Macmillan English Dictionary wins the Duke of Edinburgh ESU Award 2002

The Macmillan English Dictionary (MED), a new dictionary for learners of English, has just won the internationally acclaimed Duke of Edinburgh English Speaking Union Award for 2002.

The first dictionary to win an award for 8 years, MED will receive the ESU English Language Book Award 2002 from the Duke of Edinburgh at an award ceremony which will take place at Buckingham Palace on December 5^th 2002.

MED is the first dictionary to clearly identify the 7,500 words that are essential for learning the English language.

Although the English language is made up of over one million individual words, 90% of all written and spoken text consists of just 7,500 words. MED highlights these vital 7,500 words in red and treats them in more detail, encouraging learners to swiftly grasp the core words necessary to speak and write fluently.

Michael Rundell, editor-in-chief of MED, explains how the dictionary was developed:

"The Macmillan dictionary project was a major collaborative effort with over 100 lexicographers and academic advisors working on both sides of the Atlantic, and the production expertise of Bloomsbury Publishers, publishers of Encarta Dictionary.

We were able to produce this dictionary in under 4 years from a huge database of 200 million words - thanks to the use of the latest technology - which makes this the fastest advanced level dictionary ever produced. Any concerns that we were compromising academic standards have been vindicated by this highly respected ESU Award – we used an advisory team of academic experts to ensure the standards were of the highest quality and consistency."

MED is unique in its treatment of productive and receptive vocabulary, recognising that there is a distinction between words necessary to learn and those that will appear but not be used frequently. The useful vocabulary, commonly known as ‘productive’, is treated in detail with information about its use, collocations and grammatical patterns as well as examples in use. The remaining, less necessary words, known as receptive, are dealt with in less detail, in order that learners will recognise and understand them.