DaveIRL
Member
Wenlin Institute, Inc. SPC's ABC Cantonese Dictionary (Edited by Robert Bauer) has reached its goal of $50,000 USD on Kickstarter.
Timeline / Specifications
Assuming the Wenlin website & software progress/updates are also being applied to Pleco, either with 1) free updates or 2) consequent portions being a paid upgrade (similar to Tuttle Learner's Chinese Dictionary UPGRADE). No details known for this commercial/licensing deal.
There are many ways to access Wenlin's ABC Canto Dictionary:
1) Wenlin's own wiki-styled website.
The website can be accessed by consumers via a subscription fee. The subscription fee has not been finalized:
2) Wenlin's desktop software.
Take a look at Wenlin Software (4.2) for further comparison and/or speculation.
3) The Print Edition
I am unable to determine whether this will be available during the first or second development cycle.
If it's during the first, it will not include:
4) Pleco
Is this offer only available to those with Kickstarter accounts / backers?
Or only the 'free' part applies to backers?
It's hard to tell with the statement "available only through this campaign."
Timeline / Specifications
The Wenlin ABC Cantonese Dictionary website will be published in two phases of development in order to make it available as early as possible.
The first phase has already started and will be completed in 4 months and will include:
The second development phase will begin immediately after the first publication, and will last for twelve months. The goal for that time period include:
- Cantonese headword in both Chinese characters and Jyutping transcription including part(s) of speech and English gloss(es).
- Most entries will also include example sentences in characters and Jyutping with English translation.
- Characters that are unique to Cantonese will be included.
- Each character's entry will show how it is written, using Wenlin's CDL stroke-by-stroke animation.
- Dictionary look-up: directly entering a word in either characters or Jyutping; scrolling through entries in alphabetical order; searching for any word, character, or phrase that occurs in an entry; cross-references between entries; links from other pages on our website.
- The addition of at least 15,000 thousand more entries to the Cantonese-English dictionary for a total of almost 30,000 entries including both 1) common words that were excluded from the original dictionary due to being essentially the same as Mandarin words except for pronunciation, and 2) uniquely Cantonese vocabulary missing from the original dictionary; a new English-Cantonese dictionary with at least 15,000 thousand entries
- Cantonese sound recordings (monosyllables for all characters, polysyllables for headwords, and example sentences)
- A collection of Cantonese texts (stories, news articles, etc.) suitable for learners
- Tools for linking Cantonese texts with the dictionary, so that students can instantly look up any word by pointing to it;
- Cantonese vocabulary flashcards
- The ability to input characters by Cantonese pronunciation or by handwriting recognition
Assuming the Wenlin website & software progress/updates are also being applied to Pleco, either with 1) free updates or 2) consequent portions being a paid upgrade (similar to Tuttle Learner's Chinese Dictionary UPGRADE). No details known for this commercial/licensing deal.
There are many ways to access Wenlin's ABC Canto Dictionary:
1) Wenlin's own wiki-styled website.
The website can be accessed by consumers via a subscription fee. The subscription fee has not been finalized:
somewhere between $5 and $10/month —rather lower than higher because we want you to use it!" (Source)
Based on Robert S. Bauer’s print edition, the Wenlin web-based ABC Cantonese Dictionary will feature a new online Cantonese-English dictionary with now over 30,000 entries plus explanatory materials.
2) Wenlin's desktop software.
Take a look at Wenlin Software (4.2) for further comparison and/or speculation.
3) The Print Edition
will be published by The University of Hawai'i Press as part of the ABC Dictionary Series under the diredction of series editor Victor Mair.
I am unable to determine whether this will be available during the first or second development cycle.
If it's during the first, it will not include:
The second development phase will begin immediately after the first publication, and will last for twelve months. The goal for that time period include:
- The addition of at least 15,000 thousand more entries to the Cantonese-English dictionary for a total of almost 30,000 entries including both 1) common words that were excluded from the original dictionary due to being essentially the same as Mandarin words except for pronunciation, and 2) uniquely Cantonese vocabulary missing from the original dictionary; a new English-Cantonese dictionary with at least 15,000 thousand entries
4) Pleco
Includes entries for about 15,000 Cantonese-specific words, with part-of-speech tagging and lots of useful example sentences.
We are excited to announce that Wenlin and Pleco have just signed an agreement to make the Cantonese dictionary available as an add-on to Pleco. Some of our pledges to the Cantonese Dictionary wiki effort will also receive a free copy of the Cantonese dictionary to use with Pleco once released mid 2017.
If you have already pledged, you can adjust your pledge to make sure that you will also receive your free copy to use with Pleco - available only through this campaign.
Thank you so much for your support. We're half way there!
Elisabeth & the Wenlin Team
(Source)
If you have already pledged, you can adjust your pledge to make sure that you will also receive your free copy to use with Pleco - available only through this campaign.
Thank you so much for your support. We're half way there!
Elisabeth & the Wenlin Team
(Source)
We’ve also made arrangements with our friends at Wenlin to offer a free offline Pleco copy of the dictionary to some backers of their ABC Cantonese Dictionary website Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wenlin/wenlin-abc-cantonese-dictionary-website-ed-robert
So you can now choose a Kickstarter reward level that includes a free, non-time-limited offline copy of the dictionary to use in Pleco.
(Source)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wenlin/wenlin-abc-cantonese-dictionary-website-ed-robert
So you can now choose a Kickstarter reward level that includes a free, non-time-limited offline copy of the dictionary to use in Pleco.
(Source)
Or only the 'free' part applies to backers?
It's hard to tell with the statement "available only through this campaign."