Aliyah - Review of Hebrew Dictionaries

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Reading between the lines

Words, words and yet more words

A printed or electronic dictionary?
English-English or English-Hebrew?
General or specialized? We seek some definitions

By Dana Ofer
Ha'aretz Newspaper
October 29, 2001
www.haaretzdaily.com
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One of the biggest challenges for the average Israeli student is
the requirement to read extensively in English. Because of this,
students are willing to pay a fair amount of money for a good
dictionary.

To help students starting out in the new academic year, we examined
the dictionary market, which can be divided into two categories -
familiar old printed dictionaries and the modern electronic
dictionaries.

Traditional print dictionaries remain more popular than electronic
ones, yet early in the semester, there is always a big rise in
sales of electronic dictionaries - because they are easier and
faster to use, says Tali Rubin, deputy general manager of Academon.

Eitan Zinger, the general manager of Dionon, another university
bookstore, says students today are looking for a dictionary that
meets all their various needs and includes professional terminology,
which is why the most popularly sold dictionaries are not
necessarily the cheapest. Zinger notes that university rules about
which dictionaries are allowed during exams, for example, also play
a role in the choice of dictionary.

Writing a dictionary is a complex process involving many
considerations and constraints - often purely technical - says
Professor Yael Ziv, a lecturer in English linguistics at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. This explains why it is well nigh
impossible to find a dictionary that is above criticism.

The attempt to address the needs of the average consumer - when
most dictionary users need specific terminology - is the bane of
all lexicographers. Another problem, notes Ziv, is the breaking up
of the language into factors, which are not always possible to put
back together and make it as logical as the original.

Lacking context, she says, mistakes and misunderstandings occur,
and this is exactly where a good dictionary can help. Ziv recommends
examining if the dictionary contains explanations and examples,
and does not make do with only laconic, succinct definitions.
Ziv also recommends that the dictionary contain explanations in
the source language, that is an English-English dictionary, or
at least an English-English-Hebrew dictionary, explaining that
this minimizes the chance that the definition will inadvertently
take the user to a different associative area.

In practice, says Carol Wexler, who is in charge of advanced
English courses at Tel Aviv university, most students have trouble
using an English-English dictionary and in most cases clearly
prefer using an English-English-Hebrew or English-Hebrew
dictionary. She believes, however, that all students should have
an English-English dictionary at their disposal, even if it is
not used on a day to day basis.

In this context, says Wexler, there are practical solutions based
on the computer and Internet, such as the Webster or Babylon programs,
which can complement the regular use of a standard dictionary.

We examined the various dictionaries the market offers students as
well as how much each costs. Students are often eligible for regular
discounts on this prices, especially in the university and college
bookstores - Michlol, whose largest branch is located in the
Technion in Haifa; Academon located in Haifa University and the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem and all its extensions; Dionon in
Ben-Gurion, Bar Ilan and Tel Aviv universities, the College of
Management in Rishon Letzion, and more. Browsing is permitted.

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, published by Kernerman-Kahn
contains 40,000 entries and, according to figures provided by
Academon, is very popular. At Dionon and Steimatzky it costs NIS 91;
at Michlol NIS 87 and at Academon NIS 86.

Wexler agrees it is a very good dictionary, although not quite
comprehensive enough. Some important words are missing and sometimes
only some of the possible definitions of words are given. There is
also an Oxford English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English pocket dictionary sold
at Steimatzky and Dionon for NIS 52, at Michlol for NIS 50 and at
Academon for NIS 48.

The English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English pocket dictionary published by
Shimon Zilberman is a relatively inexpensive dictionary and
according to Wexler, its English-Hebrew side is very good.
At Michlol, a version of this dictionary containing 55,000 entries,
costs NIS 28; a larger version containing NIS 82,000 costs NIS 40.
At Dionon the expanded edition costs NIS 44 and at Academon NIS 42.

A richer and broader-based dictionary is the Alcalay English-Hebrew,
Hebrew-English dictionary published by Yedioth Ahronoth. It has an
especially large number of entries (the exact number is not stated),
in three volumes. At Steimatzky, it costs NIS 360; At Academon -
NIS 330. Wexler says that Alcalay is the most comprehensive
English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English dictionary available, but that it is
old and not always up to date, consequently lacking words that
entered the language in recent years.

A new dictionary, a Dictionary of Business, Judicial and Economic
terms, published by Prolog is a professional English-Hebrew,
Hebrew-English dictionary containing over 50,000 entries, idioms,
Latin expressions and specific professional definitions. The
dictionary is sold at Steimatzky for NIS 240 and at Dionon for
NIS 228.

Fast as electrons

Where electronic dictionaries are concerned, alongside the older
models one can also find newer improved versions with multiple
functions at a higher price. Edward Levenston, a professor of
English linguistics who took part in the development of the
electronic dictionary "Milonit" (Compu-Dict), manufactured by
the Israeli company Votronics, says that while an ordinary
dictionary aspires to perfection, an electronic dictionary views
efficiency of use as its principal goal.

Among the reasons for the popularity of the new dictionaries among
students, Wexler notes that they do not need to remember the order
of letters in the English alphabet in order to look up words in an
electronic dictionary.

The most inexpensive and compact electronic dictionary available
is "Tirgumit" by Top Technologies, a dual language pocket
dictionary containing about 80,000 entries as well as a personal
organizer and a memory of 32KB. Tirgumit is small and easy to
carry in one's pocket and is quite reasonably priced. At Michlol,
Tirgumit costs NIS 200, Dionon NIS 190, Academon NIS 153, Office
Depot NIS 149, at Kravitz stores it is on sale for NIS 140 and
at Sakal Duty Free it costs $40.

"Excellent," also by Top Technologies is a dictionary that "speaks"
English, with a 128KB memory. It contains 80,000 entries and also
serves as a personal organizer and phrase book. It costs NIS 440 at
Michlol, NIS 370 at Kravitz, NIS 350 at Office Depot, Academon and
Dionon, and $90 at Sakal Duty Free.

The "Franklin" dictionary is the only electronic dictionary that
is an English-English-Hebrew dictionary. It is based on the database
of the Oxford dictionary, contains 50,000 entries, gives examples
of how words are used in sentences and provides for extensions
with Webster cards (French-English, English-French; Spanish-English,
English-Spanish). At Kravitz stores it costs NIS 350, at Office
Depot, Dionon and Academon NIS 500 and at Sakal Duty Free $120.

Two somewhat more sophisticated and more expensive dictionaries
are "Compact" and "Compact Millennium." Their advantages include
being rechargeable and they can "talk," - they actually "say" the
definition of words in English. The Compact electronic dictionary,
by Votronics, translates English, French and Arabic to and from
Hebrew. It contains 60,000 entries and costs NIS 536; at Steimatzky,
it costs NIS 520 and NIS 525 at the Michlol chain. There are
professional editions in the fields of law, medicine, accounting
and more.

The "Compact Millennium," which includes the dictionary, the
professional dictionary, a telephone directory, personal organizer
and calculator costs NIS 650 at Steimatzky, and is considerably
cheaper at Dionon at NIS 520.

"Texton Oxford" by Texton, geared especially to beginners is a
dual-language dictionary based on the complete Oxford dictionary.
It contains 90,000 entries and is simple to use, but does not
contain examples of how the words are used in sentences. At the
Michlol chain, where this dictionary is sold more than anywhere
else, it costs NIS 545; at Dionon it costs NIS 520, Academon
NIS 500 and at Kravitz it is on sale for only NIS 450.

Other well-known electronic dictionaries on the market belong
to the "Genius" family manufactured by Top Technologies. The
Genius 1000ML contains 80,000 entries in English, Hebrew, French
and Hebrew and also serves as a personal organizer. In addition,
it also contains phrase books translating English, French, Spanish
from and to Hebrew. It costs NIS 625 at Michlol, NIS 576 at Dionon,
NIS 520 at Academon and $120 at Sakal Duty Free.

"Genius Pro" is a talking English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English
dictionary containing 80,000 entries as well as interesting
information on different subjects. There is a general dictionary,
a professional dictionary, a lexicon and phrase book in English,
German, French and Spanish. The dictionary can serve as personal
organizer with a graphic lighted screen. At Dionon it costs NIS 800,
NIS 782 at Office Depot, NIS 700 at Academon and $165 at Sakal
Duty Free.

"Quicktionary" by WizCom is unidirectional English-Hebrew
electronic dictionary with 100,000 entries. Its greatest
advantage is in that it does away with the need to key in the
letters because it has an optical scanner that can "read" the
desired word. It is quicker than other electronic dictionaries
but using it requires guidance and skill.

The Quicktionary "talks" and even allows for the scanning of
entire sentences, which can then be saved and later sent to a
computer or cellular phone. At Academon, Kravitz and Office Depot
the Quicktionary costs NIS 700, and at Michlol NIS 665. Despite
its price, it is a major seller to students at Office Depot.
Academon, on the other hand, reports that sales of the
Quicktionary have dropped.

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Note from Jacob Richman:

Other useful dictionaries that are not listed in the article above.

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