IBNA: “APA dictionary of psychology”, holding more than 2200 pages, has been released in Iran. IBNA has interviewed the book’s editor and publisher. 

Talking about the book, Farhad Jomehri said: “The book is a special work; for the first time it has covered the expressions of all fields related to psychology and some of the included terms are related with other groups including physics, archeology, zoology or physiology. In fact one of its special features is its interdisciplinary nature. 

He added: “Choosing specific translators for rendering voluminous books is significant. During the work I learned that only being famous and the position of a professor isn’t enough for converting scientific works. Many times PhD students are much better in translating.” 

Talking about the features a translation of a scientific dictionary should hold, he added: “In the first phase the best and most comprehensive work should be picked up. A correct management should be considered in the second phase and choosing the correct colleagues and their commitment will influence the presentation of a perfect work.” 

He added: “The edit plays a key role in such group works since one person should supervise the group and finally present a work acceptable by all the translators and readers.” 

Talking about the publishers he noted: “Translating descriptive dictionaries is a multilateral work and finally a perfect work should be presented.” 

He then talked about the importance of descriptive dictionaries saying: “The students of different fields have difficulties finding equivalents and understanding some of them and every professor uses a specific term based on his own choice. The book’s translators have tried to present a book which would be trusted by the readers.” 

Moreover Soheila Khodaverdian, the senior editor of “APA dictionary of psychology” said: “The book’s translation was the work of a group chaired by 42 members of the universities’ board of directors. The book’s rendition started some six years ago and its comparative editing toke three years.” 

She added that translation is a matter of choice and said: The released translation will certainly not be the perfect one and hope to receive the experts and readers’ opinions in order to edit the book for its next prints.” 

The director of Aras publications Amir Abbas Yavari said: “The suggestion for translating the book was presented by councilors who cooperated with the publications in the field of psychology.”
He added: “The book holds 25,000 entries and its publication toke some 6 years.” 

The American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychologists in the United States. 

“APA dictionary of psychology” has been released in Iran in two volumes and 1100 copies.