Running out of space in Google Translate phrasebook...alternatives?

[Cyath]

I was under the (sadly mistaken) impression that Google Translate had unlimited space, but I was dismayed to find that it instead chopped off half of my saved entries at some arbitrary point. So I am looking for an alternative...preferably free, but I'll pay for quality if I have to.

 

I've heard good things about Pleco, should I use that? I only use my mobile (for on-the-go activities) and my laptop, no tablet here. Mobile is an Android one.

 

I would also require the program to have Japanese support, since I often find words in that language as well. 

[Angelina]

Do you have the time and skills necessary to make one yourself? 

[Cyath]

Unfortunately, no, which is why I am asking here.

[querido]

Are you looking for a translation memory? Computer Assisted Translation software with translation memory has been mentioned e.g. here. That product is expensive but searching on "computer assisted translation" and "translation memory" led to a lot of cheaper or free options.

 

Maybe someone can talk about the application of that kind of software to your problem. I'm interested in this topic but I don't know that I need it. 

[Cyath]

That is something I have considered, but I don't need such a powerful tool now. I am experimenting with Pleco and it seems to be excellent, but lacks Japanese support at present. 

[Lu]

Can you tell a bit more about what you want to do and how you want to use the saved sentences? CAT-tools are great and MemoQ (and probably others too) has a free version with limited (but still useful) functionality, but I think it won't be all that useful if it's not for translation. Pleco is great and if you do anything with Chinese you should get it regardless, but as you say, it's not for Japanese.

[Cyath]

Sorry about not being that clear in the above post. Google Translate is actually pretty decent for what I want to do - have words spoken, provide definitions, save words to a checklist for revision,  and have some kind of OCR capability (though the last is not that important to me) I would also need handwriting support. I'm using it mainly for learning and revision. The main problem am having now is that the word list for GT is limited...it eventually runs out of entries. 

 

I could use Google Translate for Japanese and Pleco for Chinese, which is what I doing now, until I find a better alternative.

[Lu]

have words spoken, provide definitions, save words to a checklist for revision,  and have some kind of OCR capability

Yeah, a CAT-tool is mostly useless for those things, but Pleco perfect. I guess your only hope is to wait for a Japanese Pleco. (Unless someone else here has a good idea.) For saving words for revision, you could consider Anki or another SRS. It takes a bit more time if you have to make your own cards, but in my experience the making of the card helps you remember the word, so it's not a waste of time.

[Zeppa]

Just to repeat what Lu says: I use a CAT tool myself, though with German and English, not Chinese, and it is not useful except for translation. Like Lu (in the other thread), I don't use it for its basic purpose of picking up matching phrases, because my texts are very rarely repetitive (mainly heavy legal stuff). But it enables me to check a lot of things automatically once I've got the original into machine-readable form. I can check vocabulary and also numbers and punctuation, and I collect vocabulary, which is highlighted in every new text, showing me my database.

 

I would absolutely not advise you to get my CAT tool, Transit NXT, very expensive but I've been using it since 1998 so I don't move elsewhere. But it does have a very good termbase called TermStar, which you could use as a dictionary - again, too expensive to buy I think, though it probably would allow Chinese and Japanese. I would not recommend MultiTerm by Trados either, as it's harder to use. There is also dictionary-making software made by Germans that might just work - the firm is Acolada Unilex. I suspect it takes Chinese and Japanese but I have not looked into it. There is definitely other freestanding dictionary software out there. That might be the thing to search for. But none of these things do everything that you want.

[Cyath]

Does Anki have a dictionary function as well? I have messed around with the program a bit but I suspect that I am not getting the full utility out of it.

 

I have decided to just use Pleco for Chinese, and find an alternative for Japanese...which is currently Google Translate until something better comes along!

 

Thanks for the help and suggestions in this thread through!

[LiMo]

I don't think Anki has a dictionary form but I haven't used it in over a year. I think it's main (only?) feature is the highly customisable flash card function.

 

I'd recommend Pleco as well. My Chinese literature professor swears by it too, and he's been at this for 20 years. It's one of those things that has genuinely earned its popularity.