# Launching WordReference virtual dictionaries



## mkellogg

Hi everybody,

We have just launched Virtual Dictionaries on WordReference, for translating from any of our languages to any other language. These dictionaries are created by combining two different dictionaries through English. For instance, the French-Swedish dictionary is created by combining our English-French dictionary with our English-Swedish dictionary.  Since both of those last two dictionaries have the same "English side", we were able to connect the meanings of words.  This adds over 200 new dictionaries to WordReference. 

I have long been skeptical of dictionaries created by going through a third language, but the results in our testing were good. There will be a lot of holes in a dictionary created in this way, but the dictionary might actually be useful in the end and it may be better than anything else out there for many language pairs.

Please let me know what problems you encounter!

Mike


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## Peterdg

Wooow!!!

I'm going to check this out!!!


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## Peterdg

I tried some: it's impressive!

The couple of things I tried gave a much better result than what I had expected!!!

But, I do already have a suggestion:

Would it be possible to put a link on the forum's main page (somewhere at the top, e.g. next to the "New Posts" link) that links to the matrix where you can chose the language combination?

Great addition to WR!!


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## bearded

Hello Mike
It's an excellent idea! My congratulations!
  I have a question:
 As far as I can see, in order to reach the new dictionaries you have to digit  on the ''Virtual -Dictionaries'' link. Will they be added to the 'normal' list of now available combinations like, say, English-German?
Thanks in advance for your reply, and
best regards.


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## Paulfromitaly

Great job Mike!
So far I haven't noticed any major mistakes.
I can't quite figure out, however, how the example sentences are put together.
In some entries there are example sentences only in the source language, in some others there are both the source sentences and the translations.


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## Peterdg

Paulfromitaly said:


> I can't quite figure out, however, how the example sentences are put together.


Hello Paul,

I think I know. The sample sentences come with the English base. For some WR dictionaries, the sample sentences were translated into the target languages (e.g. in the English-Spanish dictionary) but for other WR dictionaries, these sample sentences were not translated. (e.g. for the English-Dutch dictionary, the sample sentences were not translated).


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## mkellogg

Peterdg said:


> Would it be possible to put a link on the forum's main page


I am not so certain that they are going to be so useful to everybody that I would add a link there.  It probably does makes sense to add something for forums dedicated to one of these new language pairs, like French-Italian.


bearded said:


> Will they be added to the 'normal' list of now available combinations like, say, English-German?


Adding 210 dictionaries to that list isn't exactly practical. We are going to have to figure out something for all of our menus, though.  We will probably add "other dictionaries" at the end, that would open up a new menu.


Paulfromitaly said:


> how the example sentences are put together


Yes, the sentences, like all the entries, are from the "English to xx" side. They are both translations of an English sentence.

Good to see this getting a good reception.  I am eager to see which of these new dictionaries become popular.


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## Peterdg

mkellogg said:


> I am not so certain that they are going to be so useful to everybody that I would add a link there. It probably does makes sense to add something for forums dedicated to one of these new language pairs, like French-Italian.





mkellogg said:


> I am eager to see which of these new dictionaries become popular.


But Mike, they are not visible. If I would like to use e.g. the Spanish-Dutch pair, the only way I can get to it is by going to your first post in this thread and click on the link in there to get to the matrix and click the language pair I'm interested in. So, how can you expect them to become popular if people don't see them?

Or, am I missing something here?


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## Paulfromitaly

Peterdg said:


> But Mike, they are not visible


There's a link on the WR homepage

English to French, Italian, German & Spanish Dictionary - WordReference.com


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## mkellogg

The number of people who would discover the Spanish-Dutch dictionary starting in the forums would be very small.

We link to the pages from the bottom of all of the other Dutch dictionary pages, and Google searches should find the dictionaries as well.  Hopefully, once found, people will bookmark them.


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## Hector9

Perdón pero no entiendo cómo funciona esto...

Si mal no entiendo lo que hace es que si quiero traducir, por ejemplo, "auto" a Noruego: ¿primero convierte "auto" a "car" (Inglés) y luego "car" a Noruego?

Si es así, para traducir del Español al Portugués no veo sentido a usar como "puente" al inglés ya que tanto el Español como el Portugués son idiomas super inteligibles entre sí...


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## Peterdg

Hector9 said:


> Si es así, para traducir del Español al Portugués no veo sentido a usar como "puente" al inglés ya que tanto el Español como el Portugués son idiomas super inteligibles entre sí...


Entonces, lo que dices es: un diccionario entre el español y el portugués es inútil.


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## Hector9

Peterdg said:


> Entonces, lo que dices es: un diccionario entre el español y el portugués es inútil.



¡No! Lo que digo es que me parece "inútil" el hecho de usar al diccionario "inglés" como puente entre ambos idiomas, siendo que son idiomas muy inteligibles entre sí

No digo que el hecho de que exista un diccionario entre español y portugués sea malo...

Pero bueno, si usar al inglés como idioma puente entre ambos añade precisión entonces sí estoy de acuerdo.


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## Peterdg

Primero, ya hay un diccionario real "español-portugués" en WordReference, así que no es necesario consultar un diccionario virtual en cuanto a esa pareja de lenguas.

Pero, el tema es más universal. Hacer un diccionario real de cada pareja de lenguas, es una tarea enorme. Pero si ya tienes un diccionario real entre el inglés y lengua A por un lado y un diccionario real entre el inglés y lengua B por otro lado, es muy buena idea de combinar las dos parejas existentes para obtener un diccionario virtual entre lengua A y lengua B y no importa que las dos lenguas sean inteligibles entre sí. El hecho de ser "inteligibles entre sí" no te permite hacer un diccionario entre esas dos lenguas.

Además, los diccionarios reales hechos por Wordreference mismo utilizan la misma base en inglés como punto de partida: es decir que si tienes una palabra A en inglés que tiene 5 sentidos diferentes, al hacer el diccionario real de cualquier lengua, se ha utilizado esos mismos 5 sentidos para traducirla a la lengua meta así que es posible combinar los dos diccionarios para obtener un tercer diccionario.


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## Gemmenita

Hello dear Mike,

First of all, thanks and many thanks again for these very useful dictionaries.

And then, would it be possible to create a shortcut for the page of these wonderful dictionaries in the menu of list of dictionaries in "wordreference *application*" on Android too?

Thanks a lot.


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## mkellogg

Gemmenita said:


> would it be possible to create a shortcut for the page of these wonderful dictionaries in the menu of list of dictionaries in "wordreference *application*" on Android too?


Hello, Gemmenita   I've resisted incorporating the virtual dictionaries into the apps, mostly because it would require a little of a redesign. For now, you can use Chrome to bookmark your favorite virtual dictionaries to the home screen. Its fnctionality is nearly the same.


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## Gemmenita

Well....I have already tried "add to home screen" option,  but the problem wirh this option is that, while clicking on its shortcut, we are not directly connected to Virtual dictionaries page and first the home page of WR opens where we should click then on the link:  Virtual dictionaries for non-English language pairs. (2 steps)

But your suggestion about "bookmark" seems a better idea. I think I will be able to go directly to that page. (1step) 

Many thanks, Mike.


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## mkellogg

Gemmenita said:


> the problem wirh this option is that, while clicking on its shortcut, we are not directly connected to Virtual dictionaries page and first the home page of WR opens


Oh, we need to get that fixed. Thanks!


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## Gemmenita

mkellogg said:


> Oh, we need to get that fixed. Thanks!


You're welcome.But what a really good news that this issue can be fixed! I will be very grateful to you.


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