Touch handling the dictionaries

tshering · 10-11-2012, 04:48 PM

After updating to firmware 2.14 I cannot figure out how to handle the dictionaries in some situations.
Case 1: I select a certain word, the definition box pops up and I am not happy with the result. Previously, I would have gone to the dictionary search window and would have edited the search string or maybe changed the language of the definition dictionary. Now I cannot see how to do this.
Case 2: I select a certain word and click on translate, a box with the result from the English to French dictionary pops up. If I am not satisfied with the result (there might be no French entry or I might not understand it or whatever) I would previously have selected one of the other translation dictionaries. Now I cannot see how to do this.

Can anybody hint me in the right direction?

I would generally appreciate if Kobo could update the manuals and explain the new features.

Uschiekid · 10-11-2012, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tshering

After updating to firmware 2.14 I cannot figure out how to handle the dictionaries in some situations.
Case 1: I select a certain word, the definition box pops up and I am not happy with the result. Previously, I would have gone to the dictionary search window and would have edited the search string or maybe changed the language of the definition dictionary. Now I cannot see how to do this.

can't help you myself, but i have similar issues on the glo for case 1. however, in certain languages it works (at the moment english, german, italian and spanish). and previously i had success doing this with other languages...japanese and dutch. but not with italian and spanish at the time when japanese and dutch worked....

this seems weird to me since the glo has always been 2.14 firmware, so i don't get the inconsistencies.

i haven't had any trouble switching the languages under the translation dictionaries. but i haven't used them much.

i think maybe 2.14 is having growing pains, and until it's fixed, you will be limited in the uses you mentioned.

maybe if enough people comment on this issue, the kobo gods will have pity on us.

Joe563 · 10-11-2012, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tshering

After updating to firmware 2.14 I cannot figure out how to handle the dictionaries in some situations.
Case 1: I select a certain word, the definition box pops up and I am not happy with the result. Previously, I would have gone to the dictionary search window and would have edited the search string or maybe changed the language of the definition dictionary. Now I cannot see how to do this.
Case 2: I select a certain word and click on translate, a box with the result from the English to French dictionary pops up. If I am not satisfied with the result (there might be no French entry or I might not understand it or whatever) I would previously have selected one of the other translation dictionaries. Now I cannot see how to do this.

Can anybody hint me in the right direction?

I would generally appreciate if Kobo could update the manuals and explain the new features.

Before using the dictionary function install the dictionaries that you expect to use. From the Home screen, select Settings>Language and then select the language and translation dictionaries that you want and save them.

For Case 1, when the popup definition box appears select the A|Z icon displayed at the bottom of the screen and then select Dictionary. From the full screen dictionary screen that is then displayed you can change the language by touching the chosen language (dotted underline to the left of the the V symbol) or you can enter another word to look up by touching the arrow icon in the top left corner. In principle the solution for Case 2 works the same as that for Case 1.

Uschiekid · 10-11-2012, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe563

Before using the dictionary function install the dictionaries that you expect to use. From the Home screen, select Settings>Language and then select the language and translation dictionaries that you want and save them.

For Case 1, when the popup definition box appears select the A|Z icon displayed at the bottom of the screen and then select Dictionary. From the full screen dictionary screen that is then displayed you can change the language by touching the V symbol beside your chosen language or you can enter another word to look up by touching the arrow icon in the top left corner. In principle the solution for Case 2 works the same as that for Case 1.

I installed all languages to begin with. it was like the first thing i did. at that time, when i tried to choose another language in the dictionary, only some options were available. same with using the back arrow.

Then for a short time I could do it with all languages.

But then lucky me, I had a different issue and had to re-initialize my kobo. once again, i installed all dictionaries.

Now, when i go in and try to change the dictionary, i get all options (which is only useful if the kobo fails to recognise the language of the book, which doesn't happen), BUT if i use the arrow in the top left, and try to TYPE in my dictionary, only english, german italian and spanish are available. Same as if i just go straight into the dictionary without highlighting.

Now the interesting thing is, this is all provided that i am using an english book. Also at the moment this works for German (and assumably italian and spanish, but i dont have any of those). If I try this with a French book or a Japanese book, I can't even get to the dictionary by middle tapping and clicking on the ToC/Annotation/Search in Book/Definition/Translate Word menu. It just doesn't appear in the menu at all.

Not sure if I wrote my issue clearly, but I have gotten various results in the week I've had my glo. Since I definitely have the french-french dictionary and it lets me look up when i highlight a word, i'm really not sure why i can't use the type in method and select french. but that is how it is. as i said before, this WAS possible with french and japanese at one point, and not possible with some other languages.

The thing is, I had the same issue when trying demo models before buying, even after making sure all the languages were installed, though in that case it allowed english, german and dutch. two models. two different stores. (oh and the touch demo model allowed english german and japanese of all things!).

sometimes when syncing, i *have* noticed that there is some activity happening in regards to the dictionaries (not just a quick sync), so i wonder if something fishy is going on there. especially since the behaviour seems less than consistent.

babbling over.

seems like a bug to me, but i'm a newbie, soooo...come on experts!

Joe563 · 10-11-2012, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Now, when i go in and try to change the dictionary, i get all options (which is only useful if the kobo fails to recognise the language of the book, which doesn't happen), BUT if i use the arrow in the top left, and try to TYPE in my dictionary, only english, german italian and spanish are available. Same as if i just go straight into the dictionary without highlighting.

This is definitely a bug in the 2.1.4 firmware. Since you selected all languages in the language settings french and dutch should also be available.

Uschiekid · 10-11-2012, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe563

This is definitely a bug in the 2.1.4 firmware. Since you selected all languages in the language settings french and dutch should also be available.

so i'm not crazy

good. but bad. i hope kobo takes care of it when the do the next update.

vice-versa · 10-12-2012, 01:59 AM

not at all the concerns you expressed here, but still a dictionnary concern : I'm French and learned (very very long ago) German, but I never have the occasion to use that language, I'm, say, a bit rusty. I'd like to read in German now with my reader (finding german paper books to read in my lost countryside is just impossible

), I'd like to have a German-French dictionnary.

So first question : as it's not implemented for now in the Glo, is it possible to add one, if yes, by what means ?

Second question : if the answer to the first question is no, as I set the main language of my Glo to "French" and as the Glo as a built-in German-English dictionnary, is it possible to have, at least, a german-to-english translation with French kept set as main language ?

I don't want to buy a german speaking book if I can't look for words I don't understand...

tshering · 10-12-2012, 05:11 AM

First at all, thanks to everybody for responding!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe563

Before using the dictionary function install the dictionaries that you expect to use.

Maybe, there is my problem. I have to admit that I am not quite sure if I understand the dictionary management. According to the information from the settings menu my KT has 14 dictionaries installed. And actually if I open a book in a given language the respective dictionaries are accessed by the KT. Therefore, I guess that all that I can do by managing the dictionaries is to remove one or the other dictionary, and this I have no intention to do in the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe563

From the full screen dictionary screen that is then displayed you can change the language by touching the chosen language (dotted underline to the left of the the V symbol) or you can enter another word to look up by touching the arrow icon in the top left corner.

The full screen dictionary screen of my reader does not show any dotted underline, nor any arrow icon to the top left corner.

If I think about it, it seems to me that there a two kinds of logic involved. 1) When one points at a word on the screen the KT/Glo uses the correct dictionary based on the language information. 2) When offering dictionary access to the user the KT/Glo offers only those dictionaries the user has selected at a certain point.
So is the meaning of "installing dictionaries" "selecting some out of the actually installed dictionaries for user-access"? Is this the function of the dictionary management? Could anybody please confirm this? If this is the case I have to use of the dictionary management, something I cannot do since at the moment Wifi access is difficult for me.

tshering · 10-12-2012, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vice-versa

I'd like to have a German-French dictionnary.

So first question : as it's not implemented for now in the Glo, is it possible to add one, if yes, by what means ?

I did some thoughts on this there. From the working steps mentioned there, I finished step 1. For several reasons I did not step 2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vice-versa

Second question : if the answer to the first question is no, as I set the main language of my Glo to "French" and as the Glo as a built-in German-English dictionnary, is it possible to have, at least, a german-to-english translation with French kept set as main language ?

I don't want to buy a german speaking book if I can't look for words I don't understand...

Judging from past experience, the access of dictionaries is independent of the main language. If you cannot access the German-English dictionary it should be a problem with installing/managing. (As you see from my previous posts I am having a problem here myself.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by vice-versa

I don't want to buy a german speaking book if I can't look for words I don't understand...

You could simple download a German epub from www.gutenberg.org and test the German to English dictionary.

clsdclsd · 10-12-2012, 06:01 AM

From 2.1.4, dictionaries are synced to the reader like the e-books. If you select to uninstall one, the dictionary file will be deleted from the device. Selecting to (re-)install it will "flag" the name of it to install the necessary file at the next sync with the desktop software (or wifi).

If an installed dictionary does not show up (no dotted line or back arrow etc), that means (Surprise! :-)) some database inconsistency, a sign out-sign in procedure should solve this.

davidfor · 10-12-2012, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tshering

First at all, thanks to everybody for responding!

Maybe, there is my problem. I have to admit that I am not quite sure if I understand the dictionary management. According to the information from the settings menu my KT has 14 dictionaries installed. And actually if I open a book in a given language the respective dictionaries are accessed by the KT. Therefore, I guess that all that I can do by managing the dictionaries is to remove one or the other dictionary, and this I have no intention to do in the moment.

The full screen dictionary screen of my reader does not show any dotted underline, nor any arrow icon to the top left corner.

That is strange. Have you tried to press that area and see if anything happens? There might be a problem that the icon is not there, but pressing the right spot might work.

Quote:

If I think about it, it seems to me that there a two kinds of logic involved. 1) When one points at a word on the screen the KT/Glo uses the correct dictionary based on the language information. 2) When offering dictionary access to the user the KT/Glo offers only those dictionaries the user has selected at a certain point.

I hope that the first is right, but I would have to find some non-English books to check. For the second, on my KT, all dictionaries I have installed are displayed in the list to choose from. I definitely haven't looked up a Japanese word.

Quote:

So is the meaning of "installing dictionaries" "selecting some out of the actually installed dictionaries for user-access"? Is this the function of the dictionary management? Could anybody please confirm this? If this is the case I should make use of the dictionary management, something I cannot do since at the moment Wifi access is difficult for me.

The dictionary management selects which dictionaries you want to use. If the dictionary is not already on the device, it will be downloaded. If WiFi is on, it will be downloaded straight away. If not, it will be downloaded the next time you do a WiFi sync. I assume a desktop sync will also download the dictionary, but I haven't tested this.

There is something wrong on your device. If it was in my hands, I would change the dictionary set-up. I would add another dictionary. Then let a sync happen and load the new dictionary. This might trigger an update or reconfiguration that might solve the issues you are seeing. If you are having WiFi issues, that might make doing this hard.

Another way might be to change the language used for the interface. There is a chance there is an error in the different languages. There is also a chance that changing it and changing back after a bit will also reinitialise the interface properly. I sort of hope not as it would show a bug in the firmware, but for your sake, I hope it helps.

tshering · 10-12-2012, 07:59 AM

Thanks clsdclsd and davidfor!

I will try your suggestions this evening.

I tend to think that there are two kinds of mechanisms involved. 1) One (the older) part of the software presupposes that certain dictionaries are installed, or it searches in the relevant directories for them. 2) The other part of the software relies on database information about what dictionaries have been downloaded to the device. Point 2) would make sense for all devices that start out with 2.1.14, since they do not have any dictionaries installed from the outset. Since older devices inherit the dictionaries from previous firmware versions, and therefore, there is no need for downloading them, those dictionaries are unknown to the database.

vice-versa · 10-12-2012, 10:05 AM

Thank you Tshering for your comment, I can't help you with your project (I have only some notion in japanese and is definitely not competent in programming) but your suggestion is very pertinent and I'll give a try (even if I'm not sure to find really something to my taste in German in project Gutenberg). If it's positive, I'll ask a German friend of mine to give me some recommendations

tshering · 10-12-2012, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vice-versa

I'm not sure to find really something to my taste in German in project Gutenberg

Your taste must be delicate indeed. If I were to test whether the G-E dictionary is principally working I would take any German language book at hand. Of course, it is different if you would like to test the quality of the dictionary. Judging from the file size it is rather small.
You can find a greater variety of free German ebooks at http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/. With the help of http://www.epub2go.eu/ you can convert them to epubs.

tshering · 10-12-2012, 04:19 PM

When I started this thread my main problems was that I was limited to the dictionary entries that the KT choose. For instance, when displaying an English book, the KT presented me with English-English definitions and English-French translations; when displaying a German book, the KT presented me with German-German definitions and German-English translations, and so on. There was no way to change the dictionary language (neither of the definition dictionaries nor of the translation dictionaries) or to get to the screen with the keyboard in order to modify the search string.

Today I checked the first seven dictionaries of the "Manage Dictionaries" list (even though I was convinced that the dictionaries were already at the device), pressed "save" and let the KT synchronize via Wifi. Actually, I did it in two steps, first only one dictionary and then the other six. To make it short, after two spontaneous reboots my KT behaves now more or less as expected. I can now even choose between different translation dictionaries, although I did not check them in the list.
It is however still impossible to open the edit screen (I mean the one with the keyboard) of the Japanese and the French definition dictionary. Switching the user language did not make any difference in this respect. As for the other dictionaries, I did not test all of them, but of those I did I am able to open the edit screen.

Thanks again to everybody for helpful comments.

10-11-2012, 04:48 PM	#1
tshering Wizard Posts: 3,489 Karma: 2914715 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: kobo touch	handling the dictionaries After updating to firmware 2.14 I cannot figure out how to handle the dictionaries in some situations. Case 1: I select a certain word, the definition box pops up and I am not happy with the result. Previously, I would have gone to the dictionary search window and would have edited the search string or maybe changed the language of the definition dictionary. Now I cannot see how to do this. Case 2: I select a certain word and click on translate, a box with the result from the English to French dictionary pops up. If I am not satisfied with the result (there might be no French entry or I might not understand it or whatever) I would previously have selected one of the other translation dictionaries. Now I cannot see how to do this. Can anybody hint me in the right direction? I would generally appreciate if Kobo could update the manuals and explain the new features.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
PDF Handling	tswan	Which one should I buy?	1	09-30-2011 06:30 PM
Several K3 PDF handling questions	barium	Amazon Kindle	0	02-04-2011 02:14 PM
PDF Handling on New Kindle	Sheikspeare	Amazon Kindle	21	08-09-2010 04:34 AM
Metadata Handling in 0.7.+	tonyc46	Calibre	2	06-23-2010 05:35 AM
Handling several wordlists.	Gianfranco	Bookeen	9	08-20-2008 09:29 AM

10-12-2012, 01:59 AM	#7
vice-versa whippet addict Posts: 391 Karma: 689884 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: France, Normandy, Gisors Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra Colour	not at all the concerns you expressed here, but still a dictionnary concern : I'm French and learned (very very long ago) German, but I never have the occasion to use that language, I'm, say, a bit rusty. I'd like to read in German now with my reader (finding german paper books to read in my lost countryside is just impossible ), I'd like to have a German-French dictionnary. So first question : as it's not implemented for now in the Glo, is it possible to add one, if yes, by what means ? Second question : if the answer to the first question is no, as I set the main language of my Glo to "French" and as the Glo as a built-in German-English dictionnary, is it possible to have, at least, a german-to-english translation with French kept set as main language ? I don't want to buy a german speaking book if I can't look for words I don't understand...

10-12-2012, 06:01 AM	#10
clsdclsd Zealot Posts: 105 Karma: 37668 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	From 2.1.4, dictionaries are synced to the reader like the e-books. If you select to uninstall one, the dictionary file will be deleted from the device. Selecting to (re-)install it will "flag" the name of it to install the necessary file at the next sync with the desktop software (or wifi). If an installed dictionary does not show up (no dotted line or back arrow etc), that means (Surprise! :-)) some database inconsistency, a sign out-sign in procedure should solve this.

10-12-2012, 07:59 AM	#12
tshering Wizard Posts: 3,489 Karma: 2914715 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: kobo touch	Thanks clsdclsd and davidfor! I will try your suggestions this evening. I tend to think that there are two kinds of mechanisms involved. 1) One (the older) part of the software presupposes that certain dictionaries are installed, or it searches in the relevant directories for them. 2) The other part of the software relies on database information about what dictionaries have been downloaded to the device. Point 2) would make sense for all devices that start out with 2.1.14, since they do not have any dictionaries installed from the outset. Since older devices inherit the dictionaries from previous firmware versions, and therefore, there is no need for downloading them, those dictionaries are unknown to the database.

10-12-2012, 10:05 AM	#13
vice-versa whippet addict Posts: 391 Karma: 689884 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: France, Normandy, Gisors Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra Colour	Thank you Tshering for your comment, I can't help you with your project (I have only some notion in japanese and is definitely not competent in programming) but your suggestion is very pertinent and I'll give a try (even if I'm not sure to find really something to my taste in German in project Gutenberg). If it's positive, I'll ask a German friend of mine to give me some recommendations

10-12-2012, 04:19 PM	#15
tshering Wizard Posts: 3,489 Karma: 2914715 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: kobo touch	When I started this thread my main problems was that I was limited to the dictionary entries that the KT choose. For instance, when displaying an English book, the KT presented me with English-English definitions and English-French translations; when displaying a German book, the KT presented me with German-German definitions and German-English translations, and so on. There was no way to change the dictionary language (neither of the definition dictionaries nor of the translation dictionaries) or to get to the screen with the keyboard in order to modify the search string. Today I checked the first seven dictionaries of the "Manage Dictionaries" list (even though I was convinced that the dictionaries were already at the device), pressed "save" and let the KT synchronize via Wifi. Actually, I did it in two steps, first only one dictionary and then the other six. To make it short, after two spontaneous reboots my KT behaves now more or less as expected. I can now even choose between different translation dictionaries, although I did not check them in the list. It is however still impossible to open the edit screen (I mean the one with the keyboard) of the Japanese and the French definition dictionary. Switching the user language did not make any difference in this respect. As for the other dictionaries, I did not test all of them, but of those I did I am able to open the edit screen. Thanks again to everybody for helpful comments.