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Translation in Bilingual Lexicography

Editing a New English-Greek Dictionary
Authors: Dionysis Goutsos;

Translation in Bilingual Lexicography

Abstract

Abstract Greek bilingual dictionaries have long been marked by lack of naturalness and inadequate semantic and stylistic discrimination between the various equivalents suggested in translation. Although this is a general problem of bilingual dictionaries, which necessarily deal with decontextualized instances of language in the construction of the lemma, translationese is common in English-Greek dictionaries as a result of the idiosyncratic history of Greek applied linguistic practice. The paper discusses issues of translation equivalence that came into view in the editing of the new Collins English-Greek Dictionary (1997). Specific problems relating to the translation from English to Greek are pointed out, with reference to the areas of lexical, grammatical and discourse equivalence. In particular, the occurrence of 'false friends' and register couplets, the categories of definiteness, countability and verb aspect and the varying Theme-Rheme structures constitute points of divergence between the two languages. The word-for-word translation of these linguistic aspects is mainly accountable for the lack of naturalness. Dictionary editing involves a multitude of detailed decisions along these parameters, which shape the lemmas and influence the quality of the final text. The help from both English and Greek corpora has been indispensable at defining the parameters of naturalness for each lemma and at solving problems specific to Greek bilingual lexicography. Résumé Les dictionnaires bilingues grecs ont été longtemps marqués par un manque de naturel, par une discrimination sémantique et stylistique inadéquate entre les différentes équivalences suggérées dans la traduction. Bien qu'il s'agisse d'un problème général propre aux dictionnaires bilingues, qui, nécessairement se fondent sur des exemples hors de leur contexte linguistique lors de la construction du vocable, des traductions trop influencées par la langue de sortie sont communes dans les dictionnaires anglais-grec à la suite de l'histoire idiosyncratique de la pratique de la linguistique appliquée grecque. L'article se penche sur les problèmes de l'équivalence traductionelle lors de la rédaction du nouveau dictionnaire anglais-grec (Collins - 1997). Des problèmes spécifiques relatifs à la traduction de la langue anglaise à la langue grecque sont mis en évidence relativement aux domaines de l'équivalence lexicologique, grammaticale et du discours. Plus spécialement, l'émergence de "faux amis" et de couples dans le registre, les catégories de précision, la comptabilité des substantifs et l'aspect des verbes ainsi que les structures variables thème-rhème constituent des points de divergence entre les deux langues. La traduction mot-à-mot de ces aspects linguistiques est surtout due au manque de naturel. La rédaction de dictionnaires implique une multitude de décisions détaillés suivant ces paramètres, qui régissent les vocables et influencent la qualité du texte final. L'aide des corpus anglais et grecs a été indispensable lors de la définition des paramètres du naturel pour chaque vocable et lors de la solution des problèmes spécifiques à la lexicographie bilingue grecque.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
19
Top 10%
Average
Average
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