Kurt-Michael Pätzald Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English (Part I) Abstract. Dieser Artikel ist der Besprechung der neuesten Wörterbücher gewidmet. Es finden sich in dem vorliegenden ersten Teil Rezensionen zu den zweisprachigen Deutsch-Englischen, Englisch-Deutschen und den kürzeren einsprachigen englischen Werken. Sie basieren auf breiten Testkorpora, welche die Vielfalt der möglichen Funktionen von Wörterbüchern, der in den Wörterbüchern enthaltenen Informationen sowie der sprachlichen Wirklichkeit des ausgehenden zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts widerspiegeln. In einem zweiten Teil sollen Lernerwörterbücher, ungekürzte einsprachige Werke sowie elektronische Wörterbücher untersucht werden. 1. Introduction This review article deals with various types of dictionaries: bilingual German-English, English-German dictionaries; monolingual college or desk dictionaries; monolingual unabridged dictionaries; learner dictionaries, biand monolingual, and electronic dictionaries. Tue present first part contains the sections on bilingual dictionaries, as well as the monolingual desk or college dictionaries. lt is planned to review the remaining dictionary types in the 1995 volume of FLuL, not least because new (editions ot) learner dictionaries have been announced for that year. 1 A major change from the 1985 article (Henke/ Pätzold 1985) is a much broader corpus of test items designed to find out differences between the various (types of) dictionaries. This has resulted in what I hope is a more balanced, comprehensive approach to regional varieties. The author of the present article has recently spent two years in Canada and the United States of America, and has been back again in Germany since October 1993. He has come to the conclusion that North American English is the dominant variety of English in Germany, if not Europe, at the present time and that this needs to be reflected in the weighting of the article. I have therefore included 150 test items from North American sources, including Canadian ones, while there are only 100 from British English texts. Again, the 100 test .items for fixed expressions come from both British and North American English. The rate at which American words enter other varieties of English is enotmous and it is often difficult, and indeed rash, to label items as American or British. This means that I use the same set of test items for both British and American monolingual dictionaries, though I list the results separately for their sources. In the German- English section, this riew regional balance takes the form of 50 items with different equivalents in British and American English, at least originally. My thanks are due to Marg Clarke, who helped with the monolingual research in Victoria, B.C., to Karin Achterholt and Petra Bobbenkamp for their painstaking proofreading, and to Ekkehard Zöfgen, for linguistic advice, endless patience and expert editing of a difficult text. FLuL 23 (1994) 14 Kurt-Michael Pätzold There are also a number of Canadian dictionaries, which are not reviewed both for reasons of space, and because the bigger works are being revised and updated just now. I would like to mention at least the most recent one, The Penguin Canadian Dictionary (1990), because it is the only general monolingual English dictionary I know that regularly lists collocations under their base and is therefore useful for language production (for more on collocations, bases and collocators see Gramley/ Pätzold 1992: 69). In thus guarding against the <langer of a Eurocentric view I have, at the same time, not shut my eyes to the growing importance, both in terms of world politics, economics and language research, of other varieties of English around the world. This is the reason behind the 50 test items for monolingual dictionaries, both of the desk/ college and the unabridged size, from such varieties as Australian, New Zealand, South African, Singaporean, Malaysian and Indian English. This can of course not be regarded as anything but a first step in the right direction, and interested readers are referred to the excellent review of the state of the art in the field of non-American and non-British dictionaries in Göriach (1990). Aside from regional varieties I have also paid attention to the provision of examples in the test corpus, which takes the form of a 50-item test in the case of the monolingual desk/ college dictionaries. This reflects the growing awareness on the part of (psycho)linguists (teachers and language learners have of course always known this) that "the sense of the word is acquired through definitions or, as may be more often the case, from encountering instances of the word in actual use. Although use may give us an incomplete 'meaning', it usually gives us enough to grasp the state of affairs described by the context provided by the sentence" (Kess 1992: 217). For the most part this review is about new editions of well established dictionaries. There are no dictionaries that offer revolutionary departures in conception and execution in the sections on bilingual and monolingual dictionaries 2• More radically innovative seems to be the market for leamer dictionaries, where two publishers have recently brought out encyclopedic versions of well established works that used tobe word-dictionaries only (see the article by Heath/ Herbst in this volume). And, as it were to counterbalance this more comprehensive departure, there are also more specialised dictionaries to be announced in the second part of this article, which focus on the production of English language texts. 2. Bilingual Dictionaries: Gennan-English This section looks at these five dictionaries 3: The Penguin German English Dictionary, 1990 [= PGED] PONS Globalwörterbuch. Teil 2: Deutsch-Englisch, 1993 [= PGW 2] Duden-Oxford Großwörterbuch Englisch, 1990 [= DOGE] Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch. Deutsch-Englisch, 1992 [= LGSW 1] Collins German Dictionary, 1991 [= CGD]. 2 I would like to refer interested readers however to a new English-French, French-Englis'1 dictionary (The Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary [OHFD]), which has just been published by Oxford University Press and which introduces systematic aspects for the first time, e.g. in the treatment of prepositions and such concepts as time and space. 3 For more bibliographical details see the References at the end of this article. FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 15 2.1 General Remarks, Item Lists and Results Table Before I list the 800 test items for the German-English dictionaries, I would like to explain in a few words the selection of the test corpus. Tue modern German language is represented by 200 items from various sources, 100 fixed expressions and 200 specialized items from the fields of the environment, computers, politics and economics, and universities. These 500 items are used to find out what and how many words are covered by the test dictionaries (in other words, they test the macrostructure). I have also included 50 items to check on how well dictionaries cover the two major varieties of English, British and American English. Tue remaining 250 items are designed to test the microstructure of the dictionaries. There are 100 collocations and the same number of syntactic items of various kinds. Moreover, I have specially selected 50 items that show contrasting constructions in the two languages, on which I want to say a few words. In many cases, English and German express the same idea by using constructions that show word class differences. Where German uses an adverb English often uses a verb or an adjective, compare German das ist wohl nur eine Sache der Gewohnheit with English I suppose it is a matter of habit, German in England wird es bestimmt wieder viel regnen and English it is certain to rain a lot again in England, German ich trinke eben nur noch schnell einen Kaffee and English I'll jl,f,st have a quick cup of coffee, German darauf wird er sich wohl kaum einlassen and English he is rather unlikely to agree to that. Other differences are seen in G mein Golf verbraucht 7 Liter (auf 100 km) versus E J get 50 miles out ofmy golf (per gallon of petrol), my Golf does 50 miles (to the gallon) and G da komme ich nicht mehr mit versus English you have lost me. While German usually has to realize the instrumental case by using with, English can often use a verb with a direct object, especially where parts of the body are involved: compare G mit den Wimpern klappern versus E flutter one's eyelashes, G mit der Faust auf den Tisch schlagen versus E bang one's fist on the table, and G mit dem Kleingeld/ Münzen klappern versus E jingle the change/ coins. Sometimes the locative case can also be made into the object in English, but not in German: G sie können mich unter dieser Adresse erreichen versus E this address will find me, G 7 Personen können auf dem Boot schlafen versus E the boat sleeps 7, G durch/ über den Fluß schwimmen versus E swim the river, G auf den Korb werfen versus E shoot baskets/ hoops, and Gins Bett machen versus E wet the bed. These items test both the idiomaticity of the translations given and how much context dictionaries are prepared to provide. ► Lists of test items (page 16--22)4 ► Results [Table l] (page 23) 4 In this and the following lists, the following abbreviations have been used: NAm = North American English; CanE = Canadian English; BrE = British English; US = US-American English; adj = adjective; adv = adverb; n = noun; vb = verb; vi = intransitive verb; vt = transitive verb; s. = sich; sb = somebody; e-r = einer; etw = etwas; sth = something; fig = figurative; jdm = jemandem; jdn = jemanden; jds = jemandes; to + inf = to plus infinitive. - I provide brief contexts where I think it helpful or necessary; the meaning of an item is given in (' '). FLuL 23 (1994) 16 Kurt-Michael Pätzold [a] 200 general items (from novels, newspapers, colloquial language) (Geld) abdrücken abtörnen vt affengeil Akzeptanz Anforderungssprofil (e-r Stelle) anmachen vt antörnen vt Arbeitsessen Aromastoff ätzen vi (Brötchen) aufbacken auffangen vt ('ausgleichen') zur Auflage machen (das) Aus (für etw) , Auspendler ('Einpendler') ausrasten vi [von Menschen] Ausstieg (aus der Kernenergie) Ausstrahlungstermin [TV] s. austauschen Bankkaufmann Basisstation [Telefon] Bauchstraffung begrünen vt Bekenneranruf Besserwessi Betonkopf ('Alt-SED! er') Beziehungskiste Bildsuchlauf Blaumann ('Kleidung') blicken vt ('kapieren') Bürokauffrau Bußgeldbescheid dagegenhalten vi danebenliegen vi Dauerfreundin s. (durch s-e Arbeit) definieren Dino (gut/ schlecht) draufsein Dreitagebart Du (,das weiß ich nicht) durchgeknallt (sein) echt (nett) echt? ('wirklich? ') Eckdaten [von Menschen] s. (in die Diskussion) einbrin gen Einkaufsparadies Einpendler Einsteiger Einstieg (in Atomwirtschaft) Elbflorenz Erfolgsdruck Erschließungskosten Ertragslage F&E-Aufwendungen Fenster [TV] Fettabsaugen Feuerwehrmann ('trouble shooter') flankieren vi flippig [Aussehen, Typ] Flugbegleiter frau Führungsetage Fummel ('Kleid') (ich bin doch nicht sein) Fuß abtreter gebongt! Gefühlsduselei geschenkt! giften vi Grenzsituation [z.B. Tod] (was kann man da schon) groß machen Gültigkeitsdauer Häme (etw schärfer) herausarbeiten (e-n) Herzkasper (bekommen) s. in etw hineinknien hinterfragen vt hochkarätig [Turnier, Film] Hochtechnologie Hospiz IM ('inf. Mitarb. der Stasi') Intellektuellenbrille jobben (die Wohnung kostet) kalt ... Karenztage klarkommen klaro adv Klausurtagung (von Parteien) (Geldschein) kleinmachen Kontakthof Kriminalist [in Anrede] Kurzarbeiter Kuschelsex es kamen nur lächerliche 15 Zuhörer das läuft hier nicht! ('ist verboten') Lebensgefährtin Lehramtsstudium Leidensdruck leistungsstark(e Maschine) Lernstoff (Stichs Aufschlag) lesen logo Macher Macker MAD (nur) magere (15 Studenten) Mahnwache Mannschaftswertung Mansch(e) Markenbutter Marschflugkörper (ein) Mehr (an Liebe) Migrant(in) mithalten vi Molkereibutter Müll (reden) Multiplikator [Mensch] Nachbarschaftshilfe Nachfolgepartei nachhaken da kommt bestimmt noch was nach (öffentlicher) Nahverkehr nerven vilvt Nobelrestaurant (etw zum) Nulltarif bekommen oberkomisch oberschlau Oberzentrum Obstler Originalton (Clinton) Pflegestation Pflege(kosten)versicherung plakativ adjladv ('zu einfach') Psychoterror Punktstrahler Querdenker Rahmenbedingungen s. rechnen Reiseverkehrskaufleute Reizwort etw richten [süddeutsch] Richtmikrofon rückfettende Substanzen Rückrundenspiel Rufbereitschaft (bei 5000 DM Kaution ist die) Schmerzgrenze (erreicht) FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 17 etw schnallen Schwalbe [Fußball] Siff Sonntagsreden Sozialstation ('ambul. Haus') Spielwiese (fig) spitzenmäßig springen [TV] Standortvorteil Starbesetzung Steuerfachgehilfin Strafvollzugsanstalt Streitkultur (Tag) stressig Strichcodierung Stühlerücken [Politik] s. (die Haare) stylen terrestrisch [TV] etw thematisieren biologisch abbaubar Abfallwirtschaft abgasreduziert akustische Umweltverschmutzung Altglascontainer Altlasten Artensterben Ausstoß (von Emissionen) autogerecht(e Stadt) Biotonne Brennelement Brenni,tab Brennstoffkreislauf Eco-version (e-s Autos) Emulgatoren (direkte) Endlagerung entsorgen abgeblendet (Daten) abrufen (Datei) abspeichern abstürzen vi [Programm] aktuelles Verzeichnis anklicken (Privat-)Anwender Arbeitsspeicher Ausdruck FLuL 23 (1994) Tieflader tierisch adv Tinten-Killer Topf [Finanzen] Totaloperation Transparenz (von Entscheidungen) transportieren vt [abstrakt] Trasse Traumtänzer Treuhand(anstalt) Trittbrettfahrer (fig) Tussi überbordend adj Umfeld Vergreisung Vermischtes [Zeitung] verscheißern vt versifft adj [b] 50 environment items erschöpfbar(er Rohstoff) FCKW Feuchtgebiet GAU geregelter Katalysator freilaufendes Huhn Kernschmelze Kraftwerkpark Lärmbelästigung Nachfüllpack(ung) nachrüsten Ökobauer Ozonkiller Restmüll Restrisiko (die Umwelt) sanieren Schadstoff-Filter Sondermüll [c] 50 computer items Befehlsvorrat Betriebssystem Bildlaufleiste Bildschirm blättern computerunterstützt Dateierweiterung Datensatz Datenträger Versorgungslücke vollgedröhnt ('voll von Drogen') Vordenker vorführen vt Vorreiter Vorrundenspiel Vorsorgeuntersuchung (die Wohnung kostet) warm ... (die) Wende Wendehals Wichsvorlage Worthülse zahlungskräftig zippen [TV] Zitterpartie (fig) Zivildienst zögerlich (sein) Zugbegleiter ('DB-Broschüre') Sperrmüll Störfall Streuwiese Super-GAU Treibhauseffekt (Meer) überfischt sein umweltbedenklich umweltbelastend umweltgerecht umweltverträglich verklappen Verursacherprinzip wärmedämmend(e Glasfassade) Wiederaufarbeitung Zwischenlager Dialogfeld Eingabeaufforderung Eingabefeld Eingabetaste eingeben (Daten) einlesen (Daten) Endlospapier formatieren Hauptspeicher 18 hervorheben Kennbuchstabe klicken Laufwerk Listenfeld markieren Mauszeiger PC-Nutzer Abgeordnetenhaus Ampelkoalition antizyklisch Antragsrecht Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme Auftragspolster Besitzstand wahren Billiglohnland sozialer Brennpunkt Bürgernähe (der Verwaltung) Dienstleistungsabend das Direktmandat ging an .... Einstieg (in die 4 Tage Woche) (autonomes) Frauenhaus vorauseilender Gehorsam Gemeinschaftsunternehmen (etw nach dem) Gießkannenprinzip (fördern) (Kurs/ Seminar) abhalten ASTA (Kurs/ Seminar) belegen Ausländerreferat Doktorandin Drittmittel einwerben Examen/ Prüfung abnehmen ins Examen/ in die Prüfung gehen Examen/ Prüfung machen Fachbereich Fachbereichsrat philosophische Fakultät Fakultätskonferenz Freisemester haben Gastprofessor Germanistik Graduiertenstipendium Gremienarbeit Platzhalterzeichen ('wild card') Schaltfläche Schnittstelle (Datei) sichern Sicherungskopie Standardverzeichnis Statusleiste, -zeile Kurt-Michael Pätzold Steckplatz Symbolleiste Traktor [bei Drucker] Verträglichkeit Verzeichnis Vollbild ('maximize') Vorgabe Zeilenausrichtung [d] 50 items: politics and economy Gleichstellungsbeauftragte (das beim Wirtschaftsgipfel vereinbarte) Hilfspaket von ... Industriestandort (Deutschland) Kämmerer Kohlepfennig (etw) kostenneutral (kürzen) Landesmedienanstalt Langzeitarbeitslose Lauschangriff linksextrem Lohnstückkosten Manteltarifvertrag mittelständisch(er Betrieb) Nichtweiterverbreitung Nullrunde ('ohne Lohnerhöhung') öffentliche Hand [e] 50 university items Hausarbeit studentische Hilfskraft Hochschulabsolventin Klausur schreiben in e-r Kommission sitzen Lehrdeputat Lehrkommission Lehrkörper Lehrstuhl für Englisch lesen über (Shakespeare) akademischer Mittelbau Praktikum machen Privatdozentin an der Promotion sitzen Prorektor Publizistik Rechenzentrum Referat halten akademische Selbstverwaltung das Parlament tagt Parolen skandieren Parteitag Pflegeversicherung Politik betreiben schlanke Produktion Programm auflegen Quotenfrau rationalisieren vi rechtsextrem Rechtsstaat Sanktionen verhängen sozialverträglich(e Lösung) ('ohne Entlassungen') Trendwende Wählerwanderung Zweidrittelgesellschaft Zweitstimme Staatsexamen Stoff wiederholen Studienabbrecher Studienberaterin Studium abschließen das Studium des Englischen, der Mathematik mit dem Studium anfangen Thesenpapier Vordiplom Vorlesung halten Vorlesung hören kommentiertes Vorlesungsverzeichnis Zwischenprüfung FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 19 [f] 50 NAm versus BrE items Arbeitstag = work (BrE: -ing) day Archivphoto = file [TV] (BrE: library pictures) ausfüllen = fill out (BrE: in) gegen e-n Urteil Berufung einlegen = (US) appeal a verdict Du solltest das besser tun = you (BrE: had) better do that braun = tan; (BrE, US) tanned er ist gerade nicht da (im Büro) = (US) he just stepped out; (BrE) he is not in his office just now Einkaufswagen = cart [in mall]; (BrE) trolley auf alle Fälle = (US) anyways Feuerwehr = fire departrnent; (BrE) fire brigade Frischhaltefolie = plastic wrap; (BrE) cling film Gänsehaut = gooseburnps, (BrE) goose pirnples wie geht's? = (BrE) how are you? (US) how are you doing? in ein Gespräch verwickeln = engage in (US: with) conversation Handtasche = pocket book; (BrE) handbag Hauptfach = (BrE) rnain subject; (NArn) rnajor im Krankenhaus sein = (US) in the hospital kritisieren = (US) critique; (BrE) review/ criticise Kuchenstand = bake table; (BrE) cake stall kurz und gut, um es kurz zu machen = (US) rnake it short; (BrE) cut a long story short Leitplanke = guard rail, (BrE) crash barrier nennen nach jdrn/ etw = narne for; (BrE) narne/ call after O-Saft = (US) OJ Parteitag = convention; (BrE) conference (die Münchner) Polizei= police departrnent; (BrE) police Polizeiwache = (US) precinct; station Postleitzahl = zip; (BrE) postal code protestieren gegen = protest (BrE: against) sth reden mit jdrn = (US) talk with, talk to Rollkragenpulli = turtleneck; (BrE) polo neck Rückfahrkarte = round trip; (BrE) retum ticket Schiete! = shoot; (BrE) shite Schrank = closet; (BrE) cupboard Schule hört auf = school lets out; (BrE) breaks up spitz = pointy; (BrE) pointed Steigung = grade; (BrE) gradient Tante Emma Laden = rnorn and pop store; (BrE) comer shop Tesafilm = (US) Scotch tape; (BrE) cellotape Unterhemd = (US) undershirt; (BrE) vest Unterkunft = (US) accornrnodations; (BrE) accornrnodation Verkäufer(in) = clerk; (BrE) shop assistant Verkehr = transit; (BrE) transport verpflichtet = obligated; (BrE) obliged Verstecken spielen= play hide and (US: go) seek vorbeischauen = stop in; (BrE) drop in s. vorstellen = (NArn) envision, (BrE) envisage Wetteramt= weather bureau; (BrE) rnet office (Stoff) wiederholen = (NArn) review; (BrE) revise zu Hause bleiben = stay (BrE: at) horne Zuckerwatte = cotton candy; (BrE) candy floss [g] 100 fixed expressions auf der Abschußliste stehen jdn ins Abseits stellen angesagt sein einen Anschlag auf jdn vorhaben im Aufwind sein s. benehmen wie die Axt im Walde es jdrn besorgen [Drohung] etw in Bewegung bringen außen vor bleiben/ sein Bock auf etw haben etw steht (nicht) zur Disposition er hat ganz schön was drauf noch einen draufsetzen (er frühstückt) mit allem Drum und Dran ach, du dickes Ei ! Fl..uL 23 (1994) rnehrgleisig fahren Fehlanzeige! Bei 17 Mark ist Feierabend ('Wohnungen, die teurer sind, lassen s. nicht vermieten') s. aus dem Fenster lehnen weg vorn Fenster sein sein Fett abkriegen s. alle (zehn) Finger nach etw lecken das gibt's doch/ ja nicht! auf ihn/ sie mit Gebrüll ich geh schon (ans Telefon) damit nicht genug, er hat auch noch ... sie kriegt das nicht geregelt mit jdrn hart ins Gericht gehen man gönnt s. ja sonst nichts 20 etwas (z.B. Maßnahme) greift zu kurz s. im Griff haben Problem/ Problematik (nicht) in den Griff kriegen/ bekommen X läßt grüßen ('das erinnert an X') den Gürtel enger schnallen die/ das hat etwas ('ist irgendwie gut') Du hast sie wohl nicht alle! jdm die Hölle heiß machen schlechte Karten haben alles klar? [als Begrüßung] nicht kleckern, klotzen es kommt noch besser das kommt gut ('geht gut, das bringt's') Sie können mir gar nichts Land gewinnen ('s. davonmachen') wissen, wo es lang geht laß nur! einen Lauf haben ein Lied von etw singen können wir haben noch etwas Luft (ein Auftakt) nach Maß da beißt die Maus keinen Faden ab ich meine ... [als Erklärung] na dann gute Nacht (, Mariechen) einem Nackten/ nackten Mann kann man nicht in die Tasche greifen ach du grüne Neune! seine (liebe) Not mit etw haben das geht in Ordnung jdn in die Pflicht nehmen etw im Raum stehen lassen meine Rede - Mein Reden seit 33 große Reden schwingen etw nicht auf die Reihe kriegen jdm eins reinwürgen Ritt über den Bodensee ein Ritter in goldglänzender Rüstung ('knight in shining armour') Kurt-Michael Pätzold von der Rolle sein ein Rufer in der Wüste jdm sagen, was Sache ist den Sack zumachen ('Sieg sicherstellen') das Sagen haben erste Sahne (sein) den Schleier lüften einen Schlußstrich ziehen die Schotten dicht machen ('mauem') da zieht es Dir die Schuhe aus das muß es nun aber doch gewesen sein ('den Sieg bedeuten') Sekt oder Selters ('alles oder nichts') einen Silberstreif am Horizont sehen auf dem Sprung sein, etw zu tun man staune auch: man höre und staune es stinkt mir bis dorthinaus auf der Strecke bleiben bei etw s. (etw) in die Tasche lügen s. den Tod holen tote Hose! (gut/ voll) im Trend liegen er packt aus der Trickkiste aus ('spielt gut') auf einem Trip sein es muß s. etwas tun und und und auf die Verliererstraße geraten da ist der Ärger (Streit, ...) schon vorprogrammiert Wahnsinn! Das darf doch nicht wahr sein! die Weichen stellen (mit etw) sein blaues Wunder erleben jdn in die Wüste schicken Zeichen setzen ('Weichen stellen für die Zukunft') bessere Zeiten gesehen haben was zuviel ist, ist zuviel! [h] 100 syntax items (von der Autobahn) abfahren Abflug nach Abmachung über Abscheu vor (etw/ jdm) in Absprache mit Abstand zu Abwechslung von (etw) im Angebot (sein/ haben) Angst haben um jdn Angst haben vor etw/ jdm Anklage wegen etw annehmbar für jdn auf Anraten von jdm anrufen bei jdm im Anschluß an etw Anwesenheit bei Anzeichen für etw ('there was not much sign of that') Anzeige gegen jdn Appetit auf etw Aufruf an zum Auftakt Ausbildung zu etw Ausblick auf etw ('Vorschau') Ausflug nach begeistert von Beispiel für Bescheinigung über Qdn vor etw/ jdm) beschützen jdn um etw betrügen Beweis für mit der Bitte bitten um etw FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 21 Buch zu(m Thema/ zum Film) Chance auf (den Sieg) Distanz zu Eintritt zu (etw gewähren) empfänglich für (Charme) Entzücken über Erklärung für (etw geben) der erste, der etw macht ( 'first to do sth') erwarten, daß jd etw tut ('expect sb to do sth') Export nach fähig zu etw Fahrkarte nach Fenster zu(m Hof) Ferngespräch nach jdn nach etw fragen jdn um e-n Gefallen bitten (US: ask sb (BrE: for) a favour) Gewährsmann für etw glücklich (dar)über, daß Hang zu (etw/ jdm haben) auf etw hoffen Hoffnung auf etw Horror vor etw es ist leicht, Namen zu vergessen ('names are easy to forget') die letzte, die nach Hause ging ('last to go home') Lust auf etw für Abhilfe sorgen Akte ablegen blinder Aktionismus s. prächtig amüsieren s. grundlegend ändern Angewohnheit abgewöhnen Anzeige erstatten kometenhafter Aufstieg die Augen blitzen s. überschwenglich bedanken dick befreundet hellauf begeistert tosender Beifall differenziert betrachten Bewußtsein ändern das Blut rauscht dringend brauchen randlose Brille FLuL 23 (1994) wie meinst Du das? ('what do you mean? ') ' Meinung zu etw/ jdm Mut zu etw protestieren gegen ([US] 'protest the decision') reden mit jdm ([US] 'speak with'; [BrEJ 'speak to') ringen um (gemeinsame Position, Kandidaten) Schock für es war schwer, derVersuchung zu widerstehen ('temptation was hard to resist') sterben an [of cancer, dysentery, malaria; from a wound] im Streit (auseinandergehen, s. trennen) jdn auf ein Bierchen treffen jdn zum Essen treffen jds/ e-r Sache überdrüssig sein unter Umgehung von Unbehagen an etw es ist unmöglich, diese Aufgabe zu lösen ('it is an impossible task to solve') Unmut über ('displeasure at') im Unterschied zu (etw/ jdm) bei etw unterstützen verärgert über etw Verdacht auf etw s. mit jdm vergleichen [i] 100 collocations Brötchen schmieren Chance wahrnehmen Ecke ausführen [football] ein Engpaß tut sich auf wild entschlossen s. wortreich entschuldigen niederschmetterndes Ergebnis schwerer Fall [med.] Feuer eindämmen eine Frage stellt s. ungetrübte Freude mit dem Gedanken liebäugeln Geduld strapazieren dickes Geld machen Glück haben gesetzliche Grauzone Groll steigt auf Haar lichtet s. verlieren gegen jdn ('lose to') Verlust für jdn versessen auf Verurteilung wegen jdm verzeihen, daß ... ('forgive sb (for) doing sth') Vorsorge gegen etw (treffen) e-n Vorsprung von ... vor jdm haben s. vorstellen, daß jd etw tut ('see/ imagine sb doing sth') es vorziehen, wenn jd etw. täte ('prefer sb to do sth') jdn vor etw/ jdm warnen mit etw auf jdn warten (e.g. (US) 'wait' (BrE: 'with') 'dinner') warten, daß jmd etw tut ('wait for sb to do sth') bei e-m Glas Wein woher weißt Du das? etw von jdm wollen wollen, daß jd etw tut Wut auf jdn Zeugnis über zittern vor (Kälte) (mit 2: 0) zurückliegen Zweifel an' etw/ jdm fliegender Händler inständig hoffen Hoffnung schöpfen Intimsphäre verletzen prächtiger Junge energisches Kinn vernehmlich knurren Kommentar abgeben' schwache Konjunktur s. tödlich langweilen kleine Leute tief Luft holen Mißverständnis ausräumen hautnah miterleben alleinerziehende Mutter Nachricht wird bekannt Nachricht schonend beibringen 22 reichlich spät Sport treiben · Sprüche klopfen andächtige Stille Stimme versagt Strafe absitzen Kurt-Michael Pätzold Nacht bricht herein überfrierende Nässe Nebel löst s. auf Nerven strapazieren leise nieseln Praktikum absolvieren Preis drücken happiger Preis Rahmen sprengen Rolle besetzen jdn aus der Ruhe bringen vereinzelte Schauer Schulden bedienen betretenes Schweigen Service durchbringen Situation spitzt sich zu Strafe verhängen Streß machen Telefonate führen Tisch abräumen Tisch decken weiträumig umfahren denkbar ungünstig Unmut macht s. breit barer Unsinn Verbot aussprechen Verhaftung vornehmen brechend voll ungeschminkte Wahrheit Wette abschließen Wetter schlägt um Widerstand leisten Wind frischt auf Wind geht Wind legt s. Wirkung zeigen Wut steigt in ihm hoch Zeitung beziehen Zustimmung ernten Zweck dienen tatkräftig unterstützen [j] 50 contrastive German-English items ab und an = occasional adj ich finde schon allein hinaus = I find my own way mit den Armen winken = wave one's arms auf- und abgehen im Zimmer = pace the room bekanntlich = be known to bestimmt = be sure/ bound to ins Bett machen = wet one's bed Du kannst ihn unter dieser Telefonnummer erreichen = this number will reach him mit der Faust auf etw schlagen = bang one's fist on sth. Du findest ihn unter dieser Adresse = this address will find him mit den Fingern trommeln = drum one's fingers ich kann Dir nicht folgen = you've lost me früh zu Mittag essen = have an early lunch früher = used to in e-m Spiel führen = be leading a match gern = like, love; tend to s. mit der Hand durchs Haar fahren = run a hand through one's hair mit e-r Handbewegung abtun = wave a dismissive hand mit dem Kleingeld klimpern = jingle her change s. am Kopf kratzen = scratch one's head auf den Korb werfen = shoot baskets kurz duschen = grab/ have a quick shower leider = be sorry/ afraid da komme ich nicht mehr mit = you've lost me offenbar = appear to, seem to mit der Pistole auf jdn zielen = aim one's pistol at sb 1000 Menschen Platz bieten [Theater] = (the theatre) seats 1,000 people (Tür) quietschend öffnen vt = creak the door open s. scheiden lassen von jdm = divorce sb in aller Ruhe e. Bier trinken = have a quiet beer 15 Leute können auf dem Boot schlafen = the boat sleeps 15 schnell etw tun (e-n Kaffee trinken)= have a quick (coffee) s. etw schuldbewußt ansehen = cast a guilty eye over sth durch/ über d. Fluß schwimmen = swim the river mit Sicherheit sagen können = can safely say ständig adv = keep (do)-ing am Strand spazierengehen = walk the beach [Auto] .... Liter verbrauchen= do ... miles to the gallon vermutlich = I suppose voraussichtlich = is expected to wahrscheinlich = be likely wahrscheinlich + negative = be unlikely weiter(hin) = go on -ing, continue to do weitgehend = go a long way to mit den Wimpern klimpern = flutter one's eyelashes wohl = think, suppose, imagine wohl [in negative clause] = be unlikely mit der Zeit etw tun = come, grow to do sth zufällig = happen to zustimmend nicken = nod one's approval FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 23 ,-.., ,-.., ,-.., ,-.., 0 ,-.., ,-.., 0 ,-.., l/ ") ,-.., 0 0 0 0 ,-.., 0 0 0 l/ ") l/ ") ,-.., l/ ") ,-.., 0 '-' l/ ") '-' l/ ") '-' - 0 0 '-' 0 "' '-' '-' '-' 0 0 0 <ll N s ~ "' ~ "' - - "' 00 (1,) '-' "' s '-' s s s c: : '-' ·c: "' Q) 0 i: Q 0 "' B '-+-< s ..... B "' 0 = .... Q) c: : .... s c: : ..... "' "' .... = Q) 6 .... 0 .... "' 0 ..... 0 -~ .... (.) 0 : : s ~ B ·p Q) : : s "' ; > 0 ; : B Q) .... .... ro ca s .... ~ ·p '-' (,j : : s 00 "' Q) ~ (.) .... .... c: : .... ; > 0 "' s ~ Q) .§ s' (.) Q) Q) ..... ro c: : ·p ; > s c: : - E .... 'd ~ 0 0 Q) 0 .... : 5 -< Q) u ~ 0 ; > - Cl'.) 0 &j u 0 z I>< u ~ u: ; DOGE 107 16 8 19 18 8 53 53 53 20 355 CGD 118 23 25 21 22 15 65 52 48 21 410 LGSW 1 107 26 19 20 17 19 52 50 52 16 378 Table 1: German-English Results 5 In general, lexicographers of bilingual dictionaries face insuperable problems if their publisher can afford only one dictionary for analysing and for producing language, as weil as for native speakers of German and for native speakers of English. These problems show up for instance in two important decisions that lexicographers have to make. One is which language, German or English, to use to indicate meanings, and the other, similar problem is which language to employ for collocators (words that make up collocations, i.e. word combinations like river and rise, or Fluß and entspringen in German). There would be no problem with collocations if dictionaries listed them in their entirety both in German and English, but this is precisely what they do not do. I will say more on the difficulties caused by this urge to save space below. Let us look at a simple example. In the German-English (GE) part of CGD we get s.v. bar "Unsinn auch utter, absolute", while DOGE has "utter, pure, sheer (nonsense)". CGD chooses German for the collocator Unsinn in the GE part, while DOGE chooses English (nonsense). German native speakers would, I think, prefer the collocates in English, first, because it is only then that we can use the collocation immediately and, second, because we do not have to do any translation work ourselves, which may always result in a wrong or unacceptable or unusual combination of words. 5 The two shorter dictionaries, PGED and PGW 2, have not been tested for the full range of test items and are discussed in 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 respectively. FLuL 23 (1994) 24 Kurt-Michael Pätzold In CGD, users can find quickly, and be sure of, the German constituent that is to be translated, but they do not get the whole collocation in English. In DOGE, users have to re-translate the English collocator into German to see whether they have got hold of the collocator they are looking for. Many German speak: ers, it is true, will know that Unsinn can be translated by nonsense in English, but equivalence will not always be so easy to establish. This holds true even for the EG part of dictionaries: LGSW 1 s.v. release. 4 lists Buch, Film, Vermögen as collocators, and under sense 9 Guthaben. I wonder how many German speak: ers will be able to recognize that the English word they have in front of them in the text they are working on corresponds to Vermögen or Guthaben in German? To return to the Unsinn example. Even if users have to do one more translation, they can be sure in DOGE of the whole collocation in English. In this choice between ease of finding what one is Iooking for and uncertainty of the English translation (CGD) on the one hand, and difficulty of knowing what one is looking for but certainty of the English translation (DOGE) it seems to me more important to get the translation right after all, in most cases one can mak: e sure if necessary that e.g. nonsense does indeed correspond to Unsinn by consulting the dictionary again. So, both the time (immediate availability) and the correctness factors (correct, acceptable English) are in favour of this division between German and English with respect to the metalanguage for collocators. Meaning distinctions, on the other band, should be given in German so that we know immediately what sense of the word or phrase we are dealing with. lt is of course immediately obvious that English native speakers would like things the other way round. For them, the German-English part is a tool they use to understand German texts, not to produce English ones. So they would like their senses distinguished in English and their collocators phrased in German. In the English-German (parts of) dictionaries there is a sirnilar chance for compilers of dictionaries to get it wrong. Most German native speakers would, I suggest, like their meaning (and grammatical) distinctions couched in German while they would prefer collocators in English so that they know they have got hold of the same collocation that they find in the English text before them. Again, what is for Germans an analytic dictionary has to serve as a tool for language production for English native speakers, who want their meanings distinguished in English and their collocators in German, so that they do not make more mistakes in German than the dictionary can help. Faced with this dilemma what are lexicographers to do when there are commercial pressures which do not allow two separate dictionaries for the two different groups? Table 2 (on page 25) shows the solutions that the bilingual dictionaries looked at in this review have come up with. FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 25 ideal for ideal for CGD German English DOGE and LGSW NGGH PGED speakers speakers PGW Germanmeanings German English German German German English Engl. part collocators English German English German German English Englishmeanings German English English English German German Germ. part collocators English German German English German German Table 2 Briefly, no dictionary has what I consider the ideal distribution of languages for German speakers in both GE and EG parts. DOGE is the only dictionary that gets it right for German native speakers in the GE part, and, incidentally, also has the right mixture for English speakers in the EG part. This means that it is structurally speaking the best dictionary for language production, for German and English native speakers alike. Our tests will reveal whether this theoretical advantage is maintained in the dictionary entries themselves. None of the other works have chosen combinations which benefit the speakers of either language for both meaning discrimination and collocators in at least one part. CGD is good for meaning discrirnination in the GE part and for collocators in the EG part, LGSW for meaning discrirnination in both parts, NGGH for meaning discrimination and PGED for collocators in their respective parts. lt should be added that LGSW 2, NGGH and PGED make use of meaning distinctions to a much smaller extent than DOGE and CGD, and are therefore much more difficult to use. This does not apply, I hasten to add, to the GE part of LGSW (LGSW 1 ), which uses meaning distinctions liberally and with great success. Granted that it is not unimportant for the ease of reference whether collocators are given in German or English, why should it matter whether dictionaries introduce meaning distinctions at all? Not to have any may indeed not be a drawback in entries where only a few senses have to be taken care of, but it is fatal in long entries with many senses (e.g. English business, head, or do, go, put and take; German Auge, Kopf or legen, machen, tun), where users may well despair unless the wealth of readings is broken down into manageable groups. All dictionaries try to save space in order to squeeze in as much information of one kind or another as possible. This is understandable, of course, but it is dangerous, as I will show with .a few examples. There are many ways in which dictionaries are not sufficiently explicit. Let us look at tl! is example: Und vergessen Sie nicht: die Uhren werden heute nacht um 2 Uhr eine Stunde vorgestellt. How does tl! e collocation Uhr vorstellen translate into English? CGD (s.v. vorstellen) offers "Uhrput forward". This is all right as far as it goes, but it is in fact insufficient in two respects. My first criticism is tl! at CGD does not help the German user to decide between clock FLuL 23 (1994) 26 Kurt-Michael Pätzold or watch in this context. The lesson to draw from this example is that users cannot be expected to choose between synonyms. The other important point, though less relevant in the present context, is that the idiomatic English translation of the German sentence is almost a fixed expression inasmuch as (British) English usually says the clocks go forward one hour. Another reason why all members of a collocation should be given is that the translation offered may only work for one, but not all collocators. Take for instance the translation of meet a target. CGD in its English-German (EG) part translates meet as erfüllen (le) when collocating with target. But this depends on the translation of target: it works for Soll, but not for Ziel (Ziel erreichen, verwirklichen are usual). Another example of insufficient explicitness is eine Strafe absitzen. DOGE offers s.v. Strafe: punishment; (Rechtsspr.) penalty; (Freiheits-) sentence, and s.v. absitzen we find: (im Gefängnis) serve; zehn Jahre-: serve or (coll.) do ten years; seine Jahre-: serve one's füll sentence. How then are we to translate er sitzt seine Strafe in Hamburg ab? The noun is likely to be sentence but can we simply take the example offered under seine Jahre absitzen? Or do we have to leave out full in serve one's full sentence? Again, how are we to translate einen Termin wahrnehmen (beim Arzt). CGD s.v. wahrnehmen has "Frist, Termin to observe", and in the entry for Termin it offers "(bei Arzt, Besprechung, etc) appointrnent". This suggests the translation to observe an appointment, which sounds however very formal when compared with the usual keep an appointment. Here we would wish for a more exact specification of the situation (written-spoken; formal-neutral-informal). Also, dictionaries often use "etc" to indicate the range of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs that go together with the translation offered but this is not really good enough because, for one thing, it puts the burden on the user to decide what nouns are similar to those listed. If we want to translate Ich muß den ganzen Stoff vom letzten Semester in zwei Tagen wiederholen we find in DOGE in the entry for wiederholen (lc) "revise (lesson, vocabulary, etc)", while the relevant sense of Stoff is translated as (subject) matter. If users decide that subject matter is sufficiently close to lesson and vocabulary, they can proceed to translate revise the subject (matter). What students say is, however, revise one's notes (BrE) or review the material (NAm) or study the material again. What CGD offers s.v. wiederholen is not much better: "Lernstoff revise, review (US)". So far, so good, one might think, but when we try to find a translation for Lernstoff in CGD's pages we will be disappointed because there is no entry for it. lt would be much better therefore if dictionaries translated the complete collocation in every single case. A final reason why incomplete lists ending in an etc are unsatisfactory, is the fact that it is in the nature of collocations that they are not always determined by semantic considerations. To give just one example, heavily is okay with drink and smoke in the meaning a great amount, but it does not collocate with eat (for more on collocations and meaning see Gramley and Pätzold 1992: 67 f). Therefore the understandable practice of dictionaries to shorten long lists by using "etc" is not really a help to non-native speakers as they cannot be certain that items with the same or a similar meaning do in fact collocate with the translation offered. So much for my plea to dictionary makers to be more explicit in their work. I also hope readers are now convinced of the justice of my decision to award a point for collocations only when all constituents of a collocation are given. 2.2 The Dictionaries In this first comment section it is perhaps appropriate to state that dictionaries are still very human affairs. Put differently, they are still füll of inconsistencies and FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 27 contradictions, which one would not find, I suppose, if they had been checked and cross-checked by appropriate computer programs. Having made this general point I am not going to waste many words on the fact that no dictionary is consistent in the way it lists fixed expressions (we find e.g. in time s.v. time, but on time s.v. on), or that they offer an idiomatic English translation for one item, but not for another that shows the same underlying syntax: first and last can both take infinitive constructions (as in he was the first to come or in Pinter's sketch The La,st to Go) but this is captured only for erste(r), not letzte(r) in CGD and DOGE (LGSW 1 does not list either). While there are considerable differences in layout between the review dictionaries, none of them prints idioms in a separate section, which would make it so much easier to find them. Tue boast of the dictionaries that they provide an exhaustive treatment of modern German is only partially bome out by my test. These are some of the items not listed in any of the dictionaries reviewed: abdrücken, abtörnen, Aromastoff, Bauchstraffung, regionales Fenster [TV], F&E-Aufwendungen, Fettabsaugen, Herzkasper, Migrant(in), oberschlau, Oberzentrum, Rückrundenspiel, Schwalbe, Siff, spitzenmäßig, Versorgungslücke, vollgedröhnt, Vorrundenspiel and Wichsvorlage. As far as the treatment of collocations is concemed, the general trend is still to devote more space and attention to collocations of nouns (with adjectives and verbs) than to verb-adverb collocations: none of the dictionaries under review lists sich prächtig amüsieren, sich überschwenglich bedanken, etw differenziert betrachten, etw dringend brauchen (need badly), vernehmlich knurren or leise nieseln. Among noun collocations are missing Bewußtsein ändern (raise consciousness) and Verhaftung vornehmen (make an arrest). Collocations of more than two lexical words are rarely included, e.g. dickes Geld machen. Grammatical information is better for verbs and their complements than for nouns. Noun-plus-preposition constructions (as opposed to preposition-plus-noun constructions) are the single most neglected type: None of the dictionaries has Abflug nach, Ausbildung zu etw, Ausflug nach, Bescheinigung über, Buch zu(m Film), Chance auf, Eintritt zu, Entzücken über, Fenster zu or Ferngespräch nach, to list just a few. Dictionaries show most gaps perhaps in the most recent, colloquial fixed expressions though pragmatic idioms could also be given a better treatment. We do not find in any of the three dictionaries bei etw ist Feierabend, man gönnt sich ja sonst nichts, jmd läßt grüßen, das/ die hat was, Du hast sie wohl nicht alle, das kommt gut, sie können mir gar nichts, einem Nackten kann man nicht in die Tasche greifen, den Sack zumachen, erste Sahne or Sekt oder Selters. But some less racy expressions are also missing in all three, e.g. einen Anschlag auf jdn vorhaben (in the non-ambush sense), etw steht nicht zur Disposition, La,nd gewinnen, (ein Auftakt) nach Maß or Ritt über den Bodensee. What is striking about the results of the 50 contrastive items is not so much the individual differences but the number of items that are not included in any of the FLuL 23 (1994) 28 Kurt-Michael Pätzold three reference works. This test focuses not so much on the w hat (because we do find translations for many of the German items) but on the h o w: ab und zu fuhr ein Auto vorbei can of course be translated by something like every now and then a car drove past/ passed by. The point is that we also find an occasional car passed by, and this is what I am checking in this particular test battery. I have thought it helpful to indicate briefly the English translations I have in rnind. Most dictionaries are aware that German adverbs can be translated by English verbs (only vermutlich, wahrscheinlich and weitgehend do not get the translations suggested in the item ! ist), but fewer realize that English locatives or instrumentals can appear in subject or object position in English: auf und abgehen in einem Zimmer = "pace a room" sich mit der Hand durchs Haar fahren = "run a hand through one's hair" auf den Korb spielen/ werfen = "shoot baskets" mit der Pistole auf etw zielen = "aim one's pistol at sb" or am Strand spazierengehen = "walk the beach". Platz bieten finds idiomatic translations ("theatre holds/ seats 1,000 people"), but 15 Leute können auf dem Boot schlafen = "the boat sleeps 15 people" does not seem to be sufficiently available to lexicographers. I do not assume for a minute that compilers do not know these but perhaps it is a question of how much context, i.e. space, they think they can devote to them. Clearly, I think they should. In the environmental items test, these are the items that are not listed in any of the three dictionaries: Abfallwirtschaft, abgasreduziert, akustische Umweltverschmutzung, Artensterben, Ausstoß (von Emissionen). In the politics and economy items tests there is the curious phenomenon that all three offer direct mandate as the only translation for Direktmandat, although this does not have the required meaning in English but would have to be rendered by something like direkter (Wähler)Auftrag. Apart from this case of collective falsefrienditis I notice also an unusually high number of items that are not even listed: sozialer Brennpunkt, Einstieg (in die 4-Tage Woche), vorauseilender Gehorsam, Gemeinschaftsunternehmen, Gleichstellungsbeauftragte, Industriestandort Deutschland, Kohlepfennig, Landesmedienanstalt, linksextrem, Lohnstückkosten, Nichtweiterverbreitung, Nullrunde, Parolen skandieren, schlanke Produktion, ein Programm auflegen, Quotenfrau, sozialverträglich, Wählerwanderung and Zweidrittelgesellschaft. The treatment of American English still leaves a lot to be desired. This becomes clear from the results of the 50 items designed to test whether American English is regularly taken into account. lt is also apparent in other areas: there is for instance no faculty for Lehrkörper, no junior faculty for Mittelbau, no give a presentation for Referat halten, vice president for Prorektor, or computed tomography (BrE computerized tomography, see CED, rather than computer tomography, as CGD translates). The same is true also for grammatical aspects: US ask sb a favor (jdn um einen Gefallen bitten), protest sth (gegen etw protestieren) and wait dinner (mit [dem Essen] auf jdn warten) are not found in CGD or DOGE. Surely, it cannot be too difficult to employ a native speaker of American English to check entries and make additions where necessary. FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 29 2.2.1 The Penguin German English Dictionary (PGED) This dictionary is much smaller in size than any of the others ("over 44,000 entries"), in which it manages to include a great number of proper names which are different in the two languages (e.g. Bozen, Donau, Prag). lt also has entries for affixes (e.g. s.v. -lieh or -mäßig), which give users a deeper insight into the use and meaning of these morphemes. Finally, it is sometimes more exact, and detailed, than the other test dictionaries where Austrian and Swiss usage is concerned. Tue serious student of the two languages will nevertheless want a more comprehensive dictionary: for example, PGED includes only eight of the 50 computer items but then so does DOGE! PGED is however vastly superior to DOGE in its layout, which is a model of clarity. Tue only drawback is that the dictionary does not put all its entries in strict alphabetical order but makes exceptions for compounds (of which there are unfortunately rather a lot in German), which are put into nests. But even if PGED has a much smaller wordlist it could still give a detailed description of the words it does include. lt does so indeed, at least in part. PGED lists collocators in English, a great advantage for German speakers. Its score for the BrE versus US test (15 points) for example is no lower than that of CGD, which is about three times its size. On the syntax of items, however, it has less to offer than the other dictionaries. Although all 100 test items are listed in PGED it scores only 39 points. Moreover, PGED is a dictionary designed for _English native speakers: it helps to analyse texts, not to produce them. This comes through in the fact that German speakers do not find information that is important to them on the syntax of e.g. accommodation (s.v. Unterkunft; there is no plural in BrE) or police (s.v. Polizei; the ward is plural in English and takes a plural verb). PGED also comes bottom of the league in the contrastive items test (11 points). This shows again that it does not always treat words in the depth needed by students of the two languages. Perhaps an even smaller ward list with an in-depth treatrnent of the items ·included would have been a better idea. As it is, PGED is a good tool for English native speakers, but less so for German-speaking users. 2.2.2 PONS Globalwörterbuch (PGW 2) This dictionary is an abridged version of CGD. There are both fewer entries (old and specialised entries tend to get cut, e.g. Somalihalbinsel, Somaliland, somnambul, Somnambule[r], sonach, Sonatine, Sophokles and Sophistik) and fewer illustrative examples. lt is clearly meant to be a rival for the Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch [LGSW 1] both dictionaries mention the figure of 120,000 items. All the virtues (an excellent layout is one of them) and drawbacks that the parent dictionary has, also apply to this shorter ·version, which includes however some new items and meanings that are not found in CGD (e.g. there are now translations for Dreitagebart, Treuhand(anstalt), Eingabetaste, Biotonne and Nachfüllpackung, Ampelkoalition and Gleichstellungsbeauftragte(r)). In summary, it offers good FLuL 23 (1994) 30 Kurt-Michael Pätzold coverage of grammar and collocations and an updated word list for less money. However, I would still recommend the larger dictionary because of its more comprehensive word list and, above all, for its wealth of examples. 2.2.3 Duden-Oxford Großwörterbuch Englisch. Deutsch-Englisch (DOGE) The first impression is the most important one, as we all know, and the layout and printing of this dictionary is nothing short of a catastrophe. If we live in an age of ever increasing visual perfection, then the Oxford and Mannheim lexicographers must inhabit a different planet. Whatever merits this dictionary may have, and whatever innovations it may have introduced, they are extremely cunningly hidden under a sadly user-unfriendly exterior. The font size in both parts of the dictionary is rather smaller than that of the other three dictionaries. The tilde, which is used to stand in for the base verb of phrasal verbs (e.g. in the entries for know, look and take, but not in do and go), is hardly visible. Worst of all, entries in the English-German part do not start new lines for the different word dass uses of word forms: lt took me a long time to find the verbal section for fire, the nominal uses of go and the various uses of all. The same goes for the German-English part, where one has to read through almost the whole of the entry for machen to realize that it does include the meanings for reflexive uses of the verb. The silver lining to this particular cloud is the fact that senses are numbered consecutively only within word classes or sub-categories (trans. verbs have a separate numbering from intrans. ones). But as meanings are preceded by letters, not numbers, it is easy to miss them. What might be the reason behind this? If entries are printed run-on, more entries can be squeezed into the available space and this is good for the publisher's blurb because most people still judge a dictionary on the number of its words and phrases (this reminds me that restaurants used also to be judged on the number of dishes on the menu: the more dishes, the better the restaurant was thought to be. But whereas many Germans have come to realize that this is not perhaps the best of yardsticks for restaurants, this cognitive revolution does not seem to have started for dictionaries yet). In any case, what may be good for the promotional campaign is certainly hell on the eyes (and one's patience), particularly if you have to review such a dictionary. Now for the good news. Of some practical value is the fact that DOGE indicates the end of its first part by stripes in the margins. As mentioned above, DOGE uses German for meaning discrimination and English for collocators, thus minimizing the production of wrong English. lt also has various appendices at the end of the German-English part. lt offers users the usual information on weights and measures, numbers, currency and time expressions. lt also contains brief sketches of English and German grammar morphology and punctuation. A valuable addition, and a new departure in German-English bilingual lexicography, are a letter writer with examples of some of the most frequent types of letters, and a mini-dictionary in 19 sections, which deals with situational and speech-act idioms (e.g. how to express thanks, greetings, regret, sympathy, requests and advice). This is splendid, deserves praise and increases the usefulness of the dictionary considerably, though it must be said that it is not original with Duden-Oxford but with Collins, who introduced this feature in the second edition of their French-English dictionary. FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 31 I now turn to the various tests. There are some surprising gaps in the 200 items test: Hochtechnologie, kalt/ warm in a rent context (das Zimmer kostet - 500 DM) and Strafvollzugsanstalt. lt is noticeable that a number of colloquial items are not listed, e.g. affengeil, Dreitagebart, flippig, geschenkt! , klaro! (but it does list logo! ) and stressig. The same goes for the colloquial senses of Feuerwehrmann, Fußabtreter and jdn vorführen. This may be a good place to mention that its provision of both masculine and feminine forms in German is not wholly satisfactory. There are no Studienassessorin or Studienbewerberin or Privatdozentin, though it lists Doktorandin and Professorin one asks oneself what happens to women academics i,etween their PhD times and their appointment to a professorship? Also, while they can climb the giddy heigths of Rektorin, there seem to be no Prorektorinnen in Germany, not as far as DOGE is concemed anyway. lts good score in the collocation test is underlined by the fact that it alone lists explicitly Ecke ausführen, energisches Kinn, Nachricht schonend beibringen, überfrierende Nässe, Telefonat führen and das Wetter schlägt um. Given the fact of its structural advantage it is, however, surprising that it does not do much better than CGD and LGSW 1• In the syntax test it alone gets points for Anzeige gegen jdn, im Streit, Unbehagen an and Vorsorge gegen etw. lt has a low score in the fixed expressions test. lt is for example alone in not listing er hat ganz schön was drauf, das Sagen haben, auf dem Sprung sein, etw zu tun, man höre und staune, und und und, da ist X schon vorprogrammiert. On the other band, it is the only dictionary to include sich aus dem Fenster lehnen (in the figurative sense), and sie kriegt das nicht geregelt. lts scores in the field of computers and the test for British and American equivalents do not need a lot of comment. Here are clearly gaps which a second edition is likely to close. In the generally depressing field of politics and the economy, DOGE shines by including Ampelkoalition (with an English paraphrase) and by giving the correct equivalent of antizyklisch, which is countercyclical, rather than anticyclical, as in the other two dictionaries. DOGE follows the trail-blazing achievement of CGD in providing a great number of illustrative contexts for the common words in German, from collocators to full-blown examples. lt also offers some good translations, e.g. for gebongt! or Schmerzgrenze. On the whole, my impression is that translations range from competent to vague or too general. In addition to the comments based on the test items I have noticed a tendency with some (culture-specific) items to give the German word as the English equivalent. Examples are Bocksbeutel = bocksbeutel (which is however accompanied by an English explanatory paraphrase) and Streuselkuchen = streusel cake (where there is none). While streusel is listed in CED and the unabridged RHD (which also has streusel cake), it must be clear that its currency is regionally limited, as is indicated by CED's label "mainly US". DOGE is right in giving coffee klatsch as a translation of Kaffeeklatsch, in this case correctly labelled Amer. In the cases of Gesundheit! , Dreck and Blech! , it could FLuL 23 (1994) 32 Kurt-Michael Pätzold also have used the German words as English translations as they are known to (some) speakers in the USA, gesundheit in particular being fairly widely known and used. Tue point at issue is that the regional currency of translations needs to be clearly indicated, where possible, so that users know under what circumstances they can employ a certain word or expression. 2.2.4 Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch (LGSW 1) Tue overall impression of the German-English part of LGSW is of a dictionary that has had a lot of new blood and good ideas injected into it. Though there is still a lot of room for improvement, it offers many good, precise and idiomatic translations (particularly of the more recent items that have been added to this edition) that make it a pleasure to review, and that are often missing in the other two dictionaries. This is no doubt due to the fact that Langenscheidts have (for the first time it would seem) put a (very competent) native English speaker in charge. Though the layout is generally clear and it is easy to find what one is looking for, this does not apply to derivations, e.g. anfangen from Anfang, blicken from Blick or nerven from Nerv. LGSW 1 has them in the same run-on entry as the base, which makes them hard to find. Idioms and illustrative phrases are arranged in no apparent order (cf. the entry for machen). As in the other dictionaries, there is no consistent listing of gendered forms in -in, which has resulted in lower scores. lt is, however, the only dictionary not to list frau, the (originally feminist) form for gendered reference to an indefinite female person. Also, LGSW 1 does not have a unified word list, which means it takes more time to look up abbreviations, or names of people and places. As far as grammatical items are concemed, LGSW 1 is weak on noun and clause complements. That is to say, where longer constructions are involved, LGSW 1 likely as not will not list them. Still, it is only here that users can find what preposition to use for German nach in Fahrkarte nach, or German über in Abmachung über. In the vocabulary tests I was struck by the fact that LGSW 1 offers items that the two others do not list and, even more welcome, that quite a number of its translations were precise and idiomatic where the others use vague translations or paraphrases. LGSW 1 also seems to give the best treatment of American English it certainly has the highest score in the relevant test. On the other hand, this promise is not kept up through the whole of the dictionary, and there are also a number of gaps in the word list, both of which facts explain why it does not ultimately come out on top. LGSW 1 does quite weil in the modern German vocabulary test, where it is the only dictionary to ! ist Anforderungsprofil, Bildsuchlauf, Dreitagebart, geschenkt! , Standortvorteil and Tinten- Killer. lt is also the only work to capture the modern non-married sense of Lebensgefährtin when it lists common law wife, or the negative sense of plakativ (E simplistic). Finally, LGSW 1 offers FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 33 precise and specific translations in some cases where the other dictionaries paraphrase or give too general equivalents. While Vorsorgeuntersuchung is translated by medical check-up in the other dictionaries, in LGSW 1 we find the more precise screening (test). The same goes for zahlungskräftig, where it offers solvent, financially sound, while the other two only give affluent or wealthy. lts treatment of die Wende is excellent and exhaustive. LGSW 1 also comes out on top where American translations are concemed. lt is also, incidentally, the only dictionary reviewed to give the US form shelter for Frauenhaus, as well as to protest sth, where the two others only give the BrE protest against sth, and to list wait dinnef as a translation for mit dem Essen warten. The dictionary is very good on environmental language. Where the two others have nonspecific translations LGSW 1 has clearly done its homework and gives users the (technical) terms that are actually used in publications on environmental problems. Where DOGE offers equip additionally with sth for nachrüsten in the environmental sense, and CGD has refit, which is okay, only LGSW 1 has retrofit. Similarly, in English publications people talk about the fact that the polluter pays, which clearly is the phrase on which the English translation of German Verursacherprinzip should be based: LGSW 1 has polluter pays principle, while DOGE (principle that the person who causes damage must bear the cost) and CGD offer paraphrases (principle that the party responsible is liable for the damages; this is not marked as a paraphrase). Also, CGD translates Ökobauer by ecologically-mindedfanner (which is again not marked as a paraphrase), DOGE does not have the entry, but LGSW 1 correctly gives organic fanner. lt is also the only dictionary to capture the complex meanings of Altlasten. lt is, moreover, the only work to offer core meltdown for Kernschmelze, refill pack for Nachfüllpack, and intennediate storage site for Zwischenlager. 2.2.5 Collins Gennan Dictionary (CGD) This Collins dictionary is printed on specially light paper. lt is therefore slightly less cumbersome to carry around with one than DOGE. lt is, however, also easy to miss the page one is trying to find because one gets hold of too many pages swings and roundabouts ! Also, CGD does not show users where its GE part ends and where the EG part begins which results in an unnecessary waste of time. The same mixture of good and bad is found for the layout. Examples, phrases, collocations and idioms are not listed in separate paragraphs and it is difficult to make out any principle behind the order in which they are listed. This can mean that one has to spend a long time searching for an item because CGD provides a wealth of examples, particularly for the common, everyday words. On the other hand, phrasal verbs follow on the base verb entry, begin new lines and are clearly marked by a special sign. Most important of all, the meanings for nouns, transitive verbs, intransitive verbs and adjectives are all clearly separated and start new lines in CGD. Derivations also are not put into a block, but get main-entry treatment. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was time to test CGD after the horrors of some of the other dictionaries. CGD does not treat adverbs in the detail they deserve. lt often does not list the adverb separately when it is identical in form to the adjective. This not only makes it a lengthy business to find adverbial collocations, it is particularly to be deplored in cases where the adverb has functions and meanings over and above those of the FLuL 23 (1994) 34 Kurt-Michael Pätzold adjective, e.g. prächtig in sich prächtig amüsieren ("amuse oneself thoroughly") or überschwenglich (= "effusive") but sich bedanken = "thank sb profusely". Except for English phrasal verbs, CGD arranges its entry words in strict alphabetical order. lts word list is unified, i.e. one does not have to look up abbreviations or proper names in special appendices. lt has, like DOGE, a valuable appendix in which users get help with the expression of thanks, apologies etc, with arguing and discussing, the language of telephoning, and with writing letters of one sort or another (like invitations, thank-you letters or job applications). CGD presents its materials in contrastive English and German sections, with comments in the other language in the margin. This adds considerably to its value for language production. - Finally, CGD has a policy of deviding meanings up into groups headed by brief descriptions or descriptive labels, which is a great help and should be adopted by all bilingual dictionaries. lt runs up the highest score of all dictionaries, getting good 30 points more than LGSW 1 and some 50 points more than DOGE. lts score for the microstructure (121) lies between those of DOGE (126) and LGSW 1 (118). Given its structural defect, mentioned above, it is remarkable that its score for the collocations is not worse. This means that it provides plenty of context, which is confirmed by its result in the contrastive test. While there does not seem to be much to choose between the three dictionaries in the microstructure, there are considerable differences in their macrostructure. CGD's score is 289, as against LGSW 1 's 260 and DOGE's 229. CGD is particularly good in the general items, fixed expressions and computer tests. Given these results and the great number of examples, CGD is still my dictionary of choice. 3. Bilingual Dictionaries: English-German 3.1 General Remarks, ltem lists and Results Table This section deals with the English-German parts of DOGE and CGD (see under references [p. 62 ff] for bibliographical details) and Großes Handwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch, 1991 [= NGGHJ Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch, 1988 [= LGSW 2] PONS Globalwörterbuch. Teil 1: Englisch-Deutsch, 1993 [= PGW 1 ]. The list of test items corresponds to that used for the monolingual English dictionaries, with two exceptions: I have not included items from other national varieties of English, such as African, Australian, Singapore etc English, nor have I thought it useful to test the bilingual dictionaries for the inclusion of encyclopedic items, such as names of people and places, institutions, historical events etc. Bilingual dictionaries are not very good in these areas and it would have been a waste of time to look up all these items only to find that very few are specified in bilingual works. On the other hand, there are 100 collocations and 50 more syntax items in the FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 35 bilingual test battery, with the first 50 items shared between bilingual and monolingual dictionaries to see whether there is any difference between them in this respect. I have, on the other hand, subjected them to various general tests (150 North American English, 100 British English, 100 fixed expressions) as well as three more specialized ones (50 items each to test their coverage of the language of Shakespeare, computers and the environment, the last two perhaps the two most important fields in general awareness). These 500 items are complemented by 200 items (100 collocations and 100 syntax), which are designed to exarnine the dictionaries' microstructure. ► Results [Table 3]: page 42 and = if apothecary = chemist atonement = reconciliation compare = comparison cousin = relative cunning = knowledge curious = skilfully made degree = rank delicates = delicacies discover = reveal doubt = fear estate = state, condition experiment = experience fare = do fly = flee fond = foolish France = King of France battery (eggs) bio-degradable bio-diversity bio-engineering biofuel biomass bottle bank catalytic converter CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) clear cutting deep burial method [of disposing of nuclear waste] deforestation <lump n ('waste site') eco-labelling [scheme] ecosystem end-of-pipe equipment [e.g. filters, scrubbers] endangered species FLuL 23 (1994) [a] 50 Historical items gentle = noble haply = perhaps hear = listen to holy = religious kerchief = scarf kindly = natural know = have sex with large = generous lewd = base ~eat = food morrow = tomorrow motion = spectacle nay = emphatic nice = silly, unimportant of = by [with passive] ope = open player = actor [b] 50 Environment items environmental assessment factory farming factory ship fossil fuel free-range (eggs) global warming greenhouse effect greenness ('environmental friendliness') incinerate vt (waste) intensive farming intermediate (radioactive waste) landfill meltdown NIMBY (not in my own backyard) noise pollution non-deposit bottle ('Einwegpray (who is that, pray? ) presently = at once prevent = anticipate prove = experience quick = alive, living reduce = bring back sad = sated silly = simple since = ago (two days ago) sirrah still = always store = amount suddenly ,= at once verily = truly, honestly want = lack what = who flasche') old-growth (forest) organic farming outfall n passive smoking recirculate (water) renewable energy source reprocess (spent fuels) road pricing scrubber n second-hand smoking solar cell solar farm solar panel sustainable development toxic algae bloom ungreen adj wind farm 36 application program boot n (warm-) bus n button click on sth command prompt cursor default setting dialog box direction key directory drive door drop-down adj menu enter key go down vi [of program] home position hotkey bin 'cause < because c'mon < come on cos < because 'd < did, had, would 'em = them fraid < afraid [c] 50 Computer items initialize vt install (a program) laptop n line editor manipulate (data) menu bar drop down vi [of menu] pull-down adj (menu) message notebook n path pixel power up/ down vt prompt n read (data to storage) resident (program) return key [d] Spoken items gimme < give me gon < going gonna < going to gotta < got to helluva < hell of a hisself < himself kinda < kind of Kurt-Michael Pätzold root directory save (data to disk) shut down (the computer) source disk status line store (data) switch n system board target disk text editor toggle vi toolbar a computer is up 24 hours utility program (perform) word wrap workstation of < have pinta < pint of scuse < excuse sez < says wanna < want to whatcha < what are you [e] 150 North American English items acclimate vi to sth African-American n ail vt appeal sth [verdict; judgment] As well, ... [initial position, comma] Asian American n automatic teller awesome ('great') baby shower bias crime ('racially motivated crime') Bio n movie n blat vi blockparent ('neighbourhood') BLT ('bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich') bluegrass n bonspiel n [in curling] brownout n ('power failure') chaise lounge [non-standard form for chaise longue] chesterfield (CanE: 'any sofa') city [e.g. ba,f city = situation which makes one throw up] city hall [BrE: town hall] class president Coffee klatch cooperative education [CanE; BrE: sandwich course] cop (a glance) couple cans/ steps cream vt ('beat') critique vt cruise control cruise sth [bus station, street] date rape decal n / 'dekaV [CanE] dirt road do lunch ('have lunch') docudrama dreck n ('trash, junk') drop-dead adj ('super') dust bunnies ('dust balls') eisenhower vt (The house is hideously -ed with green asbestos shingles) electronic town-meeting envision vt [BrE: envisage] European plan ('lodging only') European-American n is it ever cold! exit (the theatre in an orderly fashion) facilitator n famed adj fave n (Yum-yum ... one of my personal faves) file [TV; BrE: library pictures] FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 37 finagle vi ('cheat') fink on sb ('teil') four-way stop [traffic] French toast frontage road gonzo adj ([of people, money] 'gone, dead') goosebumps [BrE: goose flesh, goose pimples] granny glasses guard rail [BrE: crash barrier] guys: hi guys! [addressing to girls] hate crime heat register hellacious (hailstorm) hockey [BrE: ice hockey] honking (cough; 'loud') hurt ([of books]; 'damaged') hyphenated Americans 1D vt ('establish somebody's identity') invent vt (America, oneself) jog vt (a residential street) kibbitz with sb ('mix with') lamb chop [term of endearment] letterboxed (film) license plates licorice whip I was like really upset he'll likely come today live-in partner local [CanE; BrE: extension] lonely adj ('bad') loonie ([CanE] 'I dollar') love bombing love handles major (important) (a cultural) maven median [on highways] messages ([TV]; 'commercials') Middle American miniseries [TV] nigger [form of address between African Americans; not racist or pejorative] nix vt obgyn (< obstetrics and gynecology) OD vi ('overdose') OJ n ('orange juice') opposing (traffic) (an) order (of fries) oxfords in the paint [basketball] parkade (CanE: 'parking lot') (roll up the window) partway PD ('Police Department') plastic wrap [BrE: cling film] pointy (shoes, cheekbones) Those porkos who model for the big-and-beautiful fashions Post-it n ('sticky note') power (breakfast/ dressing) I can get a little practicum credit for my job here [CanE] pro-choice adj ('for abortion') pro-lifer n ('sb who is against abortion') pro-mo n ('promotion') pul! off n [CanE; BrE: lay-by, AmE: turn out] Ranch dressing personal stories are the shows that rate ('get good ratings') capsules for regularity and others for diarrhea reserve [CanE; AmE: reservation] road construction [BrE: road works] row house [BrE: terrace(d) house] RRSP ([Can E] Registered Retirement Savings Plan] -s adv morph (summers, anyways, a long ways) scalloped (potatoes) scarf up vt ('eat voraciously') Schnook ('incompetent') seeing-eye dog [for the blind] semi [NAm: short for semitrailer] serious (money; cuddling) sheers ([CanE] 'thin curtains') shoot [euphemistic for shit] shot adj 6 significant other 7 (have the) smarts ('be intelligent') speed bump/ curb [BrE: sleeping policeman] spring for sth ('pay') (my) main squeeze ('boy/ girl friend') (halftime) stats story problem sub n ('a sandwich') substance abuse suck vi [NAm [inf]: 'be repellent, disgusting'] sweat lodge (drink) Tab ('diet drink') tan adj [NAm; BrE: tanned] tape-delay vt ('tape earlier') titled adj [of book, song] tops adv ('at most') trophy wife 8 turn-out n [BrE: lay-by] vanity ('cabinet around wash basin') virtual reality voice-mailbox weather bureau [BrE: met office] (a) win-win (situation) 6 Ex.: My parents were being strange. Letitia was at Kathy's. My best friend, Doris, was out of town ... this Saturday was shot. 7 Expl.: 'one of a number of NAm terms for a person who shares one's life and house without being married to one'. 8 Expl.: 'second, glamorous and much younger wife of successful business man'. FLuL 23 (1994) 38 be ace adj, pred ('terrific') Arts (Faculty) arty-farty adj [ of a subject] bathcubes beak ('teacher in public school') bedder n ('college cleaner in Cambridge') bike lane bodacious [<bold, audacious] bottle-end spectacles three-card brag [card game] breathe vi [of wine] bump sb (off a flight) business park buy-out (management) cap vt (teacher) carpool vi changing cubicle choir screen chokey ('prison') choral scholar 9 clamp n (traffic) class exams [at the end of each university year] cling film [NAm: plastic wrap] this is all a bit Colditz ('abenteuerlich') crash barrier [AmE: guard rail] Czecho n (-slovakia) dandiprat n ('small boy') dusting [(hair) 'a bit of grey'] envisage [NAm: envision] Europe ('continental Europe') exeat n ('school leave') extension (phone) [CanE: local] fail dismally fan vaulting fives court [court where the ball game fives is played] [f] 100 British English items food hall [food department in e.g. Harrod's] garburator gink ('gawky/ clumsy person') gone adj ('drunk') goolies ('male testicles') goose flesh/ pimples [NAm: goosebumps] graft vi ('cheat') guilty (secret) ('that makes one feel guilty') hatstand n headline inflation (a state-financed) helpline hockey [NAm: field hockey] Irangate 10 jiffy bag ('padded envelope') knifeedge majority ('very small') · lay-by [on highway; AmE: turn-out; CanE: pull-off] leading-edge company library picture [TV] [NAm: file] listing n [of programmes] majorly (good toast) mange-tout ('snow pea') matey n ('mate') met[ereological] office [AmE: weather bureau] mimsy ('feeble, decadent') misericords ('ledge on choir stalls') motte n ('earthen mound for castle') natural attrition 11 number plates [NAm: license plates] Oxford shoes [NAm: oxfords] peacekeepers (UN - )] peter out vi [of person] Pickwickian air [of a portrait Expl.: 'student who gets a scholarship for his singing'. Ku.rt-Michael Pätzold of Franz Schubert] pigswill excl ('rubbish') pogo (with sb) poxy (mies) prefer much Provo ('member of the Provisional IRA') he purpled and feil silent RED STAR PARCEL [express parcel] rehearse an argument ('repeat, recapitulate') retro-choir [in church, behind choir] road works [AmE: road construction] rogue satellite sandwich course [CanE: •eo-operative education] screwdriver economy [assemblage only] self-destruct vi 12 semi (-detached house) seriously good (you fucking) shitbag shite excl [ euphemism for shit; NAm: shoot] SIS sleeping policeman [AmE: speed bump] Sloane Ranger 13 (the) smart weapons (used against Iraq) stiff [(of lock) 'difficult to turn')] my stomach heaved supergrass ('police informant') (a credit-card) swiper tanned [AmE: tan] terrace(d) house [NAm: row house] town hall [NAm: city hall] 9 10 II 12 13 Expl.: 'political scandal in which Iran got weapons in exchange for American hostages'. Ex.: to rely on natural attrition to thin the ranks of civil servants. Ex.: The govemment is not threatened ... The left has self-destructed. Expl.: 'upper-class British person, in SW London' FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 39 UL ('university library') -ville 14 a world more obscene ('a Jot more') Wykhamist adj ('of Winchester') [g] 100 Fixed expressions that's all right [reply to apology] I'm all right, Jack ('I don't care about others as long as I am all right') Take care, won't you - And you the Athens of the North [ = Edinburgh] teach back-to-back go ballistic ('get mad') beauty contest [unions vying with one another to get accepted by a company] Thank you - You bet! the Big Apple [= New York] the Big Blue [= IBM] the Big Easy [= New Orleans] in 'my book ('forme, as far as I'm concerned') break up [of school (BrE); US: let out] give me a break 15 he'll be with you in a breath ('very soon') drug of choice good day to you [(angry) farewell] have a nice day don't do anything I wouldn't do how are you doing? how do you do? [as reply] bet dollars to doughnuts [NAm] bet one's bottom dollar [BrE] · enough is enough [exasperation] excuses, excuses [mild, friendly disbelief] fall-off n ('drop in sth') go with the flow 16 four by four ('truck with four-wheel drive') on the fritz ('broken, out of order') get away ! [disbelief] there you go [e.g. waiter putting down food] what goes around comes around [be nice to people if you want them tobe nice to you] going, going, gone throw sb a googly ('cause great difficulties') mustn't grumble [reply to "how are you? "] straight or handle? [in pubs, glass with or without a handle] bang a left/ right bang in (there ! ) play hard ball ('be serious') have bad it with sth (e.g. education: 'fed up with') here we go again like a house afire [NAm] like a house on fire [BrE] be in ('be game for sth, count sb in for sth') the jury is still out on sth ('sth has not been decided') Mustn't keep you on layaway [BrE: hire purchase] let out vi [(US) school lets out on Monday; BrE: break up] put a lid on it ('shut up! , stop it! ') get a life! ('wake up to reality') loose lips sink ships 17 be looking at + number [of years] max out vt 18 · go the extra mile 19 there goes the neighborhood ('that's the end of our nice -') weil now 20 pedal to the meta! ['go as fast as possible'] put a period to sth pick up on sth ('notice') at a pinch [BrE] in a pinch [US] take a powder ('drive away') 14 15 Ex.: Far outsville or far insville? ('is it very good or bad? ') Ex.: "I can't ... I have a ballet lesson." "Give me a break", I said. "You don't take ballet." 16 Ex.: ... the sheer vigor of bis attack on the poem ... impressed me. I was beginning to think I should relent, go with the flow, be forgiving of a man with such a passionate inner life. 17 Ex.: Maud held her finger to her lips. "Nota word fromme. I guarantee it. Loose lips sink ships." 18 Ex: "Won't he put the judge in the hospital ? " ... "The judge argued against it. His hospitalization insurance is maxed out for the year already." 19 Ex.: "I'll go the extra mile. On my own, I'll check out wills, estate records ... ". FLuL 23 (1994) 40 Have a nice day - No problem ('thank you') Sorry about that - No problem ('that's all right') promises, promises [mild, friendly disbelief] Ready when you are [mild impatience: 'hurry up'] get real! ('wake up to reality') ride off into the sunset ('happy ending') be on a roll ('be winning') as they say [indicating linguistic distance] we'll see you when we see you ('we don't need to fix a date') once, twice, sold [AmE: auction] shave off (time) ('reduce the time needed for sth') holy/ no shit! [surprise, disbelief, amazement] it's your show ('you're the boss') for my sins ('slightly false modesty') it's six of one [and half a dozen of the other] the Smoke ('London') you are really something eise ('special') Stars and Bars [Confederate flag] talk a blue streak ('talk fast, a Jot') (be badly) stressed out strike out vi ('fail') Kurt-Michael Pätzold different strokes for different folks ('people, nations etc are different') surf and turf ('seafood and steak') surprise, surprise ( 'not much of a surprise') it goes with the territory 21 the thing is Thank you - Any time Is that the time? ('oh dear, it is late') Jet the good times roll ('let's have some fun') lie in one's teeth lie through one's teeth and Bob's your uncle ('it's easy, child's play') way to go! ('weil done') or what? worry wart n ('bom pessimist') if the worst comes to the worst [BrE] if worse comes to worst [NAm] zip one's lip ('seal one's lips') amuse oneself thoroughly apologize profusely [h] 100 Collocations heated debate guard jealously ask pointedly sound asleep mount an attack weil aware wheel one's bicycle bleed freely blush furiously bored stiff cooked breakfast catch one's breath pat of butter her career took off see off a challenge press charges [law] give chase teach a dass squeaky-clean stone cold (sober) stark contrast plodding conversation debate hotly disagree violently load the dishwasher the door gives on (to the garden) doze fitfully drink deeply call an election meet a (violent) end the engine fires enjoy thoroughly prime example arouse expectations start a family exact fare feelings ran high heavy fine wet fish wash the floor the fog cleared clear glass coloured glass white grapes make an educated guess thrust one's hands raise one's hat hint darkly make one's home ignore studiously conduct an interview dead keen boil a kettle cut a key know perfectly weil silvery laugh love dearly his luck held red meat nurse memories miss sorely funny money ('not serious', e.g. French Francs, not US $) break the news broken night object violently 20 Ex.: "Isn't that usual? " "Weil now, usual. Usual isn't the word I'd've used ..." 21 Ex.: "She had tiffs with people here, but everybody has tiffs with everybody in a place like this it goes with the territory". FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 41 a sheaf of papers parliament is sitting stretch one's patience cut peat answer the phone cross the picket line dig potatoes invade sb's privacy honour a prornise the rain ! et up thoroughly reliable the river rises advantage over sb arrange vi 22 beat sb at (tennis) be blind in one eye be certain + to inf be clumsy + to inf concemed at concemed with correspond to sth correspond with sb die from die of drink vi 23 eat vi 24 equal with first + to inf furious at sth/ -ing be under attack beat vi 29 bill for sth the room overlooks (the garden) she started school tight security hold one's service drop a set [= lose] he feil silent sleep heavily [= soundly] heavy sleeper [= sound] the car built speed carry a story the strain told [i] 1 st set of 50 Syntax items furious with sb hate sb + to inf she interviews weil [match] kick off [at 3.30 pm] lecture in sth ('job') lecture on sth ('temporary topic') mad about/ for sth/ sb ('keen') mad at sb ('angry') married to sb married with (3 children) notice vi 25 the dress packs weil prefer sb + to inf punctual for sth reader in sth reader of sth [j] 2 nd set of 50 Syntax items clear to sb (sth) converts into sth cost dear adv sweat profusely the table groans (under the weight of food) think (deep) thoughts poke out one's tongue catch a train a stand of trees load the washing machine a drink of water the wind picked up badly wounded relief at relief from release vi 26 remember + -ing ['fact'] remember+to inf ['non-fact'] retail vi 27 see sb + -ing be silly + to inf be slow to do sth solution of [problem] solution ,to [problem] arrive in time arrive on time transport 28 try + to inf ['non-fact'] try + -ing ['fact'] visitor to [England, London] cruel of sb to do sth dead adj of (sorrow) detach vi 22 23 24 25 26 27 Ex.: Bee stood ... trying to arrange her thoughts. But they would not arrange. Ex.: This wine will drink weil for the next few years. Ex.: Cold lamb eats beautifully. Ex.: It's left a little mark ... lt hardly notices now. Ex.: The new version will release later this year. Ex.: The book retails for $ 16. 28 Ex.: Beecham converted Britain from a nation that transported by rail to a nation of roadside transport cafes. 29 Ex.: The cream beats weil. FLuL 23 (1994) 42 in detail he is difficult to like disappointed in sb disappointment to sb the dress does up at the back enemy to sth expect sb + to inf fly direct grate vi [of cheese] guess right the car handles weil in the hospital [NAm] imagine sb + to inf important to sb influence over sb ► Results: "...._ "...._ 0 0 lt) l.f) '-" '-" "' ..,., ~ "' s s ·c: (1.) ..... = B ..... = ..... ..... Q ca s= ~ (1.) s ~ u .... -~ = ~ B 0 ... "' ..... ..... > : : i: : = i: I: l DOGE 18 23 CGD 18 25 LGSW 2 24 12 NGGH 19 12 sum 79 72 average 19,8 17,5 "...._ 0 l.f) '-" "' s (1.) ..... ..... 1: 5 ..... : : l @" 0 U- 6 19 3 1 29 7,3 last + to inf 30 mission to new to sth the egg poached in soup (be/ work) in the police in principle on principle I had a quick supper with my sister to have a quiet drink rapture at (to be) receptive to sth reflect vi 31 remorse at [sth/ -ing] the book is reprinting "...._ "...._ N 0 "...._ N 0 l.f) '--' ..... 0 '--' ..... "' '-" s "' "' B s s ..... (1.) ..... (1.) = ..... ..... ..... ß ~ ~ 0 0.. i: Q z IZl 13 22 39 10 28 40 4 25 22 9 24 25 36 99 126 9 24,8 31,5 "...._ 00 ..... '--' "' s= 0 ..... "' "' ~ 0.. ~ (1.) "Cl (1.) ~ ~ 24 31 17 14 86 21,5 Table 3: English-German Results 30 31 32 Ex.: That was the last newspaper to go. Ex.: How does his personality reflect in the book? Ex.: Did the killer swim the river to kill Mrs Taubman perhaps? Kurt-Michael Pätzold The car rides weil be rude of sb to do sth secret n from sb shout at sb [anger,annoyance] shout to sb [communication, not negative] shy of (sb) swear by (sth) swim sth 32 be unlikely + to inf walk sth [e.g. the beach] want sb + to inf war n over sth "...._ "...._ "...._ 0 0 "...._ 0 l.f) l.f) N 0 '--' '-" N ..... "' "' t- '--' s s '- "' -~ -~ 0 s= ..... 0 ..... ~ ~ : : l ~ ro ro 0 '--' u 1: : 1: : 0 - >, >, .s = IZl IZl 0 Q u ,--, ~ ~ ..... '--' 53 23 31 252 46 28 31 276 24 20 20 171 17 19 21 161 140 90 103 35 22,5 25,8 FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 43 The list of environmental words not listed in any of the EG dictionaries is depressingly lang: battery eggs, biofuel, environmental assessment, intensive farming, intermediate radioactive waste, NIMBY (a common abbreviation for the attitude that many people take when faced by something they do not want), nondeposit bottle (for Einwegflasche), old-growth forest, road pricing, second-hand smoking, and toxic algae bloom (G Algenpest), which spoils the beaches of so many Southem European resorts. Even worse is their performance in the field of computer language. Here the list of missing items is much langer than that containing the items treated. Even the top-scoring CGD does not mention button, command prompt, direction or enter key, default setting, drop-down menu, hotkey, menu or tool bar, notebook, path or switch, all terms that no one can miss when they want to use any English-language handbook on a Windows-based application software. Readers of this review will do well to get a specialist publication on the subject while they are waiting for general bilingual dictionaries to catch up with the times. lt will save space to say that DOGE has cursor, laptop, pixel, store (data), utility program and workstation. LGSW 2 offers cursor (for which it chooses Positionsanzeiger in German instead of Cursor or Einfügeor Schreibmarke), pixel and store (data). NGGH, finally, makes do with the solitary pixel. LGSW 2 and NGGH were published in 1988, it is true, and NGGH has a special, non-Western European history behind it, but even in 1988 some lexicographers were more aware of the need to include lexical items from this field than others. Significantly, the total score for Shakespeare of all four dictionaries (79) is higher than that for the environment (72) and almost three times as high as that for the computer items (29). With regard to the two major varieties of English, it can be said that the dictionaries do better on the British English test than on the North American one: for British English, the difference between the best/ warst British monolingual and the best/ warst bilingual dictionary are 22 and 27 respectively, while the same figures for North American English, this time using American dictionaries for comparison, are 59 and 52 respectively. All dictionaries are seriously deficient in their coverage of North American English. To put it in a nutshell, they still think of the Revised Version when they see or hear RV, while North Americans think of a recreational vehicle. Gaps are apparent in all fields, levels and registers, from slang and informal items (e.g. awesome, dreck, schnook, the smarts, squeeze, trophy wife) to topical and politically correct language (e.g. African-American, bias or hate crime, date rape, electronic town meeting, substance abuse, virtual reality) to common everyday words (e.g. BLT, automatic teller, brownout, hurt as applied to books [instead of BrE damagec[J, miniseries, OBGYN or OJ, power dressing or brealifast, Ranch [dressing], significant other, sweat lodge). The low scores in the fixed expressions test can also partly be explained by the fact thatthe test items include a number of North American expressions. Despite the lip service paid to being impartial with respect to the regional provenance of their materials, I have found that the English- German (parts of) dictionaries reviewed in this article display a pronounced pro- FLuL 23 (1994) 44 Kurt-Michael Pätzold British English bias. This is clearly brought out in the North American and British English tests by those items that have two different forms in British and North American English: break up (BrE) versus let out (NAm) (= aujh,ören, of school), bet one's bottom dollar versus bet dollars to doughnuts, going, going, gone versus once, twice, sold, and if the worst comes to the worst versus if worse comes to worst. None of the second variants are found in any of the dictionaries. The same goes for the extremely common, everyday uses of you bet or no problem in the whole of North America. I cannot therefore recommend any of the currently available English-German dictionaries for modern, everyday North American English, but must refer readers to the American monolingual, and indeed specialist, dictionaries. Tuming now to the treatment of the microstructure one can say that the dictionaries reviewed fall into two groups. DOGE and CGD are aware of the importance of the treatment of words in depth, i.e. the importance of information on complementation and collocations. Both score over 100 points out of a total 200, while LGSW 2 and NGGH manage a mere 64 and 57 respectively. As far syntax is concemed, the bilingual dictionaries are clearly better than the monolinguals, but this does not mean that they can be proud of their achievements. On the contrary, the list of their omissions is quite long: prepositional complements (bill for, dead of, married with, mission to, punctual for, rapture at [LGSW 2 offers the preposition only in the phrase in raptures at], reader of, war over); phrasal complements (with raising): clumsy, hate, silly; and pseudo-intransitive verbs: arrange, drink, grate, interview, notice, poach, reflect, release, reprint, ride, transport. As regards collocations, about one third of them are not covered by any of the dictionaries. lt is not easy to be impressed by these figures, but we are unlikely to get better general bilingual dictionaries. In any case, it is the treatment of syntagmatic information that separates the sheep from the goats, i.e. those dictionaries that attach great importance to how words are used in context, and those that appear to be more interested in a big word list. On the whole, LGSW 2 and NGGH seem tobe in the traditional camp, which believes above all in getting in as many words as possible, while DOGE and CGD belong to the newer school of dictionaries, which have plenty of examples and other syntagmatic information as well as a respectable number of main entries. 3.2.1 Neubert-Gröger: Großes Handwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch (NGGH) As with DOGE, the first impression is catastrophic. Indeed, NGGH's layout is even more user-unfriendly. Entries are run-on for different word class uses, and transitive and intransitive verbs are not even given separate numbering (cf. s.v. clear, drink, fire). In longer entries they do sometimes start on new lines, but these are rare and welcome exceptions. NGGH could save precious space by reducing FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 45 drastically the number of translations, of which there are often four and more for one meaning (see s.v. head, try). The word list strikes me as slightly eccentric. lt holds some pleasant surprises for the weary reviewer that are uniquely found in NGGH: chesterfield, pro-lifer, (have the) smarts, -ville (as in doomsville or dullsville). While there are a great number of technical terms from the natural sciences and technology, its coverage of the registers of computers and the environment leave a lot to be desired. I have also noticed distinct gaps in more general fields. There is a lack of adverbs as main entries (e.g no profusely, thoroughly or violently) and of words that reflect everyday reality like clamp, cling film, Jan vaulting, Europe (referring to continental Europe without GB), European plan, goosebumps, Middle American, miniseries, PD, plastic wrap, reserve, row hause, semi (both BrE and NAm), stat or sub. Some of the translations and the entry forms of words and phrases in this dictionary strike me as strange: E bio-degradable = G "biochemisch abbaufähig" (instead of usual biologisch abbaubar; E big deal = G "toll! Klasse! " should be marked as ironic because it means the opposite; E if the cap fits = G "wenn sich jmd getroffen fühlt" (this is unidiomatic, "wem der Schuh paßt" would be better); E clear = G übertr "deutlich, verständlich" (to s.o. jmdn.): for the E phrase is that clear to you? NGGH's translation would be ist Dir das deutlich/ verständlich? ; E s.v. cross: to one's heart and hope to die = G "bei Gott und allen Teufeln schwören": the E phrase usually appears only in the form cross my heart (and hope to die), is not slang, and should not be given such an emphatic translation, something like großes Ehrenwort is prefectly, adequate; E cross bun = G "Kreuzsemmel": the E form is usually hot cross bun (under which it has an entry in NGGH! ), and Kreuzsemmel does not mean a thing in German to me, which is no doubt the reason why we find the paraphrase "Rosinenbrötchen (mit Teigkranz)" s.v. hot cross bun; the addition of mit Teigkranz has me puzzled unless it refers to a cross on the bun, but I would not call that a Teigkranz; E s.v. fail: (Kraft u.ä.) abnehmen, schwächer werden <she was -ing quickly "sie wurde rapide immer weniger">: here I would prefer something like ihre Kräfte nahmen rapide ab or sie wurde schnell schwächer; E s.v. fly: in einem Flugzeug fliegen <to to Moscow>: this would suggest the German translation in einem Flugzeug nach Moskau fliegen, which sounds strangely redundant unless more context is provided; E s.v. friend: a in need is a indeed = G "in der Not erkennt man seine Freunde": the G translation should be Freunde in der Not gehen tausend auf ein Lot; E s.v. live-in: mit jmdm. zusammenwohnend, bei jmdm. wohnend (und schlafend) < a girl-friend>: this is the sort of German participial translation that cannot be used in any context and should therefore be contextualized, usually by employing a relative clause, cf. also sustainable = G "aufrechtzuerhaltend"; E s.v. old: 2. s ...Vergangenheit <in days of ->: NGGH gives again a decontextualized translation which does not apply to the example in brackets, as *in Tagen der Vergangenheit. There are not many examples for the basic, everyday words. This is generally deplorable and particularly unwelcome where an illustration could point up meaning differences, as e.g. die from versus die of, mad at sb and mad about sth, remember or try plus -ing form or plus infinitive. Moreover, of the few examples many appear without a German translation (e.g. s.v. carpool, reader [in sth]), which bespeaks an approach to lexicography that is not to be recommended, even where translation into the mother tongue is involved. lt would seem that this FLuL 23 (1994) 46 Kurt-Michael Pätzold dictionary pays more attention to the macrostructure (witness its high score in the Shakespeare test) than to the microstructure, as is shown by its low scores in the syntagmatic tests (collocations and syntax). This confirms my first impression that NGGH is not a dictionary that I can recommend. 3.2.2 Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch (LGSW 2) Though the introduction of new character fonts and formats has indeed improved the general appearance of the English-German part of LGSW (LGSW 2 ), it still has run-on entries for all the uses of a word form, which I consider user-unfriendly. In phrasal verb lists, where cross-references are followed immediately by a preposition or adverb, the two are difficult to tel1 apart (see e.g. s.v. do, the to entry in which there is a cross reference to do by, which is followed by with). Fixed expressions are also not set apart from other entries and therefore take longer to find (see the entry for have 21). Even worse, LGSW 2 prints items that it thinks belong together in one block, which again makes it hard to find some of these entries (e.g. imagine in the block starting with imagination, or secret in that of secrecy). LGSW 2 has also decided to have separate lists of abbreviations and proper names, for which I can see little justification. I certainly found it a waste of my time when I had to leave the main body of the dictionary to look up items like NIMBY, OD, OJ, or UL, particularly when they were not listed. To give LGSW 2 its due, it is the only dictionary to list PD. LGSW 2 uses the IPA and very helpfully indicates word division. LGSW 2 has few of the colloquial forms used by modern writers to represent spoken or substandard language. This conservatism has, however, also its positive side, witness the high score for the Shakespeare items. LGSW 2 chooses German as the language in which meanings are indicated, which is convenient for German speakers. Collocators are also listed in German, which I consider less useful (see table 2 on page 25). LGSW 2 has not altered its practice of semantic overkill: it often lists far too many senses (e.g. s.v. charge noun: sense 18 has 6 readings, none of which are distinguished by collocations or labels, or the entry for do 1, I, sense 2). lt is a doubtful practice to give a meaning, e.g hart for the adjective heavy, when this meaning does not apply in any very obvious way: LGSW 2 lists only one collocation under this sense, heavy fine, and translates it, quite correctly, by hohe Geldstrafe. So, why bother to give hart in the first place? When one looks at the macrostructure tests, LGSW 2 scores 105 points, just one up on NGGH so much for its much vaunted up-to-dateness. lt does better, it is true, on North American items even than the new DOGE, but it lags clearly behind in the British English test. The gaps in the environment test (there is no battery eggs, though it does list battery hen, perhaps because it is much easier to translate into German; no bottle bank, endangered species, environmental assessment or FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 47 free-range eggs) together with those in the computertest show clearly that LGSW 2 has a lot of catching up to do for the next edition. Tue microstructure results clearly indicate, as was pointed out above, that LGSW 2 must pay more attention to this important aspect of language organisation. lt is striking how few adverbs are listed either as main entries (e.g. free has no freely, hot no hotly and pointed has no pointedly, while profusely is subsumed, with one illustrative collocation, profusely illustrated, under the adjective profuse) or as collocators (cf. s.v. darkly, sorely, where not a single collocator for the adverbs is listed) .. This is deplorable, and it accounts in part for the low score in this particular test. The more important fact is that LGSW 2 simply does not pay enough attention to collocations. In the syntax test, the dictionary lists as a rule only the most obvious constructions. But even here there are surprising gaps. lt does not for instance help to link the different translations of remember to a difference in complementation (remember + infinitive = daran denken; remember + -ing = sich an etw. erinnern; cf. also the different pattems of try), nor does it point to the American use of the definite article with hospital where no specific hospital is involved. Where more complicated constructions are involved (e.g. raising in he's certain tobe at the party, she was the first to speak or I'd hate you to get that impression) LGSW 2 simply passes. Not all is darkness, however: it is the only dictionary to record the pseudo-passive use of eat and the preposition after visitor, namely to. 3.2.3 Duden-Oxford Großwörterbuch Englisch (DOGE) My impression is that the English-German part of DOG.g is a modern dictionary with most of the right ideas though their execution leaves something to be desired. One of my main quarrels with it concems its layout; which could, and should, be improved considerably in a second edition. Frankly, it was a chore looking up all of my 722 test items, which took me much longer than for any of the other dictionaries. 33 DOGE's test results puts it in second place overall. lt uses the IPA and it does sometimes indicate very helpfully where the main stress falls, particularly in fixed expressions (cf. you 'bet s.v. bet, where the stress pattem is however normal; marking the stress would be even more helpful, an4, indeed necessary, where the last lexical word is not stressed, as in in 'my book or get on like a 'hause on fire, but here DOGE fails German users). lt does not indicate word divisions, a drawback for all those who want to produce English texts. lt includes the greatest number of non-standard forms, an important feature when one considers that they are quite frequent in the pages of contemporary novels. 33 For more detail see the German-English section 2.2.3 above (on pp. 30--32). FLuL 23 (1994) 48 Kurt-Michael Pätzold Tuming now to a brief review of the test figures, differences between the topscoring CGD and DOGE are most apparent in the vocabulary tests (macrostructure) of North American English and fixed expressions, while the collocations and syntax tests (microstructure) together end almost exactly in a draw. DOGE is aware of the importance of putting words in context. lt has a policy of offering a great number of examples to show how words really behave. lt is excellent e.g. on prefer-much and the distinction between die of and die from, but it does not go far enough in this direction. For example, the difference between the two complementation types of try, between in principle and on principle or between in time and on time could have been brought out by well-chosen contexts. In general, where the two languages show different structures the help of examples is badly needed. This applies e.g. to raised constructions (see e.g. hate, prefer, see and silly in the syntax test) and to subjector objectivalization (where e.g. locative, temporal or instrumental expressions are found in subject and object positions in English, e.g. swim the river, walk the beach both in DOGE), and to pseudointransitive verbs in English, which are not nearly as widespread in German: in the second edition I would like to see illustrative contexts for convert, do up or handle. Translations are usually correct, and stylistically appropriate (cf. Armer Ritter for French toast, which is only found in DOGE; mach die Flatter for take a powder, or er ist der Boss for it's his show) though inevitable there are also some infelicities and some downright mistakes. Meltdown is translated as Schmelzen and not by the specific Kernschmelze; renewable is rendered by regenerationsfähig, where erneuerbar is the more commonly used term. To translate there you go (a phrase typically used when one hands people food) by simple bitte or da seems inadequate because it sounds a little abrupt, and therefore unfriendly. Similarly, I would not say laß' Dich nicht aufhalten (for mustn't keep you) but something like (Du bist sicher in Eile,) dann will ich dich nicht (länger) aufhalten. German hört mal, Kinder for the very recent American usage hi, guys when it refers to both men and women sounds to me slightly dated. I would prefer He, Leute instead of the slightly patronizing Kinder. Wet blanket is somebody who damps down other people's high spirits and should be translated not so much by Trauerkloß in German but by Miesmacher or Spielverderber. Concierge in a hotel is not Empfangschef as (s)he provides special Services like getting theatre tickets or organizing tours for guests. 3.2.4 Collins Gennan Dictionary (CGD) and Pons Globalwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch (PGW 1) In this English-German part 3 4, CGD employs the IP A, but it does not indicate word divisions so that it cannot be used for this aspect of language production. On the other hand, all its examples are translated in füll and it offers never more than three translations for any given meaning. 34 For remarks on CGD's layout and arrangement of entries see 2.2.5 above (on page 33 f). FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 49 Before I look at this second edition I would like to make a brief comment on the collaboration of academics and lexicographers. When we write our reviews we hope not only that they will help our readers to make informed choices, but also that our labours will contribute to the improvement of the dictionaries themselves. lt is sad to see that of the many suggestions and criticisms I made in my review of CGD's first edition (see Henke/ Pätzold 1985: 120 ft) only two have been incorporated into this second edition, although the editors of this new edition were aware of my review. What can be the reason, what the excuse perhaps even "the same old excuse", which is still translated in lovely English German as die gleiche alte Entschuldigung? However that may be, CGD comes out on top with a 22-point lead from DOGE. Tue closeness between the two with respect to the overall syntagmatic score (CGD 105, DOGE 107) should not blind one to the fact that there are differences in the individual tests. DOGE leads in the collocations test by 7 points, while CGD has the higher score in the syntax test. As discussed above, CGD gives collocators in the English-German part in English, while DOGE gives them in German. This gives DOGE an advantage in the scoring as several English collocators may be covered by one German ward, whereas CGD uses English and if the specific English ward is not listed as a collocator, then that is that. A case in point is fogclear, where DOGE scores, but CGD does not as it lists only mist as collocator. Also, I have been very strict and not accepted to bare stif.f when the collocation looked for was bored-stif.f or assembly-sit when parliament-sit was the collocation wanted. This partly explains CGD's lower score of 47. CGD, on the other band, comes out ahead both in the fixed expressions (31 to 24) and the syntax test (59 to 54). Tue other 18 of the 21 overaH points are largely made up by CGD's good score in the NAm and the computer test. Tue general remarks on the layout of PGW 2 also apply to Pans Globalwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch (PGW 1 ). Where the parent dictionary economizes on space e.g. with compound nouns, PGW 1 gives the first part of compounds in füll, though it also prints them run-on whenever possible. One important feature that the parent dictionary offers, the valuable appendix on language in use, has sadly been cut from the dictionary. I have checked the NAm, BrE, computer and environment tests and have found that PGW 1 includes a few new items in its pages that are absent from CGD. There are now entries for virtual reality, click on (G anklicken), biodiversity (G Artenvielfalt) and sustainable development (G nachhaltige Entwicklung). For the serious student I still recommend the unabridged version of CGD. 3.3 Bilingual English-German versus Monolingual English Dictionaries I have already touched here and there on the relative merits of bilingual dictionaries when compared with the monolingual dictionaries. To round off this section, I will now make a fuller comparison of the two types of dictionaries. First, the microstructure is much richer in the bilingual dictionaries. In the syntax test, the top score with the bilinguals is 28 (CGD) as against 17 (COD), the average 22,5 to 10,4. This is the main reason why one needs a bilingual dictionary: FLuL 23 (1994) 50 Kurt-Michael Pätzold for language production as for language analysis, the most important thing is that words are put into context. Second, in the macrostructure, the monolingual works easily dominate the bilinguals with two · exceptions. Tue top score for the spoken-forms test is identical (DOGE and CD both have 13 forms), while a monolingual has the lowest score (2 forms only in WNW). While the average bilingual dictionary achieves a slightly better score in this small test, the tables are tumed on the bilinguals in the fixed expressions, where they show a slightly lower average score than the monolinguals. Again, the top score is shared (CGD and CD), while the lowest score is found in a bilingual (NGGH). Differences become, however, more pronounced, not to say dramatic, in other fields, most notably in the NAm test, where the monolingual British dictionaries have an average score of 51,8, the American college dictionaries an average of 80, while the bilinguals only reach 24,8. These few figures show clearly, I think, why non-native speakers need a monolingual dictionary. 4. Native-Speaker Monolingual Desk/ College Dictionaries This part of the review will look at the college and desk dictionaries listed below. A review of unabridged dictionaries, and of electronic dictionaries, is planned for the 1995 issue of this joumal. ► Dictionaries Produced in the USA - American Heritage College Dictionary. Third ed., 1993 [= AHC] - Webster's New World Dictionary [...]. Third ed., 1988 [= WNW] - Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Tenth ed., 1993 [= MWC] - Random House Webster's College Dictionary, 1992 [= RHW]. ► Dictionaries Produced in the UK - The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Eighth ed., 1990 [= COD] - Longman Dictionary of the English Language. New ed., 1991 [= LDEL] - Collins English Dictionary. Third ed., 1991 [= CED] - The Chambers Dictionary, 1993 [= CD]. 4.1 General Remarks, Items Lists and Results Tue test items for the monolingual dictionaries are the same as for the bilingual English-German dictionaries (see above pp. 35-42) with a few changes. Tue monolingual dictionaries in this section are aimed at the native speaker. Their strengths lie in the large number of words and items included. This is why I have added 100 items to the macrostructural tests (50 items drawn from varieties of English in Asia, Africa and Australia/ New Zealand, and 50 items that are designed to test the coverage of encyclopedic information (e.g. places, institutions, sports teams)). FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 51 Though the forte of monolingual dictionaries is not the depth of the treatment given to the individual item, I have nevertheless tested how suitable they might be for language production by non-native speakers by submitting them to a syntax test (the first 50 syntax items in the English-German battery) as weil as an examples test (50 items [= c]). The results show very clearly that monolingual dictionaries are nowhere near good enough for language production, and perhaps even deficient for language analysis as well. The syntax results demonstrates clearly that the monolingual dictionaries do not give nearly as much help as the bilingual English-German dictionaries. lndeed, as meanings are closely tied to grarnmatical construction in many of these items, one can also have some doubt about the monolinguals' value for language analysis. The results in the examples test are similar, with LDEL offering most examples (12). In the vast majority of cases, of course, the monolingual dictionaries do not give examples and this points again to the fact that these dictionaries are indeed of only limited use to foreign learners. lt must be added, though, that all dictionaries, with the exception of CD, often use brief contexts or collocators to distinguish between meanings, particularly in the case of prepositions like up, and polysemous entries like go, make and take. No dictionary tells us in an example why people might be rolling their eyes or pursing their lips, though WNW at least mentions a reason in its definition ("...as in disapproval", s.v. purse). lt is hard to find contexts in which the meaning of the word is illuminated, but cf. (entry words are bolded,. contexts are italicized) "hung his head in shame" (MWC), "When in front of an audience he froze" (RHW) or "Oh my! What ajoke! " (AHC). Collocations are no less infrequent (but cf. "A graphic example of waste" and "shines in math" (MWC), "an order of cole slaw" (WNW), and "I froze in my tracks" (RHW). MWC gives information on the concord of faculty ("many faculty were present"). No dictionary gives two utterances to illustrate the discourse uses of now and weil, nor have they got a context for now in which the tense used is not the present tense. However, RHW and AHC have at least a comma after now to indicate that now has its own intonation contour. [a] 50 items (AusE, NZE, SAE, SingE, etc) 35 air, tread fresh - ('be thrown out') balibuntal hat been-to n [WAfE; 'sb who has returned from the US or GB'] billy n (the boils) black money [lndE; 'illegal gains'] bonzer ('terrific') box: sth out of the - ('sth special') brinjal [SAE; 'aubergine, egg plant'] calabash [W AfEJ cane [W AfE; 'bamboo'] change room [lndE; 'dressing room'] chap [WAfE; 'man, person'] choom [NZE; 'a Brit'J chop [WAfE; 'food'J cocky ('small farmer') crim (petty -s and flashers) dag-picking [NZE; sorting the wool from the dags] dhobi [SingE; 'washerman'J dinkydi [NZE; 'true, honest'] donga [SAE; 'river bank, gully'] 35 Beside the abbreviations used in footnote 4 (page 15), the following are used here: AusE = Australian English; IndE = Indian English; NZE = New Zealand English; SAE = South African English; SingE = Singaporean English; WAfE = West African English. FLuL 23 (1994) 52 Kurt-Michael Pätzold exit permit [SAE; 'permit to leave the country without permission to return'] off-the-cuff suit ('off-the-peg') padang [SingE; 'field'] fiddle up (a woman) flies ('refreshment') four-twenty [lndE; 'swindler'] gimpy (leg) palm wine [WAfE] peon [SingE; 'orderly, office assistant'] plurry (good eyesight; 'very') rentage [WAfE; 'houserent'] head tie [WAfE; 'woman's headdress'] holus-bolus adv sorry! [WAfE; 'bless you' [sneeze]; or when one has stumbled] jaga [SingE; 'guard, sentinel'] kampong [SingE; 'village'] kaross [SAE; 'skin blanket'] knock back (offer, invitation) lairis (-ing around in cars) sport [NZE; 'guy'] squiz [NZE; 'a look'] stone the crows tamby [SAE; 'office/ errand boy'] lathi charge [lndE; 'police attack with sticks'] makan [SingE; 'food'] towday [SingE; 'employer, business person'] Tube, the - ([TV] 'the box'; also NAm) weatherboard n ('house') mulga stick woomera ('throwing stick') next tomorrow [WAfE; 'day after tomorrow'] Alice [in Wonderland] Anne of Green Gables Banff [Canada] Banff [Scotland] Bible Belt [USA] BL, the - [= British Library] Canada Day continentalism Culloden [1745] Fifth of November forty-ninth parallel Founding Fathers Ghost Dance movement Globe and Mail, The - Glyndebourne Governor General Group of Seven [Canadian painters] Hastings, Battle of [1066] Highlands [in Scotland] academic n administration [AmE] at first beat sb to sth buyer [in store] chickenfeed compose (sth written) curfew date [person] [b] 50 Encyclopedic Items HMSO Hocbelaga [= former name of Montreal] Hollywood Ten, the [wbo refused to testify to the House Committee on Unamerican Activities] Holy Island lndependence Day/ 4tb of July Independent, The Indian Country International Herald Tribune Lieutenant Governor loyalists [supporters of England in War of Independence] Maunday Thursday MCC MOMA Morning Star Movement [50's poets in GB] [c] 50 Examples die from die of doormat [fig] eventually exasperation meet sb's eyes be rolled bis eyes [surprise] be raised bis eyebrows [surprise] Nancy Drew NBA New Amsterdam[= former name of New York] NHL Plains of Abraham (1759) Secretary of State Silicon Valley Smitbsonian, the - Sonics, the - Spurs, tbe - Tanglewood [US] Tate [Gallery] ultramontanism [clerical attacks on liberalism in Canada] Uplands Upper Canada Wounded Knee (1890) faculty [part of university] faculty [teacbing staff] freeze vi get going graceful gracious grade ('mark') graphic adj he hung his head FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 53 hollow mockery/ promise fruity laugh leg [sport] Jet oneself in for he pursed his lips [disapproval] mellow [person] minister to sb motley group ► Results: ,-._ 0 1/ ") '-' ~~ "' ... s ""' = 2 = •--< 0 ~ : : C,I u ·.: : : .... ~ B "' ..... : : i: : AHC 31 WNW 38 MWC 38 RHW 38 COD 23 LDEL 34 CED 38 CD 44 sum 284 average 35,5 ,-._ 0 1/ ") '-' "' s 2 •--< ..... i: : : Q) s i: : : 0 .l: : I ; ; . &j 24 16 25 23 28 31 32 34 213 26,6 ,-._ 0 1/ ") '-" "' .! 1--< 2 : : s s" 0 u 11 6 7 17 13 11 13 19 97 12,1 my! [surprise] now [non-temporal] order n (of fries) pocketbook [bag] pocketbook [book] raunchy read a subject ('study') read a person school [for univ. students] ,-._ 0 ,-._ 0 ,-._ ,...... N 0 ,-._ N 0 '-' '-' 1/ ") 0 "' ,...... "' '-' ,...... i: : : s '-" 0 "' "' ..... Q) s "' ..... s "' •--< Q) ~ ..... 2 d ..... ~ •--< Q) s ~ ~ Q) < A.. ~ 'O z Cll Q) ~ u: ; 3 74 24 19 2 76 27 24 7 87 30 20 10 83 29 22 8 35 49 24 11 57 54 20 7 50 58 25 13 65 62 31 61 527 333 185 7,6 65,9 41,5 23,1 ,-._ 0 1/ ") '-' u ..... Q) ~ z ~ "' ~ 9 14 11 13 21 25 31 28 152 19 school [for pupils] scintillating conversation shine vi ('be very good at') his stomach heaved the stomach rumbled upgrade vt weil [discourse use, in answer to yes-no question] ,-._ 0 1/ ") ,-._ '-' N "' ,-._ N ~ ,-._ 0 t- 0 1/ ") ..... 1/ ") '-' '+-< •--< '-' "' 0 Q) ..... u ~ ...... : : s ; ,s o; j i ..... 0 Q) i: : : '-' §' >, s Cll ~ ...... ~ u 0 >, E-< u &j 17 6 2 220 18 12 5 238 12 9 9 255 20 12 11 278 9 17 6 233 15 9 12 279 24 12 10 300 13 6 0 315 128 83 55 16 10,4 6,9 Table 4: Results of Monolingual Dictionaries FLuL 23 (1994) 54 Kurt-Michael Pätzold 4.1.1 British versus American Desk/ College Dictionaries. The first thing one notices about the English and American one-volume desk dictionaries is that the American works are all about 1,600 pages long while the British products do not keep to such a length limit. Thus, the shortest, COD, is just over 1,450 pages long, while the longest, CD, runs to a massive 2,062 pages. This difference in size is reflected in the scores for the macrostructural items, while the microstructure results can obviously not be explained (away) by reference to size. Only two British dictionaries (COD, CED) use a transcription system based on that of the IPA, all others have devised systems of their own. On the other band, the American dictionaries all have a number of systematic and visual elements (tables, diagrams, drawings, photos), which are totally absent from their British counterparts. Again, the American works all have more or less detailed treatments of synonyms and usage questions, in which users get valuable information on various aspects of American English, often with helpful examples. Among British dictionaries, only LDEL offers this, and while the Americans only talk about AmE, LDEL takes into account both varieties, using a wealth of examples, which makes LDEL the most valuable dictionary in this respect. Tue test results show clearly that each group does better on its own variety than on that of the other nation. Despite all efforts to cover AmE, British dictionaries lag a long way behind the American college dictionaries in their coverage of American English. On the other band, the American dictionaries almost do not seem to intend to cover other varieties very much. At least this is the impression one gets when one looks at some of their titles. American dictionaries are perhaps a little more provincial, which is also bome out by their scores in the Australian, New Zealand etc items test, where the best British dictionary offers twice as many items. Other differences emerge from the environment and computer tests, where again the British dictionaries do a better job on average than the Americans. All this boils down to the fact that one really needs two monolingual desk dictionaries, one British and the other American. 4.1.2 Tue general monolingual desk dictionaries are deficient in many respects when compared with the best leamer and bilingual dictionaries. There is nothing to rival for instance CGD's or PGED's excellent layout, which allows the reader to find at a glance transitive and intransitive uses as well as nominal, adjectival and adverbial ones. More seriously, monolingual dictionaries do not give the meaning for all the forms they list in their pages. Derivations are often not explained, which means at best that users have to look up relevant suffixes in separate entries, and at worst, that there are no entries for a particular suffix or that the suffix concemed has more than one meaning, which is quite often the case, so that semantic choices have to be made. Again, leamer dictionaries and good bilingual dictionaries break down the mass of meanings in longer entries into manageable, labelled groups, but this user-friendly practice is completely unknown in monolingual dictionaries. FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 55 Other gaps are shared by the bilingual and general monolingual desk/ college dictionaries. Thus, they do not provide enough coverage of slang or fixed expressions, for which readers have to consult specialist dictionaries like Partridge's A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, or the more recent NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions, or the Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English (for other relevant titles see the article by Henke in this volume). They also do not cover the more recherche terms, for which readers will normally consult a bigger, unabridged dictionary (see part two of this review article), or indeed a new hard ward dictionary like the Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words. Finally, readers may well want a specialist dictionary for all aspects of the culture, including the language, of a country. Tue best single volume available is Grote's British English for American Readers, although the Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture offers perhaps a little more on the language side (for more detail see Henke's article in this volume [pp. 120-148]). A brief note on the etymologies provided by monolingual dictionaries is perhaps in place here. On the whole, it would seem that their coverage of the formal aspects is better than that of the meaning changes which items have undergone. lt is my experience, however, that what interests people most are the different meanings that words have gone through in the course of the centuries. Here again the interested reader will have to go to specialist dictionaries, like Ayto's Dictionary of Word Origins (1990), Webster's Word Histories (1989), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology (1988); Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins (1988), or The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (1987), which are all more readable than older dictionaries like The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1979). How for instance does bless change to its present-day meaning from its Old English meaning of consecrate with blood? Alone among dictionaries COD states that the meaning was influenced by. the Latin word benedicare at the time of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christendom. None of the dictionaries explain why diamonds is the symbol for a set of cards (it was the symbol of the merchant class, just as spades stood for the nobility, hearts for the clergy, and clubs for the common people), nor do they point to the amazing change of show from meaning something like German schauen to its present sense of make visible, nor, finally, do they think it necessary to account for a change like that of treacle, which changed in English (it has aprehistory in Greek and Latin) from an antidote to poison to sweet syrup. 4.2 American Dictionaries 4.2.1 The American Heritage College Dictionary (AHC) Tue layout and typefaces chosen in this dictionary make it fairly easy to use (this means really 'could do better', to use school report language). Meanings are numbered for ward dass, and for transitive and intransitive uses of verbs, but sadly these different syntactic uses do not begin new lines. While its pages turn easily, FLuL 23 (1994) 56 Kurt-Michael Pätzold it is difficult to read the middle columns because they are run too close to the inside margins of pages, where they are fastened together. lt prints phrasal verbs and idioms in separate sections at the end of entries run-on, but as they are preceded by clearly visible labels in hold they can be quickly found. Zero-derived nouns (e.g. turnojf, turn-on, and turnover) are not listed with their phrasal verbs, though other zero-derivations are placed in the entry for the root word (cf. stop, which includes the noun and adjective uses as well as the verbal ones). Apart from phrasal verbs the word list is in strict alphabetical order. While it has cross references for synonyms (e.g. s.v. bear to the entry for stand), it is not good at giving cross references for more-than-one-word items, like kick the bucket, fly off the handle, and have bats in the belfry: these are listed in the entries of the bolded words without any hint at this fact s.v. backet, bats and belfry. AHC does not use the IPA, but indicates word divisions. lt has a unified word list complemented by a unique appendix at the back of the dictionary, which will make fascinating reading for the amateur (and professional) historical linguist: it lists a number of Indo-European roots and a number of their reflexes in English. There are three types of special notes in AHC, which deserve mention. First, there are a number of usage notes, which are printed in separate sections and are found on new lines. They deal with debated usage (e.g. the verbal use of impact, medium versus media, method versus methodology, or the gen~ric use of man) and report the views of the AHC's usage panel, not however without adding comments by the editors, which sometimes put things into a historical perspective (see e.g. the note under contact, which shows that offensive uses can become accepted in the course of time). lt also includes a number of discursive paragraphs on the cultural and linguistic history of words (their derivation, form(s) and meaning), which often contain examples of usage (see e.g. the entries for impact, ketchup, larva, leprechaun, maroon 1, mattress, midwife). Finally, there are regional notes that point out the different names by which things are known in different parts of the United States (see e.g. the entry for submarine), or give linguistic information (e.g. s.v. fix on the semantics of be fixing, and s.v. grease on the pronunciation of the noun and the adjective greasy in the American South, and its importance as a marker of Southern Dialect speakers). This is all very interesting and illurninating and helps with certain aspects of American English texts. There is a wealth of illustrations and photos (e.g. of American presidents and their wives) as well as a number of tables and drawings, in which the strait jacket of the alphabet is sloughed off and things that belong together are listed together, another useful feature for language learning as well as language production (cf. the geological time scale [570], manual alphabet [826], measurements, morse code [888], subatomic particles [1351], or p. 1426, in the margin of which we get to know all the terms to do with teeth). The sad thing is that the editors have not bothered to put all these pearls into a table of contents, so that only the user lucky enough to stumble across them will be able to make use of them. As can be seen from the results table, AHC comes bottom of the college dictionary league. lt does relatively well on computer, environment and encyclopedic terms .. In all other types of items it trails behind the American dictionaries. lt is little use for language production: its low score (6 out of 50) in the syntax test is complemented by the score of 2 (again out of 50) in the examples test, where it only lists Oh my! What a joke! (s.v. my) and Now, let's get down to work (s.v. now). In fact, even decoding is likely to cause a few problems, e.g in the case of FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 57 eventually, where the definition does not unambiguously rule out a false-friend interpretation (At an unspecified future time), or well, where one finds no example for the two functions of its use as interjection, and where its use in answers is not mentioned in the definition. Clearly, syntagmatic information is at a premium in this dictionary. Decoding is also not helped by the fact that there are no meaning groups in long entries, nor does AHC provide meanings for all the forms it lists. To sum up, AHC is fairly easy to use but has the worst score in the macroas well as the microstructure tests. lts strengths lie in fields that seem less important for foreign learners than for native speakers. 4.2.2 Webster's New World Dictionary of American English (WNW) Tue fonts and print types chosen make W'NW a dictionary that is easy to use. The dictionary has a historical bias: Slightly unfortunate is the decision to place etymological information at the beginning, instead of at the end, of entries. lt is of a piece that meanings are arranged in historical order, not according to frequency. W'NW is runner-up in the Shakespeare test (which rank it shares with three other dictionaries), and comes third of all desk dictionaries in the fixed expressions. lt marks many items with an asterisk: this does not mean, as one might expect, that these words are to be considered Americanisms at the present time, but only that they are items, or meanings, that had their origin in the United States of America. W'NW has brief paragraphs on synonyms, but does not include usage notes on matters of political and linguistic correctness (e.g. the generic use of man, or the much decried use of hopefully, or of impact as transitive verb). lt is also fitting that date, when it refers to a person, is, narrowly and traditionally, defined as "a person of the opposite sex...", as if homoerotic partners do not count. Meanings are helpfully numbered for word classes, and transitive and intransitive uses of words, though they do not begin new lines and are not put in labelled groups in polysemous entries. Idioms and phrasal verbs follow in one group on the main verbal senses, while nouns derived from phrasal verbs have separate main entries. Some fixed expressions appear as main entries, e.g. play hookey (which is linguistically justified), or play on words (where there is somewhat less reason for a main entry). There are no cross references for the three idioms I checked, nor are there always cross references for synonyms. While it does not use the IPA, it has a unified word list and is useful for language production in as much as it indicates word divisions. However, it provides only five illustrative contexts, only one of them a sentence (s.v. read: I read you loud and clear). lts coverage of syntax, on the other hand, is quite good for a native-speaker dictionary. lts results in the macrostructural tests place it third of the four American college dictionaries. lt does better than its overall performance in the Shakespeare, fixed expressions, encyclopedic and Australia, New Zealand etc tests. In the more modern and colloquial tests of spoken forms and computer items it comes last FLuL 23 (1994) 58 Kurt-Michael Pätzold overall, which again confirms my impression of WNW as a dictionary with a historical bias. 4.2.3 Me"iam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (MWC) MWC's fonts and types mak: e it easy to use. lts separate main entries for different word class uses of the same word form contribute to its ease of use, as do the separate numberings of meanings for transitive and intransitive verbal uses. Phrasal verbs get main-entry treatment and follow immediately on the nouns derived from them. All this is excellent, and there is only one other college dictionary, CED, that offers a sirnilarly convincing and user-friendly arrangement. MWC is, however, not consistent in this: we find go by and go down as main entries, but go about, go after, go at and go over are listed s.v. go. lts provision of cross references for longer expressions is patchy while that for synonyms is good. Unfortunately, it has no unified word list, which would almost have resulted in its not getting points for the abbreviations OB-GYN, OJ and PD, which are listed in a special appendix. Substantial appendices are always a bad idea in a dictionary, and more so in MWC because comparable abbreviations are found in the main body of the dictionary, e.g. BLT. Other information thus tucked away at the end of the dictionary are lists of bioand geographical names as well as foreign words and phrases. MWC starts its entries with etymological information and is historically oriented to the extent that it does not always list the most frequent current meanings first. lt is un-user-friendly also because it does not set up labelled meaning groups in long entries. Another drawback is that it saves space by not giving the meaning of a number of derived forms. In an attempt to show meaning relationships more clearly, meanings are numbered by using up to three characters (e.g. 8b(2)), which I find one, or sometimes two, too many. lt has paragraphs on usage and synonyms as well as a number of drawings. lt indicates word divisions, but does not employ the IPA for the transliteration of items, another disadvantage for foreign learners. Tue pros and cons continue with the test results. MWC has a score of 18 for the microstructural tests, which puts it in second place of the American dictionaries. lt leads the US works in the NAm, BrE and environment tests and is joint first for the Shakespeare items. lt scores fairly low in the fixed expressions and Australia, New Zealand etc. items, and very low in the computer and encyclopedic items. With the last mentioned test words, MWC often only gives the geographical location but nothing on the item's significance, cultural, historical or otherwise (cf. Culloden Moor, Hastings, loyalists). 4.2.4 Random House Webster's College Dictionary (RHW) RHW is easy to use. lt has a unified word list. Although the meanings of one word form are numbered consecutively, different syntactic uses start new lines in long entries and are no problem to find. Phrasal verbs are printed after the simplex verb, FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Learners of English 59 but their related nouns are listed as main entries, which is a pity. Idioms are in a special section after phrasal verbs, and are headed by the label "Idiom". Cross referencing for synonyms is good, for idioms bad. Notes on synonyms and usage problems follow at the end in separate sections after etymologies. lt employs its own transcription system instead of that of the IPA, but indicates ward divisions. RHW places the most frequent meaning first, and it uses a number of drawings to help understanding. lt has various appendices, amongst them notes on "Avoiding Sexist Language", and two pages which help users when they have only heard, and not seen, a word in a text, called "From Sounds to Spelling". There is also an index for tabular and other systematic information in the main body of the dictionary, e.g. of basic information on the states of the USA. RHW is the best of the American desk dictionaries in this test, and comes fourth overall. lt shares first place in the microstructure with COD, and is runner-up in the Shakespeare, computer and encyclopedic tests. 4.3 British Dictionaries 4.3.1 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (COD) COD's physical appearance is all right at first glance. A closer look reveals, however, that it prints in one run-on entry all verbal, nominal, and adjectival uses of the same word form as well as idioms, compound nouns, phrasal verbs and their zero-derived nouns, as long as these are not written in one woid, in which case they get an entry of their own. This makes for too lang entries (see e.g, life, run, see and take), in which it is difficult to find what one is looking for. On the other hand, it puts semantically related things together: verbal senses are arranged according to their meanings, ·not their syntax, which not only saves space but also makes fewer demands on the linguistic knowledge of users, and phrasal verbs are immediately followed by the nouns which are semantically and formally derived from them. Meanings are numbered for different word classes, which is good, but the word dass symbols used could be more prominent (they are only italicized, not bolded or printed in small caps). COD gives few cross references for the constituents of fixed expressions: there are none for two of my test items while the third, have bats in the belfry, is listed under both bat and belfry. COD lists the most frequent, current meanings first. Tue dictionary now uses the transcription system of the IPA, but it still does not indicate word divisions. Most information is contained in the main body of the dictionary, such as the word form Afghan and the noun Afghani, although one has to go to an appendix to find the noun Afghanistan. This policy of excluding most encyclopedic matter 36, as 36 There is also an encyclopedic dictionary from Oxford University Press, The Oxford Encyclopedic Dictionary 1991, which is not reviewed here as there will be a revised edition of it in 1995 (oral communication from Patrick Ranks, Oxford University Press). FLuL 23 (1994) 60 Kurt-Michael Pätzold well as the absence of sections on synonyms or usage questions, explains its relative shortness, and accounts for its low score in the encyclopedic test. COD is, together with CD, one of the few dictionaries that have not gone with the times and do not include e.g. Asia in their word list, although such items often raise pronunciation problems for the foreign user, and although the separation of linguistic from encyclopedic knowledge is now often regarded as artificial or mistaken, and indeed is far from easy: why include Afghani (the name of the Afghan currency) and not Afghanistan? COD is the shortest of all college dictionaries in this review. lt is a good example of the fact that size determines the macrostructure but says little about the microstructure: it is joint first (with RHW) in the syntax and examples tests although it is bottom of the league in the other tests. lt is the best dictionary overall in the syntax test, but much less good at the provision of examples. Add to this a slight tendency to give difficult definitions, and COD looks less attractive a tool for foreign users. 4.3.2 Longman Dictionary of the English La,nguage (LDEL) Tue layout of this dictionary shows the usual mixture of good and bad points. Different syntactic uses of the same word form get separate main entries and numbering in LDEL, which makes for ease of finding. Though transitive andintransitive uses are listed and numbered separately, another good point, they are unfortunately printed run-on, with the transitivity labels hardly visible. Phrasal verbs follow on the simple verb, but the related nouns have to be looked up in separate entries. Cross references for idioms and synonyms are plentiful. LDEL does not indicate word divisions. Word meanings are not consistently arranged for their present-day frequency or for their history. As in its parent dictionary, MWC, meanings are subdivided using up to three characters, which is confusing. LDEL comes nearest to the American college dictionaries in that it distinguishes the meanings of synonyms and provides notes on usage problems, often giving examples in the process. As the results table shows, it comes third in the British dictionaries, and third overall. lt is nowhere outstandingly good or bad except in the examples test. Indeed, it provides quite a number of examples in its pages, e.g. in the paragraphs on synonyms and, last but by no means least, in the many boxed sections headed "notes", the real glory of this dictionary. I can only hintat the wealth of fascinating and entertaining information contained in them: there are notes on loan words (e.g. s.v. Canadian French, Czech, Dutch, German, Scottish Gaelic), on sexist language (e.g. s.v. man(kind) and person); on regional varieties (e.g. s.v. anymore, anyway and likely); grammatical problems (e.g. as versus like [s.v. as], the subjunctive, complementation with prepositions (e.g. s.v. anxious, compare, and different), the history of words, their pronunciations and meanings (e.g. s.v. cunning [with cross FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 61 references to two other words showing the same pejorative sense development], great [with mention of break and steak], magazine, and pander). These notes transform LDEL from a dictionary merely for reference purposes into a book which advanced readers will dip into even when they do not have to look somethirig up. For the next edition of LDEL I would like to see a subject index for readers to find out about the riches contained in the dictionary. 37 4.3.3 Collins English Dictionary (CED) I found it sometimes difficult to find the right page when I was looking up my items because the paper used for CED is too light. I also thirik that the font size chosen is a little on the small side. Other negative points are that meanings are numbered consecutively across word classes, word class symbols are hard to see, and all uses of the same word form are printed run-on. Idioms are put at the end of entries in hold, but do not begin a new line. Finally, CED does not indicate word divisions. lts cross-referencing system could be improved: while it lists two of four idioms that I checked twice, under both the noun and the verb (kick the bucket andjly off the handle), it puts two others orily under the bolded word without cross references (make both ends meet, have bats in the belfry). Positive features are that CED lists all its items in one list in strict alphabetical order. This applies also to phrasal verbs and their nouns, which are tharikfully found in the same entry. Another great advantage for foreign leainers is that CED uses the IPA, and arranges meanings according to present-day frequency. CED is second overall, and particularly strong in Australian, New Zealand etc and encyclopedic items. One of the dictionary's strengths that does not show up clearly enough in the test results is its treatment of encyclopedic material. Though I have not run an exhaustive test, I would thirik that CED offers more, and often more detailed, entries than any other desk dictionary. CED seems to me to be the best buy overall for general purposes, although others are stronger in particular departments. 4.3.4 The Chambers Dictionary (CD) This is an amazing dictionary in many respects. First, it has an appalling layout in which everything is printed run-on. Different. word-class uses of the same word form are separated by thin dashes and preceded by word class symbols, both of which I found hard to make out. Second, it does not arrange its entries in an alphabetic order, but prints them in morphologically related blocks, which makes finding things difficult. Third, it does not use the IPA nor does it, fourth, put all its 37 Fora more detailed review of LDEL see Masuda [et al.] 1994. FLuL 23 (1994) 62 Kurt-Michael Pätzold information in one word list: personal names and foreign words and phrases have to be looked up in appendices (though e.g. ora et labora and ora pro nobis are found in the main body of the dictionary). Fifth, phrasal verbs and idioms are not clearly distinguished from other forms. Sixth, it does not indicate word divisions, and seventh, it does not number meanings, nor does it set up meaning groups. Again, meanings of derived words are not always given. lts cross-referencing system could be better: it gives cross-references only in two out of the three cases I checked. Eighth, it has no usage notes or paragraphs in which synonyms are distinguished. Ninth, there are no drawings, photos or other illustrations, nothing but words, words, words. Tenth, with six points it has the worst score for the microstructure. lt is lousy on contextual information and offers not a single example for the 50 test items that I have checked. And yet this is, and has been for a long time, one of the best-selling dictionaries of the English-speaking world and, as the results table bears out, it is top among the desk dictionaries. What makes this dictionary so attractive, is its macrostructure: the figures for the first three dictionaries without the syntax and examples test are CD 309, CED 278, RHW 255. Indeed, CD has the most to offer in all macrostructural tests except North American and encyclopedic items. lts coverage of older English (Bible, Shakespeare, Milton) is excellent, as is its treatment of regional Englishes (it is particularly good on Scots, cf. Aitken 1989). In short, this is a dictionary of extremes: unuserfriendly lay-out, difficult arrangement of entries, ! arge macrostructure, and negligeable rnicrostructure. I love it and can recommend it to advanced students of English for decoding purposes, but to them only the reader has been wamed. References • AHC = The American Heritage College Dictionary. Third edition. Executive editor Robert B. Costello. Senior Lexicographer David A. Jost. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1993 [xxxiv; 1630 pp]. (*) ArrKEN, A. J. (1989): "The Extinction of Scotland in Popular Dictionaries of English". In: BAI- LEY, Richard W. (ed.): Dictionaries of English. Prospects for the Record of Our Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 99-120. AYTO, John: Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Arcade Publishing 1990 [III; 583 pp.]. The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology. Ed. by R. K. Barnhart. New York: Wilson 1988 [xxvii; 1284 pp.]. CD = The Chambers Dictionary. Managing editor Catherine Schwarz. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap 1993 [xviii; 2062 pp.]. (*) * Dictionaries marked with an(*) have been sent me by the publishers for review, which help is gratefully acknowledged. FLuL 23 (1994) Words, Words, Words: The Latest Crop of Dictionaries for Leamers of English 63 CED = Collins English Dictionary. Third edition. Managing editor Marian Makins. Senior editor Diana Adams. Glasgow: Harper Collins 1991 [xxxi; 1791 pp.; distributed in Germany as PONS Collins English Dictionary by Klett: Stuttgart]. (*) CGD = Collins German Dictionary. Ed. by P. Terrell [et al.]. 2nd ed. ed. by P. Terrell, H. Kopleck, H. Holtkamp, J. Whitlam. Glasgow: Harper Collins 1991 [first edition 1980. lntroductory matter: xxvi; German-English pp. 1-800; English-German, pp. 1-816; appendices after English-German part on German and English verbs and numerals (pp. 817-830), and a section on language in use (pp. 832-902); distributed in Germany as Pans Collins Grosswörterbuch [sie! ] Deutsch-Englisch Englisch-Deutsch by Klett: Stuttgart]. COD = The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Eighth edition. Edited by R. E. Allen. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1990 [xxxix; 1454 pp]. DOGE = Duden-Oxford Großwörterbuch Englisch. Englisch-Deutsch, Deutsch-Englisch. Edited by the Duden Redaktion and Oxford University Press. General editors: Werner Scholze- Stubenrecht and John Sykes. Mannheim: Duden Verlag 1990 [xxxi; English-German part: pp. 33-839; German-English part: pp. 841-1650; appendices pp. 1651-1696]. (*) GöRLACH, Manfred (1990): "[Art.] 158. The Dictionary of Transplanted Varieties of Languages: English". In: HAUSMANN, Franz Josef [et al.] (eds.): Wörterbücher• Dictionaries • Dictionnaires. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Lexikographie [...]. Vol. 2. Berlin/ New York: de Gruyter, 1475-1499. GRAMLEY, Stephan/ PÄTZOLD, Kurt-Michael (1992): A Survey of Modem English. London/ New York: Routledge. HENKE, Käthe/ PÄTZOLD, Kurt-Michael (1985): "Englische Wörterbücher und Nachschlagewerke". In: ZÖFGEN, Ekkehard (Hrsg.): Wörterbücher und ihre Didaktik. Bad Honnef: Keimer (= Bielefelder Beiträge zur Sprachlehrforschung 14 (1985)), 98-180. Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words. Edited by John Ayto. Oxford: Helicon 1993 [292 pp.; distributed in Germany by Klett: Stuttgart]. (*) KESS, Joseph F. (1992): Psycholinguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins. LDEL = Longman Dictionary of the English Language. New edition. Associate editor Brian O'Kill. Managing director, Longman Dictionaries Della Summers. Harlow: Longman 1991 [xxv; 1890 pp.]. (*) LGSW 1 = Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch. Deutsch-Englisch von Sonia Brough. Berlin: Langenscheidt 1992 [xv; pp. 8-1355; appendices pp. 1357-1405, containing i.a. abbreviations, geographical names, proper names and names of musical compositions; differs in format, but is identical in content, with the same author's Langenscheidts Handwörterbuch English, Berlin 1991]. (*) LGSW 2 = Langenscheidts Großes Schulwörterbuch. Englisch-Deutsch. Neubearbeitung von Heinz Messinger. Berlin: Langenscheidt 1988 [first edition 1977. Introductory matter pp. 3-20; main dictionary pp. 20-1378; appendices on abbreviations, proper names etc pp. 1381-1440]. (*) MASUDA, Hideo [et al.] (1994): "[Review ot] Longman Dictionary of the English Language". In: International Journal of Lexicography 7.1, 31-45. MORRIS, William and Mary: Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins. Second Edition. New York: Harper & Row 1988 [xiv; 669 pp.]. MWC = Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Tenth edition. Editor-in-chief F. C. Mish. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster Inc. 1993 [xxxviii; 1559 pp.]. (*) NGGH = Großes Handwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch. Von Albert Neubert und Erika Gröger. FLuL 23 (1994) 64 Kurt-Michael Pätzold Leipzig: Verlag Enzyklopädie & Langenscheidt 1991 [1. Auflage 1988; VI; pp. 7-956; appendices pp. 957-959]. NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions. By Richard A. Spears, consulting editor Linda Schinke-Llano. Lincolnwood, Ill.: NTC 1989 [xvi; 528 pp; distributed in Gerrnany by Klett: Stuttgart]. (*) OHFD = The Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary. French-English, English-French, edited by Marie-Helene Correard and Valeri Grandy. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1994. Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English. [= ODCIE 1 and ODCIE 2; for bibliographical details see Henke's article in this issue (page 147)]. PARTRIDGE, Brie: A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Eighth edition. Revised by Paul Beale. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1984 [xxix; 1400 pp. There is also an abridged edition: PARTRIDGE, E. and BEALE, P.: A Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. London: Routledge 1991, 560 pp.]. PGED = The Penguin German English Dictionary. Compiled by T. Buck. London: Penguin 1990 [Lxxxiii; 555 pp. The introduction contains a brief, but comprehensive sketch of German grammar.] (*) PGW 1 = PONS Globalwörterbuch. Teil 1: Englisch-Deutsch. Neubearbeitung 1993 von Gudrun Küper, Arrnin Mutscheller, Jennifer Flechsenhaar, Elizabeth Morris. Based on the first edition (1983) by Jennifer Flechsenhaar, Veronika Schnorr [et al.], and Collins German Dictionary, 1991 edition. Stuttgart: Klett 1993 [xviii; 1441 pp., plus appendices, pp. 1445-1470]. (*) PGW 2 = PONS Globalwörterbuch. Teil 2: Deutsch-Englisch. Neubearbeitung 1993 von Gudrun Küper, Anke Müller, Karin Friemel-Teuscher, Eckard Böhle und Dorothee Meister. Based on the first edition (1983) by Veronika Schnorr [et al.], and Collins German Dictionary, 1991 edition. Stuttgart: Klett 1993 [xxiii; 1421 pp., plus appendices, pp. 1426-1462]. (*) RHD = Random Hause Unabridged Dictionary. Second edition. Newly revised and updated. Edited by Stuart Berg Flexner, Editor in Chief, and Leonore Crary Hauck, Managing Editor. New York: Random House 1993 [xLiii; 2478 pp.]. (*) RHW = Random Hause Webster's College Dictionary. Editor in Chief R. B. Costello. New York: Random House 1992 [xxxii; 1568 pp.; including various appendices, pp. 1556-1567]. (*) The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins. Ed. R. Hendrickson. New York: Facts on File 1987 [581 pp.]. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Ed. by C. T. Onions. With G. W. S. Friedrichsen and R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1979 (1966) [xvi; 1025 pp.]. The Oxford Encyclopedic Dictionary. Ed. by Joyce M. Hawkins and Robert Allen. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1991 [xvii; 1784 pp.]. The Penguin Canadian Dictionary. Ed. by Thomas M. Paikeday. Markham and Mississauga, Ont.: Penguin Books Canada and Copp Clark Pitman Ltd. 1990 [xviii; 852 pp.]. Webster's Word Histories. Edited by Frederick C. Mish. Springfield/ Mass.: Merriam Webster 1989 [xvii; 526 pp.]. WNW = Webster's New World Dictionary of American English. Third College edition. Editor in Chief Victoria Neufeldt. Editor in Chief Emeritus David B. Guralnik. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. 1988 [xxvi; 1557 pp.; appendices pp. 1558-1574; distributed in Gerrnany by Klett: Stuttgart]. (*) FLuL 23 (1994)