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Old 06-19-2013, 05:14 PM   #1
Jean-Luc
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Dictionnaries : Kindle vs Kobo

Hello all,
I plan to buy an eReader (kindle PW or Kobo Glo or Aura). One of the criterion of selection is how good they are to handle dictionaries.

What I would like to do is to click on one word in a book and see a popup with it's translation from language to french, language being at least English, Spanish and German, but support for more "exotics" languages would be a big plus. I know that it's more or less doable with the kobos (with a hack) but what about the kindle PW ? And how easy is to find good dictionaries (for not too expensive if possible) and install them in these readers ?

Thanks for your help
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Old 06-19-2013, 06:24 PM   #2
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Most dictionaries are from another language to English, not from English to another language. On a Kindle (e-ink ones, at least), you can select another dictionary as your primary dictionary. So, if you can find a dictionary like you want, to buy, you can install it on your Kindle, and select that one as a primary dictionary. As long as the language encoding is set correctly, it should work.

Look in the Kindle book store for compatible dictionaries.
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Old 06-20-2013, 04:30 AM   #3
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On the Kobo you have English -> French, French -> English, English as well as French dictionaries. Other languages (Espanol, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese) are all connected with English.
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Old 06-20-2013, 05:21 AM   #4
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The Kindle doesn't come as standard with translation dictionaries. Its dictionaries are all single language, but they are all truly excellent.

You can buy additional dictionaries in the Kindle bookstore, and there are many translation dictionaries available there. I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe it's possible to buy additional dictionaries for the Kobo.
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Old 06-20-2013, 07:24 AM   #5
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The Kindle doesn't come as standard with translation dictionaries. Its dictionaries are all single language, but they are all truly excellent.

You can buy additional dictionaries in the Kindle bookstore, and there are many translation dictionaries available there. I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe it's possible to buy additional dictionaries for the Kobo.
With some hacks, it's possible to add custom dictionaries. I've never tried myself so I can't tell if that's easy to do. And with each update, one takes the risk to see this ability disappear.
From what I've heard, the Kindle dictionaries are great, indeed.
Sony's are very good too, but that's not what the O.P. asked.
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Old 06-20-2013, 02:00 PM   #6
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In addition to dictionaries, remember that the PW also has a built in connection to Bing Translate, and this can be set to translate between multiple languages in either direction; it can even handle phrase to a limited degree. If your Kindle is connected to Wifi, this is a handy alternative/supplement to any on-board dictionary that you may install. It is not perfect, and does not offer the detail that a real dictionary would, but it is fast and works well most of the time.
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Old 06-21-2013, 06:28 AM   #7
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Thank you very much to all. I conclude that the kindle is better for this use if I can find good dictionaries. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I was able to have a quick look on the Aura and the PW in a shop and I have to confess I liked more the aura.
The choice will be tough !

But maybe it's possible to convert kindle dict to kobo, and have almost the best of the 2 worlds.
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Old 06-21-2013, 07:25 AM   #8
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The thing is how much will you need to use the dictionaries? And to what end?

If you want to look up a word and have a translation, the Kobo's dictionaries are fine. I use them almost everyday that way. If I can't find a word, most of the time I have a good idea of its meaning with the monolingual dictionary (English, Spanish...). When that's not enough, I'll use my smartphone or a paper dictionary if I'm at home. That doesn't happen often, though.

If you want many example sentences, more details or to look up less common words, I guess the Kindle's ones are what you're looking for. Once again, I've heard many praises, though I've never used one myself

If you have the opportunity to go back to that store, maybe you can try and search the same word on the Paperwhite and the Aura to see which one feels better to you.
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Old 06-21-2013, 09:25 AM   #9
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I will use the ereader mainly for reading books in my mother tongue (for which I usually don't need dictionaries) but also for reading in english and helping me learn german and spanish. For the english books, a good english-english dictionary will be enough but unfortunately for german and spanish I will need to use a lot a german or spanish to french dictionary.
I can't unfortunately check them in the shop, they are not installed/no book in my target languages (just 1or 2 french books).
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Old 06-21-2013, 10:40 AM   #10
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Regarding the translation dictionaries, keep in mind that with the ones on Kobo you'll have foreign language-> English. The only one into French is the English one.
Once again, no idea about Kindle.

Don't get me wrong. I do like Kobo. I have two of them! Just be sure to choose what fits your needs so you won't be disappointed.
And the way I read is pretty much the same as you, German aside (I wanted to learn German, my parents put me in a Spanish class).

If the dictionaries are downloaded*, on the Aura, you can open a book, say in French. Select a word to have the dictionary menu, then press translation-dictionary, use the arrow (top left) and from there you can input any word. So even if you don't have a German book, you can still see the kind of translation you would get.

* but they're not always, it depends on the store

[Je ne sais pas si c'est clair. Depuis un livre sélectionner un mot. Une fenêtre apparaît. Appuyer sur (A-Z), puis dictionnaire de traduction. De là, appuyer sur la flèche en haut à gauche, on arrive sur une nouvelle fenêtre avec une zone de saisie. Il suffit d'écrire un mot en allemand ou en espagnol pour voir la traduction proposée (en anglais).]
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Old 06-21-2013, 01:58 PM   #11
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Thanks a lot for your advice, I will look again.
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Old 06-22-2013, 12:27 AM   #12
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Do you have a micro SD card? If so, put some epubs on it in the various languages you want to try. You can insert it in the device at the shop and try them.

Testing the dictionaries is a little harder. There will be some installed and the others can be downloaded if there is a WiFi connection.
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Old 06-22-2013, 07:21 AM   #13
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The Sony T2 has excellent bilingual dictionaries in both directions. When I read in another language, I use a Sony. But it has no front-light.

You might want to wait until autumn to see the new models. You might regret buying too soon.
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Old 06-22-2013, 08:25 AM   #14
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Testing the dictionaries is a little harder. There will be some installed and the others can be downloaded if there is a WiFi connection.
Good idea. You can also nicely ask someone working there if some more dictionaries can be downloaded (since that would be a major point in buying that device). If you're shopping at FNAC, they are usually nice and helpful if they're not in a rush. At the nearby FNAC, which admittedly is on the big side, the Kobo are on the computers/tablets floor as well as on the book floor. So it's easy to see about two devices for each model.
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Old 06-29-2013, 12:58 PM   #15
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I finally bought a kindle PW today. Thanks again for your advices.
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