Looking for a good dictionary tool (shell)
Thread poster: Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 14:44
French to English
+ ...
Jan 9, 2019

I have some dictionary corpora that I am trying to make easily usable. Before I embark upon writing the shell software (that is, the software that searches the dictionary database and displays it in a convenient form), I would like to check if any good shells are already available. The features I am looking for are as follows:

- Windows support is required, other platforms are desirable. It could actually be web browser-based, but then it should not rely on a specific browser (unles
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I have some dictionary corpora that I am trying to make easily usable. Before I embark upon writing the shell software (that is, the software that searches the dictionary database and displays it in a convenient form), I would like to check if any good shells are already available. The features I am looking for are as follows:

- Windows support is required, other platforms are desirable. It could actually be web browser-based, but then it should not rely on a specific browser (unless it's a specialized dictionary shell with a built-in browser engine).
- Good user interface ergonomics with an emphasis on professional rather than casual users. Most importantly, it should be usable with a keyboard alone (no mouse clicks should ever be required).
- Easy import of the corpus. Ideally, using a human-editable format (XML, other markup formats, tab-delimited text, etc.) directly.
- Open source is preferred.
- Support for diacritics-insensitive search is required (that is, I should be able to type "eleve" to find "élève"). On the other hand, if I type with diacritics, I would prefer NOT to find words without diacritics.
- Support for both reversible (same database for A->B and B->A) and irreversible (separate A->B and B->A databases) dictionaries is preferable.
- "Real-time" search is required: after each character typed, the shell should display the first several entries beginning with the string already typed, and these entries should be easily selectable.

Suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
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Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:44
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
Hmm, tlTerm? Jan 9, 2019

I think tlTerm can do most of that. See: https://tshwanedje.com/terminology/

Personally, I use http://www.evoterm.net/Terminologie.aspx though as I prefer to have my main dictionary online.

Michael


 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 14:44
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Offline! Jan 9, 2019

Thank you, Michael. My idea was just the opposite to yours - I need an offline tool, as some of my corpora are already available on the web, but I am too often in offline situations.

Just checked out tlTerm. Looks good, although the price of 125 EUR seems totally unreasonable, as plenty of dictionaries with good shells retail for much less than that - I might use some of them if they supported user-created dictionaries.

[Edited at 2019-01-09 11:09 GMT]


 
Sergei Vasin
Sergei Vasin  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 15:44
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
ApSIC Xbench Jan 9, 2019

https://www.xbench.net

They have a freeware version available (2.9) that can be used offline. It allows to create a dictionary by converting multiple formats:

capture 2019-01-09 13-01-16


Vadim Kadyrov
 
esperantisto
esperantisto  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:44
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
GoldenDict? Jan 9, 2019

http://goldendict.org/

Tuan Dzung
 
Drew MacFadyen
Drew MacFadyen  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:44
Spanish to English
+ ...
WordFinder Unlimited - online and offline Jan 11, 2019

You might check out - http://www.proz.com/WordFinder WordFinder. They have offline and online products that work across all applications, including natively in any CAT Tool.

Regards,

Drew MacFadyen


 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:44
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
? Apr 3, 2020

?

[Edited at 2020-04-03 15:17 GMT]


 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:44
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
GoldenDict is amazing! Apr 3, 2020

esperantisto wrote:

http://goldendict.org/


Indeed, a great suggestion! In the meantime, I've started using this too, as it seems to be the absolute best dictionary shell at the moment.

Michael

PS: see my working notes on finding the ultimate (open source) dictionary shell + dictionary format:

http://beijer.wiki/software

= ====================== =
So far I think a great, open source combo is:

Dictionary shell: GoldenDict
Dictionary file format: .dct (Sdictionary format)











[Edited at 2020-04-03 15:22 GMT]


 


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