- language
- noun1 system of communicationADJECTIVE▪ first, native▪
She grew up in Mexico, so her first language is Spanish.
▪ foreign, second▪How many foreign languages does she speak?
▪the teaching of English as a second language
▪ original▪Most local cinemas show films in the original language, with German subtitles.
▪ source, target (both technical)▪ ancient, classical, dead▪Latin is a dead language.
▪ modern▪ common, shared▪ indigenous, local▪ official▪Belgium has two official languages.
▪ national▪Portuguese is the national language of Brazil.
▪ dominant▪ international, universal▪ minority▪Some minority languages are dying out.
▪ natural▪Computers will never be able to understand natural language.
▪ strange, unknown▪manuscripts written in an unknown language
▪ computer, programmingVERB + LANGUAGE▪ speak▪ know, understand▪ use▪ learn, study▪ teach▪ masterLANGUAGE + NOUN▪ acquisition, development, learning▪new methods of language learning
▪ course, lesson▪ skill▪ barrierPHRASES▪ command of (a) language, knowledge of (a) language, mastery of (a) language▪Her command of language is very advanced for a six-year-old.
2 way of using languageADJECTIVE▪ spoken, written▪She could speak some Chinese, but never studied the written language.
▪ colloquial, everyday, informal▪ formal▪ expressive, flowery, literary, poetic▪ figurative, symbolic▪ everyday, plain, simple▪His strength is that he addresses his readers in plain language.
▪ vague▪ racist, sexist▪ sign▪Not all deaf people use sign language.
▪ body▪You could tell from his body language that he was very embarrassed.
▪ legal, technical▪ biblical▪ harsh▪She reserved her harshest language for those she believed had betrayed her.
▪ bad, colourful/colorful, crude, foul, obscene, offensive, strong, vulgar▪people using foul language
VERB + LANGUAGE▪ use▪ be couched in, be expressed in▪ mind, watch▪The referee told the players to mind their language.
PREPOSITION▪ in … language▪His letter was couched in very formal language.
PHRASES▪ use of language▪The writer's use of language reflects the personality of each character.
◆◆◆NOTE: Languages▪ excellent … , fluent … , good … , perfect …▪He speaks fluent Japanese.
▪ bad … , broken … , poor …▪I got by with broken Chinese and sign language.
▪ colloquial … , idiomatic … , non-standard … , pidgin … , standard …▪The inhabitants speak a kind of pidgin Spanish.
▪ spoken … , written …▪My spoken Polish is better than my written Polish.
▪ business …▪She is doing a course in business English.
▪ original …▪The fable is translated from the original French.
▪ know … , read … , speak … , understand … , use …▪I am more comfortable using Spanish, if you don't mind.
▪ be fluent in …▪She was fluent in German, Urdu and Swahili.
▪ do … (esp. BrE), learn … , study …▪I did German at school but I've forgotten most of it.
▪I've been learning Arabic for four years.
▪ improve … , practise/practice …▪I spent a month in Rome to improve my Italian.
▪ master …▪I never really mastered Latin.
▪ translate sth into …▪He has translated her latest book into Korean.
▪ … class, … course, … lesson▪I'm late for my Russian class.
▪ … interpreter▪the need for Gujarati interpreters
▪ … speaker, a speaker of …▪the number of Portuguese speakers in the world
▪ a command of … , a knowledge of …▪He has a poor command of English.
▪ in …▪What is ‘apple’ in French?
▪He addressed me in his best Portuguese.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
