Elektroninis ekonomikos terminų žodynas „e‑terminai.lt“

265Terminologija | 2019 | 26 doi.org/10.35321/term26-13 Electronic dictionary of economic terms e-terminai.lt AUŠRA RIMKUTĖ-GANUSAUSKIENĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language XX a. pab. With the emergence of electronic dictionaries in Lithuania, the electronic (digital) dictionaries in general, compared to traditional printed possibilities of using dictionaries have changed fundamentally – as with (paper) dictionaries, which are not only expensive but also usually published in limited editions, electronic dictionaries have become more accessible to most users. The preparation of a traditional glossary takes several years, so some of its information is usually outdated, i.e. it no longer reflects real usage and needs. In the rapidly changing world of information technology, the user of the electronic dictionary has the opportunity to find the information of interest faster and easier, the search options make such a source much more convenient to use, the dictionary is easier to update, supplement or change. In the large collection of terms, information can be searched in various sections: by term, its synonym, definition, equivalents in other languages, abbreviations, sources, etc., and in just a few seconds to get an answer to the query. The General Requirements for the Preparation of Term Dictionary approved by the State Lithuanian Language Commission2 are suitable for electronic term dictionaries. They recommend that terms be managed not in text files but in computer databases or spreadsheets, as this facilitates the search of data, allows them to be sorted or grouped in various respects. The requirements draw attention to the fact that in the electronic text 1 Rimvydas Laužikas raised the question about the usage of the terms digital and electronic ten years ago (terminologists do not consider adjectives as terms – aut.). In the article "Digital or electronic" he tried to identify the differences: "The word electronic has a much broader meaning. We can call electronic all activities, data and information, documents, for which electricity and electrical devices (for example, a tape recorder, computer, video player, etc.) are necessary to perform, view, create or fully scan” (Laužikas 2008: 277). In his view, a digital document is only one of the variants of electronic documents, so the synonymous use of these terms is not appropriate. 2 See www.vlkk.lt/aktualiausios-temos/terminija/general-requirements-for-the-building-of-thermal-gardens. 266 Aušra Rimkutė-Ganusauskienė Electronic dictionary of economic terms e-terminai.lt must be used regular punctuation and spelling marks (quotation marks, dash, hyphen, etc.). Thus, today computer terminology is a rapidly popularizing method of terminology data management, which helps to quickly detect and correct obvious terminology management errors, and a modern terminographer is a specialist who methodically manages terminology of a subject area published in printed and electronic terminology dictionaries, terminology standards, terminology databases or term banks. The aim of this review is to examine the terms and their definitions in the publicly available electronic economics dictionary e-terminai.lt (access via the Internet: http://e-ter mi nai.lt/). According to the website in question, there are “more than 1,500 economic, management, marketing, financial and investment terms to answer your questions (= finance and investment terms to help answer your questions)4”: There are a lot of economic terms that you encounter in everyday life. In some cases, you have a vague idea of the meaning of a term, but you do not know the exact (= exact) meaning. In this case, it may be difficult to understand the meaning of the context and how a specific term is used (= context and how a specific term is used). This terminology website covers many of the most important economic (= economic) terms, their relationships with similar terms and explains the meaning in clear (= clear) and easy-to-understand language. The list of terms is not exhaustive and will be updated from time to time (= occasionally (regularly (?)) updated). From the brief description it is clear that this is a database of terms from the economics and related fields, whose criteria for selection of terms are abstract and unclear. Apparently, the source is intended for everyone – not only professionals, i.e. economists, but also specialists in other fields. When this database was created, no information is provided. From the information available in the public domain, it can be guessed that about 2011. Therefore, for the reader of the article 3 The trends of the spread of the grammatical and lexical forms of the economic terms of this website in Lithuanian common language have been examined by Zofija Babickienė. It stated that it chose the site "for three reasons: first, it is not yet complete, and its authors could still adjust the information provided here so that users are not exposed to incorrect samples at all. Secondly, the visitors of the website are mainly students studying economics, banking or other subjects, for whom it is especially important to use the correct language of the specialty and specialization, so there is no doubt about the usefulness, accessibility and convenience of the website. Thirdly, the advantage of the website is that it allows us to quickly record the constantly emerging new economic terms that are relevant to us in creating and developing correct Lithuanian terminology” (Babickienė 2012: 52–53). 4 The brackets after the equal sign correct language errors. 267Terminology | 2019 | 26 The question may arise, is it worthwhile to examine information from a source that appeared almost a decade ago? It is necessary because more and more people are using the Internet and various information technology services. Furthermore, it should be noted that the link to this electronic dictionary of terms, as a large and convenient website of economic terms in Lithuanian language, where there are “many terms from the fields of economics, management, marketing, finance and investment”, is published on the website of Šiauliai State College (https://svako.lt/lt/elektroniniai-informaciniai-isteklai). It is also available on the website of the Lithuanian Technical Library. The dictionary is described as “the first comprehensive and accurate electronic dictionary of economic terms in Lithuania” (http://www.tb.lt/IB/Temos/ekonomika.htm). This link can also be found on the websites of other higher education institutions and libraries. Thus, everywhere e-terminai.lt is described as a useful source of the most important economic terms. This term database differs from other similar databases of economic and related fields that have been prepared so far in that its authors, creators or compilers are not specified: “e-terminai.lt project was created by the efforts of Tomas P (= P.)5 and Karolis P (= P.)6. Tom implemented the technical platform of the website (- tinklalapio7), which made it possible to present economic terms in an easily accessible way. Karolis created the website design and provided high-quality targeted content, which is constantly updated in order to implement the project mission.” No more information – neither the project name, nor the year, nor where the terms and their definitions come from, but the ambitions are big and sound: the mission – “to express economic terms in an easily understandable language”, the vision – “to become the most used source of economic terms in Lithuania”. It is difficult to judge whether there are many users of the electronic dictionary, but the language of the brief description and the information about the author raise doubts about the reliability of the source. The language should be correct. In addition, knowing that there are published dictionaries of terms in the economics and related fields, it was possible to take advantage of the already existing work, for example: Antanas Buračo English-Lithuanian Economic Terms Dictionary published in 1980, in 1991 – Petros Auštrevičius, Dainius Pupkevičius and Dalia Treigiene compiled the Lithuanian-English-German-Russian Encyclopedia of Modern Economic Terms, as well as 1994, 5 Tomas Petrašiūnas. 6 Caroline Pullock. 7 Although the word webpage is correct, it is suggested to use the computer term webpage (ECJ 2008: 201; TB) as more systematic, e.g.: blog, web friend, web site, web language, web man, etc. 268 Aušra Rimkutė-Ganusauskienė Electronic dictionary of economic terms e-terminai.lt 1997 (2nd revised and supplemented edition) by Christopher Pass, Bryan Lowes, and others. Dictionary of Economic Terms: translation from the English edition, 1999 – book Economic Terms and Concepts: Learning Dictionary (1999, access via the Internet: www.biblioteka.vpu.lt/elvpu/15260.pdf), 2005, 2008 (2nd edition) – Rūta Vainienės Dictionary of Economic Terms, 2005 – Explanatory Dictionary of Agricultural Economic Terms: Lithuanian, English, German, French, Russian (access via the Internet: https://zodynas.laei.lt/), 2006 – translation of Explanatory English-Lithuanian Dictionary of Economics (compiled by David W. Pearce, consulted by the Department of Terminology of the Lithuanian Language Institute) and others. In addition to economics, there are dictionaries and glossaries of banking, market, accounting, investment, taxation, marketing, management, finance and other terms. We should not forget the economics textbooks for higher education, which explain various economic concepts. Unfortunately, the list of lexicographical sources is not given. Let’s take a closer look at what this electronic glossary contains. First of all, we need to understand what economics is. If you enter the word in the search box, you will see many compound terms containing this element. Thus, the user sees all “related terms” (not necessarily all related terms – aut. past.). The term economy is interpreted as follows: The description of a country based on overall economic activity and its components. The total annual value of goods and services produced in an economy is called gross domestic product (GDP). The production of farm goods in order to obtain as much wealth as possible or to acquire a certain size of property with the least resources8. A more attentive reader with knowledge of terminology should be worried when he reads that economy is “the description of a country”. In serious dictionaries we will not find it. There it will be explained that economics is either a science or a certain activity. The second sentence of the second paragraph attempts to explain that the economy is the production of agricultural goods. However, this is also inaccurate. In addition, it is unclear why another term and its explanation appear in the article of this term: The total annual value of goods and services in the economy is called gross domestic product (GDP). The authors should be aware that 8 We find the same definition of the term economy in the educational dictionary Economic terms and concepts, published almost two decades ago – in 1999 (ETS 1999: 45). This dictionary, as Jolanta Gaivenytė writes, is “an auxiliary teaching tool for students of economic disciplines. It provides the basic economic terms and their detailed interpretations” (Gaivenytė 2000: 108). 269Terminology | 2019 | 26 as a term is the established term gross domestic product. The term "gross domestic product" is also used in a separate article. A review of just one term in the article is alarming: firstly, about the correctness of the terms, and secondly, about the accuracy of their definitions. Thus, it is concluded that the website e-terminai.lt is non-normative. There are no lexical references to indicate whether the term is to be used or not in this article of the term, as in other ones. We could also comment on other articles of the dictionary, which are not terminologically complete. They are not characteristic of explanatory dictionaries, but rather of encyclopedic dictionaries of terms. Although the articles of terms usually contain a definition (sometimes more than one!) and/or a broader explanation, there are no other data: the terms are not transliterated, there are no equivalents, no source, and no synonyms are given, if any. The term is often used in the same sense as the term glossary, although it is also used separately. Appropriate abbreviations and references would allow them to be standardised. As shown in Figure 1, all available information about the term and "related terms" is displayed. Although the site developers write "related terms", but these are just related terms, in some cases may even be unrelated. There is only one term associated with macroeconomics, economy, and only one term associated with microeconomics, resources (see Figure 2). There is no link with the economy or macroeconomics. The term economy is also not related to the discussed macro and microeconomic terms and other generic and related terms. Another example shows that the relationships between the terms are unclear. For example, the term boycott at the bottom of the article has "related terms" strike and general strike (Figure 3), but not, for example, the term taxpayers boycott, although it is included in this database. Obviously, the compilers did not have clear selection and presentation criteria. Unfortunately, it must be admitted that the good intentions of the authors of the electronic dictionary of terms remain wishful thinking. Many comments can also be made about the terms themselves. First of all, non-revocable alienations, e.g.: repurchase agreement (see LBTB, cf. repo agreement; repurchase agreement, also see TB), barter (cf. barter, AEŽ 2006: 61), dealer (cf. dealer; In the Eurovoc European Terminology Dictionary, the term (authorized) sales agent) and sales agent (dealer) (= sales agent), holding company (= holding company, cf. Eurovoc, but LBTB presents a term not approved by the State Lithuanian Language Commission 270 Aušra Rimkutė-Ganusauskienė Electronic dictionary of economic terms e-terminai.lt Figure 1. The term macroeconomics article Figure 2. The term microeconomics article Figure 3. Boycott article 271Terminology | 2019 | 26 financial holding company), clearing (= clearing, see LBTB, cf. clearing procedure)9, listing (= listing, see LBTB, cf. LBTB, cf. angl. listing), option (= options agreement10, cf. LBTB, AEŽ 2006: 462, cf. angl. option), see also covered put option, covered call option, etc. The term arenda (Russian: аренда) is not used, it can be replaced by nuoma. By the way, e-terminai.lt term rental is. Instead of allocative efficiency, it would be better to use distribution efficiency. The term over-the-counter (OTC) transaction should be changed to non-exchange transaction (see also OTC transactions). Know-how is defined as: Progressive scientific, technical, commercial or other knowledge, which is not to be disclosed in whole or in part, because its possession guarantees a certain advantage, is also not to be used. Perhaps it could be replaced by the term 'practical experience' provided by Eurovoc. In the English-Lithuanian Educational Dictionary of Legal Terms by Vita Bitinaitė we find more equivalents of the English term know-how in Lithuanian: 1. technological innovations, advanced experience; 2. production commercial secrets (Bitinaitė 2008: 153). Separately, it is possible to discuss the term marketing and its usage, which is still not agreed upon. Specialists are motivated by the fact that marketing is not the same as marketing. “The concept of marketing in Lithuania corresponds to two terms – “marketing” and “marketing studies”. These terms confused even the scientific community. The popularization of the term “marketing” has also disturbed people who have not studied marketing sciences. Marketing in general is only a part of marketing”, – says the agency Marketingo valdymas in the article “Marketing or marketing” (MAR 2016). In the Consultation Bank of the State Lithuanian Language Commission it is written that marketing is a foreign language that cannot be used (http://www.vlkk.lt/konsultacijos/1717-marketingas-rinkodara). Interestingly, in the electronic economic terms dictionary e-terminai.lt, the term marketing (angl. marketing) in the Lithuanian article is presented next to the term marketing in parentheses, in addition, it is written: "In Lithuanian, the more commonly used term is Marketing." There are also no compound terms with the emphasis marketing. All of them have a Lithuanian accent marketing: test, diferen9 In the English-Lithuanian Explanatory Dictionary of Economics, the term clearing is not used. However, there are compound terms with this foreign element, e.g. clearing/clearing bank, clearing/clearing house (AEŽ 2006: 102). The editors of the dictionary give preference to foreign-origin terms, and the Lithuanian ones are presented after the slash. What is cleared is defined in the article on the term clearing house (AEAZ 2006: 102). 10 E-terminai.lt contains the article “Option contract”. It states that “the donor (= transaction) of an option is sometimes called an option”. 272 Aušra Rimkutė-Ganusauskienė Electronic dictionary of economic terms e-terminai.lt irrational, commercial, concentrated, undifferentiated, supportive, excessive, developmental marketing. Thus, when systematically forming compound terms in the source, the Lithuanian term is given preference. The type of object, distinctive feature in compound terms is usually expressed in the noun form, e.g.: insured (= insured) bonds, joint (= joint) enterprise, fundamental (= fundamental) analysis, natural (= natural) unemployment rate, real estate (= real estate), term (= term) loan, etc. In many cases, only the singular would be sufficient: permanent employees (= permanent employee)11, cf. employee, see also treasury bills (= bill), natural commodities (= natural commodity), unsecured bonds (= unsecured bond), convertible bonds (= convertible bond), etc. The correct adaptation of the French word franchise form is franchisée, not franchisas, cf. franchiso (= franchise) fee. There are spelling inconsistencies: licencija (= license), licencija (= licence) (see article on the term joint venture (?)), kontrobanda (= contraband), Gresham’s Law (see Gresham’s Law; Vainienė 2005: 100), as well as spelling differences between hyphens and dashes, e.g. : Hekšeris-Oulin law (= Hekšeris and Oulin model) (Vainienė 2005: 103), science-technological (= science and technology) park, buying-selling (= buying and selling) operations (see dealer). Instead of a hyphen, a hyphen should be written between words that mean a bilateral relationship, e.g.: buy-sell (= buy-sell, buy) act (see exchange). This agreement is referred to as a trade treaty in the Eurovoc dictionary. More terms need to be changed, e.g. profit per share (P/E) (= share price/earnings ratio) (see LBTB, ETZ 1994: 102, also compare with price earnings ratio)12. The abbreviation should probably be presented as possible to use synonymously if necessary, and it should also be Lithuanian. Interestingly, on this website you can find as many as three articles on the term pelnas akcijai, in which the same thing is defined three times: in one article the Lithuanian abbreviation is defined (Figure 4), in another article the Lithuanian term is defined with the same words (Figure 5), and in the third article the English abbreviation is defined (Figure 6). There are many such examples. 11 There is no term temporary employee in the database. 12 The English-Lithuanian Explanatory Dictionary of Economics contains the term price-to-earnings ratio (P/E ratio). 2006: 500). 273Terminology | 2019 | 26 As noted, the abbreviations in the dictionary are usually made from English equivalents, e.g. : REPO, plg. angl. repurchase agreement. In the term bank, R. Vainienės Economic Terms Dictionary, as already mentioned earlier, we find repurchase agreement, the abbreviation is not. There is another article on the site: the repurchase (repo) deal. Apparently, the two articles could be merged into one and the term'repo agreement' should be clearly defined. A closer examination of the electronic dictionary shows that its editors were confused by the presentation of synonyms. It should be remembered that one term has one definition, so it is not appropriate to repeat synonyms definitions. It would be sufficient to provide the definition of the basic term in the article and to link it to the synonymous term, while the synonymous term, i.e. the reference article, should only provide a reference to the basic term. Plg. : Debtor Debtor (debtor) – a natural or legal person owed to another natural or legal person, or, for example, the issuer of a bill of exchange. Debtor A natural or legal person owed to another natural or legal person. Figure 4. Term profit per share Lithuanian abbreviation article Figure 5. Term profit per share item Figure 6. Term Profit Per Share English abbreviation article