Index of Custom Dictionaries for Kobo eReader

[AlPe]

Instructions on how to install a custom dictionary on your Kobo can be found in the README of the GitHub repo: https://github.com/pettarin/penelope

[123kajote]

Originally Posted by AlPe

Instructions on how to install a custom dictionary on your Kobo can be found in the README of the GitHub repo: https://github.com/pettarin/penelope

I've done that,... and it worked.... until I choose Update Kobo,... then this "faked" file was overwritten with original update....

So, if you want to have your own dictionary never choose update Kobo....

[AlPe]

I updated the README, adding a note about the firmware updates and suggesting to keep a copy of the custom dictionaries somewhere else, thank you.

[tatung2112]

I have used Penelope to convert a stardict dictionary English - Vietnamese for Kobo (attachment). However, when I use this dictionary on Kobo Glo (3.3.0), the font for Vietnamese seems not to be right. I think I need to change font of dictionary in Kobo but I don't know how to do it. Does anyone know how to change font of dictionary?

[AlPe]

As far as I know, there is no way to embed a font inside a Kobo dictionary, for the reader/app to use it when displaying the dictionary definition.

Hence, all you have is the default "Kobo" font: if it does not have glyphs for certain (or even all) Vietnamese characters, you are out of luck.

(Maybe custom firmwares do have the possibility of changing the dictionary font --- I do not know for sure, try searching the Kobo Developer part of this forum.)

I have tried reaching the Kobo devs several times, asking them for the dictionary format documentation and official support for custom dictionaries, but with zero results.

===

Is the dictionary linked above still usable? Would you like me to list it in the index in the first post?

[mietek81]

One question? Can Penelope convert stardict dictionary with synonym *.syn file?

[AlPe]

Yes, it can convert them, but I guess what you meant was "Is Penelope taking into account the .syn file inside a StarDict dictionary?", to which the answer is no.

I acknowledge this could be a nice feature, but I have never come across to one such dictionary (legally available for free). Do you have a link?

BTW, the code of Penelope is on GitHub under the terms of the MIT license ( https://github.com/pettarin/penelope ): unfortunately I do not have time to work on it, but anyone willing to implement new features, write documentation, etc. is welcome to join the project.

[mietek81]

Well, I don't have yet a dictionary with .syn file but I was going to make one. Or at least try to make as I found a base file to work on.

Another thing I forgot to ask (and asked for it already a year back or so). Is it possible to merge two dictionaries (english-english and english-polish) to create something like english-english-polish dictionary? It would work in a way that after english definition for a word there would be polish translation of it (of course only if there would be a translation for the word in eng-pol dictionary).

And another. Let's say that I have two or three different polish dictionaries and I want to join them into one. Is it possible?

Sadly, as I don't know Python I can't help with work on Penelope.

[AlPe]

Originally Posted by mietek81

Well, I don't have yet a dictionary with .syn file but I was going to make one. Or at least try to make as I found a base file to work on.

OK. My comment was along this line: as I have never seen a StarDict with a .syn dictionary, I decided not to spend time on that. BTW, if it is a simple feature to add (it should), I might give it a shot.

Originally Posted by mietek81

Another thing I forgot to ask (and asked for it already a year back or so). Is it possible to merge two dictionaries (english-english and english-polish) to create something like english-english-polish dictionary? It would work in a way that after english definition for a word there would be polish translation of it (of course only if there would be a translation for the word in eng-pol dictionary).

And another. Let's say that I have two or three different polish dictionaries and I want to join them into one. Is it possible?

Yes, Penelope supports merging more input dictionaries into one, provided that all the input dictionaries have the same format. For example:

$ python penelope.py -p "bar,foo,zam" -f pl -t pl --output-kobo

will join "bar", "foo" and "zam" into dicthtml-pl.zip. (As usual, remove the dictionary extensions.)

The above will create a separate dictionary entry for each dictionary entry in any input dictionary:

Dict 1: "word" => "definition of word in dictionary 1"
Dict 2: "word" => "definition of word in dictionary 2"
Dict 3: "word" => "definition of word in dictionary 3"

Merged dictionary will have three entries for "word":
"word" => "definition of word in dictionary 1"
"word" => "definition of word in dictionary 2"
"word" => "definition of word in dictionary 3"

If you want to merge the definitions:

Merged dictionary:
"word" => "definition of word in dictionary 1 | definition of word in dictionary 2 | definition of word in dictionary 3"

you must write a custom parser for that; for example, you can adapt this one: https://github.com/pettarin/penelope...ster_parser.py and use the --parser option:

$ python penelope.py -p "bar,foo,zam" -f pl -t pl --parser customparser.py --output-kobo

[mietek81]

Ok, this is nice
So first option would be great if I would like to merge for example dictionary and encyclopedia, second one for merging two different polish dictionaries

[elchamaco]

Originally Posted by AlPe

OK. My comment was along this line: as I have never seen a StarDict with a .syn dictionary, I decided not to spend time on that. BTW, if it is a simple feature to add (it should), I might give it a shot.

I've created some stardict dictionaries with syns. It's curious, in the stardict specs they discourage to point inflected forms to the same definition in the main index and use the syn. I wonder if the dictionaries avoid that recommendation or they duplicate the entry increasing the dictionary size.

If you want an example of a functional stardict with syn i can send it to you.

[AlPe]

Good. Next week I will be traveling, so I will have some "spare" time to spend on the merging / synonyms thing.

Sure, a StarDict with .syn file will save me some time to build an example. If you do not mind, you can send it to me via email (or dropbox/gdrive/etc link): my email is here: http://www.albertopettarin.it/contact.html or PM.

[elchamaco]

Originally Posted by AlPe

Good. Next week I will be traveling, so I will have some "spare" time to spend on the merging / synonyms thing.

Sure, a StarDict with .syn file will save me some time to build an example. If you do not mind, you can send it to me via email (or dropbox/gdrive/etc link): my email is here: http://www.albertopettarin.it/contact.html or PM.

I send you an email to the contact adress in your web. It's a bilingual dictionary english-spanish with syn, resource file with images (i don't know if kobo support images like kindle or stardict dictionaries...). The problem is that i don't get the resource files working with goldendict/stardict/colordict but i did'nt do too many tests, so i included the images in a res carpet that it's the other way to distribute resource files with stardict dictionaries.

[oren64]

Hi

Can somebody please help my convert dictionary english-hebrew for kobo.

there an [ERORR].
"File en_he.ifo not found or withe worng format.Aborting"

thanks.

Oren

english-hebrew.rar

[rmreader]

Hi orren64,

I've converted the file. I got a few errors, so I'm not sure if this works. Please report back if it works. Then Alberto can add it to the list.

Kind regards,
Ruud