We use dictionaries many times a day, but we know little about how they are compiled. To learn the secrets behind the making of dictionaries, SWET invites three professional lexicographers to talk about their work. Mary Althaus, Tom Gally, and Dr. Peter A. Sharpe will describe how they got involved in dictionary work, the dictionaries they have worked on, how dictionary work differs from other types of editing, writing, and translating, and examples of lexicographic problems they have encountered. They will also touch on the business side of dictionary production from the viewpoint of both editors and publishing companies.

Panelists

Mary Althaus is a professor at Tsuda College, where her main teaching interests are academic writing, Japanese-to-English translation, and listening skills. Since the early 1980s, she has worked on four bilingual dictionaries, including three editions of Shogakukan’s Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary and four editions of Kenkyusha?s Lighthouse English-Japanese Dictionary. She has also been an editor of two English textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education for junior or senior high school students.

Tom Gally is a freelance translator and lexicographer. He has worked on a half-dozen bilingual dictionaries, including Kodansha’s Furigana English-Japanese Dictionary, Tokyo Shoseki?s Favorite Japanese-English Dictionary, and the brand-new fifth edition of Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary. He also teaches a course in academic English to doctoral students in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Peter A. Sharpe is a professor at Takushoku University?s Faculty for Foreign Languages. His specialty is linguistics which he teaches in the Graduate School. He has helped in the compilation of Shogakukan’s Senior Friend English-Japanese Dictionary and is presently compiling a communicative English-Japanese dictionary for Kodansha International. He is also the author of a number of papers on lexicography and linguistics.

Date: Nov. 22, 2003 (Saturday)
Time: 3:00-5:00 p.m. (hall opens at 2:00 p.m.)
Fee:  1,000 yen SWET and JAT members; 1,500 yen nonmembers
Place:    Tokyo Azabu Seminar House, 4th floor
Osaka Keizai Hoka Daigaku building
1-11-5 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0041
3-minute walk from Kamiyacho Station, Hibiya Line, Exit 1 (Tokyo Tower direction). See [url=https://www.swet.jp/ee_2023/images/uploads/pdf/maps/seminarhousew.gif]map[/url].