Ontological support for multilingual domain-specific translation dictionaries

In this article, we will show how cross-linguistic and cross-cultural information can be structured in ontologically-underpinned specialized translation dictionaries, by applying the Termontography method. Examples are taken from retailing vocabulary and from the automotive domain. An ontology-based specialized translation dictionary in the automotive domain is being compiled by CVC Brussels. The terminology extracted from texts in five languages (English, French, German, Dutch and Italian) is structured by means of a cognitive/ontological model. We show how this model could contribute to the resolution of translation problems caused by cross-linguistic differences and similarities.