Remarks about the dictionary

I will justify why I made the list and why I realized it in this particular way. I will give the description in a simple English, understandable for everyone concerned.

A common word as 'terts' is missing in most Dutch dictionaries, but it was not until I discovered the tricky difference between 'parallel-toonaarden' and 'parallel keys' before I decided to make this dictionary.

Often a word has two or more different meanings in the other language. When you describe this the way most dictionaries do, it becomes hard to let your computer automatically take care of the other side. That's why I did it the following way.

In case a word has two meanings in the other language I use two lines, e.g.
klank = ring
klank = sound
In this way every entry occupies only one line, convenient in case a little book is made of the list. Every page contains the same number of lines. And also both lists (D-E and E-D) are equally long.

Looking in the E-D list for 'ring' one finds 'klank' and looking at 'sound' one also finds 'klank'. Looking at the other side one sees there are two words for 'klank' in English, because it will strike the reader immediately that there are two exactly identical words under each other.

This arrangement makes it easy to make changes in the list. When a change is made in one of the two lists, the other one can be taken care of by the computer.

This can be done e.g. by the possibility to change the list into a table and then to use the capability to sort (In Microsoft Word: select: 'Tabel', 'Tekst naar tabel converteren' with the equalsign as separator for the columns; then sort the one column for the one list, and the other for the second list).

I take it for granted that a practical use of the list will be via saving, and that the use of a word processor (like Word) for printing is common knowledge. The limited number of characters per line helps to make a nice booklet (seize A5) with simple methods.

Italian expressions, which are the same in both languages, are left out, as looking up of a word goes faster according as the number of words is smaller.

Of course words will have to be added. I have e.g. not yet found the translation of 'de bal van een noot' or 'de kop van een noot'. But I decided to start the publishing of the lists already.

The reason for the simplicity of the lay out of this site is attainableness, speed and, as you know, it is the hall-mark of the truth.

I will appreciate replenishments, corrections and elucidations in the descriptions.


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