Semantic Gaps in Bilingual Urdu to English and English to Urdu Dictionaries

Bilingual dictionaries are quite popular among second language learners all over the world for a variety of reasons; the learners either consult these dictionaries to look for equivalents of the words that they wish to learn in the target language, or consult them when they face difficulty in comprehending the target language words while reading a TL text. Bilingual dictionaries often give this impression that there is an equivalent available in the target language for the words of the source language. However, this is far from reality. The so called equivalents provided for many words, particularly religious and culture specific words, in such dictionaries are not equivalents in the true sense and therefore pose problems for language users. Even if equivalents are available, the ones provided in some bilingual dictionaries are not true equivalents. In case of homonyms, for instance, only one meaning is translated, whereas the other meanings are simply ignored. Besides this, many equivalents that are provided carry huge semantic gaps. The paper is an attempt to explore the nature and degree of semantic gaps found in locally published Urdu to English and English to Urdu bilingual dictionaries. The analysis of the data gathered from such dictionaries reveals huge discrepancies in the meanings provided and the actual meanings the words carry. The results of the study pose questions for the translators and language learners in terms of the credibility of such bilingual dictionaries.