[Lexicog] Re: [asialex] Re: [afrilex] Re: Re: [euralex] Re: [DSNA] RE: End of print dictionaries at Macmillan

[Lou Hohulin]

I confess that I am of the older generation, and still love books that I can hold in my hands. But...there is another reason why I use printed dictionaries. I am working on a bilingual dictionary, and when I am revising the Reverse English Index, I want to make sure that I really know the meaning of the English equivalent that I am putting in the Index. Since I have several windows of the dictionary open, as well as a grammar sketch and a full grammar document open, I am afraid I might cause my computer to crash if I was trying to use dictionaries on the Internet. (Last but not least, my aging brain might crash, too, with trying to use the Internet along with handling all those windows.)

So I still appreciate printed dictionaries!!

Lou


On Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:57:00 +0200
 "David Joffe" <david.joffe at tshwanedje.com> wrote:
>On 7 Nov 2012 at 5:10, mmasibidisetaka at yahoo.com wrote:
>
>> This is a very interesting debate I must say, however the first thing
>> that we need to establish is a dictionary culture which I believe is
>> not strong enough (especially in South Africa)before we could
>> celebrate the end of print dictionaries and the beginning of a new era
>> of online dictionaries. Secondly we need to consider the dynamics of
>> the widening gap between those who have and those who don't, because a
>> very small percentage of people have access to computers.
>
>Hmm, a little perspective here perhaps: Smartphones *are* computers, 
>and the *cheapest* smartphone is a FAR more powerful computer than 
>the computer I first learned to program on. I recently took an 
>R80/month contract here (approx $10/month), and for that I have a 
>portable computer/cellphone in hand that compares as follows to the 
>computer I learned to program on:
>
>- 832MHz process vs 2 MHz processor
>- Size:portable vs Size: Large heavy desktop
>- Screen: 240x320 256K colors vs screen: 320x200 16 colors
>- Internet vs: No Internet
>- Advanced HTML5 Web browser with built-in JavaScript programming 
>language, vs: No Web browser
>- 3GB storage vs: 20MB storage
>- Built-in camera vs: No built-in camera
>
>Yes, the poorest can't afford R80/month, but surely even someone of 
>relatively modest income could afford that? Also, we're only at the 
>start of the smartphone trend, they are still dramatically falling 
>in price and becoming more commonplace/popular (the main impediment 
>is probably the mess that is the patent system), so I must admit I 
>don't think the depiction of the majority lacking access is entirely 
>fair, at least regarding South Africa, Internet coverage via the 
>mobile networks reaches over 90% of the population already, and with 
>several new African under-ocean fiber cable projects and massive 
>investments in terrestrial bandwidth infrastructure prices are still 
>falling ... imagine what it will be like in just another 10 years. 
>(Regarding the gap between haves and have-nots, global income 
>inequality has also actually been improving more or less 
>consistently for about five decades now, even though it might not 
>always feel like it and is 'contrary to popular belief'.)
>
>That said, I hope paper dictionaries never go away entirely. I find 
>myself approaching this question from the perspective of a new 
>parent, asking myself 'would I prefer my child[ren] growing up in a 
>household with paper dictionaries around', and the answer is an 
>absolute 'yes' ... I remember also as a child enjoying just browsing 
>through dictionaries just for interest, and while you could possibly 
>replicate this to some extent in software, I'm not sure you can ever 
>do so entirely. But, this may also be partially nostalgia, and 
>today's generation grow up in an environment of 'continual 
>technological distraction' so they might not find 
>dictionary-browsing as interesting.
>
>Also, myself, I rarely consult paper dictionaries nowadays, and if 
>so, it's usually for dictionaries that I don't have in 
>online/electronic format.
>
> - David
>
>



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