Mouse-over dictionary

[atitarev]

Thanks, Chinesetools, I'l try this at home. Works in the office OK.

[bogleg]

To Chinesetools,

Have you thought about using a something like JSmooth to create an executable out of your jar file? It might make things easier, for Windows users at least.

Chris

[Cropgirl]

I was reading over ZDT's features, etc. http://zdt.sourceforge.net/getting_started.html

When it performs the annotation that kelan is asking for, does it just spit out the pinyin in the side window, or does it return the pinyin in its own paragraph? Neither is what I want -- I too am looking for something that will, line-by-line, give me the pinyin above the chinese characters, whether simplified or traditional (i.e. what MS Word does).

I just tried HanConv but I don't get line by line.

Thanks!

[bogleg]

Hi Cropgirl,

No, I don't think ZDT will do what you want. The pinyin is in it's own paragraph. But if you gave me an example word document to look at, I could look into adding this feature.

Chris

[stephanhodges]

I have gotten the "line by line" annotation you want using Dimsum and put the results into Word. However, it is a multi-step process.

1) Text has to be an html file, which you can open in your browser. (you can use the file:// prefix with Internet Explorer, for example

2) Start Dimsum and configure as MandarinTools indicated. Then browse to the file via Dimsum's browser page

3) Select all the resulting text, and copy to the clipboard (ctrl-c or use menu)

4) Paste the results into Word. At this point, I would go into setup and select "show hidden text" and then do a replace all on the Ruby formatting strings for the pinyin. Then I would hide the hidden text again.

I've attached a short example using http://www.google.cn/ It took me about 15 seconds to do it. Although I used a web site for a quick reply, it works with local files also.

GoogleExample.doc

[L-F-J]

I like the way DimSum works with the mouse-over function, but I want to be able to do that on random explorer pages that have Chinese characters. How can I get it to do that, or does it not? Which one does that?

I want to do this on every page with Chinese characters: www.newsinchinese.com Anyone know how?

[chinesetools]

I like the way DimSum works with the mouse-over function, but I want to be able to do that on random explorer pages that have Chinese characters. How can I get it to do that, or does it not?

You should be able to type the address of the web page into the "Web Address" field in DimSum, hit go, and it will bring up an annotated version of the page.

Alternatively, after starting DimSum, go to the address

http://localhost:4445/ and follow the instructions there.

If that doesn't work, send me an e-mail.

[trevelyan]

There is a greasemonkey plugin for Firefox that enables NIC style popups on any webpage. Just click on Chinese text and a popup will appear with the annotated version. See http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/7087-firefox-plugin-chinese-text-annotation for details.

Dimsum and ZDT are both great tools. The real advantage to using them is their immediacy (there isn't any delay in querying data from a remote server) and the way both also include other useful features like flashcards and character conversion tools. The disadvantage is needing to either surf the web using their built-in web-browsers, or copy and paste text between applications. There are also differences between the backend dictionaries used by the various projects, but that probably doesn't matter unless you are an intermediate-to-advanced student and/or interested in joining one of the projects.

[flameproof]

in Firefox I use ChinesePera-kun.

But is there ANY tool I can use for ANY windows application? I love a tool that can translate from the QQ chat box.

[cvkai]

flameproof,

Have you tried "Stardict"?

[flameproof]

I try to run Stardict, however, I do get an error message when installing about missing GTK+ runtime, despite having installed GTK+ runtime for Win. Any clues?

[cvkai]

Sorry, I have no idea.

I installed the GTK+ Runtime Environment and then the Stardict, and I had no problem with it.

Let's wait and see if somebody else can help you installing the Stardict, or suggesting another tool.

[flameproof]

I installed the GTK+ Runtime Environment..........

What version you installed? I installed 6.10. or so, supposed to be the latest.... And where you D/L it? I tried now a 2nd PC and have the same issue.

I had a look at the Kingsoft software in the TuShuDaJia in Beijing. Kingsoft would be really perfect and does exactly what I want - but has no Pinyin.....

[flameproof]

UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE

Wakan can do a Popup translation of characters in QQ (and probably many more Win applications) AND also has Pinyin!

http://wakan.manga.cz

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

[Luobot]

I was going to try WaKan but then saw the following in the wakan forums:

I strongly recommend NOT using Screen Popup tool on Windows XP SP2 or higher, Windows 2003 or Windows Vista systems. I've recently tested it on many of these systems and found that there is a very high probability of causing serious system instability. It can cause BSOD (on WXP-SP2) or total system lockup (WVista). At any rate it is not working how it should. I will probably have to remove this function because it relies on too dangerous and low-level system routines and debugging it is a real pain.

Also, their FAQ's list the following limitation:

Q: I cannot locate a word by characters in the Chinese mode although I'm pretty sure it must be in the dictionary.

A: Make sure that you use the traditional characters. In future versions, the program will automatically convert simplified characters to traditional but the current version does not.

Anyway ...

It would be useful to hear comments from anyone currently using WaKan, especially as a general purpose mouse-over dictionary.

It would also be interesting if anyone has found anything better than ChinesePera-kun, which is great, but hasn't been updated in a year, and only works in Firefox, and needs to be reactivated / deactivated in each new window and tab and interferes with the copy function.

[ABCinChina]

ChinesePera-kun is by far the best and most comprehensive mouse-over dictionary, but it can only do this in your Firefox browser.

I would give Kingsoft Powerword 2007 second place since it can do mouse-over translation in any program and can give sound pronunciations on any character. The only thing is it does not give instant translations on Traditional characters, instead, you have to look them up in the dictionary. But you can always import this list I made which will fix the no Traditional Characters problem...

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/15432-kingsoft-powerword-2007-traditional-character-list&highlight=kingsoft

Edit: If you're in China, you can buy Powerword for $2~$12 USD depending on where you look.

[Chinese Learner]

Hi,

I've just read this post. As far as I can tell the only 'mouse-over' dictionary for Mac within and OUTSIDE a webbrowser is Dim Sum...Is that right?

Are there any other 'mouse-over' dictionaries for mac that work throughout an OS (including MSN)?

Thanks!

[ciaocibai]

For Windows try Lingoes (www.lingoes.net) - there are tons of awesome dictionaries you can download for it, and works in EVERY application I've tried the pop-over with. Also can get it to read things for you - although it's a synth voice, so sounds quite weird. And there is a neat sample sentences 'dictionary' you can download too.

For mac there is an app called 小词典 (http://xiaocidian.com/), available for iPhone too. I haven't tried it yet because unfortunately it requires Leopard (OS X 10 .5), but I'm planning an upgrade one of these days, so I'll be back here to post about it after that. I recommend WordLookup (http://osx.iusethis.com/app/wordlookup) as a general all-purpose desktop dictionary app for mac though.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[debman3]

well, i've looked in all ur solutions. And the only one which was really good is MDBG. It works everywhere (msn QQ firefox), it works also offline. can read simplified and traditional. can read composed words etc..

you can disable it so easily just clicking on the icon in the taskbar...

and it's free, well now that i used it for a month i have to buy a licence otherwise it keep anoying me with those ads. But during the trial, it was the best pop up dictionary i ever used

[debman3]

I tried lingoes, it's really good if u have multiple languages. But i still prefer MDMG. tho i can't use it since it's expired, and i'm not paying 60$ for that