Review on an electronic dictionary “Lingoes”-its macrostructure and microstructure

王珏

Abstract： When it comes to lexicographic study， dictionary study will be easily mentioned. And electronic dictionary is one important component in dictionary study. In this essay， the author will review on an electronic dictionary called “Lingoes”， and the review will be conducted from two aspects， its macrostructure and microstructure. From the analysis merits and demerits of this dictionary will also be concluded.

Key words： Lingoes; dictionary; macrostructure; microstructure; advantage; demerits

1.Introduction

This essay will focus on an electronic dictionary called “Lingoes”， which is the most powerful one among those e-dictionaries the author has used， including Youdao， Eudic， etc. Generally speaking， it is used as a general English dictionary “where the word list is not restricted by domain or register” （quote Robert Lew）.  However， it can also function as a specialized English dictionary. That is because Lingoes provides users with a wide range of dictionaries for free installation， both general dictionaries like Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary， and specialized ones， such as English-Chinese Economics and Foreign Trade Dictionary. Apart from English translation， Lingoes Company published more than 60 different languages versions， such as Japanese， German， Italian， and Arabic. As what I have installed in my lingoes are mainly general dictionaries， I will talk less about specialized dictionaries in this essay. To get this essay topic accomplished， it is inevitable to analyze the microstructures of every dictionary I installed. I will look up one specific word in this e-dictionary and take it as an example in the whole text.

2.The macrostructure of “Lingoes”

After downloading the translation software of Lingoes， you may find that it is initially installed with several dictionaries， Vicon English-Chinese Dictionary， Vicon Chinese-English Dictionary， Concise English Synonym and Antonym Dictionary， Chinese Synonym and Antonym Dictionary， Jukuu， Hudong Baike， and two online instant translation services supported by Lingoes Project. And I manually installed one dictionary from the Lingoes official website， Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary （2nd edition published 2005）.

Firstly， open this e-dictionary， the whole interface is mainly divided into three parts， the search bar on the top， the left and the right side columns. At this moment， the macrostructure， namely the word list， does not appear. On the left， only three option buttons are shown， including dictionary， appendix and setting. On the right side， all kinds of dictionary buttons are there for users need and preference. Once English letters are entered one by one， the word list will turn up simultaneously on the left column. The word list is arranged in alphabetical order and it contains all the words of every dictionary you choose to install. And each time you add one more letter in the search bar， the word list will react timely and change quickly. But what never changes is the letter combination you enter is always in the middle position of the changing word list with a blue shadowed box around it. When the last letter of the word is put in the search bar， the word list will disappear. And instead in the left column will show a list of dictionaries which record that exact word in them. After you delete that word from the search bar， a word list will reappear starting from “a” with the blue box. This kind of alphabetical order macrostructure is similar to most paper dictionaries and the only difference lies in the search process， this e-dictionary searching automatically， the paper one manually. Unlike some electronic ones， it provides users with a complete word list， other than just a few words when entering a word.

3.The microstructure of “Lingoes”

To clarify its microstructure， the word “help” will be taken as an example. In the right side column all the dictionaries with this entry word in it will be on display， separated by a long blue line. The name of each dictionary is shown on the top left blue shadowed box of these blue lines. The lexicographic data categories presented in each dictionary differs with each other. Between the search bar and the main dictionary section， a loudspeaker icon is designed for users being able to hear the audio rendition of the pronunciation of each entry word. Initially two kinds of pronunciation are offered for users preference， one pronounced by a Chinese， other an American. More different pronunciations can be downloaded for use.

The first one is Vicon English-Chinese Dictionary. This is a bilingual dictionary and is arranged in a highly simple way. Beside the headword， there is pronunciation offered in green. And in the next line its parts of speech are presented in red in separate lines. Under each part of speech， its Chinese senses are rendered. Different meanings are semicolon-delimited.

Next one is Concise English Synonym and Antonym Dictionary. In contrast to the general English dictionary， the lexicographic data contained in this dictionary is rather restricted. Synonym and Antonym Dictionary is a good example of specialized English Dictionary： all the data presented for each word is limited to its synonym and antonym， so is Etymology dictionary. All the synonyms of “help” is put in blue and underlined， which can be linked to their dictionary page immediately after clicking. Antonyms are in the same pattern except for the green color.

Strictly speaking， Jukuu is actually not a dictionary but a translation service based online. If Google is said to be a content search engine， then Jukuu can be described as another Google- searching for expression. The data included in this service is completely example sentences， each separated with others by a dot in front. Three colors are applied， English sentence in blue， Chinese sentence in yellow， the entry word “help” in red. At the end of Jukuu section， users can see more example sentences by clicking the option “see more sentences”.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary is much better-organized and comprehensive. The first impression is that more colors are employed in this dictionary. The headword “help” is rendered in black and bold. And it can be noticed that there is a number 1 in its upper right corner. It indicates that this word has some homonyms， which refer to words having the same form but different meanings. Whats covered in this dictionary contains spelling， pronunciation， definitions， examples， grammar/syntax （including part of speech）， usage （including style labels and collocation）， and synonyms. What follows the headword “help1” is a bold blue “help” followed by a bracket with its synonym in it. The synonym is made in capitalized letters and in purple. Close to it is its pronunciation in green. The bold blue “help” appears when introducing each new part of speech， which is marked in red and in an independent space line. Red Arabic numerals are set to distinguish each core sense. Right behind it in a square bracket is the specific grammatical usage of the part of speech. For example， [I or T] indicates that this word can not only be a transitive verb but also an intransitive verb. [+ （to） infinitive] explains its usage in grammar field， which is made clear that if “help” is used before a verb， it is both grammatically right with “to”  in between or without. Following the square bracket is the English definition of core sense 1 in black and in lower case. After the explanation of the word meaning， many examples are given in light blue and in some cases it gives you a different expression of one word or one phrase or even one whole sentence. This part is rendered in a bracket and with an equal sign in front and all in black. Take some real examples as evidence.

I feel that learning English will help （= improve） my chances of promotion at work.

This kind of arrangement enables users to understand more easily and also extend their vocabulary. Another example：

Nothing can help her now （= Her situation is too bad for anyone to be able to improve it）.

In this circumstance， a paraphrase is provided for better comprehension. The original sentence is not easy to capture as it contains some connotative meaning. However， the latter one explains it in a straightforward way and thus makes it plain and understandable. In most cases， only one kind of pronunciation is presented. The rare case of variant pronunciations can also be seen， for instance， helper /?hel.p??/ US /-p?/. Labels show their appearance in some occasions.

SLIGHTLY FORMAL Shall I help you to some more soup？

The register label is stated in front of this sentence， indicating this kind of expression are slightly formal and its appropriate only to certain situations or found only in certain contexts.

Hudong Baike is a kind of online encyclopedia providing users with some background information of the entry word in Chinese. Nevertheless， the information given sometimes has little relation to the word meaning itself. For instance， the data covered of “help” is like this：

約翰&列侬1980年接受‘花花公子杂志David Sheff的采访时说：“1965年推出《Help！》时，叫救命的人应当是我才对。人们大多认为这是一支快节奏的摇滚歌曲，当时我自己却不这么认为。这是我为电影写的任务歌曲。可后来，我还真要嚷嚷‘救命了。因为电影中我演的是Elvis全盛时期的那段。他表演技能好，活性十足，发挥尽情。

It reflects all the information of that word in and beyond word level.

Conclusion

Over all， this software is highly recommended. The biggest advantage is that it gives users the freedom and convenience to install whatever authoritative dictionary they prefer， Collins COBUILD Advanced Learners English Dictionary， Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English， Longman Language Activator， Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary， Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English and The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary， to name a few.

Disadvantages still exist. The first one is the microstructure of these dictionaries that come with this software need improving. Vicon English-Chinese Dictionary is designed rather simply. If after each rendering of Chinese translation one English example can be given accordingly， it will be better. In addition， the advertising part could be removed. The same problem shows in Concise English Synonym and Antonym Dictionary. The difference between/among those synonyms and difference between/among those antonyms could be explained and better with certain examples. Jukuu has different demerit. It provides enough examples; however， the quality of them should be supervised. More reliable examples are suggested and the source of each one should be stated clearly below it， such as BBC， CNN. Second， for those comprehensive and complicatedly-designed dictionaries， how-to guide should be included to show the learners what particular form of words or symbols means. Third， it can be considered to employ the spelling check function， like Youdao. When you enter a word with few letters in wrong order， it can identify it automatically and gives you a reminder that if you are looking for the certain correct word. If faced with the same situation， Lingoes would output nothing， which causes troubles to users. Last， at present Lingoes is restricted to Windows platform， from Windows 2000 to the lately updated one. Thus it cannot run on Android and IOS systems. In the near future it can be a promising direction for the company to develop the Android and IOS versions.

References：

[1]Carr， Michael. 1997. ‘Internet Dictionaries and Lexicography. International Journal of Lexicography 10.3： 209-230.

[2]Cowie， Anthony Paul. 1999. English Dictionaries for Foreign Learners： A History. Oxford： Clarendon Press.

[3]De Schryver， Gilles-Maurice. 2009. ‘State-of-the-Art Software to Support Intelligent

[4]Lexicography in Zhu， R. （ed.）， Proceedings of the International Seminar on Kangxi Dictionary & Lexicology. Beijing： Beijing Normal University， 565–580.

[5]Lew， Robert. 2010. ‘Multimodal Lexicography： The Representation of Meaning in Electronic Dictionaries. Lexikos 20.