Frequent spelling, translation and other content errors Do not let the dictionary APP mislead people

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Don't let the dictionary APP mislead people (Reader's Voice)

Looking up words and memorizing words on mobile apps has become the habit of college students, middle school students and English learning enthusiasts, and electronic dictionaries on APP have almost replaced most paper dictionaries. However, the "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter's investigation found that many English learning APP with more than 100 million users frequently have content errors such as spelling, phonetic transcription, and translation.

Query the English vocabulary corresponding to "learning system" on the NetEase Youdao Dictionary, and the result is displayed as eductional systme. Check the entry "academic system" in the "New Century Chinese-English Dictionary" published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, and the result is educational system. Both words in the NetEase Youdao Dictionary entry are misspelled.

Such errors are not uncommon on many "dictionary apps". Look up the entry a crisis of capitalis in the Hujiang Small D Dictionary and get Chinese entry as "capitalist crisis". In the "English-Chinese Dictionary" published by the Shanghai Translation Publishing House and the "Oxford High-Level English-Chinese Dictionary" published by the Commercial Press, one of the definitions of crisis is "crisis", but the word capitalis cannot be found; consult the "New Century Chinese-English Dictionary", and the English word corresponding to "capitalist" is capitalist.

Who should care about the errors of "dictionary APP" and "learning APP"? The local market supervision department said that it was not qualified to investigate and punish; the publishing department said that it could only restrain the issues involving copyright; and the education department also said that although the APP involved education, the education department could not control these apps. It's not that these departments are prevaricating, it's that they really don't have management authority over this kind of problem.

Errors in "dictionary APP" and "learning APP" are not a small problem. When these wrong words are "taken for granted" by students, it will not only affect the "test scores", but also the key is to master the "wrong knowledge". Learning tools and dictionary tools were originally intended to guide students, but in the end they were mistaken, which is really regrettable.

The error of "dictionary APP" and "learning APP" lies in the fact that the commercial institutions that organize the research and development of such APP do not have professional personnel, or the so-called "professionals" they hire are not professional enough. Moreover, the content of this kind of "electronic dictionary" is not rigorous and careless in the compilation and review links, and there is no professional review body responsible, unlike the publishing house's paper products, which have a three-review system, and errors are almost inevitable. Only considering profits, but "not having the heart to do learning" is the root cause of the errors in "dictionary APPS".

For the situation that many departments have "no right to manage" when there are errors in the "dictionary APP", it is necessary to formulate new management rules as soon as possible, so that the education department, the publishing department, the marketing department, and the cultural department can intervene, and "manage the electronic dictionary" like "managing paper dictionaries".

How to introduce the content of "paper dictionaries" into "electronic dictionaries" and not let "electronic dictionaries" harm people is a problem that needs to be deeply considered, and it is a way out for publishing institutions to launch "electronic dictionaries" by themselves or in cooperation with other institutions. Extending from now on, it is often difficult for us to search for authoritative and accurate definitions on the Internet, which should also be of concern.

It is related to the accuracy of knowledge, the error of dictionary APP, how can it always be wrong?