Pedro Fuertes-Olivera (ed.). Specialised Dictionaries for Learners. Lexicographica Series Maior 136.

Abstract

In the information and knowledge society, specialised dictionaries have come to play a more central role than ever. They are information tools designed to assist their users with specific data on the LSP of various subject-fields and on the knowledge representation of these subject-fields. In fact, specialised dictionaries are bound to play a role no less important than that of the so-called LGP-dictionaries, which traditionally have received disproportionate attention from metalexicographers. Admittedly, there has been an ongoing debate about the alleged theoretical and practical differences between terminography and specialised lexicography. This issue is convincingly dealt with in the introductory chapter of the book under review. However, we can only hope that the debate will give way to more important issues regarding the nature of specialised dictionaries. Whom should they be made for? For what purpose should they be made? What kind of information needs should they cater for? How can they simultaneously convey information on language and on the knowledge of a given subject field? How should they deal with culture-dependent subjects (e.g. business, law, politics, etc.) across languages? An issue which hitherto has been totally ignored is the pedagogical one. Millions of users are engaged in the process of learning a specific LSP or a specific subject field as a central part of their education or vocational training. How exactly should specialised dictionaries be designed to satisfy the needs of such learners? What should be the functions of such tools? Are they the same as those of learner’s dictionaries for LGP? The publication under review is the first one to give a comprehensive account of pedagogical LSP lexicography, and therefore we will examine whether the interested reader can get a fair answer to some of the major questions posed above.