Abstract
The rapid growth of mobile applications for smartphones in the past few years has encouraged dictionary publishers to offer mobile dictionaries. One of the most prominent target markets of mobile dictionary applications is business people, especially those who are non-native speakers of English. These business people often need a dictionary to help them understand the international news they are reading. However, as shown in the review of the current mobile business dictionaries, the dictionary applications have not taken into account the needs of the users and the technological features of smartphones. The current mobile dictionaries still resemble either their electronic versions or even worse their printed versions. This can be due to the lack of research and emphasis on the theoretical aspects of mobile lexicography. Therefore, this paper tries to formulate principles for the design of business dictionaries for mobile applications. The discussion considers the implementation of the modern theory of lexicographical functions in order to create mobile dictionaries which can better satisfy the needs of the users. The principles created are organized into two parts, they are, business news with a built-in dictionary and a dictionary with updated business news.
Highlights
A few years ago, when there was a high demand on internet dictionaries, a number of lexicographers converted their dictionaries into internet dictionaries with different extent of adjustments
As mobile applications for smartphones have become more popular in the recent years, dictionary publishers have started providing dictionaries in the form of mobile applications
The current dictionary applications have not been created with a solid theoretical foundation that they have not met the real needs of the users and have not utilized the unique technological features of smartphones
Summary
A few years ago, when there was a high demand on internet dictionaries, a number of lexicographers converted their dictionaries into internet dictionaries with different extent of adjustments. The business people who use English as a second or foreign language often need a dictionary that can help them understand the international news they are reading Since these business people have started reading news using their smartphones, they need dictionaries which can be installed in the operating system of their mobile phones. As we can see later in this paper, the current mobile dictionaries are not specially designed for smartphones as they still resemble their previous versions as printed or electronic (computer) dictionaries They have not been created using sound theoretical foundations and they have not utilized the unique smartphone technological features. This paper includes a theoretical discussion in formulating principles for the design of mobile dictionaries that can properly satisfy the needs of business people. This means that it does lead to improved dictionary concepts, but it lays a solid theoretical foundation for reviews and criticism of dictionaries that do not perform their role optimally as utility tools (Tarp 2008: 84) The principles created based on this theory are organized into two parts, they are, business news with a built-in dictionary and a dictionary with updated business news
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