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A new dictionary with a fresh slant
All self-respecting translation agencies strive to keep up to date with the latest developments in language-related topics; this is doubly true for agencies like Weblations, whose market is focused on new technologies. Apart from myriad technical issues, keeping our language as current as possible is one of our main challenges when we translate a website into any of the more than two dozen languages we regularly work with.
The use of Spanish as a global language is on the rise, so we were of course very interested in the new edition of the Dictionary published by the Real Academia Española (DRAE). The publication coincides with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (the international association of the 22 academies of the Spanish language). The new edition of the dictionary reflects a great effort made to modernize its content: words which have disappeared from Spanish have been deleted, while the definitions of over 50,000 words have been modified.
Of all the many changes reflected in the new dictionary, we are particularly happy about the positive way with which the Real Academia Española is dealing with language derived from new technologies. The academy's president, Víctor García de la Concha, underlined that for the Real Academia Española, the Internet and the technical language derived from its use "is not a threat, but a stimulus which must be responded to."
Weblations' daily business is to translate websites, which as you can imagine, are full of freshly-coined terms. We appreciate the great importance of this new tool, which not only provides invaluable guidance regarding words such as "web" and "globalization," but also allows us to see different uses of the same word according to the location of the speaker, writer or potential reader. It can be risky to assume that you can speak to just one group of Spanish speakers on the Internet, so we often opt for the most neutral word.
The RAE appears to be trying to cast off its reputation for being conservative, and has tried to create a dictionary which brings together the language currently used by Spanish speakers around the world. Many words used in current Spanish are borrowed from other languages. These terms appear in the dictionary, in italics.
Another important new feature is the way that the use of Americanisms has been revised, in collaboration with each of the Spanish language academies. It is interesting to note that the updating process revealed that many of the terms which had been considered Americanisms were commonly used in many different Spanish-speaking countries. The academies must work together and work well in order to ensure the acceptance of Spanish as the second "Universal" language. The fact that there are over 400 million Spanish speakers and that in the US more people are studying Spanish every day means very little if each community of speakers opts for a different solution to the same linguistic problem. This precisely is one of the biggest challenges that the Asociación de Academias has taken on.
We are pleased to see that this essential new tool has been created. However, we cannot help but remember that the last edition appeared back in 1992, and we urge the Real Academia not to let another nine years go by before the next version. New technologies - like the world in general - are evolving in ever-shorter cycles, and it is important to keep up with this evolution if one does not want to become obsolete. Language is a living thing and we need to follow the way it develops closely.
Related articles (in Spanish):
«Internet no es una amenaza: Real Academia»
(Internet is not a threat: Real Academia). A brief article including some interesting comments made by the president of the RAE
«Las claves del nuevo Diccionario de la Real Academia»
(The keys to the new Real Academia dictionary). Information about the changes to be seen in the new dictionary, originally published in the ABC newspaper
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