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FAQFAQ - Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is Dacco? An open source dictionary? What's all that about then?? Why are there separate versions of Dacco for English speakers and Catalan speakers? Where has Dacco copied all its words from? Does Dacco pay any heed to TermCat? The Dacco dictionaries seem to be missing a lot of words, why is that? How can I help the Dacco project?
What is Dacco?The acronym DACCO stands for 'Diccionari Anglès-Català de Codi Obert', or 'Open Source English Catalan Dictionary'. In fact, the project hosts two dictionaries: an English Catalan dictionary and a Catalan English dictionary. Of course this would make the project 'Diccionari Anglès-Català Català Anglès de Codi Obert, or DACCACO, which somehow didn't sound quite as snazzy as DACCO... An open source dictionary? What's all that about then??According to the Open Source Initiative '[t]he basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing'. What Dacco hopes to do is apply this stream of thought to dictionary creation. The list below outlines some of the potential benefits of an open source, computerized bilingual English-Catalan, Catalan-English dictionary over those of a traditional, printed dictionary:
Why are there separate versions for English speakers and Catalan speakers?Because English speakers and Catalan speakers have different needs when it comes to bilingual dictionaries. For example, the English-Catalan dictionary will be used by Catalan speakers primarily for making sense of existing English texts, whereas it will be used by English speakers primarily as a guide for creating Catalan texts. This means that one dictionary does not suit speakers of both languages. Let us present a concrete example...the word 'admit'. In the Catalan speakers' dictionary the entry looks something like this: admit Firstly, the headword itself is a link to a sound file which lets the user actually hear the word 'admit'. As an English speaker it is unlikely that you will need this. Secondly, there is a link to a verb conjugator that will conjugate the verb 'admit' in English. Once again, it is fairly unlikely you're going to need this as a native speaker. Finally, each potential equivalent of the word 'admit' in Catalan is accompanied by a number of examples of the English word 'admit' in use. Again, it is unlikely that, as an English speaker, this is of much use or interest to you. Meanwhile, the entry in the English speakers' dictionary looks like this: As you can see, no sound file, no conjugation option, no examples, but instead some simple notes that, hopefully, will help you as a Catalan learner to understand which Catalan equivalent you need for 'admit' in any given context. Where has Dacco copied all its words from?In a word, 'nowhere'. Dacco has made it a strict policy, right from the start, not to copy words, equivalents, definitions or examples from existing bilingual dictionaries. The survival of the project relies on users providing additional dictionary entries, definitions and examples. However, we would like to stress that these will only be incorporated if they have NOT been taken from existing dictionaries (if any do slip through the net and make their way into the dictionary, they will be deleted as soon as they are discovered). The main reason for our policy is that we want Dacco to be a completely fresh and new dictionary. We do not want to perpetuate any errors or mistakes that might have been made in other dictionaries (we are sure that we are more than capable of making our own!), nor do we want to base the language in our dictionary on potentially out-dated dictionary entries from existing sources (some rather fantastic entries from a 1945 English-Norwegian dictionary currently sitting on my desk such as 'Gadzooks!', 'drunk as an owl (?!)' and 'he's in a terrible pucker' seem to confirm this need!). But, most important of all, we want our dictionary entries to be formed, approved and modifed by the general consensus of Dacco users. If Dacco users decide that a word shouldn't stay because it isn't used by that rather shadowy character 'the average man on the street', it will be removed. If Dacco users decide that a word should be changed because they don't agree with its translation equivalent or definition, changed it most certainly will be... On a somewhat minor note, this policy was also decided upon in order to avoid being sued for copyright infringements by the dictionary publishers ;-) Even though the expression 'can't get blood out of a stone' does spring to mind! Does Dacco pay any heed to TermCat?TermCat is a very important Catalan institution for which the Dacco team has a great deal of respect. When Dacco includes more recent terminology relating to areas such as information technology (browser, applet, blog, etc.) or sports (wakeboarding, snowboarding, etc.), it is our intention to provide, where appropriate, the official term presented by TermCat, together with a rather fetching little orange symbol indicating to the user that this is an official term as sanctioned by TermCat (until such time as someone from TermCat emails us with a nicer logo in which case the fetching orange symbol will be immediately replaced ;-). However, we must stress that this will not stop us from including words together with Catalan equivalents not sanctioned by TermCat in the eventuality that the words still haven't been officially approved. Where this is the case we will provide the equivalents that, based on some rough Google searches in all probability, seem to be most widely used by Catalan speakers, or indeed the equivalents provided directly by Catalan users. Of course, once TermCat sanction official equivalents, these will be entered into the dictionary along with the rather jazzy orange symbol (or its much snazzier replacement symbol, as the case may be). The Dacco dictionaries seem to be missing a lot of words, why is that?Dacco is a collaborative project. This means that the dictionary expands, develops and becomes more complete as a direct result of the amount of input received from you the dictionary user. In the beginning, some absolute fruitcake with nothing better to do with their time sat down and set this project up. They established a project homepage at sourceforge.net then chained themselves to their PC and for many days and nights slavishly entered words, sound files, usage notes and examples into the dictionaries. Thus Dacco began to take shape. However, there's only so many words, definitions and examples one person can possibly add to such a dictionary without running the risk of being committed to a state-run mental institution. This is why from now on, whilst the ever so slightly demented one will continue to add content as and when time and other commitments permit and deal with the day-to-day management of the project, the onus is on you the dictionary user to suggest new entries, point out problems with existing entries and generally be responsible for determining whether the dictionary falls by the wayside or, as hoped, becomes a really useful reference tool both for English speakers learning Catalan and Catalan speakers learning English. The future, as they say, is in your hands... At the risk of sounding ever so slightly Marxist, the Dacco project is created by its users, for its users. Quite how useful and comprehensive the dictionary becomes depends entirely on you. If you are interested in making the project a success, we would encourage you to read the next entry 'How can I help the Dacco project?'. How can I help the Dacco project?There are two main ways in which you can collaborate with Dacco (four if you're a Catalan speaker). 1. As you use the dictionary, if you look up a word, in either English or Catalan, and you can't find it, you can use a simple form to say 'hey, you lot, why haven't you got the word 'x' in this dictionary?'. Chances are, if you have looked this word up, you will not be the only one and someone else is highly likely do exactly the same thing somewhere further down the line. If you let us know this word is missing, we will enter it into the dictionary as soon as is feasibly possible, and that next person to look it up will be all happy and smiley because they found what they wanted. If you don't let us know, we might never discover the word's missing and the next person to look it up will be all sad and frowny and, well we're not saying their anguish, gnashing of teeth and general misery will be entirely your fault but hey, if the cap fits and all that... ;-) You can suggest new entries (or additional meanings for existing entries) via the mailing list. 2. As you use the dictionary, if you come across a word, definition or target language equivalent that makes you think 'Flipping Nora! Even my grandmother could do better than that - with one hand tied behind her back and her leg in plaster' then please let us know. If we've been complete eejits and got something wrong, what could be better than rubbing our noses in it?? - and at the same time improving the dictionary for everybody.. You can do that by contacting us via the mailing list. 3. If you're a Valencian or Mallorcan speaker and you think it's an absolute outrage that your language isn't represented in Dacco, then you've probably got a very good point. We don't speak Valencian or Mallorcan, however, so we can do very little about this by ourselves. Yet, if this is the case and you contact us via the mailing list, we'll do our best, with your help, to remedy the situtation. Of course, if this is the case and you don't contact us, Valencian and Mallorcan will remain unrepresented. 4. If you're a Catalan native speaker and you are capable of recording some sound files to go with the Catalan words in the dictionary to give English learners of Catalan the same benefits you have in English then, again, please contact us and let us know. By admin at 14/09/2005 - 23:57
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