I would like to introduce the multinational abbreviation lexicon, that I developed and am still in the process of improving an

MULTINATIONAL ABBREVIATIONS LEXICON

DEMO (A to AB)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Even though this lexicon covers multinational abbreviations, the meta language is Dutch, meaning explanations of abbreviations and names of domains covered are in Dutch. (See the demo.)

INTRODUCTION

I would like to introduce the Multinational Abbreviation Lexicon, that I developed and am still in the process of improving and enhancing. Let me tell you a little bit about its history. From 1966 to 1994, I worked as a French lecturer at the KUN University of Nijmegen (now called the Radboud University). Prior to that, I was a high school teacher for a number of years. In 1979, I obtained my doctorate with a dissertation on the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. My educational work mainly involved French literature and culture, language acquisition, writing skills and in particular, translation. Since French students often had problems understanding abbreviations used in French publications, I decided to address that issue by creating a list of the most commonly used abbreviations. One thing led to another. I gradually started including non-French abbreviations, in so far as they were used in French newspapers and magazines, such as UNESCO. This collection was published internally during the 80’s, under the title Abbreviations and Acronyms. A Multilingual Lexicon, for use by French students. I slowly developed the idea, also at the request of colleagues who taught other modern languages, to include other languages than French. Furthermore, it seemed useful to add cross-references, wherever possible, between the main European languages. The inclusion of multinational equivalents proved to be a useful tool for the translation of abbreviations. After I had found the most appropriate method, it became a matter of correcting and adding. I am working on that to this day.

A new lexicon

That is how the Multinational Abbreviations Lexicon came about. Don’t such lexicons already exist? They do. However, existing collections are either focused on one particular branch, have become obsolete or only cover one language. I have found many of the abbreviations included in this lexicon, in national and international newspapers and magazines – including their scientific appendices – over the last couple of years. They, therefore, correspond to the different sections in those publications, such as politics, economics, law, national and international organisations, sports, culture, IT, media, tourism, environment, medicine, advertising, etc. Other sections, derived from existing lexicons and numerous web sites, are also covered. In total, about 1500 domains and sub domains have been included. For instance, 41 different sports and 122 sub domains of medicine have been covered. Moreover, where applicable, the language level has been included (informal, slang, jocular, etc.). This information has been added between brackets, behind the explanation. I have used alphabetical ordering. In the case of identical abbreviations, those in lower capitals precede those in capitals and those without punctuation precede those with. The different meanings of an abbreviation have also been arranged alphabetically.

Where possible, I have collected equivalents in various languages, so that this lexicon is especially useful to translators. The following languages have been covered, in order of frequency: Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Portuguese and Russian. More than 100,000 abbreviations and acronyms have now been collected, with an average of three meanings per entry. In this improved version, internal references are rarely used. As a result, there is almost no need to switch between files. (Each letter has its own file.)

The lexicon is multinational. The countries where the abbreviations are used, include those where the aforementioned languages are the official languages. Therefore, Spanish and Portuguese do not only relate to Spain and Portugal, but also to the countries of Latin America. Similarly, Dutch abbreviations are not only relevant to the Netherlands, but also to the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium and French abbreviations are relevant for the entire French-speaking part of the world. German abbreviations can apply to Switzerland and Austria. The English language can be qualified as global, especially in technology and economics, English is often used in countries that have another official language. Japan, for instance, has the JEC (Japanese Electrotechnical Committee) and the NEC (Nippon Electric Company).

Translation methods

The lexicon not only offers a wealth of (multilingual) information, it also provides insight into several translation methods that can be applied to abbreviations. This publication, therefore, provides information about the meaning of abbreviations in the main European languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and also Latin) and suggests methods to translate them in an appropriate manner. Since a printed publication would not be practical, considering the large number of pages (approximately 8000 A4 sheets), I have opted for digital distribution in the form of a CD-ROM with 26 Word documents. It is possible to search in a particular language, for a specific domain and for a particular country. This cd-rom can be purchased for 50 Euros (including shipping within the Netherlands) or 55 Euros (including shipping outside of the Netherlands). E-mail for more information.

2011 Henk Nuiten

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Sources (in Dutch)

Abbreviations used and domains covered (in Dutch)

Article in the Gelderlander of 10 December 2003 (in Dutch): large or small