Multi-lingual spell checking

Stingo · 11-16-2013, 09:49 PM

It always amazes me when product development and sales have a disconnect. One of the biggest improvements that Amazon made to the KPW1 software from a multilingual perspective was adding the option to dynamically select which dictionary to look up a word in in the spell check window. This means that if there are french words in an English book you can look them up. Without this the KPW1 defaulted to English for the book and would not recognize the foreign word. Now, the KPW2 has inexplicably lost this feature when they added the Wikipedia search in the spellcheck. There is a work around with the translate feature but this makes it slow and cumbersome to move through a book. This was one of various features keeping me from upgrading. I imagine that for other multi-lingual readers in Europe and other parts of the world this will present a problem. Certainly for several schools that I deal with this will be a deal killer. It's a simple fix so hopefully Amazon will fix it with a firmware upgrade.

stickybuns · 11-18-2013, 01:38 PM

I don't understand. I look up non-English words I'm my PW2 all the time.

sirmaru · 11-18-2013, 05:59 PM

There is a Translate option for non-English words.

stickybuns · 11-18-2013, 06:18 PM

Stingo, any chance you purchased a non-English dictionary for you old Kindle and then forgot? The PW2 will translate with the help of Bing, but if you were able to get dictionary style definitions for a non-English language, you would need a dictionary in that language. Go to Manage Your Kindle and check.

The only dictionaries I've ever had by default are the American English and British English ones.

sirmaru · 11-18-2013, 07:17 PM

If one goes to Manage Your Kindle on your account, there are dozens of different language dictionaries available for download. One must just select them on your device to use as the default dictionary.

Stingo · 11-19-2013, 04:25 PM

Thanks for the responses. We may be talking about different things. If I am in a Spanish book it will not look up an English word in the English dictionary. If I am in an English book it will not look up a German word. I can use the drop down menu in the dictionary look up and use the translate option but that is a bit more tedious than simply designating the dictionary to use for the word and getting a definition rather than the translation. I do have various dictionaries for english, spanish, german, french and italian but I'll check again to make sure that I am not doing something wrong.

stickybuns · 11-19-2013, 04:58 PM

Autodetection for languages is available for the translation function (click on the word, select more, select translate.
Switching between dictionaries is done manually. Tap top, tap the three stripe symbol, select settings, device options, language and dictionaries, dictionaries, select dictionary...

Wow, that is convoluted. Maybe we should all write Amazon requesting that switching dictionaries be listed in the contextual manual the same was as translation and Wikipedia are.

11-16-2013, 09:49 PM	#1
Stingo Fanatic Posts: 581 Karma: 1334691 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Miami Device: KH2O, KPW2, KDXG, KPW1, K3, S505	Multi-lingual spell checking It always amazes me when product development and sales have a disconnect. One of the biggest improvements that Amazon made to the KPW1 software from a multilingual perspective was adding the option to dynamically select which dictionary to look up a word in in the spell check window. This means that if there are french words in an English book you can look them up. Without this the KPW1 defaulted to English for the book and would not recognize the foreign word. Now, the KPW2 has inexplicably lost this feature when they added the Wikipedia search in the spellcheck. There is a work around with the translate feature but this makes it slow and cumbersome to move through a book. This was one of various features keeping me from upgrading. I imagine that for other multi-lingual readers in Europe and other parts of the world this will present a problem. Certainly for several schools that I deal with this will be a deal killer. It's a simple fix so hopefully Amazon will fix it with a firmware upgrade.

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11-18-2013, 01:38 PM	#2
stickybuns Evangelist Posts: 405 Karma: 479729 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2	I don't understand. I look up non-English words I'm my PW2 all the time.

11-18-2013, 05:59 PM	#3
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	There is a Translate option for non-English words.

11-18-2013, 06:18 PM	#4
stickybuns Evangelist Posts: 405 Karma: 479729 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2	Stingo, any chance you purchased a non-English dictionary for you old Kindle and then forgot? The PW2 will translate with the help of Bing, but if you were able to get dictionary style definitions for a non-English language, you would need a dictionary in that language. Go to Manage Your Kindle and check. The only dictionaries I've ever had by default are the American English and British English ones.

11-18-2013, 07:17 PM	#5
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	If one goes to Manage Your Kindle on your account, there are dozens of different language dictionaries available for download. One must just select them on your device to use as the default dictionary.

11-19-2013, 04:25 PM	#6
Stingo Fanatic Posts: 581 Karma: 1334691 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Miami Device: KH2O, KPW2, KDXG, KPW1, K3, S505	Thanks for the responses. We may be talking about different things. If I am in a Spanish book it will not look up an English word in the English dictionary. If I am in an English book it will not look up a German word. I can use the drop down menu in the dictionary look up and use the translate option but that is a bit more tedious than simply designating the dictionary to use for the word and getting a definition rather than the translation. I do have various dictionaries for english, spanish, german, french and italian but I'll check again to make sure that I am not doing something wrong.

11-19-2013, 04:58 PM	#7
stickybuns Evangelist Posts: 405 Karma: 479729 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2	Autodetection for languages is available for the translation function (click on the word, select more, select translate. Switching between dictionaries is done manually. Tap top, tap the three stripe symbol, select settings, device options, language and dictionaries, dictionaries, select dictionary... Wow, that is convoluted. Maybe we should all write Amazon requesting that switching dictionaries be listed in the contextual manual the same was as translation and Wikipedia are.

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