dictionary content

[Jianchuanbrit]

Those of you who have already bought PlecoDict (I am still testing the trial version), what do you think of the actual content of the dictionary? Especially Chinese-English. When I used the Oxford, I was constantly frustrated that the character I wanted wasn't there. Are you happy with the quantity of characters? And the quality of definitions and examples?
Finally, if you have the new bigger dictionary, is there any need at all to keep the Oxford dictionary also installed in PlecoDict? :?:

 

[Smoodo]

Dictionary content is good.

Hi there,

I'm using all of the available dictionarys and I've used the ABC dictionary for quite some time. The Oxford didn't have some of those 'special' words. What I mean are those words that use combinations of characters to derive a particular meaning. I like having the various dictionaries installed because maybe an example sentence is around or between dictionaries they use different words to give me a context to choose from between meanings.

There are some things that really cramp my style as far as Plecodict goes, the one thing is the lack of lookup history. Often I deleted a part of a word to lookup its other character etc. I needed all that cut and paste functionality and lookup history.

It's been about two weeks, so hopefully a newer release will fill in some of those minimal features. I know they are on the list.

Personally, I feel that there are a lot of downsides to using PlecoDict right now. You might not realize how much good functionality you had with Oxford Dict 2.1 until you forgoe it for now using Pleco Dict.

 

[beirne]

I'm real happy with the contents of the two new dictionaries, but these were already my favorite dictionaries by far before Plecodict was planned. I use the ABC dictionary through Wenlin and I have the paper version of the NWP dictionary. When Michael first announced Plecodict and said that he was going to use the ABC but was looking for and English-Chinese dictionary, I suggested the NWP to him. I figured that I never expected to get something as good as the ABC on my Palm, so I might as well suggest something impossible on the E-C side. He wrote back and said that he was already contacting them and in the end, of course, it worked out. To repeat myself, then, I'm really happy with the contents.

I still have the Oxford data files installed but only use them out of curiousity.

I also still have the Oxford program installed but haven't used it since I got Plecodict. I do miss having the lookup history, but it isn't that much of an issue since I know an equivalent is coming.

 

[goulniky]

I'm very happy with the dictionary contents. One thing I noticed is some english words from ABC are not found in NWP. As an example, 'betel' (bing1lang) is in ABC as areca/betel but in NWP only as areca. Not sure if this is an exception, I don't have a paper E-C dict, I use Wenlin for this too.
I agree that PlecoDict takes some getting used too and can be irritating at times, but I am confident the interface problems are being addressed. To me the benefits of a) far improved dictionaries/search and b) full screen/landscape with full-screen char recognition far outweigh the frustration.
One consequence of having comprehensive dictonaries is you get much longer lists of hits to choose from, and that still has to fit the limited real estate of a Palm screen. I don't think that will go away any time soon but I am willing to pay that price (and I did purchase ABC+NWP).

 

[Jianchuanbrit]

I'm glad that those that have responded are happy with the actual dictionary contents. But let me just ask again: if I install the ABC and NWP databases then I can surely delete the Oxford ones? Surely the bigger dictionaries have all the content of the Oxford? And so I can save space on my Palm by not installing the Oxford. Please tell me if I am wrong.

 

[Smoodo]

Out with the old and in with the new.

You certainly can delete all the old stuff. Plecodict comes with all the other dictionaries that can be unlocked with the code you get by reconfirming your email address with Mike's registration system.