Starting Points: Guide to Languages

  Reference Books   l   Additional Material   l   Web Sites
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Reference – 1^st Floor  

American Sign Language - R 419 Ste

More than 7,00 signs and 12,00 illustrations.  “[T]he largest and most complete dictionary of sign language ever published,” according to the National Association of the Deaf.                  

Dictionary of Languages -R 420.3 Dal

Covers more than 400 languages, living and dead. Includes maps, proverbs, anecdotes, quotations, and charts of scripts.              

Oxford English Dictionary - R 423 O

This 20-volume set is considered the ultimate reference in English lexicology.                                    
                                                                                                           
Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus - R 423.1 Lin

More than 300,000 synonyms and 100,00 anonyms and over 200 short essays.                             

Cassell's Dictionary of Slang - R 427.09 Gre

This dictionary features 70,000 words and phrases used in most English-speaking countries dating from the early 16th century to the present.                        

Dictionary of American Regional English - R 427.973 D

Four volumes, it explores the regional and folk language and history of the many thousands of terms, phrases, and colloquialisms used throughout the US.                 
                                   
Dictionary of the American West -R 427.978 Ble

Over 5,000 colorful terms.                       
                         

The American Heritage Larousse Spanish Dictionary - R 463 A

Over 70,000 entries, featuring grammatical references, sample sentences, technical and specialized vocabularies, and regular and irregular verbs.                                                       
 

The Oxford Latin Dictionary: - R 473 O

A thorough dictionary of Latin. 

Finding Additional Material

Dewey Decimal browsing numbers: 400 - 499
In addition to reference books, you may want to search for other books and materials (videos, audiobooks, etc.) on your topic. The best way to find good sources of information is to do a subject search in our Library catalog. You can access the Library catalog from the Library or from your home computer by going to our Web page (www.wppl.org), then to Search Our Catalog.  Good subject searches are language; Spanish language; French language; Polish language, etc.

eBooks
Visit EBSCOhost to search the collection of thousands of eBooks the Library has to offer. Library card required. Contact a reference librarian for additional details.

Articles
The following sources can be used to find magazine articles dealing with your topic:

·            The Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature - Adult Reference  R 050 R
       Search for articles on a subject within any given year.

       EBSCOhost, Infotrac Onefile, and America’s Newspapers - Access from the Library or at home using your library card
       number at www.wppl.org.  Search for full-text articles in these online databases using your choice of keywords. You can limit
       the search to a certain year or even a certain magazine.

Web Sites

AltaVista Translations: Provides instant limited translations from and into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages.                                     

BBC Languages: Tutorials for French Spanish, English, German, Urdu, and others. Very user-friendly.

Dictionary.com: Handy dictionary and thesaurus.  Scroll down for foreign language, science, medical and other dictionaries and other language links.                               

The Ethnologue: Languages of the World: One of the best Web resources available on the languages and dialects of the world.              
      

Google Translate: Offers instantaneous translations of text and web pages.

Handspeak.com: ASL dictionary, ASL lessons, finger spelling, emoticon & bodicon and much more.   
      
Language: Exploratorium online magazine explores the generation, evolution and transmission of languages in this fascinating and easy-to-read Web site.    
      
I Love Languages: iLoveLanguages lists, categorizes, and promotes Internet resources related to language learning, education, and use.

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