Terminological dictionary - English to Chinese - largest yet

date-created:: 2023-08-23

Found a ginormous dictionary 速譯通 that edges out the previous winner 金山詞霸

I just found a free online dictionary that boasts of 7 million unique terms, larger than the 3-million-term 金山詞霸 (Jinshanciba) I knew to be the largest collection. The 7 million figure came from a Google search when I tried to find out the size of 金山詞霸:

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Q: 金山词典, 海词在线词典, 速译通在线词典哪个词汇量更大?

A: 收录（汉英、英汉）词条：
金山：20万
海词：500多万
速译通：700万

Here, the answer of 20万 (200,000) for 金山詞霸 is clearly mistaken (could be a typo for 200万 or 2,000,000). But the 7 million for 速譯通 grabbed my eyes. How can it not? I quickly looked for this rather copycat-sounding uninspired name and was surprised it's available as an online search tool, reportedly since 2010:

http://www.fastdict.net/

The proof is in the pudding. So I tried to search for one technical term, which came up in an online conference I interpreted for:

box culvert

速譯通's results:

700万 速译通 英汉双语词典 翻译/解释/意思 (扩展查询0.001秒)  
  
函渠,箱形涵洞,箱形暗渠,盒形排水渠,盒形暗渠,方形去水渠,方形排水渠,方形暗渠

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So, it gives 8 distinct Chinese terms. (Kudos to it for not listing duplicates!)

In comparison, the 3+ million 金山詞霸 gave the following results:

♦《簡明英漢詞典》♦ 函渠, 箱形涵洞  
  
♦《英漢航海大詞典》♦ n.箱涵,矩形涵洞  
  
♦《名詞委審定-英漢公路科技名詞(1997)》♦ 箱涵  
  
♦《名詞委審定-英漢鐵道科技名詞(1997)》♦ 箱涵

♦《現代英漢綜合大辭典》♦ 函渠, 箱形涵洞

♦《漢英航海大詞典》♦ 矩形涵洞

♦《漢英航海大詞典》♦ 箱涵    
 
♦《名詞委審定-漢英鐵道科技名詞(1997)》♦ 箱涵 
  
♦《名詞委審定-漢英公路科技名詞(1997)》♦ 箱涵

The highly duplicative results from myriad sources come down to just 4 distinct Chinese terms:

箱涵, 函渠, 箱形涵洞, 矩形涵洞

out of which two (箱涵, 矩形涵洞) aren't offered by 速譯通.

So, by consulting both 速譯通 and 金山詞霸, one can get 10 distinct Chinese translations for box culvert. This is mind-blowing! 速譯通's 8 is especially impressive and this single anecdotal data point seems to support its claim of 7 million versus 金山詞霸's 3.

To play the demanding critic, I wish 速譯通 would contain those two missing terms. That would make it the undisputed one-stop shop.

海詞 may be the second place?

So, if 7 million is likely true, how about the claimed 5 million for 海詞? That would be the second place if true. I will keep my eyes peeled for further information.