The encyclopedic dictionary of science and technology in Basque is already on the street

2009/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Bibliografia

Elhuyar Zientzia eta Teknologia Hiztegi Entziklopedikoa is on the street. Over 200 Basque experts have worked for years on this project under the direction of Antton Gurrutxaga. The Elhuyar Foundation and the University of the Basque Country have jointly published, thanks to the sponsorship of Caja Laboral, and is the only dictionary of this kind that exists on the market today. It is a large encyclopedic dictionary of 1,800 pages. "The participation of more than 200 experts in such a project has been very satisfactory and a great honor; the contribution of experts has been key to the project and, from our point of view, we have made a very enriching collaboration," said Gurrutxaga.

Eight years ago a group of Elhuyar began working in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Science and Technology, with a concrete objective: "Provide basic, reliable, elaborate and up-to-date information on science and technology, in a precise, clear and understandable way, with a wide range of users." Four years ago, the project had already a form and experts from 50 areas of knowledge of science and technology were incorporated into the project, aligned with the initial objective. This objective is now reflected in the 23,000 concepts of all areas of knowledge that the dictionary collects. Particular importance has been given to current issues and the interesting work is for anyone who needs general information on science and technology: Students and teachers of ESO, high school and FP, journalists, parents...

The experts who have worked on this project have been selecting concepts from different areas, completing their definitions and creating encyclopedic articles, among others. All these areas are grouped into six major blocks: exact sciences, matter and energy sciences, earth sciences, life and health sciences, technology and finally, general.

The work of experts has been fundamental for the construction of the Elhuyar Encyclopedic Dictionary of Science and Technology. In fact, each expert has contributed his knowledge in his field to select concepts, define and write articles. According to some of them, the dictionary will provide various contributions to their areas of knowledge:

Iñigo Virto and Mari Jose Imaz. Public University of Navarra. Environmental Sciences

"So far, for example, in agriculture, we saw the need to translate some terms taken from other languages. With this encyclopedic dictionary we will consult in a single work the terms we need in our daily work. It will help us improve the quality of the subjects and conferences we offer in Basque at the university and will facilitate the dissemination in Basque of our work."

Rafael Bañales. Euskaltel

"Although the telecommunications sector is very technological and very changing, the terms created in this area are disseminated immediately throughout society: 3G mobile telephony, Wifi or Ethernet wireless network, for example. Therefore, it is very important for society that all these terms are compensated in Basque. But it is more important for those of us who work in the field of telecommunications to be able to speak in Basque."

Fernando Plazaola. University of the Basque Country. Faculty of Science and Technology. Department of Electricity and Electronics

"Euskera is not fully standardized at the scientific and technological level. For example, the lexicon is not unified, as a scientific/technical concept may be used differently by each teacher/scientist. That polysemy or that variety of synonyms, scientifically, would be good if everyone accurately explained the concept. Unfortunately it is not so, and this encyclopedia is a great step towards lexicographical unification. On the other hand, this encyclopedia gives us a clear definition of each term, so that the wide field of physics (and that of others) is much more complete from the point of view of the Basque language. It must be borne in mind that the breadth of modern science makes few scholars remain and that experts also belong to a very small field. Therefore, this encyclopedia will also be very valuable for understanding concepts that are outside our narrow area."

Mertxe Martinez. University of the Basque Country. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

"The development of scientific communication requires the creation, consolidation and socialization of new terms that are useful to all. Often the terms are drawn up by experts from each technical area, but, without adequate means, in most cases they would not leave this small community. The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Science and Technology Elhuyar is an ideal resource to extend and consolidate the specialized terminology of my field in Basque society."