MAKING BILINGUAL DICTIONARIES

Putting a bilingual dictionary together is a fool´s errand, especially in a team of one (an oxymoron). I have been working on my Bilingual Phrasebook for well over three years, at a pace of 4 to 5 hours a day. My fear is that some expressions, and idioms, may be left out. Yesterday I asked Laura Carbonell, an expert teacher of both languages and the author of the Spanish Grammar Cheat-Sheet, to randomly think of an idiom in Spanish. She put forward "saltar al ruedo". It was not in the dictionary! Hard to believe, but it shows that lexicography is more of an art than a science. Of course, I am not done yet, and I still have a lot of revising and editing to do. 

RUEDO

Echarse (lanzarse, tirarse, saltar) al ruedo (a la palestra) Jump (step, move, leap, rush) into the fray

David ha saltado al ruedo de la política activa David has jumped into the fray of active politics

— “Felipe González ha saltado al ruedo con gran aparato eléctrico porque sabe que va perdiendo.” La Vanguardia, 15/11/1994. Esp.