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Number 16 y July 2008 Kernerman kdictionaries.com/kdn p18, margin, line3, strat line: Merriam-Webster Inc. p18, margin, line4, start line: Springfield, MA, 2008 DICTIONARY News p18, margin -- add in grey box at bottom: Merriam-Webster and the future of dictionary-making p18, right, prg2, line2: learner's (add apostrophe) John M. Morse p19, left, prg1: italics line3: lavatory Once upon a time, not so long ago, Charles Levine and Joseph from weaker rivals falling by the wayside, before Microsoft line6: lavatories Esposito exchanged views in these pages about the future of finally lowers the boom on both of us. line6: restrooms dictionary-making, and not surprisingly, the name Merriam- So Round 1 of dueling prognostications seems to go to Joe, line7: lavatory Webster came up more than a few times. The overly simple but what neither Charles nor Joe addressed in any detail was version of that conversation was that Charles was predicting a how growth in online use of the dictionary would affect the p19, left, prg2: italics coming boom in English lexicography, especially in creating business. I mean no criticism with that remark; the emergence line8: both (NOT italics) products for nonnative speakers of English, while Joe thought of free online delivery as a significant source of revenue did line9: pin (italics) the future of dictionary-making was pretty punk, mostly because not occur until after Charles and Joe made their comments, Microsoft was going to take over the business by bundling a so- but the development is significant nonetheless. I don’t think p19, right, prg2: end not in block so dictionary with Windows. He ends his essay with the wistful I’m making headlines to say that much of Merriam-Webster’s “Good-bye Oxford and Merriam. It was nice to know you.” growth in the past five years has come from revenues flowing p20, left, prg6, line3: English (delete i) At the time, I thought it best not to respond. Joe, after all, was from online use of our products. And, in a less parochial vein, I suggesting a certain degree of fecklessness on the part of the think we all should take some encouragement from the fact that management of Merriam-Webster and OUP and predicting our dictionary is one of the most frequently submitted search terms eventual demise. As such, I thought any response from Merriam- to Internet search engines. Indeed, the good news coming out Webster would be seen as self-defensive (we would resist the of the online experience so far is that a lot of people are using charge and reject the prediction) and lacking credibility (what dictionaries. And the log files of our Web sites suggest the Web else really could we say?). is well supplied with serious people asking serious questions However, in his last installment, Charles offered a glimpse of about serious words. Merriam-Webster’s business at the time and suggested that readers Of course, it needs to be said that this growth in revenue has should stay tuned, so perhaps an update on Merriam-Webster and not come easily. It has required old dogs to learn some new its view about the future of dictionary-making is now in order. tricks. If I had been asked twenty years ago what was the one First, I am happy to report that the state of health of Merriam- aspect of publishing that dictionary publishers would never Webster is still quite good and that profits have increased in have to learn, I might well have said advertising sales. Who every year since that conversation took place. Interestingly, ever heard of ads in the pages of a dictionary? And yet, here this buttresses Joe’s gloomy scenario more than Charles’ sunny we are, fully committed to a new way of making money that one. Charles postulates that growth in the dictionary business requires new knowledge, new skills, and new ways of looking would come from sales of products for nonnative speakers, and at our business. In the online world, for instance, we don’t sell Merriam-Webster has really just begun to offer such products, the dictionary; we sell the eyeballs that look at the dictionary. so that doesn’t explain the growth over the past five years. Joe, This new business model will worry some dictionary-watchers on the other hand, predicted a period of short-term growth for and set them to wondering what nefarious effects it will have Merriam-Webster and Oxford, as we both pick up market share on editorial policies and on dictionary-making in general. I am 1 Merriam-Webster and the future of dictionary-making y John M. Morse 4 Gazophylacium Anglicanum (1689), a turning point in the history of the general English dictionary y Miyoshi Kusujiro 8 The feeling of sakura – Are you interested in such a Japan? y Hisamatsu Ken'ichi and Hayakawa Fumitoshi 14 Thierry Fontenelle (ed.). Practical Lexicography, A Reader y Rik Schutz 15 Lexicography in Asia, Vol. 2 y Vincent B.Y. Ooi, Anne Pakir, Ismail S. Talib, Peter Tan. Perspectives in Lexicography: Asia and Beyond © 2008 All rights reserved. 16 Password – a productive dictionary family y Ruth Mägi 18 A First Look at Merriam-Webster’s Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary y John M. Morse K DICTIONARIES LTD Nahum 8 Tel Aviv 63503 Israel 20 A new dictionary with a different viewpoint y Ari (Lionel) Kernerman Tel: 972-3-5468102 Fax: 972-3-5468103 Editor y Ilan J. Kernerman [email protected] Graphic Design y Studio Orna Cohen http://kdictionaries.com 2008 July Dictionary News, Kernerman ISSN 1565-4745 2 happy to report that, at least so far, I see no We see a traditional and an emerging bad effects at all. The main difference is business for each of these transitions, with greater sense of urgency to meet the needs the traditional business persisting even as of and delight the user, but that certainly the emerging business grows. This gives us can’t be a bad thing. two conditions for each of three variables, None of this refutes Joe’s central point which if you remember your high school about the power of bigger players to distort math, means that there are two to the the world of dictionaries. Fears about third power, or eight, different businesses Microsoft may seem increasingly archaic, for Merriam-Webster, ranging from print but substitute Google for Microsoft and products for native speakers in domestic muse on the fact that one tweak of the markets (still our biggest business) to Google algorithm for ranking search results electronic products designed for English- can consign any Web site to the dust heap language learners in international markets of history, and you realize how timely and (our newest business). appropriate Joe’s concerns are. Of all these transitions, the move from However, I think our experience of the past print to online delivery has been most ten years does cast some doubt on Joe’s transforming and holds the potential John M. Morse is the notion that the artfully bundled good-enough for letting lexicographers engage with President and Publisher of dictionary will prevail. One could point to dictionary users in much more intimate and Merriam-Webster Incorporated. the definition link on Google results pages meaningful ways, including blogs, message He began his tenure in 1980, as the moral equivalent of bundling in boards, open dictionaries, widgets, and following four years as today’s search-dominated world, and indeed personalized pages. Joe worries that we will the dictionary at the other end of that link stunt our growth by limiting the market for Project Editor for Merriam- profits from it, but it is hard to see that link dictionaries to plain old humans, as opposed Webster’s parent company, transforming the world of dictionaries. In fact, to building dictionaries to meet the needs Encyclopædia Britannica. so far, no bundled dictionary, whether with of computers, and he may be right. But As Manager of Editorial browser, search engine, operating system, or for right now, there is plenty of new and Operations and Planning in e-book reader yet looks likely to have a major exciting business to go around in meeting 1983, and as Executive Editor impact on the dictionary business. And as the language needs of human beings. in 1991, he assumed overall for the world being inclined to embrace the Interestingly, the move to electronic delivery responsibility for all product- good-enough dictionary, I note that the vast has brought some unintended consequences. development operations. He majority of Web traffic going to dictionaries By offering a free Collegiate Dictionary was promoted to the position continues to go to high-quality professionally on the Web, we have introduced Merriam- of Publisher in 1996, widening created databases. Webster dictionaries to more people in his responsibilities to include So, ultimately, I choose to side with Charles international markets than we were ever in this discussion. In part this is my native able to do with our print products. Our all company operations, and optimism. I am drawn to the truism that print products, after all, face two daunting was named President and pessimists are usually right, but optimists challenges in international markets. In Publisher the following year. have more fun. But I also believe that English-speaking countries, they go He continues to be actively dictionary-making will flourish and that up against very good locally produced involved in the company’s meeting the needs of English-language native-speakers’ dictionaries, which enjoy editorial process, including the learners will be a big part of it.

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