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Why I built a dictionary app

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Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#121

Post by achempion »

vthommeret wrote: post #75

I saw a few posts discuss using the Wiktionary dump directly vs. the freeDictionary API, which is difficult to do because the raw wiki text isn't immediately usable. I actually created and open sourced a project several years ago that I never publicized that lexes and parses the Wiktionary dump: https://github.com/vthommeret/glossterm Specifically it can understand and execute 21 different wiki text templates (e.g. "…

Great work

I'm working on similar dictionary app and found wiktionary insanely usable as dictionary source.

Here is one more project aiming to make wiktionary data usable as json data structure: https://github.com/tatuylonen/wiktextract.

It has a link to a site https://kaikki.org/ which hosts dictionary data dumps.

Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#122

Post by jobigoud »

MeteorMarc wrote: post #79

Looking up unknown words during reading is not very effective for gaining understanding of a foreign language. My personal habit is to look up words only if I can remember having wondered about its meaning for at least five times.

The two techniques, intensive or extensive reading, are valuable. Usually I lookup every word during the first few chapters of a book, to make sure I have a solid base for the story, then only lookup words that I've seen many times before.

Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#124

Post by mgaunard »

I find that reading books is a great way to pick up new words; it was quite useful to challenge myself and read while I was learning English.

I never really saw the need to look up words in a dictionary though, you just eventually learn what the words mean as they are repeated throughout the book in various contexts (most authors appear to like using the same words over ans over). I think it's actually more valuable to learn like this since it develops your ability to infer meaning from the various bits of context that you have, as well as the grammar and word structure.

For example the guy looked up "stiffened". That's a fairly weird thing to look up, why didn't he look up "stiff"?

Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#127

Post by jobigoud »

8191 wrote: post #60
zehfernandes wrote: post #46

Hey Hacker News! I'm thrilled to read all the comments with ideas and improvements. I will try to answer and keep up with the thread. Kudos to all the similar initiatives trying to solve the problems I outline in the article. It's wonderful to see a zeitgeist about dictionaries. Who wants to jump the article and try the version I built, feel free to download the iPhone [1] or Android [2] version or run it by itself w…

How did you manage to get the dictionaries for all those languages? If I didn’t miss it, that part is left open in the article after explaining how highly priced they are…

From the article: "I landed on the freeDictionary API that uses the Wiktionary as a source.".

Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#128

Post by z3t4 »

For anyone else considering to build a dictionary app, and you know a bit of HTML, I recommend making a static web site/app which uses service worker to cache all words for offline use, and web app manifest so mobile users can add the "app" to their home screen. Then use a static site generator to generate an index - then you can add a bit of javascript that searches that index. It will be blazingly fast, cross platform, and you don't have to deal with the app/play store.

Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#129

Post by SyneRyder »

cal85 wrote: post #91

This looks great, congratulations to the author. I will be using it. In case you’ve never read it, this 2014 blog post is an all time favourite of mine. It really opened up my thinking about words and definitions: You’re probably using the wrong dictionary - http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary Ever since reading that, I have tended to use the 1913 Webster’s as my primary dictionary, supplemented by various modern ones…

Wow, that blog post is fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

For those who haven't read the blog post yet, it also includes an archive.org link to the out-of-copyright 1913 Websters, and ways to install it on Mac, iPhone, Android, and Kindle.

Where the blog post compares the very different definitions of "pathos" in 1913 Webster's & 2010 New Oxford American, I'm reminded of Orwell's "Principles Of Newspeak" appendix at the end of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The appendix imagines how the definitions of words kept being further narrowed until the final Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary, to diminish the range of possible thought.

Re: Why I built a dictionary app

#130

Post by GuB-42 »

labster wrote: post #7
akudha wrote: post #3

Dictionaries are one of those things that should be free, at least the digital version. This is 2022 - shouldn't governments pay the dictionary creators using tax payer money and make the digital version available for free, to anyone for any use? How much does it cost to maintain a dictionary anyway? A few million dollars at best? It is crazy that a ton of projects don't even get started, because these APIs are so ex…

Why should governments get to decide which words we use? Unless you are a plusgood citizen making agitprop for the proles.

It is the case in France. We have the Académie Française, an institution that edits an "official" dictionary. Unlike other dictionaries that describe the words that are in current usage, this one is supposed to act as a reference for "proper French".

The Académie Française is not a ruling body anymore, however, there is a committee that decides on which words to use, following a very bureaucratic process. French people are still free to use French as the way they want (thankfully!), but it is mandatory for official government communication.

And in case you are wondering, the ones who decide are usually famous French writers who got a honorific position for their past work. They tend to be completely out of touch with the modern world, and with a bureaucratic process that doesn't help the result is more silly than manipulative.

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