Introduction

Lexicography as a cultural practice (“kulturelle Praxis”, Wiegand et al. 2010: 3, 103) demonstrates the important pedagogical-cultural role of lexicography. Although dictionaries have changed in terms of structure, appearance, and medium – especially due to digitalization and Artificial Intelligence – their importance to society, as well as to the individual, has not diminished at all. Dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference works, printed or online, constitute a central and fundamental tool not only for translating and learning a foreign language; consulting them is part of the basic strategies for obtaining new information and accessing the world of knowledge – although it is easy to think that automatic translators, instant voice translators or chat bots may replace online dictionaries. It is important to emphasize that the reliability and findability of lexicographical data constitute a quality criterion, which is essential for dictionaries, but in turn decisive for successful use by users as social agents in the society. Dictionaries compiled by experienced and professional lexicographers are a valuable tool for the acquisition of new knowledge within the scientific and technical learning processes in the first language, as well as in foreign language and technical language. At the same time, it is of immense importance to also know resources with lower quality, to use them, to compare them with professional tools, precisely in order to recognize their weaknesses and limits.