Chinese dictionary 漢語辭典 for Android

[Mark Yong]

Does anyone know if there are any good Chinese dictionaries available for Android?

I know that there are a few good 漢英辭典 Chinese-English bi-lingual dictionaries available, e.g. HanPing and Pleco (I have already installed the former). However, what I am specifically looking for is a good 漢語辭典 Chinese-only dictionary.

The only one I have located so far is the 『現代漢語辭典』. While admittedly good, unfortunately it only displays Simplified Characters and also only allows Simplified Character input. If there is a comparably good one available in Traditional Chinese, that would be what I am after. The ideal would be something to the tune of the 『辭海』 (but perhaps that may be a bit too much to ask!).

On that note, I have often found the 『漢典』 (http://www.zdic.net) website very useful. If there was a mobile version available (or better still, a mobile offline version) that would be fantastic, too. I believe the site does provide a mobile link on the main page, but unfortunately it does not work.

[skylee]

That 現代漢語詞典 is most annoying (ads, keep downloading things). I deleted it (and those relevant files) within 10 minutes of downloading.

I too would like to have an android off-line Chinese dictionary in the traditional script.

[mikelove]

There's one available as a paid add-on for Pleco, though it's rather pricey - we have a bunch of others launching at a variety of price ranges this spring, though, including a very nice one that was developed in Hong Kong and written originally in 繁体字. (but still a Mandarin rather than a Cantonese dictionary)

[rezaf]

we have a bunch of others launching at a variety of price ranges this spring

Is there going to be a classical Chinese dictionary among them as well?

[mikelove]

Is there going to be a classical Chinese dictionary among them as well?

Oh yes, definitely.

[Iriya]

漢語大詞典 is in traditional, and it's available for free in Mdict, Lingoes and probably also StarDict formats. Just Baidu it, then download a front-end that supports the format. BlueDict is the best one for the Mdict dictionaries. 康熙字典 and 說文解字 are also available in this format.

[mikelove]

漢語大詞典 is still copyrighted, so you'd be pirating it if you downloaded that, but 康熙字典 and 說文解字 at least should be blissfully public-domain.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Dear all,

I wonder if the copies of 現代漢語辭典 floating around are also pirated or whether they've been licensed.

I downloaded a free copy of the Guoyu Cidian in mdx format as well. I haven't been able to get it to work on a Windows PC to see what the contents are.

I guess they would be traditional since they've the web site put out by the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s Ministry of Education but the filename is in simplified.

Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.

[Mark Yong]

Iriya wrote:

漢語大詞典 is in traditional, and it's available for free in Mdict, Lingoes and probably also StarDict formats. Just Baidu it, then download a front-end that supports the format.

Kobo-Daishi wrote:

I downloaded a free copy of the Guoyu Cidian in mdx format as well.

Okay, here is the part where I display my technical ignorance. Assuming I have installed MDict and have the MDX file for the 漢語大詞典, how do I install it onto my Samsung Galaxy S2?

[Iriya]

If you're using BlueDict, put the dictionary files in BlueDict\Dicts folder on your SD card.

[Mark Yong]

Thanks, guys. I now have both the 國語辭典 and 漢語大辭典 nicely installed on my Android. All within 30 hours (measured from the time of the original post). How lovely it is to live in the 21^st century.

Iriya wrote:

漢語大詞典 is in traditional...

Umm... I don’t think so, unless I downloaded a different installation pack.

[Iriya]

Maybe you have the automatic conversion turned on? Check the settings. I definitely have it in traditional.

[Mark Yong]

Yup, looks like I had the wrong installation package. Thanks.