to understand all the words in a text to answer the questions.

• where possible, use words that you know

  If you have forgotten a word, you may be able to rephrase your answer by using words that you are familiar with rather than spending time finding a word in the dictionary. Otherwise, you may find you have spent too much time using the dictionary and not enough time completing your answers.

  Try doing this when practising as well.

• only look up words you will definitely need

  You need to plan what you want to say, work out your plan and if it is absolutely necessary, then look up only a small number of words or characters.

• not use the dictionary for double-checking words

  Be confident, you will find that quite often what you have written is correct. You do not need to spend time double-checking words.

• plan how and when you will use your dictionary in the exam.

  Work out different strategies to best use the limited time you have to use your dictionary, for example, try to answer all questions without using the dictionary.

  Another alternative is to limit yourself to essential dictionary use as you work through the questions, then use any extra time at the end for checking.