Favorite Popup Translator - Lingoes, Powerword, Wakan, Stardict, NJStar, Wenlin et al

[ABCinChina]

I'm curious to what everyone is using for pop-up translating outside of their Firefox window. (This excludes pop-up translators that work within Firefox such as Chinese Pera-kun, etc.) Admin: please feel free to add any popular options that I may have missed, thanks!

Personally, I like Powerword 2007 because of the nice interface, voice pronunciations, and large number of different Chinese/English dictionaries. Combined with this CEDICT file that I converted just for Powerword, nothing else translates faster or more efficiently. I've tried others on the list including Stardict and Lingoes.

Edited November 7, 2008 at 09:59 AM by ABCinChina

[Xiao Kui]

I've been using NJ Star for forever now, I'm eager to checkout some other ones and see what's out there. So if you paid $17 for PowerWord in China it must be a legit copy. I've seen it in the fake software shops. Any advice for where to get the real thing? Did you get it from Xinhua?

Another program I use is Babylon. I think it's the same idea as Lingoes, but it's not free. I've recently downloaded Lingoes and am eager to see how the 2 compare. After which I will either congratulate myself for money well spent or kick myself for getting ripped off.

[liuzhou]

if you paid $17 for PowerWord in China it must be a legit copy

because no one would ever cheat by selling you a fake at the non fake price!

Hmmm.

[tooironic]

Wenlin FTW. Its English->Chinese might be limited, but its Chinese->English dictionary is pretty darn amazing. Plus I've heard you can download custom dics (just dunno where to look...). I also love how the program is designed - it's so streamlined and has all the features you could want - character writing input, pronunciation samples, example sentences, etc. It, along with Anki, are the only two Chinese-related programs I use now on a daily basis.

[atitarev]

I chose Wenlin over Wakan and NJStar, haven't used other programs from the list. My main reason is quality (there are still mistakes in the ABC dictionary). The other 2 are good too but not as good as Wenlin.

Wenlin is missing one feature (although there are workarounds using lists), which NJStar Chinese WP has: in NJStar you can build a character from known radicals.

Also, the CEDICT is updatable, in Wenlin, you can add your own entries or edit existing ones, rewrite character readings but you can't download an updated dictionary.

[Luobot]

Does Wenlin work inside of other programs to do popup translations?

Based on their FAQ's (see quote below), I'm under the impression that you need to copy and paste from your application to Wenlin. Is this not the case?

How can I use Wenlin in conjunction with my web browser to study Chinese texts on the Internet?

... when you find a Chinese text that you would like to read using Wenlin, you can copy the text (or a portion of it), using the Copy command in the browser, and then go to Wenlin and use the commands New (to open a blank, untitled window) and Paste.

[imron]

Haha, Wenlin is one of the 2 programs I refuse to use due to an absolutely horrible UI, the other one being SuperMemo Luckily, Pleco uses the same Chinese->English dictionary.

[tooironic]

What's wrong with Wenlin's UI? I find it remarkably simple, fast and easy to use, though I suppose it could take some getting used to (it's not like most programs I guess). Plus the look up system where you can find out the etymologies of individual characters is amazingly helpful and insightful.

[Shadowdh]

Wenlin is cumbersome to use and as was posted you have to copy and paste to get translations... as has also been mentioned Pleco does this using the same dictionary but without the clumsiness of copy and paste... Wenlin is still pretty good but its limited in use, since I bought Pleco I really dont use it any more...

I have yet to fully use a pop up translator, would like to install one but as yet not sure which, soooo many to choose from... well a few anyway...

[ABCinChina]

Xiao Kui, I bought my version from a random computer store. You can tell the real ones from the fake ones because the real one is a big box about a foot tall and 3-4 inches thick. Also when you open it, it will have an update card that will let you update the software for 1 year. (After that, no updates) The fake ones are only around $20 RMB or so and come in a small box, but I heard they do not have voice pronunciations. Also, the real ones are even cheaper to buy now from what my coworker told me.

Looks like Wenlin is topping the list as everyone's favorite. Funny that nobody has picked Stardict because I always hear people raving about it on these forums. Anyways, thanks everybody for your insight.

[Xiao Kui]

ABC, thanks for the info, being able to update the software does seem to be what separates the real from the fake, sucks that you can only do it for a year though.

[imron]

The real one is free now. Well sort of. They teamed up with Google to provide a free version. It's probably missing some of the bells and whistles, but it'd be a good way to see if you liked the software.

Edited August 25, 2008 at 12:28 PM by imron
Updated link.

[Xiao Kui]

thanks imron, i'll check it out!

[Shadowdh]

Imron, when I click on download it goes to a page thats 404... do you have the direct link?

[imron]

Oops sorry about that, I didn't bother checking if the download link was valid. Here's a link to the official site that does work.

[Shadowdh]

Many thanks Imron... works and dling now...

[ABCinChina]

I had a chance to try out the version mentioned above and it uses a totally different dictionary than the 2007 which as multiple lookup dictionaries. In fact, the new version was even missing some common words so it does not really compare to Powerword 2007. Maybe I've just grown to like the pop-up translator style and interface of the old. But the new one really doesn't compare so I didn't even list it (specifically) in the options of this poll. Finally, the free version doesn't even have English menus which were configurable in 2007.

Honestly, if I knew what I know now, I'd probably just use something like Lingoes or Stardict and save myself the money. The only thing thing I didn't like with Lingoes during my brief test was that I couldn't find a way to make the pop-up translations automatic without having to press some buttons just to get the pop-up to show. Also, I noticed they were using an older version of CEDICT with only 44,088 entries. The current version of CEDICT has over 71,000 entries and is quite accurate I might add.

Edited August 25, 2008 at 01:37 PM by ABCinChina

[self-taught-mba]

Pleco isn't a true popup I think because you can't hover over.

Wenlin has it down because of speed. No other tool does it faster.

[Xiao Kui]

Pleco isn't a true popup I think because you can't hover over.

There's not really much room for popup on my Palm screen anyways, but it would be nice to have that in the Desktop version if and when it comes out.

[Shadowdh]

Wenlin has it down because of speed. No other tool does it faster.

So Wenlin does a pop up then??