A Critical Study of Equivalent Selection Method in Kimia Contemporary Dictionary

Among the features which distinguish a monolingual dictionary from a bilingual one  is the status of “equivalents”. This feature is known as a main criterion in determining the success or failure of a bilingual dictionary. Thus, this criterion is introduced as one of the most significant criteria in any critical study and evaluation of bilingual dictionaries. Study of the present bilingual dictionaries reveals that despite the great breakthroughs in the development of English-Persian dictionaries, this trend cannot be seen in the field of Persian-English dictionaries. Therefore, while introducing the importance of equivalents as well as explaining the complexities and difficulties of equivalent selection in bilingual dictionaries,  this paper on the basis of the theoretical framework of the study, analyzed equivalent selection method in Kimia Persian-English Dictionary as a reference book with didactic dimensions that has attracted many users in recent years. The findings indicate that in both choosing equivalents and presenting them, as two sub-criteria of the study, this dictionary suffers from serious shortcomings.