1
general::
noun system of communication ADJ. first, native She grew up in Spain, 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. | international | minority Some minority languages are dying out. | spoken, written She could speak some Chinese, but never studied the written language. | colloquial, everyday, informal | formal | flowery, literary, poetic | racist, sexist | sign Not all deaf people use sign language. | body, non-verbal You could tell from his body language that he was very embarrassed. | legal, technical, etc. | computer, programming VERB + LANGUAGE speak | understand | use | learn, study | master | be couched in, be expressed in | enrich idiomatic expressions that enrich the language LANGUAGE + NOUN acquisition, learning new methods of language learning | course, lesson PREP. in … ~ His letter was couched in very formal language. PHRASES command/knowledge/mastery of (a) language Her command of language is very advanced for a six-year-old. | use of language The writer's use of language reflects the personality of each character. offensive words ADJ. bad, crude, foul, obscene, offensive, strong using foul language VERB + LANGUAGE use | mind, watch The referee warned the players to mind their language.NOTElanguagesexcellent, 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, learn ~ I did German at school but I've forgotten most of it. I've been learning Arabic for four years.improve, practise ~ 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, speaker, a speaker of ~ the need for Gujarati interpretersa command/knowledge of ~ He has a poor command of English.in ~ What is ‘apple’ in French? He addressed me in his best Portuguese. SUBJECT
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
2
general::
language
verbs
speak a language
• Can you speak a foreign language?
use a language
• The children use their native language at home.
learn a language
• Immigrants are expected to learn the language of their new country.
master a language
(= succeed in learning a language well )
• She had had a long struggle to master the Russian language.
know a language
• He had lived in Japan, but did not know the language.
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + language
a foreign language
• He found learning a foreign language extremely difficult.
the English/Japanese/Spanish etc language
• She had some knowledge of the Spanish language.
sb’s first/native language
(= the language someone first learned as a child )
• His first language was Polish.
a second language
(= a language you speak that is not your first language )
• Most of the students learned English as their second language.
modern languages
(= languages that are spoken now )
• The school has a good modern languages department.
a dead language
(= a language that is no longer spoken )
• She didn’t see the point of learning a dead language.
an official language
(= the language used for official business in a country )
• Canada has two official languages: English and French.
a common language
(= a language that more than one person or group speaks, so that they can understand each other )
• Most of the countries of South America share a common language: Spanish.
language + NOUN
the language barrier
(= the problem of communicating with someone when you do not speak the same language )
• Because of the language barrier, it was hard for doctors to give good advice to patients.
a language student/learner
• Language learners often have problems with tenses.
a language teacher
• a book for language teachers
language teaching
• recent developments in language teaching
phrases
sb’s command of a language
(= someone’s ability to speak a language )
• Does he have a good command of the language?
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