Dictionary

An American Dictionary of the English Language

Eman Saleh

Since my childhood, I have had a passion about English. Along my schooling experience, English class was my favorite, and it is so until today. Yet, I did not depend on schooling only to learn English; I combined it with personal domestic efforts. In my early age, I invested everything in my surrounding to strengthen my English reading and writing skills. In my country, foreign TV movies, series, or programs are usually translated to my native language. So as a way to improve my preferred language, I used to read the translation down the screen and compare it with the characters’ conversations. However, my most joyful childhood habit to acquire English was reading dictionaries because they are easy to use and access and were always available in my family’s library room. I enjoyed putting plans to teach myself certain number of English words every day and the number was higher when I had school breaks. When I enrolled in engineering school, my academic study was completely in English which was dreadful for a lot of fellow students. But for me, I was excited and happy to expand my English language on a scientific level. After I became an engineer, dictionaries remain my best friends to develop my technical knowledge through reading articles and studies that are related to my major.

After I moved to the United States in 2009, dictionaries became more important to me because I knew I have to talk and write in English more than ever before. In my first year here, I started depending on digital dictionaries because they are easier to use and time saving. After my enrollment in IUSB in 2010, my dependence on digital dictionaries increased as a non-English speaking student. Nevertheless, a hard copy of a small dictionary was in my purse all the time just in case I want to know the meaning of a word during a class time. As I was progressing in my academic journey, my English enriched dramatically over the last four years and I never stopped using dictionaries. The downside part is that hard copy dictionaries became as trophies placed in my home’s library; I do not use them frequently anymore. Even so, I would never think about discarding them; they are part of my intellectual identity.

This Webster dictionary is related to the larger theme of our exhibition and the history of IUSB. It resembles language which is vital to advance in knowledge, to develop writing and reading skills, to communicate effectively with others, or to be a successful leader, which are all parts of IUSB’s goals. Moreover, English is the second language for many non-English nations, so this dictionary reflects internationality. This Dictionary is 175 years of age, older than IUSB itself, and there is no doubt it was used by a large number of past students or faculty members since only paper dictionaries were available back then. This dictionary has the scent of IUSB’S authenticity, and its pages hold stories of people who had dedicated their lives for education and are part of our campus legacy.