Methods Inf Med 1987; 26(03): 99-103
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1635495
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

Dutch Respelling Rules for English and German Medical Word Lists

Holländische Umbuchstabierungsregeln für Wortlisten englischer und deutscher medizinischer Termini
G. J. A. Offerhaus
1   Research Fellow of the Queen Wilhelmina Fund - Netherlands Cancer Research Foundation.
,
A. C. Tersmette
2   (From the Department of Pathology, The Welch Medical Library, and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.)
,
G. W. Moore
2   (From the Department of Pathology, The Welch Medical Library, and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.)
,
Johanna Hershey
2   (From the Department of Pathology, The Welch Medical Library, and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.)
,
R. A. Polacsek
2   (From the Department of Pathology, The Welch Medical Library, and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.)
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
16 February 2018 (online)

Summary

Computer translation programs for foreign language texts have recently become available commercially and in the public domain, but large medical lexicons for these programs are not readily available. It has been shown that many English words can be “respelled” to form their corresponding translations in other Western European languages. We have used lists of 139,451 English and 185,137 German medical terms to generate respeliings in the Dutch language. The English list yielded 39,035 Dutch respeliings, and the German list yielded 56,683 respeliings. Medical respelling rules can substantially lower the effort of installing and maintaining a medically oriented computer translation program.

Computerübersetzungsprogramme für fremdsprachige Texte sind seit kurzem kommerziell und über die öffentliche Hand erhältlich. Umfangreiche medizinische Lexika sind jedoch für diese Programme noch nicht leicht zugänglich. Es wird gezeigt, daß viele englische Wörter “umbuchstabiert” werden können, um ihre entsprechende Übersetzung in andere westeuropäische Sprachen zu ermöglichen. Wir haben Listen von 139451 englischen und 185137 deutschen medizinischen Termini verwendet, um Umbuchstabierungen in die holländische Sprache zu erzeugen. Die englische Liste ergab 39035 entsprechende holländische Termini, die deutsche Liste 56683. Medizinische Umbuchstabierungsregeln können den Aufwand für die Installierung und Instandhaltung eines medizinisch orientierten Computerübersetzungsprogramms erheblich verringern.

 
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