The dictionary is the result of the collaboration between Elhuyar and Collins

A new resource for Basques to learn English without bridges

It has 64,270 dictionary units, 86,150 acceptances and
21,400 examples and a grammatical annex in English and Basque

Usurbil, 22 September 2016

Collins has published the new Euskera-English dictionary Collins Elhuyar.

The dictionary was presented this morning in Lasarte-Oria, at the Lasarte-Usurbil Secondary Education Institute. The presentation was attended by Leire Cancio Orueta, CEO of Elhuyar, Elixabete Etxeberria, head of the working group of the Otaegi dictionary, and Izaskun Odriozola, English teacher of the IES Lasarte-Usurbil.

From left to right, Elixabete Etxeberria Otaegi, Izaskun Odriozola Elduaien and Leire Cancio Orueta

As explained by Leire Cancio Orueta, Elhuyar has spent more than 20 years working on the elaboration of dictionaries, and since its origins has had clear contribution to Basque society. "In these times when we have used to consult free dictionaries on the internet," Elhuyar has acted courageously and has published a paper dictionary. It has been a three-year job, and “Elhuyar has had to invest a lot in a sector where, in the absence of subsidies, the sale of dictionaries has no more income.” As explained by Cancio, the best-selling Euskera-Castilian dictionary is Elhuyar, and the new dictionaries want to have the same reception. To do this they have tried to produce a quality product, "with a perfect companion: HarperCollins Publishers».

Above all, in model D, Elhuyar has had in mind students who are learning English from Basque when preparing this dictionary, since they consider it important that the Basques have resources to learn English "without having to resort to other bridge languages".

HarperCollins Publishers has not attended the presentation, but has written the following words: "Collins, always at the forefront of changes in language, has pioneered bilingual dictionary publications for over 40 years. In this sense, we are proud to have collaborated with Elhuyar on a project of these characteristics for the elaboration of the English-Basque dictionary. We hope this dictionary will serve as a reference for students and professionals."

Then, Izaskun Odriozola Elduaien took the floor and stressed that it is a reason for satisfaction any new material that serves the students and teachers of model D. He said that Collins is an important reference in teaching English.

Finally, Elixabete Etxeberria, head of the working group of the Otaegi dictionary, explains the dictionary details. To complete the English-Basque section of the dictionary, they have been based on the Collins Concise Spanish Dictionary, and as in the other works of Elhuyar, the Unified Dictionary has been a mandatory reference for this work. Finally, Etxeberria mentioned the Elhuyar Hiztegia Euskara-Gaztelania/Castellano-Vasco dictionary: "the network version (of the site hiztegiak.elhuyar.eus) is continuously updated and has been a reference material for us".

As Etxeberria explained, the dictionary has been made in Elhuyar, but they have maintained a constant relationship with the authors of HarperCollins Publishers and the British have reviewed all the work done in Elhuyar.

Elhuyar already had an English-Basque dictionary published in 2007. This is about twice the previous one. It has more entries and more elaborate, and in the center of the dictionary has been included an annex that collects the grammatical aspects of both languages.

The dictionary consists of 64,270 units divided into two sections. There are 86,150 meanings and 21,400 examples.

At the moment, they have only done a paper edition and have announced that the possibility of placing and updating the dictionary on the network is being studied.

The dictionary is already on sale in bookstores and collins.elhuyar.eus.