Specific features of modern electronic dictionaries

1.1 Types of dictionaries

Lexicology and phraseology (science) are closely related to lexicography (from Greek. lexis-word and grapho-write).
Lexicography is one of the applied (i.e. having practical purpose and application) Sciences included in modern linguistics. This is the theory and practice of compiling various language dictionaries, so it is the science of dictionaries, how to make them the most reasonable, at the same time it is the practice of compiling dictionaries.
The existing types of dictionaries are diverse. This diversity is primarily due to the complexity and diversity of the object of lexicographical description, i.e. language. There is virtually no way to give in one dictionary all the more or less comprehensive information about the language, which would satisfy equally all society as a whole and its individual layers. That is why in any national lexicography we find dozens or even hundreds of dictionaries of different types.
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1.2 Electronic dictionaries

With the advent of computer technology, the creators of the software have created a new type of dictionaries – electronic dictionary. This type of dictionary is a completely new word in the history of lexicography, which marked a new qualitative stage of its development. It is now electronic dictionaries come out of the shadow of paper and become independent. After all, electronic dictionaries have a number of obvious and significant advantages over traditional dictionaries. The only drawback is their attachment to a personal computer and, therefore, limited availability. However, this drawback will be eliminated soon enough, if not completely, at least mostly, due to the increasing pace of computerization, including the growing availability of laptop computers of the Laptop type [5,p.44].
Electronic dictionaries are now released quite a lot, so let’s focus only on bilingual English-Russian and Russian-English dictionaries.
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1.2.1 Advantages of electronic dictionaries

In the traditional approach, the minimum unit of access is the lexeme (the name of the dictionary entry): you need to read the entire article to determine whether it contains a response to our request. For dictionaries such as Oxford, this is a serious problem. For example, the verb ‘set’ has 400 basic meanings (and many of them have sub-meanings) [5,p.32].
The specificity of the dictionary answer is that it gives a very diverse information about the word or phrase, and not just a translated match, involves the active choice of the user from several possible well-founded alternatives.
However, an attempt to solve the problem of adequate response to the query dictionary inevitably encounters the resistance of the dictionary material transferred from the paper dictionary.
Electronic dictionaries not only contain transcription, but also can pronounce words. Here, too, there are two approaches.
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1.2.2 The problem of vocabulary relevance

Let us touch upon the problem of the relevance of the dictionary content. As already mentioned, the fundamental (best!) paper dictionaries are inevitably outdated.
This is especially true for colloquial vocabulary, in particular, profanity. In this area, domestic classical dictionaries appear not only outdated, but simply hypocritical.
The functions of fixing the current state of the language assume spreading small dictionaries, usually very opportunistic and superficial. New meanings in them are detached from their linguistic roots, poorly or arbitrarily explained.
Mass software products, such as electronic dictionaries, are characterized by frequent change of versions and constant feedback from thousands of users. Therefore, computer lexicography is inevitably the actual lexicography.
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1.2.3 According to the level of achievement of the linguistic science

The gap lexicographic theory and lexicographic practice is great. This should be especially offensive for the Russian linguistic science, in which lexical semantics occupies a special place. It is enough to name such names as Melchuk, Apresyan, Paducheva and many others.
Of course, there are special “conceptual” dictionaries in which the vocabulary is presented integrally and systematically. For example, explanatory and synonymous dictionaries Apresyan group.
At the same time, these ideas are not implemented in mass paper dictionaries. But it is in the development of these ideas that the future of practical computer lexicography lies. Without going into a detailed analysis of the theoretical concepts that are both practical and useful, we indicate the following:
– The concept of “lexical function”, which allows to systematically describe the non-free compatibility of words.
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1.2.4 Machine translation

The transfer of a computer – a difficult but interesting scientific problem. Its main difficulty lies in the fact that natural languages are difficult to formalize. Hence, the low quality of the text obtained with the help of MP systems, the content and form of which serves as an invariable object of jokes.
Studying the problem of machine translation (MT), it is necessary to consider separately the various subsections of this problem. Following separation based on lectures Larry childs, conducted in the framework of the International Conference on Technical Communication, 1990:
– fully automatic translation;
– automated machine translation with human participation;
– translation carried out by a person using a computer.
Fully automated machine translation. This kind of machine translation is what most people mean when they talk about machine translation.
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2. The use of computer programs in translation

In order to better understand the principles of MP systems and their methods of using dictionaries and grammar analysis, as well as the synthesis of structures in the output language, it is necessary to translate several texts in practice (preferably different in functional style and subject). The most expedient is the use of the system MP PROMT XT, because it is the latest version of a number of PROMT products and objectively the best available.
Take the following text as a first example:
“You are given 12 identical-looking coins, one of which is counterfit and weights slightly more or less (you don’t know which) than the others. You are given a beam balance which lets you put the same number of coins on each side and observe which side (if either) is heavier.
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Conclusion

To the level of full automation of translation humanity has not yet reached, and will probably not soon. The reason for this is probably the lack of development of the Sciences involved in the creation of such systems. It is too difficult to say how a person translates – and even more difficult to simulate this process with a computer program. All the more difficult to do this, given that a person thinks in images, and teach this computer – it is impossible in principle.
Language is imaginative and can not be fully algorithmized, and therefore the problem of full automation of translation is the following problem: to teach the machine to think and operate with images – and this problem is already from the field of artificial intelligence, the creation of which is still something from the field of science fiction.
Another thing is that now we can use the achievements of science and technology to facilitate human work in all areas of its activities.
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