Challenges for the bilingual dictionary

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of creating a bilingual dictionary is the fact that lexemes or words cover more than one area of meaning, but these multiple meanings don't correspond to a single word in the target language. For example, in English, a ticket can get you into the movie theater, or can be given to you by a police officer for exceeding the posted speed limit. In Spanish these two meanings are not covered by one word as in English, but rather there are several options: boleto or entrada and infracción.

Bilingual dictionary formats

Bilingual dictionaries are available in a number of formats, and often include a grammar reference and usage examples.

• Printed dictionaries - Printed dictionaries range from small pocket-sized editions to exhaustive multi-volume works.
• Handheld Electronic dictionaries - Electronic dictionaries are small devices that receive input via a miniature keyboard, voice recognition or a scanning device that reads printed text, and outputs the translation on a small LCD screen or speaks the translation audibly.
• Dictionary programs - Computer software that runs on a Personal computer and allows you to translate words or phrases.
• Online dictionaries - Online dictionaries are often easy to search, but not always free to use, and in some cases lack the credibility of printed and electronic dictionaries.
• Phrase books - Phrase books are not usually considered dictionaries in the traditional sense of the word, but can serve the same purpose in a primitive fashion.
• Visual dictionaries - A visual dictionary is a printed dictionary that relies primarily on illustrations to provide the user with a reliable way of identifying the correct translation. Visual dictionaries are often multi-lingual rather than bilingual-- instead of containing translations between two languages they often cover four or more languages.

Using a bilingual dictionary

One of the most important things to remember when using a bilingual dictionary is to always do a reverse lookup. In the above-mentioned example in English and Spanish of the word ticket, after finding that ticket is translated into boleto and infracción in the English-Spanish dictionary, it is advisable to look up both of those Spanish words in the Spanish-English section to help you identify which one has the meaning you are looking for. Electronic and online dictionaries can often help you do a reverse lookup quicker than with printed dictionaries.

See also

• Computer-Assisted Translation
• Dictionary
• Translation dictionary
• Machine Translation
• Mariano Velazquez de la Cadena (Spanish-English bilingual dictionary author)

External links

Sample bilingual dictionaries online

• [1] Travlang 18+ language pairs
• [2] Tomísimo Spanish <-> English
• [3] Leo German <-> English