Search Techniques in Electronic Dictionaries: A Classification for Translators

Abstract

Translators, and language professionals in general, have long claimed that dictionaries are deficient, especially regarding access and updating of content. Some authors have also noted that these deficiencies are compounded by the fact that language professionals do not receive (proper) training in dictionary use, and therefore do not fully benefit from them. Electronic dictionaries include new search capabilities, not found in traditional dictionaries, that could meet users’ needs. However, the diversity of search options in electronic dictionaries makes their classification difficult, and consequently hinders training in their use. Systematization of search techniques in electronic dictionaries would favor the teaching and learning process, and could also facilitate the task of lexicographers and terminographers in the creation of new and more standardized electronic dictionaries. In this paper we classify search techniques in electronic dictionaries by focusing on three elements that are common to every search and that, taken together, encompass all the search possibilities we have observed in electronic dictionaries.