Cybook Gen 3 Heeelllpppp! Please

[tompe]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Let's just say that I've got an impressive vocabulary and leave it at that.

So if you do not consider yourself average how do you know what an average reader want?

But you are right that people probably not want the dictionary on the Cybook because it is much to slow. It is faster for me to lookup words in Stardict on my N810 which I always have with me.

I use a dictionary all the time. Recently I have looked up: obloquy, rapacious, bughouse, metony, soliloquy, polysemous and mimesis.

[lmarie]

Although I agree that the lookup button choice should be moved to the top of the list, I still use the feature constantly. I love it. I guess I'm either just curious, or fanatical, about words.

[HarryT]

I find one of the joys of reading on the CyBook is that fact that it is so easy to look up the meaning of a word, where, reading a paper book, I'd have simply guessed its meaning from the context and moved on.

Eg, one rather trivial example, in H. Rider Haggard's classic "King Solomon's Mines", the protagonists of the book are walking through the desert at night when they stumble across a herd of "quagga". Hands up anyone who knows what the heck a "quagga" is! If I were reading a paper book, I'd have just said "it's obviously some sort of animal" and left it at that. On the Gen3, though, it only takes me a few seconds to look up the word in my Chambers Dictionary and discover that a quagga is a now-extinct relative of the zebra.

This kind of thing "enriches" the reading experience for me. Sure, it's not vital, but I read a lot of 19th century books and come across this kind of thing all the time. It's one real benefit of an eBook reader, since I certainly don't routinely walk around carrying a large paper dictionary!

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

The *first* thing that comes to mind is *why* would I read a Dutch novel?

The problem is that there are only 16 million Dutch people and about 6 million in Belgium that speak Dutch. So even if we have 5 times as much people writing as in English speaking countries we still have not many writers. And off course not everybody likes every writer. There are simply more English books than Dutch ones. And English is relatively easy to learn for somebody from The Netherlands, English and Dutch are related languages (Unlike Spanish ) There is a lot of translated work, but not everyting of course. And worse: Only part 1 an 2 of a 5 piece work are translated.

I read English books all the time, but like Harry, I'll often have to guess the meaning of words. Not beeing a native English speaker that will happen to me even more often. When reading a p-book I won't bother grabbing a dictionary an page through it to find a word. Unless of course, it is absolutely vital for the understanding of the book. But on my cybook it really makes reading more enjoyable.

The first book I bought for my Cybook was a dictionary. And there is small other 'problem' Not many Dutch books make it into an e-book. I only found *five* that I wanted to read, and those were translations of English books. And much more expensive than the originals

And there is another thing in our country. We have a 'fixed' (high) book price. That is done to protect starting writers an poets. The bestsellers subsidise the 'slow sellers'. We have writers that sell only 300 books. But that does not mean they are bad writers. It is simply because the market is to small. They would never survive if they would have to do it on there own. A publisher can afford to take risks or lose money on those writers.

That is why I started reading English when I was a student. Much cheaper

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hands up anyone who knows what the heck a "quagga" is!

Erm... I know since I was ten or less It goes with the dodo, the moa, etc.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Erm... I know since I was ten or less It goes with the dodo, the moa, etc.

You were obviously better educated than I was, in that case. I have to admit that I'd never heard of it until I came across it in "King Solomon's Mines".

[ErwinOtten]

Originally Posted by Ortep

The problem is that there are only 16 million Dutch people and about 6 million in Belgium that speak Dutch. So even if we have 5 times as much people writing as in English speaking countries we still have not many writers. And off course not everybody likes every writer. There are simply more English books than Dutch ones. And English is relatively easy to learn for somebody from The Netherlands, English and Dutch are related languages (Unlike Spanish ) There is a lot of translated work, but not everyting of course. And worse: Only part 1 an 2 of a 5 piece work are translated.

I read English books all the time, but like Harry, I'll often have to guess the meaning of words. Not beeing a native English speaker that will happen to me even more often. When reading a p-book I won't bother grabbing a dictionary an page through it to find a word. Unless of course, it is absolutely vital for the understanding of the book. But on my cybook it really makes reading more enjoyable.

The first book I bought for my Cybook was a dictionary. And there is small other 'problem' Not many Dutch books make it into an e-book. I only found *five* that I wanted to read, and those were translations of English books. And much more expensive than the originals

And there is another thing in our country. We have a 'fixed' (high) book price. That is done to protect starting writers an poets. The bestsellers subsidise the 'slow sellers'. We have writers that sell only 300 books. But that does not mean they are bad writers. It is simply because the market is to small. They would never survive if they would have to do it on there own. A publisher can afford to take risks or lose money on those writers.

That is why I started reading English when I was a student. Much cheaper

Thank's Ortep, couldn't have said it better

There is one book in dutch i'm going to buy though. I always wanted to read 'de eeuw van mijn vader' from Geert Mak. Since that one is available as ebook I'll buy that one somewhere in the near future...

[HappyMartin]

Quagga is also an old Afrikaans word for Zebra and and essentially a Quagga is a Zebra without stripes on its legs. DNA analysis done on old skins from the British Natural history museum has determined that the Quagga is not a different animal from your common or garden variety of zebra and so they are now being bred back by using Zebras with Quagga characteristics. They will be introduced back into the wilds in the next few generations. Was that far enough off topic for everyone I wonder?

[Mindy]

Well, I would estimate that I have an above average vocabulary and, like Harry, can usually make a reasonable guess as to meaning given context, so wasn't going to bother buying a dictionary since I don't normally read with one beside me.
However, having downloaded the free one from here I naturally started looking up anything I didn't recognise and although my success rate wasn't great, I do now know exactly what a 'chitterling' is (whether I'm better for this knowledge is another matter).
Now I have the fever - why go through life making rough guesses when I can have the actual answer with relative ease? Why limit my vocabulary to what I already know, not using new words because I don't REALLY understand them?
Haven't purchased a dictionary yet but am now seriously considering it!

[HarryT]

I recommend the Chambers 10th Edition Unabridged; it's not the cheapest dictionary around, but it's excellent - much more comprehensive than the Concise Oxford.

[HappyMartin]

I am no expert but also rate the Chambers highly. To begin with the dictionary look up was a bit of a toy and novelty but now I love it. Use it more than I expected.

[HarryT]

It is of course, a British English dictionary. That's obvious to anyone in the UK, but may perhaps not be so clear for people elsewhere .

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

I am no expert but also rate the Chambers highly. To begin with the dictionary look up was a bit of a toy and novelty but now I love it. Use it more than I expected.

Hmmm. another vote for the Chambers.

Perhaps I should get it as well. I love dictionaries (owning both a Compact Edition of the OED and a Websters' Unabridged). My standard paper one was a Concise Oxford, closely followed by the Websters' Collegiate, so I got a Concise Oxford for my Cybook...

[HarryT]

It's a pity there isn't an eBook version of the "Shorter Oxford". That's what I'd really like to have.

[Ortep]

I'm happy with the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7th edition

It has British an American words

I cannot compare it with others of course. I only bought this one