Philosophische Fakultät Chair English Language and Linguistics Prof. Dr. Josef Schmied Bilingual Online Dictionaries - A Critical Survey Magisterarbeit im Hauptfach Anglistik/Amerikanistik Janine Pecher Reitbahnstraße 38 09111 Chemnitz 0176/28131733 [email protected] 1. HF: Anglistik/Amerikanistik, 13. Semester 2. HF: Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik, 11. Semester Matrikelnummer: 75639 Abgabe: 09.01.2009 Table of Contents Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................... III List of Figures ........................................................................................................ IV List of Tables .......................................................................................................... V 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Object of Investigation and Problem ............................................................. 1 1.2 Disambiguation ............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Structure........................................................................................................ 4 1.4 State of Research ......................................................................................... 6 1.5 Motivation and Relevance ............................................................................. 7 2. Printed Dictionaries vs. Online Dictionaries – Typing Instead of Browsing? ........ 9 2.1 Dictionaries in General .................................................................................. 9 2.2 Printed Dictionaries ..................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Advantages and Disadvantages ........................................................ 12 2.2.2 Macrostructure ................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Microstructure .................................................................................... 16 2.3 Online Dictionaries ...................................................................................... 18 2.3.1 Advantages and Disadvantages ........................................................ 18 2.3.2 Macrostructure ................................................................................... 24 2.3.3 Microstructure .................................................................................... 24 3. Analysis of Selected Bilingual Online Dictionaries ............................................. 26 3.1 General Overview ....................................................................................... 26 3.2 Leo.org ........................................................................................................ 27 3.2.1 General .............................................................................................. 27 3.2.2 Design and Structure ......................................................................... 28 3.2.3 Sample .............................................................................................. 31 3.2.4 Extra Features ................................................................................... 32 3.2.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 33 3.3 Pons.eu....................................................................................................... 34 3.3.1 General .............................................................................................. 34 3.3.2 Design and Structure ......................................................................... 34 3.3.3 Sample .............................................................................................. 36 3.3.4 Extra Features ................................................................................... 38 I Table of Contents 3.3.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 38 3.4 Dict.cc ......................................................................................................... 39 3.4.1 General .............................................................................................. 39 3.4.2 Design and Structure ......................................................................... 40 3.4.3 Sample .............................................................................................. 42 3.4.4 Extra Features ................................................................................... 44 3.4.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 44 3.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 45 4. Survey ............................................................................................................... 46 4.1 Procedure .................................................................................................... 46 4.2 Design and Materials .................................................................................. 46 4.3 Participants ................................................................................................. 48 4.4 Results and Analysis ................................................................................... 49 5. Suggestions for Improvement ............................................................................ 65 5.1 Indication of Specific Areas ......................................................................... 65 5.2 Contextual Information ................................................................................ 65 5.3 Corpora ....................................................................................................... 69 6. Conclusion and Foresight .................................................................................. 76 Bibliography........................................................................................................... VI Appendix .............................................................................................................. XII Appendix 1: Overview of Bilingual or Multilingual Online Dictionaries .............. XII Appendix 2: Abbreviations for Special Branches ............................................. XIV Appendix 3: Questionnaire ............................................................................. XVII Appendix 4: Deutsche Zusammenfassung .................................................... XXIII Eidesstaatliche Erklärung II List of Abbreviations LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CIDE - Cambridge International Dictionary of English DCE - Dictionary of Contemporary English DWDS - Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache des 20. Jh. ICT - Information and Communications Technology OED - Oxford English Dictionary III List of Figures LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Computer and Internet Usage in the First Quarter 2007*) ........................ 1 Figure 2: Detailed Overview of Various Types of Dictionaries .............................. 11 Figure 3: Search Results for 'stamp' on dictdata.de ............................................. 21 Figure 4: Search Results for 'stamp' on Google Image Search ............................ 21 Figure 5: Search Results for 'caravan' on dictdata.de .......................................... 22 Figure 6: Search Results for 'Treff' on dictdata.de ................................................ 22 Figure 7: Start Screen leo.org .............................................................................. 28 Figure 8: Search Results for 'Opfer' on leo.org ..................................................... 31 Figure 9: Start Screen pons.eu ............................................................................. 34 Figure 10: Search Results for 'Opfer' on pons.eu ................................................. 36 Figure 11: Search Results for 'victim' on pons.eu ................................................. 37 Figure 12: Start Screen dict.cc ............................................................................. 40 Figure 13: Search Results for 'Opfer' on dict.cc ................................................... 42 Figure 14: Search Results for 'sacrifice' on dict.cc ............................................... 43 Figure 15: Popularity of Selected Online Dictionaries .......................................... 49 Figure 16: Online Dictionaries Listed by Participants ........................................... 51 Figure 17: Frequency in Usage of Selected Online Dictionaries .......................... 52 Figure 18: Frequency in Usage of Beolingus........................................................ 52 Figure 19: Usage of Traditional- and Online Dictionaries or Both ......................... 53 Figure 20: Satisfaction in Usage of Traditional Dictionaries ................................. 55 Figure 21: Satisfaction in Usage of Online Dictionaries ........................................ 57 Figure 22: Search Results for 'Abriss' on leo.org .................................................. 66 Figure 23: Search Results for 'Muster' on leo.org ................................................. 70 Figure 24: Search Results for 'Opfer' on leo.org ................................................... 73 IV List of Tables LIST OF TABLES Table 1: List of Irrelevant Online Dictionaries Mentioned by Participants ............. 50 Table