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I tried using the Kindle dictionary look-up recently -- and it was totally useless! I was reading a novel written in the 1930s where a large chunk was a narrative by an elderly Scottish character, using a great deal of Scots vocabulary. I'm not Scottish, and although I've come across quite a few Scots words before, there were a few I didn't know at all. The dictionary didn't seem to have any of the Scots words at all. So I seriously doubt its efficacy for unfamiliar forms of English.
If I were reading in French (not my native language, but one I do read in) I would certainly find a dictionary useful, but I have to ask whether before the advent of ereaders most people would have read dt books in their own language with a dictionary at their side.
I'm not trying to be condescending. I would recommend dictionaries to children, but surely by the time one is adult one is likely to have acquired at least a pretty hefty passive vocabulary. Active vocabulary is obviously another matter as is technical vocabulary.
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