User:ZdenekBroz/OLPC-Dictionary
What is the dictionary?
A multilingual dictionary will allow children to use the XO laptop as a tool for learning foreign languages. We are working hard on this dictionary. You can see the current version at:
- preview version of the static OLPC dictionary (this is how the dictionary will look on the laptop)
- online version of the OLPC dictionary
We need help!
We need your help with editing of the entries in the dictionary. The dictionary has a selection of about 1700 most important concepts. The selection is based on large number of word frequency lists for several languages.
These languages are currently in the dictionary:
Arabic, Bengali, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, English, French, German, Hindi, Icelandic, Indonesian, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, Turkish
We would like to have as many languages in the dictionary as possible. XO laptop will be launched in many countries all over the world
Editing of the entries takes only few hours. After the entries are edited the system connects them with all other languages in the system. This system is much more efficient than common bilingual dictionaries. The dictionary also contains hundreds of nice pictures and sound files. This makes the dictionary ideal for young kids who are learning foreign languages.
How to help
If you are fluent in both English and one of the languages listed above, we would love your help. It takes about 1-2 hours to completely finish a dictionary.
If you would like to help, here is what to do.
- download the table with language entries (it is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, but can be opened in Google Docs
- Go through the entries in the table one-by-one for the language you are working on. Check that existing translations are correct and add missing words in your language to the table if
- send the table with edited entries to dicts (at) centrum.cz
It is important that you do not delete rows or change the order of the entries because it would not be possible to add the entries back into the dictionary.
It is very difficult to contact people speaking so many languages. If you think that the OLPC dictionary is important and you know people who could help to edit the entries please ask them if they are willing to help us edit the entries.
If you have any questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact Zdenek (maintainer of the OLPC dictionary) at:
dicts (at) centrum.cz