Report on An Introduction to Bilingual Lexicography
马燕
Vicky
An Introduction to Bilingual Lexicography, written by Mr. Li
Ming and Mr. Zhou Jinghua in 2000, records the authors’
perception and understanding on using bilingual dictionaries and
learning theories of lexicography in and abroad. Since bilingual
dictionary is not only the bridge linking two sorts of languages
but a crucial tool for cross-communication, the more deeply the
researches on bilingual lexicography go, the more achievements
on them, hence further instructions to the practical work of
compiling bilingual dictionaries.
This book has, altogether, eight chapters. The first chapter
mainly talks about the requirement of a good bilingual
dictionary.
The
following
two
chapters
elaborate
the
macrostructure and microstructure of bilingual dictionaries. In
deciding what kind of form of the content in the dictionary
should be, the author seeks for the combination of
prescriptivism and descriptivism in chapter 4. In the next two
chapters, the authors introduce the compiling of collocation
dictionaries and idiom dictionaries and the effect that corpus has
on bilingual lexicography. Given the advantages of monolingual
dictionaries, the authors advocate to learn from them in chapter7.
And from the last chapter, the readers can learn how to choose a
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good bilingual dictionary and make the best use of it.
A good bilingual dictionary which the authors believe should
have the characteristics of science, information and practical use.
Since a dictionary is a didactic book, the information in it must
be accurate and exact. Any dictionary is outdated since its
publication, so the so-called ‘new’ dictionary is relative but
rather absolute. But in order to meet the needs of readers to keep
in touch with new words, lexicographer can narrow the gap
between dictionaries and reality as possible as they can. For the
explanations of entries, the dictionary should provide not only
their surface meanings but deep meanings as well which make it
possible for them to become good explanations. Now we
compiling dictionaries are to offer readers the tool, so we must,
in the first place, contain enough information for readers. And
then arrange this information appropriately for the readers to use.
After all, the dictionaries are to be used by readers but rather
lexicographers.
The macrostructure is crucial to a dictionary since readers
usually check the content before deciding whether they need
such kind of dictionary or not. The macrostructure must display
the characteristics of bilingual dictionaries on which they rely to
distinguish from monolingual dictionaries. Broadly speaking,
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macrostructure includes the length, word-list, format, binding
and layout, front matter and back matter which are the easiest
part to catch readers’ attention. So it must not be unaware of.
The microstructure concerns the detailed contents of lemmas
which
are
the
‘bricks’
and
‘stones’
compared
with
macrostructure acted as framework of a dictionary. It should
convey all the information of a word, including division of
syllables,
pronunciations,
meanings,
examples,
relative
grammars, idioms, collocation and so forth. Lexicographers can
shift their emphasis in line with the users’ needs. For example, if
a dictionary is to be made for college students who intend to
pass the CET4 and CET6, the word meaning and grammar
should be heavily emphasized since these two parts are what
they mostly concerns for. The theories about the occasions for
lexicographers to provide examples and the choices of examples
in this chapter, for my part, are very important. Since we are
now making dictionaries in practice, but without knowing when
should we give examples to the words and what kind of
examples should we give. Therefore, these theories open the
door for me to look into this problem. The authors hold that
whether examples are needed relies on the frequency as well as
the complexity degree of usage. They clarify three cases: First,
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common-used words need more examples because of their so
many exceptions, irregular usages and various forms. I agree
with this idea since the common-used words are also what the
users consult most, so the readers need more information to help
them to learn. Second, stems need more examples than
derivations. Because many meanings and usages of derivations
can be inferred from the stems, we should focus on the
information of stems. Third, special-used words should be given
more examples than regular-used words. This is the case since
users pay special attention to such special-used words.
Collocations and idioms belong to the microstructure of a
dictionary, but they are talked about separately in chapter5
because, as I see it, they are sophisticated but important as well.
The authors noted how to compile collocation dictionaries and
idiom dictionaries, including the design of lemmas in a
collocation dictionary and key points in compiling idiom
dictionary, such as the notation and examples of idioms. I think
these two kinds of dictionaries are especially crucial for we
English-major students since we can learn English counties’
cultures from them and they help us in encoding to a large
extent.
I heard from Mr. Wang and Mr. Men that lexicographers
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used cards to compile dictionaries before, within a room full of
cards to find out the information they need and they are most
likely to find nothing. But nowadays, as the development of
computer, corpus was built up and quickly got it development,
making much convenience for lexicographers. The authors
compare the corpus in and out of China and only to find out that
there is so much room for our corpus to improve. Corpus is
important to lexicographer also because corpus bear close
relationship with the microstructure of dictionary, such as the
meaning, examples, and idioms and so on. Since our corpus is
relatively small, we can make use of other’s good corpus to
improve the efficiency of compiling dictionaries and the quality.
Though bilingual dictionaries have benefited readers in its
special ways, nothing is perfect, so the bilingual dictionary
compilers always find ways and make use of the essence of
other types of dictionaries to improve bilingual dictionaries.
Monolingual dictionaries are just of this kind. The authors claim
that an excellent monolingual dictionary reflects the latest
theoretical fruit of modern lexicography. So they choose six
kinds of monolingual dictionaries and analyze their advantages
separately that bilingual dictionaries can make use of. Take we
commonly used dictionary OALD for example, its four merits
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are mentioned: new and complete words, accurate meanings,
vivid examples and grammatical and pragmatic information
which must do good to bilingual dictionary compiling.
It is not enough to solely compile a good dictionary. If the
readers can not use it well, it will fail to play its full role. So in
this respect, teaching readers how to choose and use dictionaries
forms an integral part of lexicographical studies. Whether the
dictionaries are good or not depends on the degree of matching
between the readers’ needs and the dictionaries. Once the
readers choose the best dictionaries they think, they should learn
to use it since so many readers fail to use dictionaries well or
even don’t know how to use it. The authors suggest making it a
curriculum at school, especially for college students. I can’t
agree with them more. As I see it, some readers complain their
dictionaries are not good enough because they didn’t realize the
dictionaries’ value. So readers should take it as a kind of skill
and try to master this skill through consistent practice.
This book really makes me have a clear insight to bilingual
lexicography and the like. It not only provides me the theories
but guides me during the process of dictionary-compiling. I will
stand in the side of compilers and users as well to make a good
dictionary for the readers.
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