Example Sentences in Bilingual Specialised Dictionaries Assisting Communication in a Foreign Language

Abstract

Practitioners, researchers and translators are persons who often have to communicate about domain-specific issues in a foreign language and may consult bilingual specialised dictionaries for help. However, many specialised dictionaries focus on terms even though studies of the foreign language text production process reveal that this also includes grammar, language conventions, genre conventions and style. Specialists can be expected to know conventions and style in their own source language culture but cannot be expected to know how these are realised in a foreign language. Bilingual specialised dictionaries can help users if they contain domain-specific example sentences illustrating how source language convention and style can be transposed to a foreign language. This means that bilingual specialised dictionaries should not merely help users translate terms but be lexicographical tools designed to assist in foreign language communication so that they provide help to practitioners, researchers and translators who produce specialised texts in a foreign language using proper conventions and style.