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- Convenor:
-
Jaeho Lee
(Waseda University)
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- Stream:
- Japanese Language Education
- Location:
- Torre B, Piso 3, T14
- Start time:
- 31 August, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
This panel looks at the concept of the "dictionary", which is among the basic infrastructure in language learning. The panel constitutes three presentations.
Long Abstract:
This panel looks at the concept of the "dictionary", which is among the basic infrastructure in language learning. The panel constitutes three presentations. The first presentation offers the role and meaning of the dictionary in Japanese learning after looking at Japanese-language education in Europe. The second presentation provides a discussion about content creation in the dictionary from a standpoint of lexicological study. The third presentation talks about providing effective dictionary contents based on the IT evolution.
A reference on the link between translation studies and the dictionary is made in the first presentation while touching on Japanese studies in Europe. The requirement that must be met by the dictionary to be desirable for Japanese learning is made clear after introducing the situation surrounding the learner's dictionary with inclusion of experiences in Japanese language learners' dictionaries carried out as research supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research. The concept of the dictionary to support Japanese learners is elaborated on after touching on the descriptive problem about the framework of the dictionary including the classification of definitions, interpretation of words, and presentation of sample sentences in particular.
The second presentation reveals how these could be realized by what is expected and what resources in content creation including sample sentence and interpretation of words contained in the dictionary. It shows that the corpus can be used at all levels of content creation for the dictionary based on experiences in the development of the "Japanese Education Dictionary". It introduces as a catalog a relevant database effective for the creation of dictionary contents.
The third presentation illuminates what occurred by evolving into the electronic dictionary or even the online dictionary from the printed dictionary based on experiences in developing and operating the "Reading Tutor". It points out that the limit in respect of quantity was reduced and the dynamic user environment was laid using language processing tools and elaborates on changes in the positioning of the dictionary in the whole learning process with the evolution to the electronic dictionary and online dictionary from a printed dictionary.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This presentation reveals how these could be realized by what is expected and what resources in content creation including sample sentence and interpretation of words contained in the dictionary. It shows that the corpus can be used at all levels of content creation for the dictionary.
Paper long abstract:
It is very difficult to decide what kind of words and how much to record in the learner's dictionary. In order to solve this problem, he corpus is very useful. This presentation, we introduce examples of "Japanese Education Vocabulary（JEV: http://jhlee.sakura.ne.jp/JEV.html） " constructed based on corpus. JEV is a database constructed to support learner's dictionary creation. The vocabulary of JEV was selected from a Japanese textbook and BCCWJ:Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese. JEV is created using external resources such as Nihongo-Goi-Shinmitsudo data and Bunrui-Goihyo. In addition, unique research results on difficulty of vocabulary are included. Therefore, by utilizing the appendix-like information included in the JEV, it is possible to support creation of a learner's dictionary abroad including Europe.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation offers the role and meaning of the dictionary in Japanese learning after looking at Japanese dictionary compilation in Europe.
Paper long abstract:
Japanese dictionaries that contain more than 100,000 headwords are now being compiled in Germany and Poland. In order to read or write academic papers in Japanese, a big dictionary like one of those is an indispensable tool for the scholars. However as compiling such kind of big dictionaries will cost a lot of time and energy involving enormous amount of money, we can't be optimistic about the future of the development of this kind of dictionaries.
Meanwhile, electronic dictionaries, online dictionaries and dictionary software for smart phones are being developed, and many of those are available free of charge. In Japanese universities and perhaps also in European universities, there are very few students who use printed dictionaries in Japanese classrooms. Most students nowadays use free dictionary software via smart phones. As this story indicates, printed dictionaries are becoming less and less popular these days. And this makes it more difficult to compile full-fledged big Japanese dictionaries.
Another movement concerning the development of Japanese dictionary is the use of corpora for compilation. Since 2011 when National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics released a 100 million words corpus, Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ), the number of the research on Japanese language using corpora has greatly increased. Consequently editors of Japanese dictionaries are paying more attention to corpora for dictionary compilation and they have started to compile corpus-based Japanese dictionaries. I will present a dictionary called Nihongo Kyooiku Goihyoo (A List of Basic Vocabulary for Japanese Language Instruction), which I took part in editing, as an example of corpus-based Japanese dictionaries. Then I will talk about what is expected for Japanese leaners' dictionaries and what would be the future of Japanese dictionary compilation.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation discusses the development of the online dictionary from a simple dictionary resource through its transformation into a multilingual tool for JSL/JFL learners. The addition of a reverse bilingual dictionary is expected to extend the usefulness of this resource.
Paper long abstract:
This presentation looks at how dictionaries as a study tool have evolved in the era of large digital databases and online processing tools. While the traditional paper-based dictionary is still useful, online dictionaries have expanded the uses and kinds of information available to learners. Based on the presenter's experience with developing the online Reading Tutor project, we will outline the ways the online dictionary can provide a richer, more varied learning environment for JSL／JFL learners. Paper-based dictionaries have restrictions on the quantity of information they can provide based on limitations of physical space. With the advent of Internet technology some of these limitations have been eliminated. An Internet based system gives access to large databases and sophisticated processing tools. For these reasons, online dictionaries can provide not only the traditional content of paper based dictionaries, but they can also provide numerous example sentences for specific semantic meanings of a word, the word and its possible collocations, notes on grammatical use, and idiomatic or common phrasal uses of the word. Beyond this general information on words and word meanings, the Reading Tutor tool is able to select material and vocabulary at an appropriate level for leaners based on the learner's previous records. This function has created a dynamic learning environment that more closely adapts to an individual learner's needs. Moreover, the online Reading Tutor dictionary project has moved into bilingual or multi-lingual translations to serve a range of learners from different language backgrounds. With cooperation from Japanese language educators with different language backgrounds, a reverse bilingual dictionary tool is currently being developed. This will allow learners to find a word in one language by looking for the word in their known language. Despite the advances in this project, several problems remain. One of the issues is the semantic coverage of words that varies from language to language. It will be necessary to identify those aspects of words that are essential for differentiating meaning. The presentation today will look at these kinds of developments in online dictionary tools and offer insights into potential uses for the future.