Linguistic Resources I:
The English Language
This page of the ATS website includes links to general dictionaries, encyclopedias and style guides that we can personally recommend:
- Abbreviations
- Dictionaries
- Encyclopedias (general)
- Encyclopedias (technical)
- English usage
- Etymology
- Online reference library
- Phrases and idioms
- Style guides
- Thesauri
- Visual dictionary
- Resources #2: Ger/Eng and other languages
- Resources #3: glossaries & specialist dictionaries
- Resources #4: patents
- Resources #5: blogs and articles
Disclaimer
ATS doesn't have any direct interest in promoting the
sites on this page and has no influence on the
resources themselves, how well they function, how
accurate they are linguistically or what they cost to
use. They are all independent websites and are
responsible for their own content.
Read the rest of the disclaimer here.
Various useful reference works:
N.B. Be a bit critical of Wikipedia's results as the contributors are not all professional writers; Wikipedia is a public platform. It can contain excellent information, however.
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At Thesaurus.com you can look up synonyms of words to save you repeating yourself in a translation or help you recall a similar term you want to use. You can also find antonyms here.
The hits are from Roget's New MillenniumTM Thesaurus, which contains over 18,000 entries. Just enter a term in the box below and click on "go":
P.S. Click here for information on how to use a thesaurus effectively - it can help you use one faster.
Another thesaurus is available from The Free Dictionary (see above).
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Encyclopedias
Among other resources, the following website features an English dictionary and encyclopedia that draw on a large number of authoritative information sources. Like The FreeDictionary®, it's easy to use and very informative (contains advertising, though, but even that's intriguing!).
N.B. Towards the end of the results list you get, you'll find a list of translations of the term you entered in various languages.
Click on the image on the right to access some free resources on the Encyclopędia Britannica website. These include EB's concise encyclopedia, an English dictionary and a thesaurus.
Full access to all their resources (which include maps, timelines, national surveys and many other things) is available at a reasonable annual charge.
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Clicking on the logo above will take you to an encyclopedia of technical terms concerned with the IT world. Over 20,000 terms are listed apparently.
Apart from offering readers free access to this large pool of information, TechWeb.com also aims to provide IT professionals with the latest IT news and information written by trade journalists, so it can be useful if you want to find out more about a specific product.
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Help with English usage
If you're not sure whether to write "affect" or "effect" or you get confused about the correct usage of other verbs, nouns or parts of speech in English, then you'll no doubt find the online version of the Hutchinson Dictionary of English Usage very useful.
P.S. Ignore the advertising at Tiscali. It's unavoidable! One "upside" of visiting the Tiscali site, though, is that it includes a free dictionary of difficult words on the same page (e.g. preventive v. preventative).
Click here to access the online version of The Columbia Guide to Standard American English written by Kenneth G. Wilson.
This free-to-use online version of the reference work on American usage contains 6,500 entries with cross-references. You'll find lots of examples of the way the language is and ought to be written or spoken - it's both descriptive and prescriptive.
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Etymology
If you want to find out about the origins of an English word, then try out this easy-to-use resource run by Douglas Harper. It's based on a large number of authoritative reference works.
You can either click on the image below to go to the website or use the search box underneath it to look for a specific term or phrase:
The following words have interesting origins - why not look them up?
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Online English dictionaries
It's hard to believe the scope of this Internet search engine, but OneLook® currently searches over 900 online dictionaries when you look up a word! You can ...
- look for definitions of a term
- look for a translation
- or look for the correct spelling of a word
- Enter a word to search for dictionary websites that include that term.
- Enter a pattern consisting of letters and wildcards to search for the right spelling of a word. Use * and ? as wildcards; * matches multiple letters, and ? matches one letter.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press):
The CALD is particularly useful because it includes sample sentences showing how the word you picked is actually used, not just definitions.
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary
The "Compact OED" is a surprisingly comprehensive dictionary with short explanations of terms and phrases.
If you enter a word in the box below, you'll get a list of hits in this source and two other Oxford dictionaries (on quotations and first names) and can then pick the one you'd like to view.
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American English
If you want to look up American words or phrases, try out Merriam-Webster's online dictionary search.
NB. The results of your search will be shown in our own HTML frame, not Merriam-Webster's (due to their special programming). To return to this page, just click on the "Back" button in your Web browser.
The dictionary includes the US pronunciation of the word you've searched for, which you can listen to if you have a loudspeaker attached to your PC.
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Click on the image above to go to Microsoft's Encarta resource. Besides being able to access the Encarta dictionary of American English here, you can also try out the encyclopedia or atlas.
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Merriam-Webster has produced a new online version of its visual dictionary of English terms that looks very appealing. It contains over 6,000 labelled images and over 20,000 terms listed in specific visual contexts.
Click here to find out more about the reference work and click on the image above to go straight to the dictionary.
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Phrases, Sayings and Idioms
www.phrases.org.uk has created a list of over 1,400 phrases, proverbs, sayings and idioms in English.
You can search the database for free, get sent a phrase a week by e-mail and ask questions about expressions in a discussion forum. Just click on the name to visit the site.
N.B. More idioms are available in the "Online Reference" section provided by The Free Dictionary over on the left and at the dictionary website run by Cambridge University Press (click here).
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Abbreviations
To find out the meaning of an abbreviation
or acronym, try out Acronym
Finder.
It's very good for English terms, but also includes
terms from other languages such as German as
well.
(ATS has contributed to this database.)
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N.B. If you can't find the meaning of an acronym here, then have a look for it in The Free Dictionary's list of acronyms over on the left or try Abbreviations.com below.
In its own words, "Abbreviations.com is a search engine and directory for acronyms and abbreviations. It has more than 400,000 entries classified by various categories like computing, business, medical and more."
You can integrate its search functionality into your Web browser if you use IE or Firefox and then look up abbreviations on any Web page you read.
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Style guides
The Chicago Manual of Style provides recommendations to writers, editors, translators and anyone else seeking guidance on the use of American English. It's one of the most important style guides in the country.
You can use some of the online resources for free (e.g. a searchable question-and-answer list), have a free limited trial of its full resources or subscribe to get its full scope of services right away. Click on the image above to go to the website.
The Economist has put an interesting guide on its site that's based on their official style guide for journalists.
Translators who regularly produce English translations of PR pieces can profit from reading through these handy guidelines (and even buy the official book from the site if they wish).
Click here to view the online guide:
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Further Language Resources
As well as reviewing reference works on the English language, we've also described more than 25 useful online dictionaries and encyclopedias concerning French, German, German-English, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, plus several EU resources that are likely to be of interest to professional translators:
» Bilingual dictionaries and dictionaries and spelling guides in other languages.
» Various glossaries of English and German terms.
» Links for patent translators, including medical resources.
» Articles and blogs concerning aspects of translation work.
