criterion – “what else can I remember here?” Here are a handful of examples: ichthyofauna, ichthyology, ichthyosaurs, iguanodonts, iguanas, marine fauna, sea cows, seaweed, crinoids, sea lions. Is the principle being followed that specialized terms characteristic of the geography of more distant countries have been omitted? After all, ichthyosaurs are only one of the reptile families in the order of ornithischian dinosaurs, and, moreover, they are extinct. The marine fauna representatives listed are certainly not so unusual as to warrant special mention (biological terms make up only about a third of the terms in this dictionary). One could go on listing examples. Even the possible excuse that terms supposedly understood by everyone were deliberately excluded from the dictionary does not apply here. If all schoolchildren understand what the term settlement means, then it is just as clear what a small town or a farmstead is.

Thus, before starting to write a dictionary, it is essential to know whom it is for, what purposes it will serve, and how extensive it will be. If it is intended for schools, explanations of terms such as garždas “the coarse fraction of loose and cemented rocks <...>” should be avoided (perhaps the DŽ explanation “stones worn and rounded by sea or river water” would be more suitable). If it is impossible to cover all the terms in a field in the dictionary, the necessary ones should be carefully selected according to their level of abstraction, frequency of use, and place in the structure of that field’s terminology. Alphabetical arrangement of synonyms would be very helpful; for instance, a pupil finds the term contour lines in a textbook, but it is not explained in the dictionary, so how is the pupil to know that in this case the explanation should be sought under contours? If the pupil found a cross-reference saying “see contours,” there would be no confusion. Moreover, this is a practical way to promote Lithuanian equivalents for terms: readers would know that “a specially organized public sale, trade, held periodically at a particular marketplace” is a public auction, also called an auction, and not the other way around.

In addition, material from publications on the subject that have appeared previously should be used creatively. Then there would be no awkward terms such as the oscillatory movements of the Earth’s crust, when S. Agapov’s Lithuanian translation of “Geography Dictionary” already gives the straightforward oscillations of the Earth’s crust. Thus, for the dictionary to be truly useful to schoolchildren and others interested in geography, it should be improved, while the idea of preparing such a publication is certainly a good one.

Jurgita JĖRINAITĖ

II

In Stasys Vaitekūnas’s “Encyclopedic Geography Dic-

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dyne” (Kaunas, “Šviesa”, 1994) straipsniai išdėstyti vienas po kito antraščių abėcėlės tvarka. Antraštės sukirčiuotos. Prie daugumos žodyno straipsnių, kurių antraštėje yra tarptautinių žodžių, pateikta etimonų. Žodynas skiriamas vidurinei bendrojo lavinimo mokyklai.

As the preface states, “unlike the translated dictionaries and reference books published to date (mostly from Russian), this dictionary omits highly localized (local) and specialized terms and concepts unnecessary for Lithuanian schoolchildren and characteristic of the geography of more distant countries. More attention is paid here to Lithuanian geographical terminology” (p. 3). Yet, in contradiction to this, the author explains what the African Development Bank, Dawes Plan, European Coal and Steel Community, and others are. In addition, the dictionary includes terms that have little to do with geography, for example: chòlera “[Gr. cholera < cholē – bile + rhéo – flow], an acute infectious intestinal disease <…>” (p. 34). (Other diseases are not discussed in this geography dictionary. Why was this one singled out?), wholesale price “the price at which a manufacturer sells its goods in large quantities to other enterprises, organizations, or retailers. A product’s wholesale price is lower than its retail price, paid by the individual buyer” (p. 41), retail price “the price residents pay for goods and services. It is always higher than wholesale prices” (p. 120), plywood “[Ger. Furnier], a sheet material made of wood. It may be peeled, sawn, or glued. Glued plywood consists of 3–9 thin sheets of birch or alder wood glued together so that the grain of adjacent sheets is perpendicular. It is glued in hot presses. Its thickness is 1–12 mm <…>” (p. 50), piece rate “a rate of pay per unit of output. Used in a piece-rate wage system <…>” (p. 73), pension “[Lat. pensio – payment, allowance], means of subsistence paid regularly to people who are elderly or have worked (= worked) for the period prescribed by law, to persons with disabilities, and to family members who have lost their breadwinner” (p. 147).

It is good that the elements bio-, geo-, hydro- are explained separately, but anthropo-, sub- could also be explained. Not all terms have been revised in accordance with general requirements of terminology and language culture. The dictionary even contains cases of noncompliance with resolutions of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, for example: barter (=in-kind) exchange, liz in-gas (=long-term lease), spelling errors: fiòrdas (=fjordas). Instead of the term radiozondas, the correct term radijo zondas would be more suitable. The genitive case should be used rather than adjectives with the suffix -inis.

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e.g.: economic (=of the economy) reform, state (=of the state) revenue, state (=of the state) loans, state (=of the state) bank, state (=of the state) budget, etc. On p. 224, the term “unified energy system” is given (following the Russian единая энергетическая система). An attempt at correction appears alongside it—“common energy system”—but both terms are poor. “Common energy sector system” would be more suitable in their place.

Explanations of terms sometimes include incorrect terms, for example, echolot “electronavigational (=electronic navigation) device for measuring sea depth using ultrasonic waves <...>”. Perhaps capital investments (p. 89), the economics term entered in the public geography dictionary, would be better rendered as capital outlays?

The dictionary contains highly categorical but inaccurate statements, for example, “International languages are English and French” (entry “Language,” p. 87); “The international languages are English and French” (entry “World Languages,” p. 145). But are only these two languages considered international?

There is no intention here to evaluate this dictionary in greater depth. This time, the aim was only to show a handful of its obvious inaccuracies and errors.

Gailutis LAUKAGALIS

THOUGHTS ON THE DICTIONARY OF PEDAGOGICAL TERMS

In 1993, a much-needed explanatory and translation dictionary, “Pedagogical Terms,” prepared by Prof. L. Jovaiša, was published in a print run of 3,000 copies by the Šviesa publishing house¹. It is the first explanatory dictionary of pedagogical terms published in Lithuania, covering about 1,000 of the more common terms in theoretical and applied pedagogy, its history, and methodology. It was reviewed and stress-marked, and linguists also reviewed it together with other scholars. The publication is useful to scholars, lecturers, teachers, and students preparing for a career in teaching.

The dictionary’s preface states that this is “the first attempt to describe and systematize the concepts of the science of human education in the Lithuanian language” (p. 3). However, we had long had, though only a couple of years earlier, first printed from manuscript and left unfinished, Prof. St. Šalkauskis’s

¹ J o v a i š a L. Pedagogikos terminai. K.: Šviesa, 1993, 264 p.

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