Successful Translation Students’ Use of Dictionaries

Dictionaries of all types are an indispensable tool for both professional and trainee translators. However, the literature on trainee translators indicates that the skills associated with dictionary use have not been given the required attention. Knowing which dictionaries to use and how to use them efficiently when engaged in the translation process are significant aspects of translation pedagogy. In fact, facilitating the development of effective dictionary use helps develop translation competence in general. Therefore, the present article reports on a qualitative case study of successful translation students’ usage of and preferences for various types of dictionaries. The results show that successful trainee translators use dictionaries to locate synonyms or better translations for target words. Successful translation students are also reported to use dictionaries frequently to check spelling. Most respondents reported consulting the dictionary after they finished reading source texts. In line with the global move toward digitalization, the participants reported using electronic dictionaries with significantly greater frequency than paper dictionaries. In most cases, successful translation students’ use of paper dictionaries was limited to classroom examinations. The open-ended interview questions also helped to reveal the variety of dictionaries used by this group of trainee translators. Taken together, these findings have utility for translation instructors, particularly regarding the improvement of trainee translators’ experiences and the provision of assistance to less successful students.

A vocabulary lesson as a basis for dictionary culture formation in the process of teaching the Russian language

The paper substantiates the relevance of dictionary culture formation as an important component of information culture and personal culture in general. In addition, the concept of "the culture of dictionary use" is defined. The vocabulary lesson is described as an innovative type of Russian lessons; this type is characterised by a specific goal and a specific content related to the personal, meta-subject, and subject levels of the results achieved in the process of education. Such lessons play a significant role in the development of students’ linguistic personality; they also stimulate learners’ cognitive activity, facilitate the mastering of linguistic norms and the acquisition of self-regulatory skills. Resource materials for a vocabulary lesson, namely vocabulary exercises, are demonstrated. Informational-orientational, activity-semantic, and activity-textual vocabulary tasks illustrate the proposed typology of vocabulary tasks.

Nutzungsstatistiken von linguistischen Online-Ressourcen: Potentiale und Limitationen

Dictionary usage research views dictionaries primarily as tools for solving linguistic problems. A large proportion of dictionary use now takes place online and can thus be easily monitored using tracking technologies. Using the data gathered through tracking usage data, we hope to optimize user experiences of dictionaries and other linguistic resources. Usage statistics are also used for external evaluation of linguistic resources. In this paper, we pursue the following three questions from a quantitative perspective: (1) What new insights can we gain from collecting and analysing usage data? (2) What limitations of the data and/or the collection process do we need to be aware of? (3) How can these insights and limitations inform the development and evaluation of linguistic resources?

Millennials as Dictionary Users: A Study of Dictionary Use Habits of Serbian EFL Students

The article addresses the use of dictionaries among the new millennium generation of English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduates. Applying the mixed-method approach (a questionnaire and interviews), the study examines the frequency of dictionary use, the types of dictionaries used, activities initiating dictionary consultation, information searched for, and problems faced in using dictionaries. The findings suggest that the participants are most fond of bilingual online dictionaries and use them mostly for looking up the meaning of unknown words. They also show that despite being high consumers of technology, participants do not benefit much from online dictionaries, as they neglect most of the entry information. The qualitative data reveal that the participants perceive various digital tools of questionable quality as online dictionaries. Overall, the study sheds light on the characteristic behavior of the new generation of EFL learners regarding their dictionary use and points to the necessity of developing their digital competence in the realm of dictionary use.

How to stay in the loop. A think-aloud study on dictionary use by excellent secondary-school students of Ancient Greek.

Dictionary use in secondary-school classics education in the Netherlands is problematic and an important cause of poor translations and text comprehension. Research on the topic is scarce and dictionary training plays a marginal role in the classics teaching practice. This explorative, qualitative think-aloud study examines which dictionary activities lead to success. We observed excellent secondary-school students while they were translating an Ancient Greek text. A feedback loop model, characterised as a slow process of constant verification, is used to analyse their dictionary behaviour. The findings show that successful dictionary activities depend on moving back and forth between text and dictionary, while the students reduce the cognitive load by activating schemata. Performing informed searches and using their fingers or the ribbon bookmark facilitate this process. In addition, closely monitoring the process with a critical mind, and linguistic reflection using appropriate metalanguage seem crucial.

UPOTREBA REČNIKÂ U UČENjU ENGLESKOG JEZIKA STRUKE NA TERCIJARNOM NIVOU IZ PERSPEKTIVE STUDENATA

The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- eral-purpose and technical dictionaries in learning English for specific purposes at the tertiary level in Serbia. The research was carried out in 2018 on a sample encompassing 705 students from all the faculties of the University of Novi Sad. It was realized by means of a question- naire composed of 50 questions with a four-point Likert scale and 10 questions with answers on a two-point scale. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20, and the interview data were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Our quantitative findings reveal that students mostly use digital dictionaries, followed by printed and monolingual ones, and finally dictionaries of technical terms. The same quantitative data indicate that students use dictionaries primarily to find out the mean- ing of a word or its spelling, while they do not understand the abbreviations for grammati- cal information and cannot evaluate the quality of a dictionary. The majority of them do not possess a technical dictionary. The qualitative data confirm that the respondents mostly use digital sources and tools (e.g., Google Translate) since such searches are consistently faster and offer single, ready-made answers. The findings suggest that a systematic training in dictionary use at all educational levels is necessary.

Effects of Language Skills and Strategy Use on Vocabulary Learning Through Lexical Translation and Inferencing

This study explores how vocabulary learning strategy usage and skills in the four language domains relate to participants’ increase in vocabulary size and to the learning of specific vocabulary items over a certain period of time. Sixty-one advanced L1 Arabic L2 learners of English read target words in semi-authentic reading materials and were instructed to either guess the meaning from context or consult a dictionary. Pre- and delayed post-tests assessed vocabulary size and knowledge of the target vocabulary items. Results showed that learning through inferencing, but not learning through dictionary use, depended on learners’ familiarity with the particular learning strategy. Additionally, note taking and reading comprehension influenced lexical knowledge and acquisition in complex ways.