I suppose we all remember the jokes during the building of Concorde, that the British and French would each use their own measurement systems and standards so that the parts would never fit. It was silly, of course, but it did show the importance of communication of all kinds in a multinational environment. Now it is ever more so the case, particularly in the motor industry as “national” industries no longer exist in the context of the EU, only actual or potential multinational conglomerates. I think I drive a French car, but I have no idea whence the components originate or where they are finally assembled for that matter. So any multilingual technical dictionary must at least retain, if not increase, its significance.
That is partly the background to and explanation for this title now appearing in its fourth revised edition. A helpful concise introduction tells us that there is an increase of about 20 percent in the number of headwords compared with the previous edition, and that it now offers 2,398 headwords, 2,082 synonyms or cross‐references to the headwords, and 87 abbreviations. Certainly, any examination of the vocabulary reveals a comprehensive coverage, from general automotive terms down to the most detailed and technical. For further convenience each headword now carries a general technical field term (from accessories to wheels, and including on the way such categories as electronics, fuels, interiors, radio, vehicle, and many more). These also indicate the thoroughness of the scope of this dictionary.
The main body of the text is arranged alphabetically by English terms. These entries comprise the headword, field term (both in English), then the simply translated French and German equivalents. Where there is more than one translation they are arranged in order of importance, with the most common usage quoted first. Beneath these French and German equivalents there is then a further (three or four sentences, sometimes longer) explanation of the term in both French and German. There are cross‐references throughout from non‐preferred English terms to the headword used (such as “firing chamber” to “combustion chamber”, “repair pit” to “inspection pit”, or “torque arm” to “stabilizer”). These serve to guide users between variant terms of course, especially between British and American usage, but for their often close detail (for example “idling” to “idle running”) they will be particularly useful to anybody consulting the main text whose first language is not English. There are also a few diagrams and illustrations in the text to help elucidate particular areas: for example, a cutaway diagram of a gearbox and transmission on a whole page opposite the term “gearbox”. These illustrations are all labelled with the various English terms for their parts. The dictionary is completed by comprehensive indexes of French and German terms (to the English terms rather than use serial numbers: this is an innovation to this edition which enhances the clarity of the dictionary). There is also an index of the terms in the diagrams (in English only) and a brief bibliography of sources used.
This is a welcome and improved new edition of what must be a standard dictionary in any motor industry office or establishment working with a European partner or partners, as well, of course, in any specialist or general reference library serving the industry.
