Corpus Use in Bilingual Dictionaries

Valerie Grundy

A bilingual dictionary is a useful tool for a translator only in so far as it offers translations of authentic use of language. Until very recently, lexicographers had to rely largely on their own intuitions about how language is used in order to select and order the information presented in the dictionary. The use of electronic corpus has brought about radical changes in the way lexicographers work. This paper takes a brief look at corpus developments over the last few decades and goes on to demonstrate how corpus can used in bilingual dictionary making. It examines the successive stages involved, drawing upon methods and policy developed for The NewEnglish-Irish Dictionary project.

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