| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Future of Comprehensive Dictionary of Information & Technology (GWIT) after its author passed away. Thread poster: Michael Beijer
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Michael Beijer 
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
As some of you may already know, Graham Oxtoby, the author of one of the best Dutch English technical dictionaries available today, passed away recently. I waited a number of months, and then sent an email to his former company, asking for information on what will be happening to his dictionary now that he is gone, as I use it almost daily and it is very important for my work. I never received a reply, and so a few months later tried again. Again no reply. I don't want to bother his family, for... See more As some of you may already know, Graham Oxtoby, the author of one of the best Dutch English technical dictionaries available today, passed away recently. I waited a number of months, and then sent an email to his former company, asking for information on what will be happening to his dictionary now that he is gone, as I use it almost daily and it is very important for my work. I never received a reply, and so a few months later tried again. Again no reply. I don't want to bother his family, for obvious reasons, and so thought I would ask here in case anyone has more information.
The dictionary goes by a number of names, such as:
Groot Woordenboek Industrie & Techniek,
GWIT, and
the Comprehensive Dictionary of Information & Technology
If you work in my language pair (Dutch/English), but have never heard of the GWIT, Graham was also the chief editor of the old
"Groot Polytechnisch Woordenboek Nederlands-Engels", which I'm sure most Dutch-English translators will have heard of, especially those who translate technical subjects.
Any information would be very welcome as I have come to rely on this dictionary in recent years.
Michael
website: http://www.translex.co.uk/GWIT_in_UniLexPro.html ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 19:23
English to German
| Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 13:23
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Is an online dictionary? | Nov 10, 2016 |
After reading your posting, I get the impression that you're referring to an online dictionary. I seriously doubt that the dictionary will ever see a newer edition. Maybe there's a downloadable PDF version?
Note: I don't work with your language pair but I love dictionaries, especially printed ones.
| | | | Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | yes, it's online, and subscription-based | Nov 11, 2016 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
After reading your posting, I get the impression that you're referring to an online dictionary. I seriously doubt that the dictionary will ever see a newer edition. Maybe there's a downloadable PDF version?
Note: I don't work with your language pair but I love dictionaries, especially printed ones.
Graham also published a paperbound version relatively recently, but I can't seem to find any info on it at the moment. I hope someone will carry on his great work.
Hmm, perhaps I should have posted this in the Dutch sub-forum…
Same here by the way: I love dictionaries, and actually collect them, and am currently surrounded by stacks of them here in my office – both paper volumes, and all kinds of digital ones, and a ton of subscription-based titles too.
see also: http://beijer.uk/WORDBOOK.html 
[Edited at 2016-11-11 09:56 GMT]
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Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | No, not yet. | Nov 11, 2016 |
I thought I should contact his own company, Translex Publishing, first. But you're right. I'll send them an email too. Thanks for reminding me!
| | | | | This was exactly what I thought when I read the post. | Nov 11, 2016 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
Note: I don't work with your language pair but I love dictionaries, especially printed ones.
Michael Joseph Wdowiak Beijer wrote:
Same here by the way: I love dictionaries, and actually collect them, and am currently surrounded by stacks of them here in my office – both paper volumes, and all kinds of digital ones, and a ton of subscription-based titles too.
see also: http://beijer.uk/WORDBOOK.html [Edited at 2016-11-11 09:56 GMT]
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That's sad news. I'm sure they will really miss him over at the other translator's site, where he was an important contributor to the NL-EN technical term queries. He was always a wealth of information, though if you disagreed with him there'd be hell to pay! Maybe you should assume responsibility for his dictionary's upkeep, Michael!
| | | | | So that's what's wrong with the GWIT | Apr 26, 2017 |
The site www.evoterm.net is not responding at the moment; this has happened a few times in the last weeks, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The site www.translex.co.uk is now an online shop for "women's style and fashion".
I guess the GWIT is therefore defunct. Too bad, I really found it useful for the technica... See more The site www.evoterm.net is not responding at the moment; this has happened a few times in the last weeks, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The site www.translex.co.uk is now an online shop for "women's style and fashion".
I guess the GWIT is therefore defunct. Too bad, I really found it useful for the technical projects I did.
Does anyone know of good alternatives?
ETA:
At the moment, evoterm.net is up again, and I can log on to the GWIT. I've also discovered that the German publisher Acolada still offers a subscription to the online version (albeit cheaper than Graham offered it?) as well as a downloadable version of the entire thing. I guess there's an economic incentive for someone to keep it up and running for the nonce.
This does not entirely clarify the situation: In the past my subscription went via Translex: Graham sent me the invoice, I paid the money to Translex. At the moment I can still use the dictionary, even though it is well over a year ago since I paid for a subscription, and I have not received an invoice for another year. I would suspect that at some point someone will notice this and take over, or shut the whole thing down. That might be Graham's heirs, or the firm PTS, who owns the whole evoterm thing.
Should I let sleeping dogs lie, or should I contact PTS or Acolada to enquire about it?
[Edited at 2017-04-26 08:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Yes, please contact PTS or Acolada. | May 2, 2017 |
I have kept meaning to do so I have kept meaning to doMatthijs Frankena wrote:
The site www.evoterm.net is not responding at the moment; this has happened a few times in the last weeks, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The site www.translex.co.uk is now an online shop for "women's style and fashion".
I guess the GWIT is therefore defunct. Too bad, I really found it useful for the technical projects I did.
Does anyone know of good alternatives?
ETA:
At the moment, evoterm.net is up again, and I can log on to the GWIT. I've also discovered that the German publisher Acolada still offers a subscription to the online version (albeit cheaper than Graham offered it?) as well as a downloadable version of the entire thing. I guess there's an economic incentive for someone to keep it up and running for the nonce.
This does not entirely clarify the situation: In the past my subscription went via Translex: Graham sent me the invoice, I paid the money to Translex. At the moment I can still use the dictionary, even though it is well over a year ago since I paid for a subscription, and I have not received an invoice for another year. I would suspect that at some point someone will notice this and take over, or shut the whole thing down. That might be Graham's heirs, or the firm PTS, who owns the whole evoterm thing.
Should I let sleeping dogs lie, or should I contact PTS or Acolada to enquire about it? [Edited at 2017-04-26 08:45 GMT]
Hi Matthijs,
Yes, please contact PTS or Acolada. I keep meaning to do so myself, and have for months now, but can never seem to find any free time. Yes, I know, lame excuse
I sent a bunch of emails to the translex.co.uk email address, as well as to Graham's private ones, but have not received a single reply. I do find this a little odd as GWIT is a business, and I had really expected someone to have been assigned the job of dealing with its customers after his death. I didn't want to bother the family though, so haven't pushed it. However, I use the GWIT almost daily in my technical work and have come to rely on it.
| | | | | Bordering on the off-topic I know, but | May 2, 2017 |
... it seems odd to me, working in language pairs where there are no technical dictionaries, that the possible demise of such a dictionary would be any great loss in the Internet age.
Wouldn't any terms a professional translator doesn't already know be too specialised/new/obscure to appear in a dictionary anyway?
| | | | Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | ha ha, now that's quite a topic you've started there... | May 2, 2017 |
Chris S wrote:
... it seems odd to me, working in language pairs where there are no technical dictionaries, that the possible demise of such a dictionary would be any great loss in the Internet age.
Wouldn't any terms a professional translator doesn't already know be too specialised/new/obscure to appear in a dictionary anyway?
No time to get into this properly, but the amount of specialised technical terms in Dutch, as in English, is astronomical. There is no way a normal human being could remember and actively use them all without help. I would still be able to translate technical stuff (machinery/engineering/patents, etc.) without the GWIT, but why would I want to? It is a very useful resource and a great help sometimes. I suppose we are lucky, those of us working in DutchEnglish. As far as I know, those working in German English are probably even better off.
| | | | | I have just contacted Acolada and PTS | Jan 18, 2018 |
Hi Michael,
After my initial reply, I had forgotten about this thread. As I could still access the dictionary in Evoterm, I let the issue rest.
But now I suddenly no longer have access to the GWIT through Evoterm, and I am trying to get in touch with Acoloda and also with Evoterm to see if there's any other way to get a subscription. Acolada also seems to offer a download version of the dictionary - I've asked them what the status of that is.
I'll post an ... See more Hi Michael,
After my initial reply, I had forgotten about this thread. As I could still access the dictionary in Evoterm, I let the issue rest.
But now I suddenly no longer have access to the GWIT through Evoterm, and I am trying to get in touch with Acoloda and also with Evoterm to see if there's any other way to get a subscription. Acolada also seems to offer a download version of the dictionary - I've asked them what the status of that is.
I'll post an update in this thread when I know more. ▲ Collapse
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Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | what I know... | Jan 18, 2018 |
Matthijs Frankena wrote:
Hi Michael,
After my initial reply, I had forgotten about this thread. As I could still access the dictionary in Evoterm, I let the issue rest.
But now I suddenly no longer have access to the GWIT through Evoterm, and I am trying to get in touch with Acoloda and also with Evoterm to see if there's any other way to get a subscription. Acolada also seems to offer a download version of the dictionary - I've asked them what the status of that is.
I'll post an update in this thread when I know more.
Hi Matthijs,
Interesting news that they finally stopped people from being able to access it for free. The last time I paid was 2015-07-14 (!), so I suppose it's about time.
From my emails with Acolada, I understand that Graham's wife didn't really know how to handle it all, and is looking into ideas re the future of the dictionary. Hopefully they'll figure something out soon, as the GWIT is a very useful resource in my technical translation work.
I bought the download version from Acolada a while back, to protect myself from the inevitable day when the online version would stop being available. It's obviously not been updated anymore, but I can highly recommend it.
Michael
| | | | | Image too small (for my eyes) | Jan 18, 2018 |
Hi Michael,
Could you please post a link to the image in a high resolution, so that I can compare the data with my version of the dictionary (UniLex IDS 3.0)?
Thanks in advance!
| | | | Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:23
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Future of Comprehensive Dictionary of Information & Technology (GWIT) after its author passed away. | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
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