Gilles-Maurice de Schryver (editor-in-chief) et al. Oxford IsiZulu-IsiNgisi/English-Zulu Isichazamazwi Sesikole / School Dictionary.

Abstract

The publishers of this dictionary are to be commended on a new approach to school dictionaries in the South African context. This publication is a most important addition to the range of dictionaries linking indigenous African languages with English presently available, especially since there is a dearth of desk dictionaries in which a Nguni language (e.g. Zulu or Xhosa) is lemmatised. Until now, such dictionaries (in which English lemmas are coupled with Zulu or Xhosa translations and/or definitions) have mostly served as decoding resource for mother tongue speakers of the Nguni language or an encoding resource for speakers of English. This dictionary breaks new ground in that it provides the ‘ordinary’ user (i.e. not only funded lexicographers, who have access to comprehensive dictionaries) with access to the full spectrum of what a translating dictionary should have on offer. Good things are to be said about the format of presentation. As in the case of the Oxford English-Afrikaans School dictionary, its attractive design and structure presents an invitation to the would-be user to mine the contents for links to the target language. Structured according to the well-developed Oxford template, it combines usefulness with attractiveness. The cover design, as one has come to know it, sports the ubiquitous corporate identity and marketing slogans, but also reveals important information about the content, in addition to a brief preview of the microstructure on the back cover. A highlighted grouping of some three articles from both languages is used to demonstrate four key areas of application, e.g. the appropriate selection from the domain of usage, high frequency equivalents, actual usage, and the inclusion of subject terminology as used in the school curriculum.