The treatment of phraseological units in the Contemporary Spanish-Chinese Dictionary

Abstract

The Contemporary Spanish-Chinese Dictionary (DEC) is a recent lexicographical work that includes numerous phraseological units (UFS) in Spanish. However, the treatment of UFS in bilingual dictionaries often presents several challenges. This study analyzes the treatment of UFS in the DEC, identifies positive and negative aspects, and proposes solutions to improve this lexicographical work. To carry out the analysis, entries containing UFS are considered. Aspects such as selection criteria, types of included UFS, phraseological classification and marking, placement in the macrostructure and microstructure, lemmatization, translation, usage information, variants, and fulfillment of users' specific needs are evaluated. Additionally, the dictionary's preface, usage instructions, list of abbreviations, and appendices are reviewed. The study reveals that, although the DEC includes a wide variety of UFS and their translations are generally adequate, there is a lack of clarity in the selection and lemmatization criteria and inconsistency in both classification and grammatical marking. Furthermore, the definition of UFS, although correct in many cases, could benefit from additional explanations to ensure the understanding of the figurative meaning, as well as greater use of examples. Finally, since the DEC is primarily intended for Chinese students of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE), it would be advisable to include special content to meet these users' specific needs.