A New Motorists' Dictionary
Dictionary of Automobile Terms in Four Languages- English—German—French—Italian. By R. Schmidt. Published in England by David Nutt (A. G. Berry), X212. Shaftesbury Avenue, London. (5s.) MOTOR touring on the Continent, with its possibility of almost daily change of language, will be helped materially by this useful little book. Since the first edition Of the -dictionary appeared nearly twenty years ago great changes have taken place in the development of the motor-car. From this third edition, revised and enlarged by H. Erblich, archaic terms relating to motor mechanism and motoring generally have been omitted in favour of new and up-to-date words.
Certainly the modern motor-car will take one a long way without the necessity of visiting the repair shop—but just occasionally, when the unexpected happens, a knowledge of the language of the country in which the breakdown occurs is really important. The ordinary dictionary is notoriously worthless in such cases. This little Dictionary of Automobile Terms, however, helps the motorist in Germany whose ignition fails to say, " die Ziindung setzt aus " ; in France, " it y a des rates d'allumage ' ; or in Italy, " l'accensione non funziona regolarmente." On the other hand, some may shudder at the dictionary's equivalents for " puncture of tyre " and other terms. The German for the former is given as " Pneumatikdefekt " - which is much too stilted. Many motorists might prefer the brevity of " Tin Loch" or "Eine Panne" ! Nevertheless, as in most languages there are many ways of saying• the same thing, the Dictionary of Automobile Terms goes a long way towards smoothing the 'traveller's way. It is well printed, on good paper, in blue cloth binding, and Measures 61 by 411 inches—a convenient size for reference. It might be longer than its two hundred and twenty-three pages. The next edition doubtless will be longer—and we hope it will contain an appendix explaining the meaning of the words used on foreign road signs.
[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in their plans for travel at home and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited the places described. We shall be glad to answer queries arising out of the Travel articles published in our columns-. Inquiries should be addressed to the Travel Manager, The SPEC'rATOR, 99 Gower
Street, SrEcrexon.]
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