Course resources
How to add your own dictionary to Kindle apps
Note, these links use German as an example, but you can search for any language dictionary by following these steps:
- Add a German-English Dictionary to your Android Kindle App
- How to Add a German-English Dictionary to Kindle on Your iPad or iPhone (iOS)
Amazon links
- Explore Kindle e-books
- Kindle deals (lower-cost books)
- Download the Kindle app on your phone
- Return policy for Kindle e-books
Explore more
Video transcript
We’ve covered a lot in the last lesson, so let’s review the key points. First, you’re going to use a built-in dictionary to look up words you don’t know. That can be an all English or English-Portuguese, English-Spanish, English-Japanese, whatever. You’re not going to look up every word, but you’ll look up a word if you can’t guess the meaning. You’ll highlight about ten words per chapter, all in the same color. When you get to the end of a chapter, you’ll study those words, either in a notebook or in an app like Quizlet.
Next, you’re going to highlight little elements of grammar and language in a different color. Again, not every time you see something new or interesting—only when you want to be able to use a particular technique. Highlight those—maybe you’ll see them more than once—highlight those and come back to practice them later. Write a bunch of sentences using that same technique to get the practice. Use a tool like Grammarly or an English speaker to check your work.
Finally, you can use the built-in tools like Wikipedia and Google Translate to help enhance your understanding of topics or phrases. Don’t rely too heavily on Google Translate, but if that’s what you need to keep you moving, then by all means use it. Just try to limit how much you rely on Google Translate. The larger the selection, the better the chances you’ll get an answer that’s correct in context, by the way.
But remember, all that—all the technical stuff in Kindle—that’s no good if you’re not in the right mindset. To have the right mindset, you need to promise yourself that you’ll understand a book, enjoy it, and finish it. That starts with picking a book that’s right for you.
Thank you for sticking with us for this full course! I hope you learned a lot. The comments section on each page will be open at least for the foreseeable future, so if you’re watching in 2019 or early 2020, please do leave a comment or a question and I’ll be happy to respond. And remember this is a privilege of Plain English Plus, and we will continue to add courses like this, so check our growing library of courses for new and refreshed content.
I pasted some links below this video, which I hope will be helpful. Thanks again for joining us for this first Plain English course on Kindle e-books, and I’ll see you back in the podcast.