Russian-English Automotive Dictionary

by Vladimir Kotchine

Release Date: 01 June, 1996

Edition: Paperback

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...find the book invaluable

Reprinted from SlaveFile Slavic Languages Division American Translators Association Summer 1998, Vol. 8, # 3 (Publisher's note: "Russian words had to be transliterated")

Russian-English Automotive Dictionary

Reviewed by Lydia Stone American Translators Association

SLD member Vladimir Kotchine has sent us his dictionary for review, and although I have informed him that I do not work in regularly in this subject (some might even say I am not qualified to drive) he has agreed to my reviewing it. It is a well-bound soft cover volume on good paper with double columns and excellent readability resulting from moderately large print and sufficient spaces between entries. I have seen no typos, and in any but my own writing, these usually jump up off the page and strike my eyes. Kotchine takes a kind of "Kuznetsov" approach to the dictionary, by which I mean that the main defined unit is the multiword noun term, e.g., "kontrol'naya lampa stoyanochnogo tormoza", alphabetized according to head noun (in this case "lampa"). Some nouns, especially very specific one are defined (e.g., "rastvorovoz" = mortar carrying truck) alone without subentries and a small number of adjective ("zamaslennyi (o svechakh) = oiled, fouled)" listed as independent entries and a somewhat larger number of verbs listed either alone "zalegat' = bottom; stick; freeze)"; with sub-entries ("zamenyat': gil'zu = reline, resleeve; dvigatel' re-engine, re-motor, etc. or as verbal phrases ("zamedlyat' dvizhenie vklyucheniem ponizhayuschei peredachi" = gear down). Context (for example "akk - storage battery") is given in some cases. This seems to be an eminently reasonable approach to the subject matter. General filler material is virtually absent. Coverage seems to me to be remarkably extensive with ca. 120 entries under "klapan" more than 80 under the subentry "porshnevoe kol'tso" alone. Entries cover types of vehicles (including antiques and even some terms pertaining to horses) as well as parts and styles of vehicles, and even driving operations. Citations of a randomly selected entry of appropriate length in full gives an idea of the range and completeness of the definitions. udar �: v stseplenii (pri soskal;zyvanii nogi s pedali) slamming in the clutch obratnyi (zavodnoj rukoyatki) return shock; crank knock obratnyi (pri zapuske) flashback; kickback; backfire pri pereklyuchenii peredach shifting shock

Although I have never had an assignment heavily involving automobile terminology, I was more than delighted to accept the author's kind offer to keep the volume. I am sure that, to paraphrase a famous review, that if I ever come to need such a thing, Kotchine's dictionary will be exactly the thing I need. I would conjecture that translators working in this or allied fields would find the book invaluable.