The115?year?oldprestigiousOxfordDictionarywillnowincludepopularnewChinesetermslike“shanzhai”and“youtiao”,aspartofthemodernChineselanguage.
AsChinaplaysamoreandmoreimportantroleintheworldeconomy,theChineselanguageisforeverevolving,attractingmoreattentionfrompeoplewhowanttounderstandthisancientyetvibrantlanguage.
AlltheseneworoftenfashionabletermscanbefoundinthenewOxfordEnglish?Chinese,Chinese?EnglishdictionarythatwasunveiledintherecentlyconcludedBeijingInternationalBookFair.
ThisdictionaryisthelargestsinglevolumeEnglish?Chinese,Chinese?Englishdictionaryandcontains670,000wordsandphrasesafterfiveyearsofpreparation.SixtyeditorsfromtheOxfordUniversityPressanditspartnerinChina—theForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress—workedtogetherontheproject.AccordingtoJulieKleeman,thedictionary?schiefeditor,mostofthefirm?seditorsareChinese,whileaboutonefourthatrnativeEnglishspeakers.
“Wedon?twanttomakeitflorid,wewantittobemodernandconversational...manyofthewordsinthepresentdictionaryarenolongerinuse,”saidKleeman.“TheneedforstudyingChinesebyforeignerstodayistotallydifferentfromdecadesago...Precise,nativeandpractical—thatisourcoreadvantage,”shesaid.
Sheaddedthedictionaryalsohasasidebarsectionthatexplainswordsthatpackintoomuchculturalinformation,like“hutong”,atraditionalarchitecturestyleinthenarrowlanesofBeijing.Anotherwouldbe“youtiao”,thepopularChinesebreakfaststapleusuallyeatenwithsoybeanmilk.
AccordingtotheForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress?pressrelease,termsincludedinthenewversionofdictionaryareselectedfromboththeOxfordEnglishCorpusandtheCityUniversityofHong?sLIVACSynchronousCorpus.
Kleemansaidnewerpublication,updateswillbeavailableonlyfortheonlineversionaslanguageoftenchangestooquicklyforbookversionstokeeppace.TheonlineversionwillalsoofferaChinesephoneticpronunciationguide.
Theonlineversion,allowingaccessviadifferentplatformsfromthePCtotheiPad,willbeready“assoonaspossible”,Kleemansaid.
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