Electronic dictionary
Encyclopedia
An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media. Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including:
, historical dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary
, monolingual learner's dictionaries
, and specialized dictionaries
of every type, such as medical or legal dictionaries, thesauruses
, travel dictionaries, dictionaries of idiom
s, and pronunciation guides.
Most of the early electronic dictionaries were, in effect, print dictionaries made available in digital form: the content was identical, but the electronic editions provided users with more powerful search functions. But soon the opportunities offered by digital media began to be exploited. Two obvious advantages are that limitations of space (and the need to optimize its use) become less pressing, so additional content can be provided; and the possibility arises of including multimedia content, such as audio pronunciations and video clips.
Electronic dictionary databases, especially those included with software dictionaries are often extensive and can contain up to 500,000 headword
s and definitions, verb conjugation tables, and a grammar reference section. Bilingual electronic dictionaries and monolingual dictionaries of inflected languages often include an interactive verb conjugator, and are capable of word stemming and lemmatization.
Publishers and developers of electronic dictionaries may offer native content from their own lexicographers, licenced data from print publications, or both, as in the case of Babylon offering premium content from Merriam Webster, and Ultralingua offering additional premium content from Collins
, Masson
, and Simon & Schuster
, and Paragon Software
offering original content from Duden
, Britannica
, Harrap
, Merriam-Webster
and Oxford.
, Collins
-Reverso
, OED – Oxford English Dictionary, Duden
, American Heritage
, and Hachette, offer their resources for use on desktop and laptop computers. These programs can either be downloaded or purchased on CD-ROM and installed. Other dictionary software is available from specialised electronic dictionary publishers such as iFinger
, Abbyy Lingvo
, Collins-Ultralingua
, Mobile Systems and Paragon Software
. Some electronic dictionaries provide an online discussion forum moderated by the software developers and lexicographers
(快譯通), Besta (好易通), and Golden Global View (文曲星), includes basic functions like dictionaries, TTS
, calculator
, calendar
etc. They also have functions other than just dictionary, for example, MP3 player, Video player
, web browser
(WiFi
), and simple games
. Some also support Adobe Flash
(SWF files). Most of them usually will have a touch screen, Qwerty keyboard, a speaker
, SD card slot, and sometimes microphone
and camera
also, for example, MD8500 from Instant-Dict
. Their functions can even be comparable to smart phones, except they do not have a telephone
.
Some of the features of hand held dictionaries include stroke order animations, voice output, handwriting recognition
for Kanji
and Kana
, language-learning programs, a calculator
, PDA
-like organizer functions, encyclopedias, time zone and currency converters, and crossword puzzle solvers. Dictionaries that contain data for several languages may have a "jump" or "skip-search" feature that allows users to move between the dictionaries when looking up words, and a reverse translation action that allows further look-ups of words displayed in the results.
Many manufacturers produce hand held dictionaries that use licenced dictionary content that use a database such as the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus while others may use a proprietary database from their own lexicographers. Many devices can be expanded for several languages with the purchase of additional memory cards. Manufacturers include AlfaLink, Atree, Besta, Casio
, Canon, Instant Dict, Ectaco
, Franklin
, Iriver, Lingo, Maliang Cyber Technology, Nurian, Seiko
, and Sharp
.
s and for tablet computer
s such as Apple's iPad
, the BlackBerry PlayBook
and the Motorola Xoom
. The needs of translators and language learners are especially well catered for, with apps for bilingual dictionaries for numerous language pairs, and for most of the well-known monolingual learner's dictionaries
such as the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhttp://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/longman-dictionary-contemporary/id316133247?mt=8 and the Macmillan English Dictionary
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/apps/.
Some online dictionaries are regularly updated, keeping abreast of language change. Many have additional content, such as blogshttp://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/ and features on new words. Some are collaborative projects, most notably Wiktionary
http://en.wiktionary.org. And some, like the Urban Dictionary
, consist of entries (sometimes self-contradictory) supplied by users.
Many dictionaries for special purposes, especially for professional and trade terminology, and regional dialects and language variations, are published on the websites of organizations and individual authors. Although they may often be presented in list form without a search function, because of the way in which the information is stored and transmitted, they are nevertheless electronic dictionaries.
of computer based dictionary software ranges from complex and cluttered, to clear and easy-to-use with user definable preferences including font size and colour.
A major consideration is the quality of the lexical database. Dictionaries intended for collegiate and professional use generally include most or all of the lexical information to be expected in a quality printed dictionary. The content of electronic dictionaries developed in association with leading publishers of printed dictionaries is more reliable that those aimed at the traveler or casual user, while bilingual dictionaries that have not been authored by teams of native speaker lexicographers for each language, will not be suitable for academic work.
Some developers opt to have their products evaluated by an independent academic body such as the CALICO
.
Another major consideration is that the devices themselves and the dictionaries in them are generally designed for a particular market. As an example, almost all handheld Japanese-English electronic dictionaries are designed for people with native fluency in Japanese who are learning and using English; thus, Japanese words do not generally include furigana
pronunciation glosses, since it is assumed that the reader is literate in Japanese (headwords of entries do have pronunciation, however). Further, the primary manner to look up words is by pronunciation, which makes looking up a word with unknown pronunciation difficult (for example, one would need to know that 網羅 "comprehensive" is pronounced もうら, moura to look it up directly). However, higher end Japanese dictionaries include character recognition, so users (native speakers of Japanese or not) can look up words by writing the kanji.
Similar limitations exist in most two or multi-language dictionaries and can be especially crippling when the languages are not written in the same script or alphabet; it's important to find a dictionary optimized for the user's native language.
API used by Google
. These applications manipulate language in various ways, providing dictionary/translation features, and sophisticated solutions for semantic search
. They are often available as a C++
API, an XML-RPC
server, a .NET API, or as a Python
API for many operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.) and development environments, and can also be used for indexing other kinds of data.
- as dedicated handheld devices
- as apps on smartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s and tablet computerTablet computerA tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
s - as a function built into an E-reader
- as CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, typically packaged with a printed dictionary, to be installed on the user’s own computer
- as free or paid-for online products
Overview
Most types of dictionary are available in electronic form. These include general-purpose monolingual and bilingual dictionariesBilingual dictionary
A bilingual dictionary or translation dictionary is a specialized dictionary used to translate words or phrases from one language to another. Bilingual dictionaries can be unidirectional, meaning that they list the meanings of words of one language in another, or can be bidirectional, allowing...
, historical dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
, monolingual learner's dictionaries
Monolingual learner's dictionary
A Monolingual learner's dictionary is a type of dictionary designed to meet the reference needs of people learning a foreign language...
, and specialized dictionaries
Specialized dictionary
A specialized dictionary is a dictionary that covers a relatively restricted set of phenomena. The definitive book on the subject includes chapters on dictionaries of:*synonyms*pronunciations*names...
of every type, such as medical or legal dictionaries, thesauruses
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
, travel dictionaries, dictionaries of idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
s, and pronunciation guides.
Most of the early electronic dictionaries were, in effect, print dictionaries made available in digital form: the content was identical, but the electronic editions provided users with more powerful search functions. But soon the opportunities offered by digital media began to be exploited. Two obvious advantages are that limitations of space (and the need to optimize its use) become less pressing, so additional content can be provided; and the possibility arises of including multimedia content, such as audio pronunciations and video clips.
Electronic dictionary databases, especially those included with software dictionaries are often extensive and can contain up to 500,000 headword
Headword
A headword, head word, lemma, or sometimes catchword is the word under which a set of related dictionary or encyclopaedia entries appear. The headword is used to locate the entry, and dictates its alphabetical position...
s and definitions, verb conjugation tables, and a grammar reference section. Bilingual electronic dictionaries and monolingual dictionaries of inflected languages often include an interactive verb conjugator, and are capable of word stemming and lemmatization.
Publishers and developers of electronic dictionaries may offer native content from their own lexicographers, licenced data from print publications, or both, as in the case of Babylon offering premium content from Merriam Webster, and Ultralingua offering additional premium content from Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, Masson
Masson (publisher)
Masson was a French publisher specialised in medical and scientific collections. In 1987, Masson purchased Armand Colin. In turn, it became part of the City Group in 1994...
, and Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
, and Paragon Software
Paragon Software SHDD
Paragon Software Group’s Smart Handheld Devices Division & Epocware is mobile software company offering software for diverse classes of mobile devices and desktop computers , including multilingual on-line handwriting recognition, localization, business and productivity applications,...
offering original content from Duden
Duden
The Duden is a German dictionary, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880.Currently the Duden is in its 25th edition and published in 12 volumes, each covering different aspects like loan words, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, etc...
, Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, Harrap
Harrap's Shorter French Dictionary
Harrap's Shorter French Dictionary, published by Chambers Harrap Publishers, is one of the best known English/French bilingual dictionaries in the United Kingdom and France. The eighth edition was published in April 2007...
, Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster
Merriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language .Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a...
and Oxford.
Writing systems
As well as for Roman script, electronic dictionaries are also available for non Roman, logographic, and right-to-left scripts, including (but not limited to) Arabic, Persian, Chinese(Simple/Difficult/Original), Devanagari, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Russian Cyrillic, Thai and Viet Nam.Dictionary software
Dictionary software generally far exceeds the scope of the hand held dictionaries. Many publishers of traditional printed dictionaries such as LangenscheidtLangenscheidt
Langenscheidt is a privately held German publishing company, specialising in language resource literature. As well as producing monolingual dictionaries, Langenscheidt also produces bilingual dictionaries and travel phrase-books, as well as maps and atlases....
, Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
-Reverso
Reverso
A Reverso is a belay device developed and patented by Petzl, used for example in rock-climbing and other activities which involves rope-work. Another version of this device is the Reversino, intended for use with thinner ropes....
, OED – Oxford English Dictionary, Duden
Duden
The Duden is a German dictionary, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880.Currently the Duden is in its 25th edition and published in 12 volumes, each covering different aspects like loan words, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, etc...
, American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
, and Hachette, offer their resources for use on desktop and laptop computers. These programs can either be downloaded or purchased on CD-ROM and installed. Other dictionary software is available from specialised electronic dictionary publishers such as iFinger
IFinger
iFinger Ltd is a Norwegian producer of digital dictionaries founded in 2000. iFinger works by partnering with international publishers such as Oxford University Press, Ernst Klett Verlag, Cappelen Forlag and other respected publishing houses in order to provide their content...
, Abbyy Lingvo
Lingvo
Lingvo, a family of dictionary software for desktop PC, PDA and smartphones, gives translations of words and phrases for 11 European and Asian languages, accompanied with transcription, pronunciation, word usage examples and the list of inflected forms. The languages are: Russian, English, German,...
, Collins-Ultralingua
Ultralingua
Ultralingua is a single-click and drag-and-drop multilingual translation dictionary, thesaurus, and language reference utility. The full suite of Ultralingua language tools is available free online without the need for download and installation....
, Mobile Systems and Paragon Software
Paragon Software SHDD
Paragon Software Group’s Smart Handheld Devices Division & Epocware is mobile software company offering software for diverse classes of mobile devices and desktop computers , including multilingual on-line handwriting recognition, localization, business and productivity applications,...
. Some electronic dictionaries provide an online discussion forum moderated by the software developers and lexicographers
Electronic Dictionaries in East Asia
The well-known brands, such as Instant-DictInstant-Dict
Instant-Dict can refer to:* Instant-Dict , An electronic dictionary manufacturer in Hong Kong.* Instant-Dict FC, a football club from Hong Kong now known as Double Flower....
(快譯通), Besta (好易通), and Golden Global View (文曲星), includes basic functions like dictionaries, TTS
TTS
TTS is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:In computing:* Text-To-Speech.* Trouble Ticket System - a former name of Issue tracking system.* Teletypesetter.In video games:* Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.In music:...
, calculator
Calculator
An electronic calculator is a small, portable, usually inexpensive electronic device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic. Modern calculators are more portable than most computers, though most PDAs are comparable in size to handheld calculators.The first solid-state electronic...
, calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
etc. They also have functions other than just dictionary, for example, MP3 player, Video player
Video player
Video player can refer to the following:*Hardware video players:** VCR** Laserdisc player** DVD player*Software video players:** Video player...
, web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
(WiFi
WIFI
WIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
), and simple games
Games
The term games is the plural of gameIt may refer to:* GamesTM magazine* Games * Games, an electronic music album by Larry Fast* Games , an album by Leo Ku* Games * "Games" , an episode of the TV series House...
. Some also support Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
(SWF files). Most of them usually will have a touch screen, Qwerty keyboard, a speaker
Computer speaker
Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier. The standard audio connection is a 3.5 mm stereo jack plug often color-coded lime green for computer sound cards...
, SD card slot, and sometimes microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
and camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
also, for example, MD8500 from Instant-Dict
Instant-Dict
Instant-Dict can refer to:* Instant-Dict , An electronic dictionary manufacturer in Hong Kong.* Instant-Dict FC, a football club from Hong Kong now known as Double Flower....
. Their functions can even be comparable to smart phones, except they do not have a telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
.
Main functions
- Dictionaries: This is one of the most basic function, mostly using OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and LongmanLongmanLongman was a publishing company founded in London, England in 1724. It is now an imprint of Pearson Education.-Beginnings:The Longman company was founded by Thomas Longman , the son of Ezekiel Longman , a gentleman of Bristol. Thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to John Osborn, a London bookseller, and...
dictionaries. - TTSTTSTTS is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:In computing:* Text-To-Speech.* Trouble Ticket System - a former name of Issue tracking system.* Teletypesetter.In video games:* Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.In music:...
: Includes Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text. - Data transport: Uses RS-232RS-232In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
in the earlier ones; Mini USB in recent ones. - Learning: Programs that can help you study for vocabularies.
- Note: Notepads, phone books, calendars, world clockWorld clockA world clock, often called a "Worldtime Clock", is a clock which displays the time for many places around the world.The display can take various forms:...
, etc. - Calculators: simple calculators, scientific calculators, unit converters.
- Games: Play gamesGamesThe term games is the plural of gameIt may refer to:* GamesTM magazine* Games * Games, an electronic music album by Larry Fast* Games , an album by Leo Ku* Games * "Games" , an episode of the TV series House...
if you are tired, for example, FlashFlash-Book:* Flash fiction, fiction of extreme brevity* The Flash , ongoing comic book featuring the titular DC Comics hero* Flash , a 2004 science fiction novel by L. E...
games.
Handheld dictionaries, or PEDs
Handheld electronic dictionaries, also known as ‘pocket electronic dictionaries’ or PEDs, resemble miniature clamshell laptop computers, complete with full keyboards and LCD screens. Because they are intended to be fully portable, the dictionaries are battery-powered and made with durable casing material. Although produced all over the world, handheld dictionaries are especially popular in Japan, Korea, China, and neighbouring countries, where they are the dictionary of choice for many users learning English as a second language.Some of the features of hand held dictionaries include stroke order animations, voice output, handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
for Kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
and Kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, language-learning programs, a calculator
Calculator
An electronic calculator is a small, portable, usually inexpensive electronic device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic. Modern calculators are more portable than most computers, though most PDAs are comparable in size to handheld calculators.The first solid-state electronic...
, PDA
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
-like organizer functions, encyclopedias, time zone and currency converters, and crossword puzzle solvers. Dictionaries that contain data for several languages may have a "jump" or "skip-search" feature that allows users to move between the dictionaries when looking up words, and a reverse translation action that allows further look-ups of words displayed in the results.
Many manufacturers produce hand held dictionaries that use licenced dictionary content that use a database such as the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus while others may use a proprietary database from their own lexicographers. Many devices can be expanded for several languages with the purchase of additional memory cards. Manufacturers include AlfaLink, Atree, Besta, Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
, Canon, Instant Dict, Ectaco
Ectaco
ECTACO Inc. is a US-based developer and manufacturer of hardware and software products for speech recognition and electronic translation. They also make JetBook eBook readers....
, Franklin
Franklin Electronic Publishers
Franklin Electronic Publishers, Incorporated is an American consumer electronics manufacturer based in Burlington, New Jersey, founded in 1981. Since the mid-1980s it has primarily created and sold hand-held electronic references, such as spelling correctors, dictionaries, translation devices,...
, Iriver, Lingo, Maliang Cyber Technology, Nurian, Seiko
Seiko
, more commonly known simply as Seiko , is a Japanese watch company.-History and ongoing developments:The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the...
, and Sharp
Sharp Corporation
is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. Headquartered in Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan, Sharp employs more than 55,580 people worldwide as of June 2011. The company was founded in September 1912 and takes its name from one of its founder's first...
.
Dictionaries on mobile devices
Dictionaries of all types are available as apps for smartphoneSmartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s and for tablet computer
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
s such as Apple's iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, the BlackBerry PlayBook
BlackBerry PlayBook
The BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet computer by Research In Motion , best known for the BlackBerry smartphone. It competes against Apple's iPad and a slew of Android-powered tablets....
and the Motorola Xoom
Motorola Xoom
The Motorola Xoom is an Android-based tablet computer by Motorola, introduced at CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was the first tablet to be sold with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The Verizon branded Xoom was the first tablet to run Android 3.1 Honeycomb, however the 3.1 update has not yet been provided...
. The needs of translators and language learners are especially well catered for, with apps for bilingual dictionaries for numerous language pairs, and for most of the well-known monolingual learner's dictionaries
Monolingual learner's dictionary
A Monolingual learner's dictionary is a type of dictionary designed to meet the reference needs of people learning a foreign language...
such as the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhttp://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/longman-dictionary-contemporary/id316133247?mt=8 and the Macmillan English Dictionary
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, also known as MEDAL, was first published in 2002 by Macmillan Education. MEDAL is an advanced learner’s dictionary and shares most of the features of this type of dictionary: it provides definitions in simple language, using a controlled defining...
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/apps/.
Online dictionaries
There are several types of online dictionary, including:- Aggregator sites, which give access to data licensed from various reference publishers. They typically offer monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, one or more thesauruses, and technical or specialized dictionariesSpecialized dictionaryA specialized dictionary is a dictionary that covers a relatively restricted set of phenomena. The definitive book on the subject includes chapters on dictionaries of:*synonyms*pronunciations*names...
. Examples include TheFreeDictionary.comTheFreeDictionary.comTheFreeDictionary.com is an online dictionary and encyclopedia that gathers information from a variety of sources. This site cross references the contents of Wikipedia, Columbia Encyclopedia, Hutchinson Encyclopedia , The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Computer Desktop...
and Dictionary.com - 'Premium' dictionaries available on subscription, such as the Oxford English DictionaryOxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
http://oed.com/ - Dictionaries from a single publisher, free to the user and supported by advertising. Examples include Duden Online http://www.duden.de/, Larousse bilingual dictionaries http://www.larousse.com/en/, the Macmillan English DictionaryMacmillan English Dictionary for Advanced LearnersMacmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, also known as MEDAL, was first published in 2002 by Macmillan Education. MEDAL is an advanced learner’s dictionary and shares most of the features of this type of dictionary: it provides definitions in simple language, using a controlled defining...
http://www.macmillandictionary.com, and the Merriam-WebsterMerriam-WebsterMerriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language .Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a...
Learner's Dictionary http://www.learnersdictionary.com/. - Dictionaries available free from non-commercial publishers (often institutions with government funding). Examples include the Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (ANW)http://anw.inl.nl/, and Den Danske Ordboghttp://ordnet.dk/ddo
Some online dictionaries are regularly updated, keeping abreast of language change. Many have additional content, such as blogshttp://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/ and features on new words. Some are collaborative projects, most notably Wiktionary
Wiktionary
Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages...
http://en.wiktionary.org. And some, like the Urban Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Urban Dictionary is a Web-based dictionary of slang words and phrases, which contained over 6 million definitions . Submissions are regulated by volunteer editors and rated by site visitors...
, consist of entries (sometimes self-contradictory) supplied by users.
Many dictionaries for special purposes, especially for professional and trade terminology, and regional dialects and language variations, are published on the websites of organizations and individual authors. Although they may often be presented in list form without a search function, because of the way in which the information is stored and transmitted, they are nevertheless electronic dictionaries.
Evaluation
There are differences in quality of hardware (hand held devices), software (presentation and performance), and dictionary content. Some hand helds are more robustly constructed than others, and the keyboards or touch screen input systems should be physically compared before purchase. The information on the GUIGui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
of computer based dictionary software ranges from complex and cluttered, to clear and easy-to-use with user definable preferences including font size and colour.
A major consideration is the quality of the lexical database. Dictionaries intended for collegiate and professional use generally include most or all of the lexical information to be expected in a quality printed dictionary. The content of electronic dictionaries developed in association with leading publishers of printed dictionaries is more reliable that those aimed at the traveler or casual user, while bilingual dictionaries that have not been authored by teams of native speaker lexicographers for each language, will not be suitable for academic work.
Some developers opt to have their products evaluated by an independent academic body such as the CALICO
CALICO (consortium)
CALICO, full name The Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium, is a non-profit, self-governing, international organization devoted to the dissemination of information concerning language learning technology....
.
Another major consideration is that the devices themselves and the dictionaries in them are generally designed for a particular market. As an example, almost all handheld Japanese-English electronic dictionaries are designed for people with native fluency in Japanese who are learning and using English; thus, Japanese words do not generally include furigana
Furigana
is a Japanese reading aid, consisting of smaller kana, or syllabic characters, printed next to a kanji or other character to indicate its pronunciation. In horizontal text, yokogaki, they are placed above the line of text, while in vertical text, tategaki, they are placed to the right of the line...
pronunciation glosses, since it is assumed that the reader is literate in Japanese (headwords of entries do have pronunciation, however). Further, the primary manner to look up words is by pronunciation, which makes looking up a word with unknown pronunciation difficult (for example, one would need to know that 網羅 "comprehensive" is pronounced もうら, moura to look it up directly). However, higher end Japanese dictionaries include character recognition, so users (native speakers of Japanese or not) can look up words by writing the kanji.
Similar limitations exist in most two or multi-language dictionaries and can be especially crippling when the languages are not written in the same script or alphabet; it's important to find a dictionary optimized for the user's native language.
Integrated Technology
Several developers of the systems that drive electronic dictionary software offer API and SDK – Software Development Kit tools for adding various language-based (dictionary, translation, definitions, synonyms, and spell checking and grammar correction) functions to programs, and web services such as the AJAXAjax
- Mythology :* Ajax , son of Telamon, ruler of Salamis and a hero in the Trojan War, also known as "Ajax the Great"* Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus, ruler of Locris and the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War.- People :...
API used by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
. These applications manipulate language in various ways, providing dictionary/translation features, and sophisticated solutions for semantic search
Semantic search
Semantic search seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the searchable dataspace, whether on the Web or within a closed system, to generate more relevant results. Author Seth Grimes lists "11 approaches that join...
. They are often available as a C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
API, an XML-RPC
XML-RPC
XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism. "XML-RPC" also refers generically to the use of XML for remote procedure call, independently of the specific protocol...
server, a .NET API, or as a Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
API for many operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.) and development environments, and can also be used for indexing other kinds of data.