Dictionary FAQ

[Difermo]

I made it. Found some tutorila (google), but have huge problem. I use this explanation

http://1manfactory.com/create-your-own-kindle-dictionary-for-every-language-for-free/

but every word is number. there is explanation for every word that is convertet to some kind of number. I download dictionary from dict.cc that was offered in that instruction.
What is problem? Can some1 create dictionary.mobi for me sou i can see is problem in dictionary.txt or "my softwares". Here is folder with script and mobigen etc..

dict.rar

[Difermo]

found solution "tab2opf.exe -utf dict.txt

[Elsis]

Hi,

I would like to read books in Swedish with my Kindle Touch. However, Swedish is not my first language and sometimes there are words I don't know and it would be great to be able to tap the word in question and get it explained either in Swedish or in English. I thought this would be an easy thing to do but little did I know... I have tried to fix this for several days now and I'm getting desperate. So, please help me?

Here's what I have done so far:

1. I bought a Swedish-English dictionary (This one) and I have it on my Kindle.

2. I went to Settings > Device options > Language and Dictionaries >Dictionaries. There is only "English" on the list so I clicked it. In that section I'm able to choose between to dictionaries, the one I bought and one that was on my Kindle when I got it (Oxford dictionary of English). I chose the one I bought (An Electronic Swedish Dictionary).

3. I have a book written in Swedish on my Kindle (the meta of the book says the language is Swedish) When I'm reading it and I tap a word, my Kindle says "Dictionary not found. There are no dictionaries on your device for this book's language."

4. I changed the language of the book to English using Calibri. I also deleted the Oxford dictionary of English from my Kindle. (I figured that if my Kindle thinks that the Electronic Swedish Dictionary is an English dictionary, it would use it on my book if there was no other available options... Not sure if anyone can see any logic here! ) --> This didn't work.

5. I used Calibri to change the language of the Electronic Swedish Dictionary to Swedish (suprisingly it was originally English in the meta). After changing the language I sent the dictionary to Kindle (in txt-format, using my @kindle.com address), but my Kindle doesn't recognize it as a dictionary anymore.

What can I do to solve this? There has to be some way to get Swedish words translated (or explained), right? What am I doing wrong? Is there something wrong with my device? My device language is English.

I have read that Sweden might become a "Kindle-country" in the near future. I guess that will solve my problem, but is there anything I do before that?

I would really appreciate your help. Thank you in advance!

Edit. I managed to change the language of the Electronic Swedish Dictionary to Swedish and transfer the dictionary back to my Kindle by USB. Now Kindle recognizes it as a dictionary, but it's still not working.

[tomsem]

You cannot send dictionaries via personal document service, they won't survive as dictionaries. You have to side load via USB cable, or download with browser.

Dictionaries have two language settings: one that defines the 'from' language, and another for the 'to' language. So to go from Swedish to English, one should be Swedish and the other English.

I'm not sure calibre is the correct tool to use for editing dictionary language metadata. I tried with one of my dictionaries and it doesn't show both language entries. I would use this tool instead:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=1927698

With the metadata fixed, and with the latest firmware update for Kindle Touch, if you go to Settings , Device Options, Language and Dictionaries, Dictionaries, it should show an entry for Swedish with the name of the dictionary below that. If you had other Swedish dictionaries you would be able to select one of them as 'default'.

The reason the metadata is not correct is that it didn't need to be prior to the K4 (basic Kindle) and Kindle Touch. Those kindles didn't pay attention to language, and you had to switch the global default dictionary to match what you were reading. The publisher really should update the dictionary to correct this, and you might contact Amazon to let them know of the issue. But fortunately you can change the metadata yourself pretty easily.

Kindle Touch should support Swedish fine in terms of rendering text and dictionary lookup. It should be okay for keyboard entry of Swedish characters as well, though there won't be any Swedish keyboard layout as such. But you can hold down the base character and choose the appropriate diacritic variant. I think it ignores diacritics for text search, in any case. There probably won't be any Kindle Touch updates to add Swedish as a UI language, but that's probably not an issue for you.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Elsis

What can I do to solve this? There has to be some way to get Swedish words translated (or explained), right? What am I doing wrong? Is there something wrong with my device? My device language is English.

According to some Amazon reviews, the dictionary that you bought doesn't work on a Paperwhite. Most likely there's a problem with the dictionary and not your device, but to exclude device problems, it couldn't hurt to reset it as this is known to fix some dictionary problems.

Some time ago, I created a free Swedish-English Kindle dictionary, which you can download from MR, and use for testing purposes. (It works fine on my K3.)

Simply download my dictionary, copy it to the \documents folder on the Kindle via USB, and test it on your Kindle Touch. (Delete your Swedish dictionary first.)
If the language metadata of your Swedish books is set to Swedish, it should show translations for the most common Swedish words, if you select a word in a Swedish book. (The dictionary has a limited coverage, try selecting common Swedish words.)

If Swedish dictionary lookup works with my dictionary, but not with the one that you bought, try re-downloading your dictionary from Amazon. If it still doesn't work, ask Amazon for a refund.

BTW, dictionaries also have input and output language metadata that you can only change with Java Mobi Metadata Editor.
You may want to check the input and output language metadata of your dictionary with Java Mobi Metadata Editor and change them if necessary. (The dictionary input language should be sv (1053).)

EDIT: As tomsen has pointed out, it's important to transfer dictionaries via USB.

[Elsis]

tomsem and Doitsu, thank you for you help!

I converted the Electronic Swedish Dictionary to MOBI file and used the Mobi Metadata editor to change the input language to Swedish (and output to English). After that I used USB to transfer the dictionary to my Kindle --> My Kindle didn't recognize it as a dictionary anymore. I guess dictionaries can't be MOBI files?
I used Calibri to convert the file to AZW3. Then I transferred the Electronic Swedish Dictionary(AZW3) to my Kindle by USB, but it's still not recognized as a dictionary. What should I do?

[NiLuJe]

@Elsis: Do *NOT* convert it. Just tweak the metadata.

[Elsis]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@Elsis: Do *NOT* convert it. Just tweak the metadata.

But how can I use Mobi Metadata editor to change the input language if the dictionary isn't a MOBI file?

Edit. I did it! The dictionary is now working perfectly! Thank you NiLuJe, Doitsu and domsem

[CougarMellenhead]

Hi. I'm new and have a quick question.

I'm working on a private dictionary (in .opf and then converting to .mobi) and would like multiple keywords to go to the same entry. For example, if there were an entry for "Steve and Jeff Smith", I would like searches for "Steve Smith", "Jeff Smith", and "Smith" to be directed to the entry for "Steve and Jeff Smith". Does that make sense?

I know there is a <idx:key> tag, but I'm not clear on how to implement it or even if it's what I want. And I did some google-fu and turned up blank.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by CougarMellenhead

Hi. I'm new and have a quick question.

I'm working on a private dictionary (in .opf and then converting to .mobi) and would like multiple keywords to go to the same entry. For example, if there were an entry for "Steve and Jeff Smith", I would like searches for "Steve Smith", "Jeff Smith", and "Smith" to be directed to the entry for "Steve and Jeff Smith". Does that make sense?

You can either wrap all search terms in <idx:orth>...</idx:orth> tags or define them as inflections. For more information see the Mobipocket website.

[intangible]

That's correct, but I'd add one thing: you can only wrap keywords in the exact form they appear in the entry. If you want them to be searchable in a different form (eg, "Steve Smith"), specify them in the value attribute instead:

<idx:entry>
<idx:orth value="Steve Smith"/>
<idx:orth value="Jeff Smith"/>
<idx:orth value="Smith"/> 
<b>Steve and Jeff Smith</b>
...
</idx:entry>

[CougarMellenhead]

Thank you for your quick and helpful responses! I have one more question: How do I make it so that an image is aligned to the right of the text, with the text wrapping around the image (kind of like a picture in a newspaper article, if you understand what I mean)? I've tried this bit of CSS:

img {float: right; padding: 0 1.0em 1.0em 1.0em;}

which works fine in a web browser, but when I open the dictionary in my Kindle, the image is on the left and is above all of the text. :/

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by CougarMellenhead

I've tried this bit of CSS:

img {float: right; padding: 0 1.0em 1.0em 1.0em;}

which works fine in a web browser, but when I open the dictionary in my Kindle, the image is on the left and is above all of the text.

Unfortunately, the Kindle dictionary code only supports HTML 3.2. This means that floats usually don't work. Try unpacking your dictionary with KindleUnpack to find out what inline styles KindleGen compiles your CSS to.

[CougarMellenhead]

You are very quick and helpful each time! Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

For anyone that may be wondering how I got around using floats, I just made a very simple table with the text in one box and the image in an adjacent one. Like so:

<table><tr>

<td>text</td>
<td><img src="example.png"></td>

</tr></table>

It's probably not the most elegant solution, but it seems to work fine.

Once again, thanks for the help! If I have any more questions, I'm coming straight back to you. :]

[JacquesTati]

As you can see in the attachment, with the Kindle Paperwhite you can scroll through the various definitions of the word "match" (three in this case) by tapping on the arrow keys. This is not allowed on the Kindle Touch. Do you think it is possible to achieve the same function? Maybe, with a jailbreak.
My KT is updated to the last firware (5.3.7).
Thanks!