Chinese->English PopUp for Windows-10

[dxcarnadi]

Hello

 

Is there a Chinese->English PopUp program for my laptop with Windows-10?
For example .. I read a chinese ebook in PDF reader .. and I hover a "thing" above the chinese character(s) ... I can see the english translation of the word(s) ...

Like ... Pleco OCR screen reader "floating button" for Android?

I use Google Translate ...

Thank you.

 

[abcdefg]

19 hours ago, dxcarnadi said:

Is there a Chinese->English PopUp program for my laptop with Windows-10?

 

Welcome, @dxcarnadi -- I'm a new user of Windows 10 myself. Just found a free tool in the Microsoft Store called Microsoft Translator. Cannot comment on how well it works, but you could try it out and see whether or not it meets your needs. 

 

Hover translation tools exist for several browsers. For example, Chrome has the Perapera popup dictionary. It works very well. Available free in the Chrome store. I used it for years in Firefox, but last year the makers discontinued Firefox support. Search some old topics for discussion of that, if of interest.

 

MS Edge browser also has one, available free in the MS store. Not sure whether it will translate single words or not. Check it out and see what you think.

[Shelley]

I use Zhongwen in Firefox now because as abcdefg says support has been stopped.

 

The topic about it is here https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/55761-demise-of-perapera-in-firefox/?tab=comments#comment-429793

[Alex_Hart]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I've become pretty obsessed with finding something like Perapera for PDFs and other non-browser uses. I'm going to school in China so I need to consume a lot of Chinese texts and have just found it impossible to look up the words while reading as there are too many class-specific terms that I don't know and not enough time to do a close reading where I look up/learn a lot of the words. I love Perapera and use it constantly, but couldn't find a similar popup dictionary for PDFs: converting PDFs to html or opening them in Chrome doesn't work, either. I tried MDBG and Qtranslate but also found these programs pretty lacking (and in the case of MDBG, way too expensive!). 

 

While not perfect, I've taken to using 有道 until I find a better alternative. It is not as easy to use as Perapera as you cannot simply hover over a word and get a translation. The hover feature only translates one character. For example, if you hover over the 白 in 白莲教, it will translate the character 白(white), but not the entire phrase (White Lotus society).

This definitely lacks Perapera's utility; looking up one character is often pretty useless unless you're just looking for pronunciation or whatever. Buuuut, you can highlight the whole word and get the definition

You can also pin the translation pane to the side if they keep getting in the way.

Some cons: highlighting is actually pretty annoying when you're used to Perapera (though people who started studying with just paper dictionaries will roll their eyes at me for saying this). It also tries to translate English which is kind of annoying when you change windows often. It's also not a good study tool if your goal is language acquisition, but I find it serviceable for school-related 阅读. Still hoping to find a Perapera-type hover that can do it without the highlighting.

Edited May 16, 2018 at 09:03 AM by Alex_Hart

[dxcarnadi]

@Alex_Hart

As far as I can understand your explanation .. that is what I search for .. for my Windows-10 PC.
In my Android-tablet I can read a PDF-ebook f.e. with Foxit PDF-reader app .. and at the same time I can use a Pleco-tool to translate to English f.e. a chinese word/sentence in that PDF-e-book .. similar(?) as you with a PC(Windows).

 

There are many yaodao software .. dictionary, search .. etc
Which Windows yaodao software have you downloaded (from which website) and installed?
Where can I read about the usage?
BTW I still cannot read Chinese. :-(  .. I'm now in Germany .. outside China.
Thank you.

 

[Luxi]

I've just been trying it! It seems to be a truly multi-platform app: can be installed in iOS / Mac, Android (minus-Google) and Windows 10, which is better than anything I've seen.

 

The Home page is : http://www.youdao.com/ 

Google will tell you it's not safe because its certificate hasn't been updated and your information and passwords aren't secure, or something like that. Edge has no problem (I haven't tried Firefox).

In any case, there's precious little information or orientation in the site - it's just a case of clicking to see what happens next.

 

1 hour ago, dxcarnadi said:

I still cannot read Chinese.

 

Use Google translate or, in Edge, the Translator Edge extension. I think Google Translate works better - but you have to get over Chrome's nagging.

 

The IOS app for iPad/iPhone is clearer about use, but it's all in Chinese. From what I've seen so far, it has buttons for dictionary search, example sentences and translation options, I still have to figure out the rest. The example sentences are good! I like the dictionary too, there's an option to get expanded information that looks promising. 

 

Besides using the browser portal, there is a Youdao app in the Microsoft store (search for Youdao in the Windows 10 store app), there are 2 apps, the one on the left is for PC, on the right for tablet (but I think both work on a PC)

 

It is a step forward, but still needs click-copy-and-paste to transfer the words/text from a pdf (or Office document or ebook browser reader or Edge browser) to the search window in the app. And it's great to have one app that works across Windows, Android and IOS.

However, it lacks the 'pop-up' ease of Perapera or Zhongwen. 

 

9 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

in the case of MDBG, way too expensive!

 

Quite! Unfortunately I've become quite dependant on MDBG's Chinese Reader, there seems to be no way around for reading pdfs and text in Edge or online readers. It is cheaper if paying on a yearly basis, but it still too much (even charges to use Microsoft's voices) and very annoying to have to pay so much for it. I can't see that there's been any development in the last 2 years or so, how can they justify their prices? Surely someone could come up with an app combining text scan and CDict (or any other CE dict) in a Windows platform?

[dxcarnadi]

@Luxi

Thank you for your explanation.
Copy&Paste method .. in Windows I can do that (already) with PDF-file and the old Wenlin-dictionary or GoogleTranslate.

 

But .. in Android (with Pleco) ... I can "read" (in a PDF-ebook) a Chinese sentence with 80% accuracy.
That depends on my knowledge about Chinese word-order & grammar.

 

Do you know whether MDBG's Chinese Reader (a Windows program?)
1. demands "Chinese searchable PDF-file" or
2. can OCR the "not searchable PDF-file" on the spot?

Pleco (in Android) can both methods.
Thank you.

[Luxi]

2 hours ago, dxcarnadi said:

whether MDBG's Chinese Reader (a Windows program?)
1. demands "Chinese searchable PDF-file" or
2. can OCR the "not searchable PDF-file" on the spot?

 

I tried MDBG version 8 with a few of my OCR files but it didn't work, I thought it could do it but had never tried before. There was a time when one could upload non-searchable pdfs into one's Google Books and save them as OCR, but I never tried with Chinese documents. Also, in theory, Windows 10 can convert Chinese to OCR, but I never tried and have no idea how to do it.  Alternatively, you could transfer and open your pdf file in Android using Edge or One Drive, and Pleco it.

 

MDBG gives you a free for 2-weeks trial, you can try and see if it works for you.  

 

Edited to add: in Windows, you can also copy and paste text on @imron 's Chinese Text Analyzer though, as far as know, you have to do it in parts (page at a time sort of thing) - unless someone has a secret method to open an entire pdf in CTA. I guess it's the same with Wenlin.

[Alex_Hart]

15 hours ago, Luxi said:

It is a step forward, but still needs click-copy-and-paste to transfer the words/text from a pdf (or Office document or ebook browser reader or Edge browser) to the search window in the app. And it's great to have one app that works across Windows, Android and IOS.

 

Do you mean for y有道? You shouldn't need to copy and paste anything. When installing, make sure you install the 取词 and 划词 function, and then make sure 取词 and 划词 are turned on. To build on your explanation, go to http://cidian.youdao.com/ and click 立即下载. Install it. Then make sure the functions are turned on (see pic, bottom left). 

 

取词：Hovering over a word in a pdf will give you that character's translation in the pdf without clicking anything

 

划词：If you highlight, a small red button will appear above the highlighted word (I am using Foxit, but I'm pretty sure this works across all programs). Hover over this red button (see pic) and you will get the translation for the highlighted portion. This is much more useful than 取词.

 

划词 also works with sentences, although I never really use that function. I think this app is going to be more useful for people who understand "most" of the text and just need to look up individual words. If you're looking for a complete translation, maybe try google translate.

 

This is off the topic of a hover-function dictionary, but you can also save words as you look them up (click the small star). I haven't used this function so I'm not sure how comparable it is to an SRS program, but you could play around with it if you're interested. You can also pick several languages besides English, including French, German, Korean, Japanese etc. 

 

[imron]

On 2018年5月17日 at 2:55 AM, Luxi said:

unless someone has a secret method to open an entire pdf in CTA

How come you can only do a page at a time?  You should be able to copy the entire thing and paste it in to CTA:

 

1. Open PDF

2. Ctrl-A to 'select all'

3. Ctrl-C to copy

4. Alt-tab to switch to CTA

5. Ctrl-V to paste.

 

 

[Luxi]

2 hours ago, imron said:

You should be able to copy the entire thing and paste it in to CTA

Yup. Verified.

I must have been getting mixed up with kindle files...age, you know....

[dxcarnadi]

@Luxi

Are you satisfied now with "Chinese Text Analyser"? Can you give me the url of CTA? Thank you.

 

[Luxi]

4 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

You shouldn't need to copy and paste anything.

 

The version from Windows 10 Store is 2.1.60.4556 beta (2015?). I guess yours is newer.

 

The top Google search  link to Youdao leads to the outdated page with warnings. I'm now downloading the version from the youdao.cidian page link you posted. A slow download from the UK, will be back to comment after installing.

 

4 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

If you're looking for a complete translation, maybe try google translate.

 

Or Baidu translate (sometimes it is better, end quality seems to depends on humans editing the translation manually.)

 

PS: the Youdao dictionary version from @Alex_Hart 's link is 8.0.1.0 (a lot more advanced than the one on the Windows store). It installed in Windows 10 without problems and indeed has the functions Alex describes above and more, lots more. It is quite complicated, not very intuitive, and entirely in Chinese but really looks like worth a thorough look because it seems very useful.

 

At first glance, the functions are biased towards Chinese people studying foreign languages,  there is no English version, so it is more suitable for users who already know Chinese at maybe intermediate level or higher. I guess we could help by posting here as we learn how to use this program. 

PPSS: It has pop-up function alright and it's driving me crazy popping up Chinese translations to all the English words & sentences on my screen!

 

 

[Luxi]

2 minutes ago, dxcarnadi said:

Are you satisfied now with "Chinese Text Analyser"?

 

I like it and use it very often, though it doesn't brew coffee yet.   Most people here are very happy with it.

 

Check the links at the bottom of @imron's post above for the url.

...and there's a dedicated thread for CTA here 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/44383-introducing-chinese-text-analyser/?page=23&tab=comments#comment-409584

 

[Alex_Hart]

17 hours ago, Luxi said:

PS: the Youdao dictionary version from @Alex_Hart 's link is 8.0.1.0 (a lot more advanced than the one on the Windows store). It installed in Windows 10 without problems and indeed has the functions Alex describes above and more, lots more. It is quite complicated, not very intuitive, and entirely in Chinese but really looks like worth a thorough look because it seems very useful.

 

At first glance, the functions are biased towards Chinese people studying foreign languages,  there is no English version, so it is more suitable for users who already know Chinese at maybe intermediate level or higher. I guess we could help by posting here as we learn how to use this program. 

 PPSS: It has pop-up function alright and it's driving me crazy popping up Chinese translations to all the English words & sentences on my screen!

1

Yes, definitely for a Chinese audience - this is the app most of my Chinese friends use. Google Translate/Pleco in China, I guess. 

 

While it has lots of features, I don't find it to be very complicated depending on what you want to get out of it. When you open the app, there will be 4 tabs on the left: translation, flash cards, a student page that should be useless for most foreigners and a tab to hire translation services. Under this, there are two checkboxes for "hover translation" 取词and "highlight translation"划词. On the top of the translation tab (first one), there is a drop-down menu for choosing which languages you want to translate. 

 

In terms of the popping up translations, I agree that's annoying, but you can just turn off 取词 and keep 划词 (which is what I do). It will no longer translate words unless you highlight them. Definitely not as great as Perapera since it requires you to highlight the word. However,  you can improve this in settings.

Open the app, go to the bottom left and turn on 划词, turn off 取词

Go to your picture on the top right and click the drop-down arrow, choose 设置 (settings)

The first page is going to be about opening options. If you don't want the app to open when you turn on your computer, turn the 开机 setting off. When I first started to learn Chinese, I downloaded an app and spent ages trying to figure out how to do this ?

Go to 划取词设置 tab and go to 展示方式。The default is 展示划词图标, which means "show the highlight icon," meaning you need to highlight then click the little red icon. Change this to 直接展示结果 and you no longer need to click the icon: simply highlight a text and it will show you the translation.

Now open a PDF and whenever you don't know a Chinese word, highlight it and the translation will pop up. No need to click any icons or anything. I personally didn't find 取词 useful for 阅读, and I had the same issue with the constant translations of English, so I'd suggest turning it off unless you're just doing intensive PDF reading and want a quick way to check pronunciation or something.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2018 at 02:32 AM by Alex_Hart

[Luxi]

Thank you @Alex_Hart, you saved me a lot of time trying to figure out how to use it. The desktop version is better and more useful than either the Windows Store and iPad apps, so much for multi-platform integration.  

I like being able to use it as a pop-up dictionary with the Edge browser, which I prefer for reading (clearer, nicer fonts, less clutter) if I can have a handy dictionary.  Also works with Chinese apps I got from the Windows 10 store (Ximalaya, etc.)

 

Surprisingly, the 'hover function' in the desktop version works with non-searchable/non-OCR pdf files. That's a huge plus!  

 

Unfortunately it still can't replace  the expensive Chinese Reader app (no sound for Chinese, many words lack pinyin, can't see a fast way to save selected words into a list), but it is quite a few steps in the right direction.

 

 

[Alex_Hart]

17 hours ago, Luxi said:

Unfortunately it still can't replace  the expensive Chinese Reader app (no sound for Chinese, many words lack pinyin, can't see a fast way to save selected words into a list), but it is quite a few steps in the right direction.

 

Can't help you with the sound or the word lists - there is a flashcard function which I use to save words, but I don't see an export to list function (is this to add to Anki or something?). 

 

In terms of the pinyin - you need to highlight a "word" to see pinyin, e.g. in 林则徐的做法，you cannot highlight 的做法 as it won't show you any pinyin, but if you highlight 做法, you will see the pinyin. I'm not sure why they did it like this.

[Luxi]

3 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

you need to highlight a "word" to see pinyin

 

Doooh! I thought that some words had pinyin and others (the hovered words) didn't. I hadn't used it enough to figure out the reason.

 

3 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

an export to list function

 

There is a 'Search History' function but I haven't looked into it yet. It may be the place to extract the words I want to study later.

3 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

to add to Anki or something?

 

I never got into Anki, 当时 my flashcards were handwritten on discarded business cards (I worked for a firm that changed owners &/or corporate image several times, and gave an endless supply of cards from my colleagues).

Now I use TOFU Learn for vocabulary practice/maintenance, one can upload a simple word list and the program adds everything else: pinyin, English and pronunciation (if available).