The importance of information sources

In our daily task as translators, we face several different possibilities for the translation of a text, so, what is the best option when there are multiple possibilities? Some may have a more sophisticated style, some were already used by others in works published on the Internet, and finally, some are found in dictionaries or glossaries.

In the case of dictionaries, the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española has a prestigious reputation within the Spanish language, but is it the bible for all correct words and expressions in the Spanish language? Certainly, specialists from different areas will find that words that are frequently used by them do not appear in this work of unquestionable, though incomplete, excellence.

It is worth mentioning that only a dead language that no longer has people that regard this language as their mother tongue can have a complete word listing  (for example, Latin, ancient Greek, Iberian and Celtiberian languages, etc.). But in the case of living languages, people are the ones who propel languages to evolve, thanks to the creation of daily expressions for communication. The specialists are the ones who create daily expressions to describe diverse inventions and devices appearing on the market. Then, these expressions are accepted and incorporated into the dictionary.