As reported by FAZ.NET, a few weeks prior to quasi-monopolist Duden’s publication of the 25th edition of its namesake dictionary, Ernst Klett AG publishers created some turmoil by providing free online access to a German orthography compendium through their Pons brand, one of the largest players in foreign language reference media in Europe.
This follows in the footsteps of a similar initiative by Pons last fall, when they placed their foreign language dictionaries online at www.pons.eu free of charge, a service utilized by more than 1.25 million users each day. The site follows Wikipedia’s model of user participation in the continuing development of the dictionaries, thereby rendering them more and more precise each and every day.
Philipp Haußmann, Klett’s Chairman, believes that it is time to say goodbye to the notion of fitting the world between the covers of a book, even though his group of businesses is the Germany’s second largest book publisher. Even materials for school are no longer just printed matter, rather, new school books are shipped together with the corresponding software.
Duden also has recognized that electronics are changing the publishing world. They stopped producing the print edition of their comprehensive Brockhaus dictionary in 2008 already. But this is different from free online access: “There is no need to give quality away for free,” their company speaker said. “The actual revolution rather is in correction. That’s the problem’s solution.” And Duden has a program available for just this purpose. “Of course we want to make money with it. But some day we might even make it available free of charge on the Internet, too.”
Another FAZ.NET article indicates that Duden publishers was acquired by Cornelsen which has also been publishing the “Wahrig” one of the foremost competing German orthographic dictionaries competing with the orthographic Duden. It stands to reason that – in the long run – there will be synergies from having both of these powerhouses under the same roof.
For now, though, Wahrig‘s approach to handling and highlighting the reformed orthographic rules is conforms more closely to the official guidance, whereas the Duden’s 25th edition has dropped the highlighting and also no longer includes the official guidance which can still be found in the Wahrig.
Users who would like to entertain themselves with a free Duden screen saver featuring 125 of 5,000 new entries included in the 25 edition of the orthographic Duden dictionary can download it here.
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