Is it possible to use kindle's dictionaries as Kobo's? How?

[troubledMan]

Hi all,

The title says almost all. I'm user of some Kindles and the main reason I do not read in a Kobo is the (so and so) quality of its dictionaries. So I wander if it is doable to take a dictionary from a Kindle and make it as the dictionary of a Kobo.

Thank you in advance and forgive me if the question a) has been answered before, and b) is a silly one.

[deleted2]

Check here https://github.com/BoboTiG/ebook-reader-dict

It’s not the Kindle dictionary, I think it’s better.

Installation : Copy the dictionnary inside the .kobo/custom-dict/ folder on your eBook reader.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by troubledMan

The title says almost all. I'm user of some Kindles and the main reason I do not read in a Kobo is the (so and so) quality of its dictionaries. So I wander if it is doable to take a dictionary from a Kindle and make it as the dictionary of a Kobo.

Thank you in advance and forgive me if the question a) has been answered before, and b) is a silly one.

You don't say which language dictionary you're talking about but, last time I looked (in 2020), the current default Kobo Oxford English dictionary was already more up-to-date than the Kindle [Edition 3] equivalent.

[troubledMan]

I don’t know if those are better, but I would like to use the normative dictionary in Spanish, the dictionary of the Real Academia Española, that comes installed in the Kindle. Thank you, anyway.

[troubledMan]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

Check here https://github.com/BoboTiG/ebook-reader-dict

It’s not the Kindle dictionary, I think it’s better.

Installation : Copy the dictionnary inside the .kobo/custom-dict/ folder on your eBook reader.

I don’t know if those are better, but I would like to use the normative dictionary in Spanish, the dictionary of the Real Academia Española, that comes installed in the Kindle. Thank you, anyway.

[troubledMan]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

You don't say which language dictionary you're talking about but, last time I looked (in 2020), the current default Kobo Oxford English dictionary was already more up-to-date than the Kindle [Edition 3] equivalent.

Excuse me, you’re right. I’m talking about the Spanish dictionary. And the one for English. I’d like to know if is it posible to install kindle’s dictionaries into a Kobo.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by troubledMan

Excuse me, you’re right. I’m talking about the Spanish dictionary. And the one for English. I’d like to know if is it posible to install kindle’s dictionaries into a Kobo.

The English dictionary Kobos use these days is the same as Kindles use - the Oxford dictionary.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by troubledMan

Excuse me, you’re right. I’m talking about the Spanish dictionary. And the one for English. I’d like to know if is it posible to install kindle’s dictionaries into a Kobo.

No you can't install Kindle dictionaries on a Kobo.

It is technically feasible to convert from Kindle format to Kobo format, because I did it for the 2 Kindle English dictionaries a few years ago. However, I didn't find any general utility to do it as a "magic button" conversion. I needed plenty of time to understand both the Kindle/Kobo formats and some bespoke programming to get there.

Since then, @geek1011 has developed dictutil - utilities for creating Kobo format dictionaries more easily but I don't think anyone has ever added a utility to extract the Kindle format data (a special mobi format) into the required intermediate format which is then converted to Kobo format without needing to write bespoke programs.

The Kindle dictionaries were (are still?) DRM-protected, so step 1 is always to remove the DRM before you can start to extract the word/definition data.

[troubledMan]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

No you can't install Kindle dictionaries on a Kobo.

…

Thank you. I guess I'll just have to stay tied to Kindle & Amazon.

[LatinLover]

Originally Posted by troubledMan

Thank you. I guess I'll just have to stay tied to Kindle & Amazon.

No need to stay with amazon, here is the RAE for kobo. Just copy-paste into custom dict folder
Pidan y se les dará; busquen y encontrarán; toquen y se les abrirá. Porque todo el que pide, recibe; el que busca, encuentra; y al que toca se le abre

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by troubledMan

I don’t know if those are better, but I would like to use the normative dictionary in Spanish, the dictionary of the Real Academia Española, that comes installed in the Kindle. Thank you, anyway.

Here, you have the Spanish dictionary https://github.com/BoboTiG/ebook-rea...s/es/README.md

It comes with all the etymology. Very complete. But if you absolutely want a particular dictionary, just stay with Kindle if you think it has a better one.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Since then, @geek1011 has developed dictutil - utilities for creating Kobo format dictionaries more easily but I don't think anyone has ever added a utility to extract the Kindle format data (a special mobi format) into the required intermediate format which is then converted to Kobo format without needing to write bespoke programs.

Not sure if it supports the kindle format, but there's also PyGlossary, which converts between most of the dictionary formats (including dictutil's internal one).

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Not sure if it supports the kindle format, but there's also PyGlossary, ...

No, I don't think it does.

[troubledMan]

Originally Posted by LatinLover

No need to stay with amazon, here is the RAE for kobo. Just copy-paste into custom dict folder
Pidan y se les dará; busquen y encontrarán; toquen y se les abrirá. Porque todo el que pide, recibe; el que busca, encuentra; y al que toca se le abre

Thank you very much!

[Pjama]

Kobo's dictionaries used to be poor, but these days they use the Oxford dictionaries, just like the Kindle, and you can get them for many languages as well. If you click on a word in a foreign language book, the Kobo should download the relevant dictionary.