The theory and practice of specialised online dictionaries for translation

Resumen

This paper discusses the role dictionaries play in a translation situation within the tenets of the Function Theory of Lexicography (Bergenholtz/Tarp, 2002, 2003, 2004; Tarp 2008; Fuertes-Olivera/Tarp, 2014). It comments on the lexicographic data needed for assisting translators of specialised texts, proposes a list of recommendations for constructing high quality translation dictionaries and illustrates these views by referring to the Accounting Dictionaries, a series of interconnected Danish, English, Spanish, Danish-English, English-Danish, Spanish-English and English-Spanish dictionaries that provide assistance to the envisaged user group in a number of specified situations, e.g. L1-L2 and L2-L1 translation (Fuertes-Olivera/ Nielsen, 2012). These dictionaries are subject to a continuous process of adaptation in order to cope with theoretical modifications and technological breakthroughs, e.g. the challenges the Internet poses for making dictionaries (Fuertes-Olivera, 2013a; Fuertes-Olivera/Bergenholtz, 2011 [2013]; Fuertes-Olivera/Tarp, 2014; Tarp, 2012). For instance, since 2011 users can access several usage specific dictionaries, e.g. the Diccionario Inglés-Espanol de Contabilidad: Traducción and the Diccionario Inglés-Espanol de Contabilidad: Traducción de Frases y Expresiones. These are Model T. Ford dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries whose articles and the visualized lexicographical data are adapted to the various functions displayed by the dictionary, frequently assisted by different types of interactive options where the users may define themselves and the activity for which they need information (Tarp, 2011 [2013]).