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Two Recent Major Afrikaans–English/English–Afrikaans Dictionaries
Abstract
Abstract: When Pharos Dictionaries was established in 1996, its first order of business was to develop a comprehensive Afrikaans–English/English–Afrikaans dictionary that could succeed the standard-bearing but ageing TW (Tweetalige Woordeboek/Bilingual Dictionary by Bosman, Van der
Merwe and Hiemstra). The article explains in detail and with examples how this new dictionary, Pharos One for short, was developed from the TW. Information about syllabification, grammar and usage were greatly enhanced, the lemma structure was made more accessible and thousands of
new words and expressions were added. The most difficult aspect of the development process was the incorporation of older material from the TW. For the sake of comprehensiveness much of this material was retained, but because of the sensitive nature of many words and expressions from the
old South Africa, usage instructions had to be added with great care. For the editing of the English–Afrikaans half the Pharos editors could draw on a plethora of quality British and American and bilingual European dictionaries, but for the Afrikaans–English half the editors had to rely on their own language knowledge. The article explains how with reference to electronic archives and the help of outside consultants the Pharos team could verify their judgment. In response to lagging sales, Pharos embarks on the development of a scaled-down version of Pharos One that would retain its best characteristics, but would have a more manageable size and affordable price. The article explains how a one-third reduction of Pharos One was achieved to produce this new dictionary, called the Concise for short.
Keywords: ALPHABETISATION, COMPOUND, COMPREHENSIVENESS, CROSS-REFERENCING, DATABASE, DATED MATERIAL, DERIVATIVE, DICTIONARY USER, ENTRY,
EXAMPLE PHRASE, FREQUENCY COUNTS, HOMOGRAPH, IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION, LEMMA, OFFENSIVE WORD/EXPRESSION, SYLLABIFICATION, TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY, TRANSLATION, USAGE INSTRUCTION
Merwe and Hiemstra). The article explains in detail and with examples how this new dictionary, Pharos One for short, was developed from the TW. Information about syllabification, grammar and usage were greatly enhanced, the lemma structure was made more accessible and thousands of
new words and expressions were added. The most difficult aspect of the development process was the incorporation of older material from the TW. For the sake of comprehensiveness much of this material was retained, but because of the sensitive nature of many words and expressions from the
old South Africa, usage instructions had to be added with great care. For the editing of the English–Afrikaans half the Pharos editors could draw on a plethora of quality British and American and bilingual European dictionaries, but for the Afrikaans–English half the editors had to rely on their own language knowledge. The article explains how with reference to electronic archives and the help of outside consultants the Pharos team could verify their judgment. In response to lagging sales, Pharos embarks on the development of a scaled-down version of Pharos One that would retain its best characteristics, but would have a more manageable size and affordable price. The article explains how a one-third reduction of Pharos One was achieved to produce this new dictionary, called the Concise for short.
Keywords: ALPHABETISATION, COMPOUND, COMPREHENSIVENESS, CROSS-REFERENCING, DATABASE, DATED MATERIAL, DERIVATIVE, DICTIONARY USER, ENTRY,
EXAMPLE PHRASE, FREQUENCY COUNTS, HOMOGRAPH, IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION, LEMMA, OFFENSIVE WORD/EXPRESSION, SYLLABIFICATION, TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY, TRANSLATION, USAGE INSTRUCTION
