Calibre custom dictionary

ebookscovers · 03-21-2016, 04:44 PM

Hi guys. an author is looking for me to integrate a custom dictionary from Irish to English for his ebook. It will be only be 200 words maximum and I will have to input words and translations to English myself as there is no available dictionaries I can download for installing through calibre. Is there a SIMPLE process to create a custom dictionary from scratch or within calibre that I can set as default dictionary. The dictionary needs to be available across all platforms, Kindle, iPad etc. Help!! David

BetterRed · 03-21-2016, 05:56 PM

What is the purpose of the 'dictionary' - if its for spell checking then that's a feature of the calibre editor, and it has provision for custom dictionaries (which are essentially word lists).

If its something like this then you could include it in the book, probably at the back, either in the original text, or by adding it with the editor. And maybe you could link occurrences of the 'words' in the text to the glossary entry.

I believe some e-readers incorporate on-board dictionaries (highlight a word and look it up), but I'm not sure if any provide for book specific custom dictionaries, and even if they did they'd all do it differently.

BR

davidfor · 03-21-2016, 09:36 PM

I'm pretty sure the answer is no. I think the best you can do is mark the Irish word with the correct language and then hope that the reader/app handles this correctly. I've done this in an epub as an experiment. The book had a character that when excited switched to Spanish (i.e. swore in Spanish). As an experiment, I marked these as Spanish using spans. The Kobo ereader respected this and when I did a dictionary lookup of these words, it looked in the Spanish dictionary instead of the English that was used for the rest of the book.

This should work, but it relies on the reader/app doing it and having an Irish dictionary available. The Kobo ereaders don't and I don't know about Kindles or anything else.

I think BR's suggestion of a glossary is the only way to do it. And putting footnote type links in will allow the reader to quickly get to and from the definition elsewhere in the book. A lot of the readers/apps can display the footnote as a pop-up which should work well for this type of thing.

HarryT · 03-22-2016, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

This should work, but it relies on the reader/app doing it and having an Irish dictionary available. The Kobo ereaders don't and I don't know about Kindles or anything else.

The Kindle doesn't come with an Irish dictionary, but you can add one. Eg, the Collins Irish-English dictionary:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Gem-...ish+dictionary

davidfor · 03-22-2016, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Kindle doesn't come with an Irish dictionary, but you can add one. Eg, the Collins Irish-English dictionary:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Gem-...ish+dictionary

The dictionaries are one place that I think Kobo have messed up. The basic function is there, but with no supported way to add dictionaries or get better dictionaries, they are way behind a Kindle.

mbovenka · 03-23-2016, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

The dictionaries are one place that I think Kobo have messed up. The basic function is there, but with no supported way to add dictionaries or get better dictionaries, they are way behind a Kindle.

Agreed. My Chambers 10th is the one thing I miss from my Kindle days. The Kobo English dictionary is OK-ish, but not a patch on the Chambers.

Doitsu · 03-23-2016, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebookscovers

Is there a SIMPLE process to create a custom dictionary from scratch or within calibre that I can set as default dictionary.

That depends on your technical skills and the operating system/hardware platform.

iOS:

AFAIK, it's not possible to install system popup translation dictionaries on iOS devices.
I looked into this some time ago and found out that it's theoretically possible to intercept taps and to search an embedded sqlite database, however, this is more of a hack than solution suitable for end-users. (See the attached epub3 file for a proof of concept; it works with iBooks, Azardi, Gitden Reader and Calibre but not with Sigil.)

Android ePub apps and some Android-based eInk readers:

It's relatively easy to convert a tab-delimited word list to a StarDict dictionary and most ePub reading apps support the free ColorDict app.

eInk Kindles:

It's also relatively easy to convert a tab-delimited word list to a Kindle dictionary that can be installed by copying it to the documents folder on the Kindle.

Kindle apps:

AFAIK, only the Kindle for Android app supports installing custom dictionaries and they would have to be bought separately by the readers.

My recommendation would be to offer free StarDict and Kindle dictionaries as password-protected downloads on the publisher's website.

03-21-2016, 04:44 PM	#1
ebookscovers Enthusiast Posts: 49 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2016 Device: Ipad mini 2	Calibre custom dictionary Hi guys. an author is looking for me to integrate a custom dictionary from Irish to English for his ebook. It will be only be 200 words maximum and I will have to input words and translations to English myself as there is no available dictionaries I can download for installing through calibre. Is there a SIMPLE process to create a custom dictionary from scratch or within calibre that I can set as default dictionary. The dictionary needs to be available across all platforms, Kindle, iPad etc. Help!! David

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03-21-2016, 05:56 PM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,667 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	What is the purpose of the 'dictionary' - if its for spell checking then that's a feature of the calibre editor, and it has provision for custom dictionaries (which are essentially word lists). If its something like this then you could include it in the book, probably at the back, either in the original text, or by adding it with the editor. And maybe you could link occurrences of the 'words' in the text to the glossary entry. I believe some e-readers incorporate on-board dictionaries (highlight a word and look it up), but I'm not sure if any provide for book specific custom dictionaries, and even if they did they'd all do it differently. BR

03-21-2016, 09:36 PM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	I'm pretty sure the answer is no. I think the best you can do is mark the Irish word with the correct language and then hope that the reader/app handles this correctly. I've done this in an epub as an experiment. The book had a character that when excited switched to Spanish (i.e. swore in Spanish). As an experiment, I marked these as Spanish using spans. The Kobo ereader respected this and when I did a dictionary lookup of these words, it looked in the Spanish dictionary instead of the English that was used for the rest of the book. This should work, but it relies on the reader/app doing it and having an Irish dictionary available. The Kobo ereaders don't and I don't know about Kindles or anything else. I think BR's suggestion of a glossary is the only way to do it. And putting footnote type links in will allow the reader to quickly get to and from the definition elsewhere in the book. A lot of the readers/apps can display the footnote as a pop-up which should work well for this type of thing.

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