User:Objectivesea/Sandbox/Petro De Smedt

Pierre DE SMEDT, rendered by him in Esperanto as Petro DESMET' (born 4 May 1934 in Sint-Gillis, now Dendermonde) is a Belgian (Flemish) philologist, computational linguist, lexicographer, musician (carilloneur) and mathematician. His wife is a Japanese university professor. Among Esperantists he is known mainly for his study of Esperanto translations of the works of the Flemish poet Guido Gezelle and for a Dutch-language bibliography of Esperanto translations of Dutch literature from 1902 to 1972.

Professional life
De Smedt earned a baccalaureate degree in sciences and mathematics and later taught for several years. From 1965 till 1985 he worked for a computer firm in Brussels. Being very interested in music, chiefly in the carillon, he enrolled in the Royal Carillon School of Mechelen (De Koninklijke Beiaardschool, founded by Jef Denyn in 1922 and later named in his honour) — where, after graduation as a certified carilloneur, he served as city carilloneur for the towns of Aalst and Dendermonde till his retirement in 1999. He was both preceded and succeeded in that role by Kristiaan Van Ingelgem. At the same time he studied oriental philology in Ghent University and earned a master's degree in general philology and computer linguistics at the University of Antwerp.

1968–2005

 * 1968: La Poemtradukoj de H. Vermuyten: Aldono al la Poemaro "Se Aŭskultas la Animo" de G. Gezelle (Esperanto poem translations by Hector Vermuyten: a supplement to the collection of poems, written in a West Flemish dialect, by Guido Gezelle) — 62 pages, Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: [http://data.onb.ac.at/rec/AC04209574 Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) V9/D5.491, 709980-C


 * 1972: Bibliografio pri la Tradukaĵoj el la Nederlanda Literaturo (Bibliography of translations from Dutch literature, with an Introduction by William Auld) — Dendermorde, 239 pages, Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 708863-A. This book is still the basic and guiding reference work on this topic.


 * 1974: [with co-author Erik d'Hondt] Historio de Esperanto en Belgio: Unua Parto: la Pionira Tempo (1893-1902) (A history of the Esperanto movement in Belgium, first part) — La Pioniro Alsto, 15 pages, Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) V16/D5.23


 * 1984: [with co-authors Erik d'Hondt and Jacques Bol, 1922-2009] Historio de Esperanto en Belgio: La Pre-Historio de Ido en Belgia (unpublished manuscript of a history of the Esperanto movement in Belgium, subtitled "The Prehistory of Ido" — La Pioniro Alsto, 15 pages, Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) V16/S53


 * 1984: [with co-author Erik d'Hondt] Dua Flandra Kongreso de Esperanto: Aalst 1984 (Proceedings of the Second Flemish Esperanto Congress in Aalst, 36 pages, Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 705939-B.1984,1


 * 2000: 14-hora Rapidkurso pri Esperanto (Dutch translation of a 1987 rapid Esperanto course by William Auld) — Leuven, 40 pages, in Dutch and Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 2049750-B


 * 2004: Nederlands-Esperanto-Nederlands Woordenboek (Dutch-Esperanto, Esperanto-Dutch dictionary). Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 573 pages, in Dutch and Esperanto. ISBN 90-77066-12-8. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 1755926-B. Well stocked with both vocaulary items and idioms — when this book was publishe it was the most detailed and thorough Esperanto dictionary of the Dutch language. ISBN 90-77066-12-8; Archive.org copy


 * 2005: Zakwoordenboekje: Esperanto-Nederlands, Nederlands-Esperanto Poŝvortareto (pocket dictionary, both Esperanto-Dutch and Dutch-Esperanto). Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 123 pages, in Dutch and Esperanto. ISBN 90-77066-16-0. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 1797779-A; Archive.org copy


 * 2005: Fundamento de Esperanto: Eldono Nederlanda: Gramatiko, ekzercaro, universala vortaro (Dutch translation of L. L. Zamenhof's Fundamento de Esperanto), Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 135 pages, in Dutch and Esperanto, ISBN 90-77066-19-5. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 1815140-B

2012–2020

 * 2012: [co-author: Jozefo Horváth] Bildvortaro en Esperanto (Esperanto picture dictionary). Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 800 pages, Esperanto, ISBN 978-90-77066-48-5. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 1991539-B


 * 2019: Esprimaro: Promeno en Edeno, Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 139 pages, Esperanto, {{ISBN}978-90-77066-60-7}}. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 2161981-B


 * 2020: Vasta Vortaro Esperanto-Nederlanda / Uitgebreid Woordenboek Esperanto-Nederlands (Comprehensive Esperanto-Dutch dictionary, derived from Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto). Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 1040 pages, in Esperanto and Dutch. ((ISBN|978-90-77066-65-2}}. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 2174395-B


 * 2020: Praktika Fundamento de Esperanto: fundamenta gramatiko, ekzercaro, universala vortaro (Expanded version of L. L. Zamenhof's Fundamento de Esperanto), Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo. 181 pages, Esperanto, ISBN 978-90-77066-71-3. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 2196838-B


 * 2020: Oklingva Proverbaro (Eight-language proverb collection). Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 543 pages, Multilingual, Esperanto. ISBN 978-90-77066-68-3. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 2196846-B.1 Besides acting as general editor, De Smedt himself contributed the Latin and Dutch portions.


 * 2020: Oklingva proverbaro: alfabeta proverbolisto (Eight-language alphabetical proverb list). Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, 114 pages, Multilingual, Esperanto. Austrian National Library cataloguing: Sammlung für Plansprachen (ESP) 2196846-B.2

Additionally in 2020, Flandra Esperanto-Ligo published his series of Lingvaj defioj (“Linguistic challenges”), a series of ten e-books, in which he casts light on the origin of his dictionaries and idiom collections, as well as detailing translation problems he had encountered. De Smedt wrote several articles on bibliographical, terminological and lexicographical themes, for example, in Heroldo de Esperanto and in national Dutch and German Esperanto publications. He is a regular contributor to the Esperanto-language magazine Monato.

Reviews and criticism
Writing in Monato, a monthly Esperanto magazine, columnist Edmund Grimley Evans reviewed Desmet's Esperanto picture dictionary in his article Distra kaj kleriga vortaro (“A recreational and educational dictionary”); an excerpt of the review in English translation appears below:

"The new Bildvortaro en Esperanto, by Petro Desmet' and Jozefo Horvath, is based on the sixth edition (2005) of Duden's German picture dictionary, as is the former, long-outdated, Esperanta Bildvortaro (1988) by Rüdiger Eichholz, based on the second edition (1958) of that same German work. The German original has changed a lot in almost half a century: according to the introduction, “less than a quarter of the terms are common” to the two Esperanto editions. The book deals with the universe in 415 chapters, from Atomo (Atom, 1) to Borso (Stock Exchange, 415). A typical chapter consists of a black-and-white or monochrome image on one page and a list of numbered terms on the next page; 16 pages at the end are in colour. The book's content is primarily technical. Typical examples are: komandantejo (command post, 67.85) of a submarine; batlinio (bat line, 108.27) in cricket; kolizaŭto (bumper car, 126.22) in a carnival ride; ŝtrebo (strut, 274.82) as part of a roof truss; jugo (yoke, 305.17) of a three-phase electrical transformer; and brigvela bumo (boom, 373.44) of a sailboat mast. These are items which are probably known or recognized but for which the name might not immediately come to mind."

Polyglot
De Smedt writes in and speaks seven languages, including Japanese and Chinese, has studied ten languages and understands about 30 languages.