[euralex] Re: [euralex] RE: [euralex] José Aguirre's metalexicography
- From: Michael Beijer <michael@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: euralex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2012 23:49:26 +0000
Hi Gilles-Maurice,
I am fully in the digital corner myself.
I am a translator, and the sooner we move everything to digital the better.
You have *no* idea how I wish I could somehow get my entire bookshelf of
quickly aging specialist bilingual dictionaries into my CAT tool
(translation software). I have piles of dictionaries that still contain
very good content, but which is basically locked away in their paper pages
and will soon just be lost. I am thinking of, e.g., my 4 volume
Dutch-English 'Jansonius' from the 70s, my *Dictionary of Building and
Civil Engineering *by* *S.N. Korchomkin et al. (Kluwer, 1985), and my
*Illustrated
Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering* by V.V. Schwartz et al. (1984) – all
of which I hardly use because they aren't as readily accessible as my
computer resources.
On the other hand, I am subscribed to several online dictionaries, and this
is where the future of lexicography should be headed if you ask me as a
translator. Graham P Oxtoby's amazing *Comprehensive Dictionary of Industry
& Technology <http://translex.co.uk/GWIT.html>*, and Aart van den
End's *Juridisch-Economisch
Lexicon <http://gatewaywoordenboeken.nl/184.html>* & *Onroerend Goed
Lexicon<http://gatewaywoordenboeken.nl/onroerend-goed-lexicon.html>
*can be seen as examples of how to successfully operate a dictionary in the
digital age. They are full of great content, are updated daily, and you can
email their authors term questions and will almost always receive an answer
within 20 minutes. Another success story is the *Oxford Dictionaries
Pro<http://english.oxforddictionaries.com/>
* (formerly *Oxford Dictionaries Online*). This is another dictionary I am
more than happy to pay my annual subscription for, as it has become a
one-stop shop for all of my English-language dictionary needs.
Incidentally, I might be buying myself a hard copy of Graham's *Comprehensive
Dictionary of Industry & Technology* as a Christmas present when it comes
out in December 2012 (2
volumes, 3600 pages!!!), but mostly just for fun. On a daily basis, I will
be accessing it online as I translate.
There are also various interesting free online multilingual dictionaries
popping up like mushrooms, which allow users to add words, such as
Leo<http://dict.leo.org/>,
Dict.cc <http://ennl.dict.cc/?s=h.o.h.>,
bab.la<http://en.bab.la/user_ranking.php>,
interglot <http://www.interglot.com/>, and the Proz.com KudoZ
glossaries/term forums <http://www.proz.com/about/overview/terminology/>,
but what I am waiting for is a site that manages to engender the feeling of
community of the Proz.com term forums with the professional approach of say
the Oxford Dictionaries Pro site. Now *that* would be a truly modern
dictionary!
Michael
PS: Please excuse me if this post ends up in the wrong place. I am not
entirely sure how all these mailing lists work yet...
*Michael Beijer*
Translator & Terminologist
(Dutch/Flemish into English)
46 Priory Street, Lewes,
East Sussex BN7 1HJ,
United Kingdom.
Tel. +44 (0)1273 483881
Mob.+44 (0)797 093 5608
michael@xxxxxxxxxxx
Skype/Twitter: michaelbeijer
On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 10:20 PM, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver <
gillesmaurice.deschryver@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thanks David -- perhaps we ought to declare interest here: we're (also) in
> the language technology business (but not for CJK, yet) ... ****
>
> ** **
>
> So, based on the video at the link below, I'd say the contest has been won
> by the dictionary of the future already (unless José Aguirre's handwriting
> is that of a medical doctor: sorry wanted a lighter note ;-). ****
>
> ** **
>
> Perhaps I should also point out that more than just single Kanji
> characters are recognized at a time here (which was the initial challenge):
> the dictionary of the future recognizes full meaningful chunks, to take one
> from the video闪光 ‘flash’.****
>
> ** **
>
> That's thus 10 for the electronic dictionary, zero for the paper
> dictionary.****
>
> ** **
>
> Let's bring on the next challenge, please!****
>
> ** **
>
> This is not a joke, this is not about techies having fun, colleagues, what
> we mean when we say that the "second revolution" in our field has arrived,
> is exactly examples like this. Leave the paper world behind, and start
> viewing lexicography in the digital age. Coming up with new solutions to
> the age-old look-up problems in Chinese and Japanese dictionaries is one of
> them.****
>
> ** **
>
> All best,****
>
> Gilles-Maurice.****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Joffe [mailto:david.joffe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: donderdag 8 november 2012 22:39
> To: 'José Aguirre'; gillesmaurice.deschryver@xxxxxxxx
> Cc: euralex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; asialex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; afrilex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx;
> DSNA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; lexicographylist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
> ishll@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; lexicografie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [euralex] José Aguirre's metalexicography****
>
> ** **
>
> On 8 Nov 2012 at 21:52, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver wrote:****
>
> ** **
>
> > > if I jot down a random Chinese character on a piece of paper for
> both of us to look up, 10 times ****
>
> > out of 10 I will find it in a paper dictionary before you do in your
> digital dictionary.****
>
> ** **
>
> > So here's a nice challenge for the CJK gurus! If Jack Halpern's ****
>
> > tools can't already beat you on this, let this be the Deep Blue ****
>
> > lexicographic equivalent. Jack!?****
>
> ** **
>
> If I am not mistaken, digital solutions for this problem have already
> begun to be implemented, e.g.:****
>
> ** **
>
> http://www.techinasia.com/pleco-dictionary-android/****
>
> ** **
>
> Basically, point your smartphone camera at a character, it runs it through
> OCR, and performs a dictionary search for you. I'm sure it's not perfect,
> but it's first-generation technology ... I don't know how this particular
> implementation would perform in a '10 attempts' ****
>
> 'paper vs electronic' contest, but I expect these methods would improve a
> lot in the next 10 years:****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ".. the Android iteration of Pleco dictionary has today gone gold, and now
> finds a home in the Android Market. It comes with OCR abilities so that it
> can scan and ‘read’ Chinese characters using your smartphone’s camera,
> handwriting support, voice recognition, and numerous dictionary options.**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> Its range of features means that it can be used by the most casual of
> tourists who might want to scan a menu whilst visiting China, to the most
> studious of students of the Chinese language who might need to add
> specialist dictionaries and make flashcards"****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> - David****
>
> ** **
>
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