The bilingual Shona-English dictionary of biomedical terms, Duramazwi reUrapi neUtano, was compiled with the aim of improving the efficiency of communication between doctor and patient. The dictionary is composed of terms from both modern and traditional medicinal practices. The article seeks to look at the methods of production of the dictionary, the presentation of entries in the dictionary and the problems and challenges encountered in the compilation process, namely, developing Shona medical terminology in the cultural context and especially the aspect of equivalence between English and Shona biomedical terms. Opsomming: Die samestelling van die Sjona-Engelse biomediese woorde-boek: Probleme en uitdagings. Die tweetalige Sjona-Engelse woordeboek van biomediese terme, Duramazwi reUrapi neUtano, is saamgestel met die doel om die effektiwiteit van kommunikasie tussen dokter en pasiënt te verbeter. Die woordeboek bestaan uit terme van sowel moderne as tradisionele geneeskundige praktyke. Die artikel wil die metodes van die totstandkoming van die woordeboek beskou, die aanbieding van die inskrywings in die woordeboek en die probleme en uitdagings wat in die samestellingsproses teëgekom is, naamlik, die ontwikkeling van Sjonamediese terminolgie binne die kulturele konteks en veral die aspek van ekwivalensie tussen Engelse en Sjona-biomediese terme.Lexikos 15 (AFRILEX-reeks/series 15: 2005): 117-131 http://lexikos.journals.ac.za the language that are usually missed by the younger generation of doctors. Kotzé (1999: 91) states that language as a phenomenon forms part of the cultural stock of a community. Hence a cultural gap between any two people can bring about communication problems.Language use also differs according to factors such as age, social status, educational background and geographical location. For example, an elderly patient may come to a young doctor and try to explain his/her sickness using veiled language. Because the young doctor does not have proficiency in Shona and as a result also lacks the cultural background, there is automatically a communication problem between them. The purpose of the Duramazwi reUrapi neUtano is therefore to try and address all the differences in communication that may be found among different individuals, especially those from different age groups. This dictionary thus wants to help address the needs of doctors to understand the terms and expressions used by patients, especially those of the older generation. It also wants to help standardise terms used by different age groups in different parts of the country. The targeted users of the dictionary are therefore the medical fraternity and the general public. Selecting the HeadwordsThe scope of the words selected for inclusion in this dictionary are biomedical,

Abstract:In compiling bilingual dictionaries, lexicographers are mostly concerned with semantic equivalence. As a result, the practice of bilingual dictionary compilers is usually that of giving one-word equivalents. However, this equivalence is at times difficult to arrive at because of the disparities and incommensurability between languages and cultures. According to Sapir (1921) and Whorf (1956), one cannot expect an exact match between two languages that express different cultural realities. Given this scenario, compilers of bilingual dictionaries end up bridging the gap between languages by giving translational equivalents rather than relying solely on one-word equivalents. The Shona-English bilingual dictionaries, namely Hannan (1974) and Dale (1981), like other bilingual dictionaries, also display this characteristic. This article will discuss the problems of translation equivalents in Shona-English dictionaries where lexicographers will be dealing with divergent languages and cultures, traditional practices of lexicography and the absence of reliable corpora.Keywords: BILINGUAL LEXICOGRAPHY, CORPUS, CULTURE, CULTURE-BOUND, CULTURAL GAP, DICTIONARY, EQUIVALENCE, INCOMMENSURABILITY, LEXEME, LEXI-COGRAPHY, SHONA, SOURCE LANGUAGE, TARGET LANGUAGE, TRANSLATION, UN-TRANSLATABILITY Opsomming: Ekwivalensieprobleme in Shona-Engelse tweetalige woordeboeke. By die opstel van tweetalige woordeboeke, is leksikograwe meesal bedag op semantiese ekwivalensie. Gevolglik is die gebruik by opstellers van tweetalige woordeboeke gewoonlik om enkelwoordekwivalente te gee. Soms is hierdie ekwivalensie egter moeilik om te bereik vanweë die ongelykheid en nieooreenstemming tussen tale en kulture. Volgens Sapir (1921) en Whorf (1956) kan 'n mens nie 'n presiese ooreenstemming verwag tussen twee tale wat verskillende kulturele werklikhede uitdruk nie. Gegee hierdie scenario, oorbrug die opstellers van tweetalige woordeboeke die gaping tussen tale uiteindelik deur vertalende ekwivalente aan te gee eerder as om uitsluitlik op enkelwoordekwivalente staat te maak. Die Shona-Engelse tweetalige woordeboeke, naamlik Hannan (1974) en Dale (1981), soos ander tweetalige woordeboeke, vertoon ook hierdie kenmerk. Hierdie artikel bespreek die probleme van vertalende ekwivalente in Shona-Engelse woordeboeke waar leksikograwe te doen het met uiteenlopende tale en kulture, tradisionele leksikografiese gebruike en die afwesigheid van betroubare korpusse.

In the compilation of dictionaries, lexicographers also take cognisance of the culture which is inherent in a language. This article will look at the way the cultural aspect is interwoven in the practice of dictionary making. Language is at the core of culture and it is the major vehicle for the transmission of a people's beliefs and values. Language is also an expression of social structures and attitudes. No culture can exist which does not have a natural language at its centre. A language thus reflects a particular culture. Culture in this article will be taken to mean whatever a person must know in order to function in a particular society (Wardhaugh 1998: 215). The article will look at two aspects: (1) the interrelationship between language and culture and its bearing on lexicography; and (2) the treatment of cultural aspects in Duramazwi Guru reChiShona (2001). Examples used in this article are drawn from the advanced Shona monolingual dictionary Duramazwi Guru reChiShona, and other Shona dictionaries, both monolingual and bilingual.

Abstract:The article discusses the user perspective and information retrieval in relation to the lemmatisation of specific multi-word lexical units, namely fixed expressions, in the Shona monolingual dictionary, Duramazwi Guru reChiShona. It shows that the decisions arrived at in lemmatising fixed expressions were influenced by a user-driven approach. The article gives a comparative analysis of how fixed expressions were treated in previous Shona dictionaries and how they were subsequently dealt with in Duramazwi Guru reChiShona. Previous dictionaries have grappled with the problem of giving fixed expressions as run-on entries. Against the background of the user perspective, it will be argued that the lemmatisation of fixed expressions in monolingual dictionaries has certain advantages over previously used strategies.