By nature bilingual dictionary involves two languages - the source language and the target language. A bilingual dictionary cannot serve the purposes of both source language and target language speakers. Therefore, we get two types of bilingual dictionaries.

          (a) bilingual dictionary intended for the source language speakers and
          (b) bilingual dictionary intended for the target language speakers.

     This is one dimension based on the nature of the bilingual dictionary. There is another dimension based on the purpose of the bilingual dictionary; viz. (i) to help production of a text in target language i.e. Production - as in the case that a Telugu speaker intending to produce a text in English. (ii) to help in translating a target language text, as in the case that a Telugu speaker intending to translate an English text into Telugu i.e., Comprehension.

     By this dimension again we get two different types of bilingual dictionaries:
          (c) Bilingual dictionary or production (of text in target language)
          (d) Bilingual dictionary for comprehension(of the texts in target language)

     A. Answer the following questions

          1. How monolingual and bilingual dictionaries differ in purpose?
          2. What is the basic purpose of a bilingual dictionary?
          3. What are the types of bilingual dictionaries? And what are the criteria for identifying them?
          4. Where does fundamental difficulty lie in preparing a bilingual dictionary?

     B. State whether the following statements are true or false

          1. Monolingual dictionaries are not generally meant for native speakers. [True/False]
          2. Usually standard descriptive, an overall descriptive of an academic dictionary is monolingual.               [True/False]
          3. The target language is that whose words are given as entries. [True/False]
          4. There are two criteria for identifying types of bilingual dictionary. [True/False]
          5. The issue of target language and source language does not come in the case of a monolingual               dictionary [True/False]

     C. Identify the right answer:

          1. Any dictionary can be --------------------
                    a) monolingual or bilingual
                    b) monolingual with various purposes
                    c) used for translation
                    d) used for production
          2. The term monolingual refers to the language only irrespective of the _____
                    a) number of languages used
                    b) number of purposes it serves
                    c) the information given in it
                    d) number of words given as entries
          3. The monolingual dictionary is generally to ___________
                    a) give equivalents in the target language
                    b) serve more descriptive tasks
                    c) serve in translation
                    d) serve in production

     The difference between encyclopaedia or and a linguistic dictionary is that the latter deals primarily with the linguistic properties of the words (lexical units) by dealing with meanings and functions of the words when used in sentences, whereas the former deals with extra-linguistic information.

     Words (lexical units) of a language signify extra-linguistic world, physical or non-physical. A dictionary primarily giving the information about the extra-linguistic world is called encyclopaedia. This has nothing to do with the size of the dictionary. It can be huge or concise. In this 'dictionary' also the words are arranged in a particular order. But the explanation part supplies all the extra-linguistic information which that word signifies.

     Consider the word house. A linguistic dictionary gives its pronunciation, grammatical information such as noun, verb etc. and its meaning such as 'a building for dwelling in', 'a building in general', 'a dwelling place', 'an inn',……establishment', 'one of the twelve divisions of the heavens in astrology', 'a legislative or deliberative body or its meeting place'….etc.(as presented in the Chambers 20th Century Dictionary). Some specialized dictionaries may give the etymology also.

     An encylopaedia, against the entry house gives information pertaining the object 'house' such as what is a house, how many types of houses are there, how a house is built, the designs, house-building materials etc. with the help of drawings and photographs etc.

     The extent of information provided by an encylopaedia has no bearing on deciding in calling the compilation an encylopaedia. It is the nature of information i.e., extralinguistic, or about the objects themselves that makes a compilation an encyclopaedia.

     The arrangement of words and the explanation provided give encyclopaedias a similarity to monolingual dictionaries. That is, encylopaedias normally use only one language.

     It must also be noted that "the division of dictionaries into encyclopaedic and linguistic ones is not necessarily an 'either or' matter…. There are elements of encyclopaedic character in almost all dictionaries. Some of these encylopaedic elements are unavoidable, some are introduced because the compiler of the dictionary wishes to give his work a certain character"(Zgusta 1971:199).Therefore, the emphasis and focus of information that makes the dictionary an encyclopaedic or linguistic one.

     We may conclude by stating that the linguistic dictionary provides linguistic information which includes linguistic characteristics of a word(lexical unit)viz. pronunciation, definition, etymology, grammatical category, etc. The encyclopaedic dictionary provides encyclopaedic information which includes names of persons, places and literary works coverage of all branches of human knowledge and extensive treatment of facts, etc.