Lexiconotes

Summary: Bilingual Dictionaries in Language Cultivation

1. Introduction

Dictionaries are mentioned as an indispensable tool for language cultivation.
However, in many countries experts focus only on monolingual dictionaries, rarely bilingual dictionaries as one of the tool for language cultivation.
English is important among Indonesian, however it is more common for Indonesian people to have English-Indonesia dictionaries than the Indonesian Comprehensive Dictionary (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia).
Consequently, it is recommended that the National Center for Indonesian Languages should produce an English-Indonesian dictionaries based on modern lexicographical theories to strengthen language cultivation.

2. Discussion: Problems with the Current English-Indonesian Dictionaries

In this paper, two popular English-Indonesian dictionaries are analyzed. The first is Kamus Inggris-Indonesia (Echols and Shadily, 1975/2019) which was already in its 29th printing in 2007, clear evidence that it is ubiquitous in Indonesia. The second is the online English-Indonesian dictionary that has been quite popular among Indonesians and is available for free at http://kamus.net.
At least three problems are identified that make them a factor in the deficiency of Indonesian language cultivation. They are outdated equivalents, misspelled equivalents, and inappropriate equivalents.

3. Discussion: Selecting between Prescriptive, Descriptive, and Proscriptive Lexicography

A new approach, proscriptive lexicography, is considered the best approach in dictionary making. Based on this approach, a lexicographer still uses the results of corpus evidence (as in descriptive approach), however the lexicographer does not only inform the users about the language use, but he also tells users which variant they should choose if there is more than one possibility (Bergenholtz 2003: 77).

4. Discussion: Implementing the Lexicographical Function Theory in Creating the Dictionary

Dictionaries should be created based on a sound theoretical function. This paper applied the modern theory of lexicographical function for two main reasons:

1. for its transformative nature

With a solid theoretical foundation, lexicographers could review and criticize dictionaries,

and could propose new and better solutions to lexicographical problems.

2. for dictionary users

Based on this consideration, lexicographers should attend to the needs of learners or

dictionary users.

4.1. Discussion: How to implement? Determining the Dictionary Function and the User Profile

As the name of the theory suggests, lexicographical function theory, lexicographers require to determine the function of the dictionary at the initial stage in creating the dictionary.
In this case, dictionaries are used to assist users to solve the six following problems of text reception, text production, and text translation that work in both directions of native and foreign language (Bergenholtz and Tarp 2003: 176)
After selecting the main function (this paper chooses text translation from the foreign language), the lexicographer determine the user profile so that the dictionary can provide to meet the user needs.

4.2. Discussion: What next? Selecting the Headwords for the Dictionary

The headwords are usually selected from a corpus based on the function of the dictionary and the user profile.
Since English is an international language, it is possible to find good recourses. This paper uses two resources that are considered suitable when selecting the headwords for the proposed dictionary. The resources are OALD (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary) and DANTE (Database of Analyzed texts of English).
They are chosen for these reasons: OALD is chosen because it is the most popular monolingual English dictionary in Indonesia and there is still possibility for a project to bilingualize this popular dictionary. Meanwhile, the corpus DANTE is chosen because it allows the automatic insertion of translation field that hold target-language equivalents.

4.3. Discussion: At last, determining the equivalents and other relevant data

There are various types of data that can be addressed to provide information to the headwords or dictionary entries. Those data are word combinations, synonyms, antonyms, labels, pronunciation, examples, notes, encyclopedic information, illustration, etc.
This paper focuses on the main data for the Indonesian equivalents, notes and encyclopedic information since the main function of the proposed dictionary is translation.
Both professional translator and a comparable corpus are recommended to create the dictionary propose in this paper. From this comparable corpus, the corpus will provide the lexicographer both colloquial and standard Indonesian words.

5. Conclusion:

There is an urgent need to create a new English-Indonesian dictionary in order to strengthen Indonesian language cultivation.
The principles to create dictionary considered the following condition in which: proscriptive approach (the new approach) are deemed to be sufficient, the lexicographical function theory is adapted to ensure that the dictionary will provide solutions that both satisfy the user needs and support language cultivation efforts.

Note:

The summary is made to help readers understand research articles and its findings, as well as the current trends in the related fields.

Bagaimana untuk merujuk artikel ini:

Kwary, D. A. (2010). Bilingual Dictionaries in Language Cultivation. In International Symposium on Language Planning Pusat Bahasa.