Comment On The Eleventh Edition Of Xinhua Dictionary

Xinhua Dictionary is the first modern Chinese dictionary since the foundation of new China which was published in1953. During the past60years, it has been edited, modified and then it has been formed with the scientific, simple, standard and practical features. So it has been the national dictionary which has gained an extensive popularity and it has made a huge contribution to spread the excellent culture, improve the quality of people and promote national language specification.In July4,2011, the eleventh edition of Xinhua Dictionary was released in the globe which had a lot of supplement, deletion and modification on spellings, phonetic notations and meanings. The modified parts that occupied two thirds of the original one, is the largest revision in the history. This paper will compare the tenth edition with the eleventh one, and focus on the modified parts of glyphs, spellings and definitions in the new edition. Through the arrangement and analysis of the eleventh edition, some important experience of edition is concluded:1. Get rid of the old ones and take in the new ones in order to be more up-to-date. Dictionaries should be adjusted and balanced in the content. That is to stay, remove the old and out-of-date interpretations and words and add the new words to the dictionary, which can reflect the real life, meet the needs of audience better and make the dictionary have the eternal vitality.2. Gain the knowledge from various ways and focus on them. Every revision of the dictionary should aim to present new knowledge, making the dictionary have a better learning and reference value.3. Look up for the gaps and omissions; focus on the sentence structure; pay attention to the science. During the process of editing and revising dictionaries, it is significant to look up for gaps and omission without leaving out any essential points. Additionally, it is also crucial to pay attention on sentence structures to make the interpretations more comprehensive, explicit and improve the science of this dictionary. 4. Focus on both the former sentence and the later one, and pay attention to the systematization. Systematization is required in the compilation of the dictionary in order to make users have more systemic and explicit understanding.5. Pay attention to the needs of users and improve the practicality. Providing the full knowledge that readers need to understand and study can reflect the utility of the dictionary. If the compilation of dictionaries is revised from the reader’s search needs which can provide language specification and target information of the times, it can improve its own quality and serve readers.6. Keep a balance between the norms and the real situations. A good dictionary should not only pay attention to the specification, but also take care of the usual situations in the real language life in order to follow both the standard and customs.7. Keep the tradition, carry forward the characteristics. The compilation and revision of the dictionary should pay attention to inherit and carry forward the excellent tradition.8. Pay attention to investigation and evidence collection, and absorb the views of all parties. In the process of revising dictionaries, it is important to uphold the principle, look for the truth, have the rigorous and pragmatic attitude, adhere to the investigation and evidence collection, listen to advice and absorb the insight of scholars and readers.9. Shoulder both cultural and social responsibility. Dictionaries aim to spread the language culture better, so they have to pay attention to their own social responsibility simultaneously, and use their own advantages to spread the positive energy in our society.We have concluded these nine pieces of editing experience on the basis of the eleventh edition revised work of Xinhua Dictionary. It is no doubt that it will have the important reference value in the editing work of dictionaries in the future. This is the main significance of this article.