The review covers 166 LSP dictionaries that
were published during the years 1996 to 2000 and contain Estonian
as one of their languages. The following aspects are discussed:
concept-orientation, purpose and target group, term selection,
normativity, and method of presentation. Based on these criteria,
a number of widely used dictionary types can be distinguished.
Some of them (e.g. terminology standard or encyclopaedia) are
known from the textbooks and international practice of terminography
or LSP lexicography, unlike the notable types of "hint dictionary"
and "basic dictionary". The latter two have several
crucial deficiencies from the point of view of the user, as well
as of language quality, compensated on the positive side only
by ease of compilation and commercial success. Without denying
that fully systematic terminology work may be unrealistic in
many cases, the author proposes a number of practical methods
of improving dictionary quality with regard to the aspects discussed.
