 | The Ukrainian-German Dictionary (UDEW) |
The Ukrainian-German Dictionary (UDEW), which can also be used in the opposite language direction, i.e. as a Ukrainian-German-Ukrainian dictionary, is available in several editions and versions. In addition to the online edition provided here free of charge, there is a full digital edition and three printed editions, all of which can be purchased from Harrassowitz Verlag. It is obvious that the print editions are subject to many restrictions compared to the digital works, which is why they are usually sold together with a licence for the full digital edition. This is an app for Windows or for a Windows environment, which can be set up and is also required if the app is to run on a computer with a different operating system.
The UDEW, which can be installed locally as an app on Windows computers, is designed for a wide range of users and primarily for Ukrainian-German. It currently contains over 80,000 entries and is continuously being expanded and developed. The associated updates within a version (with the same leading number, currently 12) are made available to all users free of charge. As soon as an update is released, you will be notified automatically.
The dictionary already contains the majority of all words and multi-word terms that occur frequently in current, everyday Ukrainian media texts, including proper names of institutions, organisations, etc., place names, a selection of personal names and phraseologisms and a constantly growing number of collocations, i.e. word combinations to basic or single word entries as well as technical terms. The main criterion for the inclusion of lexis in the UDEW is a relevant frequency in the underlying corpus Leipzig Corpora Collection. Dataset or Frequency Dictionary Quasthoff et al, Frequency Dictionary Ukrainian, Leipzig 2016, for which further corpora and sources are analysed to verify the frequency information and to systematically supplement the lexical selection. The UDEW thus reflects the vocabulary actually in use and also includes entries that are not or not certainly part of the normative lexicon, but occur with relevant frequency in media texts.
In addition to the respective basic grammatical information and German equivalents, stylistic and other relevant characteristics are noted for the keywords recorded in the UDEW, and reference is made to phonetic, orthographic and lexical variants, synonyms and antonyms and the like, as well as to other special features, such as the regional or non-normative character and the origin of words and expressions. As a rule, there is a Russian equivalent for all entries as a link to the „Russisch-Deutsche Universalwörterbuch” (RUW). If this information is considered annoying, it can generally be hidden via a button.
Furthermore, all relevant forms occurring in the corpora are explicitly indicated for all words that have declension or conjugation forms. This means that forms - usually variants of endings - are also shown that do not necessarily correspond to the Ukrainian grammatical norm, but occur with a relevant frequency in language use. The UDEW is therefore not a normative dictionary. Nevertheless, due to the explicit indication of forms, it is also useful for learning the Ukrainian language, for which the link to the RUW and the comparison with Russian may also be useful.
German meanings for Ukrainian words or multi-word terms can be retrieved by manually entering the word forms in question, for which the UDEW optionally provides several convenient Cyrillic keyboard layouts, which of course include all specific Ukrainian characters and can also be used outside the UDEW. On the other hand, a tool for interlinear translation is available, which is recommended if you want to read entire texts with partly unknown lexis. The texts must of course be available in digital form. They can then simply be copied and pasted into the tool's window, and when you move the cursor over a word or a phrase, the respective German meaning is displayed or the possible German equivalents are shown.