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The English language needs you

© Sandra Linville

Don't be a dinkum wowser, even identities run robots. Two English-speakers from different countries sometimes need translators to communicate. That sentence used words from South African English, Australian English as well as English from New Zealand. (Translation to U.S. English: Don't be a prude, even celebrities run stoplights.)

Anne Soukhanov says English is "spoken around the globe in eight major areas of the world." Soukhanov is the "Word Watch" columnist for the Atlantic Monthly, the executive editor of The American Heritage as well as an author and English language expert.

These eight forms of English include South Asia English, East Asia English, Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific English, Britain English, U.S. English, Canadian English, African English and Caribbean English. Soukhanov says that more than one billion people speak English today. She also says it is time for a World English dictionary. If interested, you can read more of the question and answer session about World English with Soukhanov at http://www.worldenglishdictionary.com/Fe...

As U.S. General Editor for the Encarta World English Dictionary, Soukhanov is spreading the word. The world-wide communication network of the Internet has driven the need for this reference book. It features 400,000 entries with more than 20,000 new words and definitions and 4,000 illustrations. The dictionary is being published in print and electronically on CD-ROM.

In an AP Report, Soukhanov stated that "it's a sea of change in dictionary making. This couldn't have been done five years ago." There are eight versions of the dictionary - Britain and Ireland, United States, Canada, Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. The AP report also stated that "local words considered most likely to be encountered by a traveler or browser were included in all versions."

Send in the nouns (or adjectives, adverbs, verbs, etc.)

Another dictionary is making news.

The Oxford English Dictionary will be available online from March 2000. You will be able to access all 20 volumes as well as the three volumes of Additions.

Also, for the first time since it was completed in 1928, the dictionary is being completely revised and they need your help. John Simpson, Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, says "I would like to invite readers to contribute to the development of the Dictionary by adding to our record of English throughout the world. Everyone can play a part in recording the history of the language and helping to enhance the Oxford English Dictionary."

Lexicographers at Oxford University Press plan to have completed the revision by 2010.

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