Make intensive use of online dictionaries when reading texts and during learning new words. In word translation result lists, vocabulary and phrases are usually presented within various contexts. By clicking on the accompanying loudspeaker symbol you memorize the native sound pattern, including the correct intonation. Some websites show the pronunciation also in written form, in the so called IPA-notation. Thereby you memorize new words twice, acoustic and visually.
The considered web dictionaries have a great performance capability and a broad range of functions. Therefore, the possibilities and the selection-menus are always described only rudimentarily. At the beginning, pass through all functions, categories and sub-sites for finding the category groups relevant for you, and for taking the biggest possible advantage of the offered contents. Provide yourself overviews!:
Study the link lists of Lexilogos. There are offered online dictionaries to more than 108 languages, numerous dictionaries to each respectiv one. They also can be accessed directly via a search mask. Moreover, this site offers comprehensive link lists on free downloadable dictionaries, on grammar text books as well as on further language learning materials.
Read the section on online dictionaries of Omniglot, one of the most comprehensive and most substantial language sites in the Internet.
Similarsites.com also comes up with numerous presorted creme-de-la-creme-link-lists on the theme language: There, when you enter the address of a website, all related sites known by the search index are put together and presented in a list (WP-artikel “Website correlation”); for the menu guidance 18 resp. 19 languages are at choice. The search results are differently presented by Similarsites.com and by Similarsitesearch.com. Here are three search requests for three language relevant websites: dict.cc, Linguee.com and Reverso.net.
Further dictionaries can be found in “Wikipedia:Nachschlagewerke im Internet/Wörterbücher” (Wikipedia:Reference Works in the Internet/Dictionaries), in “Wikipedia:Nachschlagewerke im Internet/Kostenlose Übersetzungsdienste“ (Wikipedia:Reference Works in the Internet/free Translation services) as well as in the WP-overviews “Category:Online dictionaries” and “Kategorie:Onlinewörterbuch”.
Short definitions on various dictionary-relevant terms, definition extracts are taken from the linked WP-sources: “[...] A synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language. [...], “[...] Complementary antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite [...]”.
“Etymology [...] is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. [...] By extension, the term ‘the etymology (of a word)’ means the origin of the particular word. [...]”
A Definition for “thesaurus” (plural: thesauri):
“[...]
In general usage, a thesaurus is a
reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning (containing synonyms and sometimes antonyms), in contrast to a dictionary, which provides definitions for words, and generally lists them in alphabetical order. The main purpose of such reference works is to help the user ‘to find the word, or words, by which [an] idea may be most fitly and aptly expressed’ – to quote Peter Mark Roget, architect of the best known thesaurus in the English language.
[...]”
Word definitions at
Wiktionary
and at
Merriam-Webster.
Beolingus •
Odge.de •
Linguee •
Linguatools •
PONS •
Reverso •
LEO •
dict.cc •
Langenscheidt •
Woxikon •
phrasen.com •
Further Dictionaries
BEOLINGUS
offers comprehensive dictionaries of the
TU-Chemnitz,
with phonetic transcription and with
audio files recorded by humans.
Offered languages are:
German ↔ English,
German ↔ Spanish,
German ↔ Portuguese.
Via a filter you can encircle the accuracy
and switch on and off
the phonetic transcription.
Over the
preferences and usage tips category
all criteria can be determined centrally,
even vulgar words can be shown
(“Show also vulgar and slang words”).
The
„Help“-category
contains detailed usage hints,
in the
Word lists for special subjects
you find dictionaries on numerous life- and professional areas.
On the
Conversions of Units-site,
units of the
Anglosphere can be converted
into metric units.
Further categories contain aids
on grammar.
Concerning the comprehensive
usage possibilities,
BEOLINGUS
has an exceptional position
among the dictionaries,
more information on this
in the
FAQ category;
also
browser extensions
as well as dictionaries
for the offline modus
are freely available.
Excerpt of the German WP-article „Beolingus“
(October 01, 2016), translated:
“[...]
Beolingus offers over 900.000 word translations,
explanations,
synonyms, sayings,
aphorisms and quotations.
It thereby is one
of the three biggest
German-English dictionaries,
besides dict.cc and LEO.
German as well as American pronunciation
by native speakers can be listened to.
In addition it also offers
translations into Spanish
and Portuguese.
[...]”
Original text: “[...]
Beolingus bietet über 900.000 Wortübersetzungen, Erklärungen, Synonyme, Sprüche, Aphorismen und Zitate. Es gehört damit neben dict.cc und LEO zu den drei größten Deutsch-Englisch-Wörterbüchern. Deutsche sowie amerikanische Aussprache durch Muttersprachler kann angehört werden. Daneben bietet es auch Übersetzungen ins Spanische und Portugiesische.
[...]”
Odge.info,
the „online dictionary German-English“,
presents itself with a classic, simple and appealing
created user interface,
which is available
in English
and in German.
Vocabulary extensions can be
suggested via the category
Enter new word.
The license is GPL-based,
more information hereto in the
“License-information”.
Odge.info draws on
a vocabulary
grown during decades,
which has been extended continuously
since 2004.
Example translation queries:
instantly,
refined.
Some search results are filing pages,
therefore it is advisable
to page down to the bottom.
Linguee
consists of a classic dictionary and a context based
translation system
which bases on human translations.
It shows you, how others have translated your text
(word, phrase resp. fragment as well as full sentences)
in various frames of reference (contexts).
The basis is an ongoing updated database
of high-quality translations, that is
texts translated by humans, among
bilingual held websites from the Internet.
During translation queries,
numerous translation situations from
everyday life are considered.
Example query (EN ↔ DE):
continous improvement;
this results in a primarily suggested translation compared to
“less common” resp. less frequent phrases,
as well as in an “Examples” and a “See also”
column followed by “External sources [...]”
listing numerous translations in context.
Users have the possibility to participate,
whereby a continuous
improvement of the database
takes place.
The audio recordings of the dictionary
are recorded by native speakers and are,
in case of very differently pronounced words,
callable in American English as well as in British English.
Example translation queries for words, whose
pronunciation in
General American
differs distinctively
from British English:
ask,
answer,
advertisement.
Further information can be found in
the
self description of
Linguee
as well as in the
WP-article
“Linguee”.
Linguee
provides excellent services
since 2009.
Comparable context based dictionaries:
Linguatools,
Reverso Context.
Linguatools.de
offers powerful context dictionaries with auto completion suggestions during the input.
So far,
the user interface is only available in
German. However, to use it you don't need to know any
German, besides these headings:
„Übersetzungen“ = translations;
„Verwendungsbeispiele“ = usage examples;
„Computergenerierte Übersetzungsvorschläge“ =
computer generated translation suggestions.
Extract of the
self description (May 18, 2017):
„Context Dictionary[:] The Context Dictionary translates between German and ten European languages. It provides millions of bilingual example sentences for each language pair that show you how words and phrases are actually used in real world contexts.“
The dictionaries are also accessible under linguatools.com.
Example translation query: in my opinion,
background knowledge.
The
Linguatools context dictionary,
web present since 2009
(German article
on the opening),
is a matured language system which provides
excellent services.
Detailed information can be found in the column
“Über das Kontext-Wörterbuch”.
Recommendations for refined search queries
describes the blog entry
„Mit Filtern Treffer gezielt einschränken“.
Further Information:
„Neues Design und neue Daten für das Kontext-Wörterbuch Deutsch-Englisch“,
„Computergenerierte Übersetzungsvorschläge Deutsch-Englisch“,
„Automatische Wörterbucherweiterung“.
The founders of Linguatools,
Peter Kolb
and
Petra Prochazkova
come from the field of computational linguistics
(WP-article “Computational linguistics”). Articles in German:
“Über uns”
(research activities and staff) •
linguatools-Blog •
linguatools.com •
Englisch website, linguatools.org •
Petra Prochazkova's
blog on the Czech language, Tschechisch-Blog.
PONS,
“PONS - The free dictionary for foreign languages, German spelling and full-text translations”,
offers dictionaries on more than a dozen languages,
with
phonetic transcription
and computer generated audio recordings as well as
a translation system.
The pronunciation
(loud speaker symbol)
and the corresponding
phonetic transcription
for British English
and for American English
are listed at
PONS
in parallel.
Example words:
ask,
answer.
When you roll with the mouse pointer over the phonetic
transcription,
to each single
IPA symbol
are example words displayed,
in which the respective
sound occurs.
Call up already known words and memorize their
written sound pattern,
thus you quickly become familiar with the phonetic symbols.
Phonetic symbols are displayed with examples when rolling over
Important for the preparation of English texts:
The syllables' interspaces
are displayed. This is very advantageous,
as the syllabification of the English languages
does not follow comparable easy rules like
with German.
One should note,
that the syllabification patterns
partly vary
within the
Anglosphere.
[1] [2] [3] [4].
Within the header line of the
considered word entry is a small
information-i.
Press on it, to get displayed further
options,
inter alia
PONS'
synonyms;
if you
choose
“Links to further information”,
a menu with 16 dictionaries resp.
language relevant websites appears.
Click on the respective entry for
forwarding directly your word query to the
particular dictionary.
To the words,
example sentences are callable,
editorially verified as well as
unaudited from the Internet.
Note
the tabs and the pop-up menus,
scroll down to the page bottom
to provide an overview.
Information on the publisher
can be found in the German
WP-article
“Pons-Verlag”.
The PONS publishing house
looks back on decades of
history,
PONS-Online exists since 2001.
[1] “Canadian, British and American Spelling
[,]
General Rules for Regional Differences”
[2] “American and British English spelling differences”
[3] WP-article “Syllabification”
[4] WP-article “Phonetics”
Reverso
offers
powerfull dictionaries,
various grammar aids
as well as a context based
phrase translation system
Reverso Context,
comparable with
Linguee.
The dictionaries comprise in total 14 languages.
Users can participate in, what is conducive for the
quality control.
In-depth information are to be found in
Reverso's self description, inter alia
in “About the contextual dictionary”
(also contains operating instructions),
in
“What is Reverso all about?”
as well as in the
WP-article
“Reverso (logiciel)”.
The menu navigation of
Reverso Context,
the powerful context based dictionary,
is available in 12 languages:
In
German,
English,
French,
Spanish,
Portuguese,
Russian,
Dutch,
Italian,
Polish,
Arabic
and in
Hebrew.
Example translation queries for the direction
German ↔ English:
“in my opinion”,
“under the circumstances”.
Already during the input
the auto completion lists
known words resp. word combinations and sayings
as input translations.
The results are presented grouped.
When pointing on the single light blue highlighted areas,
an information display shows the total number of the respective
example translations,
by pressing they are listed then.
Directly below, in a subset and in form of
a “German ↔ Englisch”-comparison,
a subset of the results is shown.
When hovering with the mouse pointer in the respective line,
it will be highlighted in color
and symbols for various functions appear,
including the loudspeaker symbol:
Press on it to play the pronunciation
(computer generated pronunciation).
Hover on the respective symbol for letting
show you the associated function.
To the right of the search mask is a book symbol.
By clicking, the request is forwarded to the
classic
Reverso dictionary.
This comprises 14 languages,
the menu navigation is available in total in 6 languages:
German,
English,
French,
Spanish,
Italian,
and
Portuguese.
Reverso Conjugation
conjugates verbs of the languages
German, English, French, Spanish, Hebrew.
The menu navigation is offered in
German,
English,
French,
Spanish,
and in
Italian.
The
Reverso Online spellchecker
is available in
English and French,
whereby settings for
American English and British English
can be configured.
Available menu languages are:
Englisch,
French and
Spanish.
Reverso Grammar
offers grammar verifications for the languages
English and French.
The menu navigation is available in
English
and in
French.
Reverso Translation
machine translation:
LEO
belongs to the oldest online dictionaries
in the German-speaking area.
The word accompanying audio files were and are recorded
by native speakers.
Via the information-i
you can forward your query to other
online dictionaries,
among others to the
“Online Etymology Dictionary”
German
English
Spanish
German ↔ English
German ↔ French
German ↔ Spanish
German ↔ Schwedish
German ↔ Dutch
German ↔ Portuguese
German ↔ Greek
German ↔ Italian
German ↔ Czech
German ↔ Polish
German
English
French
Russian
Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
Slovak
Greek
Turkish
Polish
Chinese
(there are numerous further Language Directions)
English ↔ German
English ↔ French
English ↔ Russian
English ↔ Italian
English ↔ Chinese
English ↔ Portuguese
English ↔ Spanish
English ↔ Slovenian
English ↔ Arabic
English ↔ Polish
German
English
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Russian
Italian
Czech
Japanese
Romanian
English ↔ German
German ↔ English
French ↔ German
German ↔ French
German ↔ Spanish
Spanish ↔ German
Russian ↔ German
German ↔ Russian
Portuguese ↔ German
German ↔ Portuguese
English ↔ Spanish
Spanish ↔ English
English ↔ Russian
Russian ↔ English
English ↔ Portuguese
Portuguese ↔ English
English ↔ Hebrew
Hebrew ↔ English
LEO offers various user guides to the single page functions, inter alia on the online dictionary function (in total more than 11 pages). LEO offers also a comprehensive link list to other language relevant websites: “Useful links”. Information on the history of LEO-project can be found in the WP-article “LEO (website)”; the origins of LEO date back to the beginning of the 1990ies. Example translation query: interested.
Deutsch | English | French | Russian | Spanish | Portuguese |
Italian | Polish | Chinese |
The very comprehensive online dictionary dict.cc offers, besides the English-German dictionary support for dozens of further languages. Almost all entries are provided with audio files recorded by native speakers. Users can take part in the extension of the vocabulary and of the phrases, and they can make improvement proposals.
Besides lists of technical vocabulary, the entire vocabulary data base can be downloaded. Such a pure text file is, even without dictionary search mask, very effective for the offline operation. Directly below the search field the “Options” for the output of the search results can be set.
Extensive information can be found in the self-description of dict.cc, under “About/Extras”, in the WP-article “dict.cc” and in the columns “FAQ”, “Tips”, and “Downloads”.
An application example: Translate the word typewriter into German. Already during typing, proposals are submitted via autocompletion what is useful if you do not remember the correct spelling.
In the right column now is the German result, “Schreibmaschine”, followed by further relevant words (compound nouns, associated verbs etc.). When clicking with the left mouse button on the word, the result list is presented differently. Pressing the right mouse button opens a menu for the vocabulary trainer, also showing further functions.
When using a dictionary for the first time, always go down to the very bottom of the tail edge, for getting to know all functions and additional options.
Press on the loudspeaker symbol
at the right of the respective word entrance,
for listening to the pronunciation.
By default, the recording of a native-speaker
is played back;
if this should not be available
you hear a computer generated pronunciation.
Simultaneously a window opens
in which you can choose between
the available recordings.
Over this menu
you also can call up information on the
language background of the speakers (press the profile name)
as well as over the recording istself (“info”).
Note, that on numerous menus and functions
descriptions and additional information
appear after a short waiting moment,
when moving the mouse pointer on it
(WP-article “Tooltip”),
for example,
in this sentence at the last
At the right of the loudspeaker symbol is an information symbol, a small i. By pressing with the left mouse button a menu window opens, the default function is the “Voice Output”. For instance, alternatively let show yourself the entrance of one of the more than a dozen further online dictionaries: 1. Select “PONS”, whereby in a separate tab (“Tab (GUI)”) the entrance of PONS.com for “Schreibmaschine” appears. 2. At PONS you also can listen to the pronunciation. Moreover, there it also is shown in IPA-phonetic-transcription. The pronunciation (loudspeaker symbol) and the respective phonetic transcription for British English and for American English are listed in parallel at PONS. Example words: ask, answer.
PONS also shows the separation lines of the syllables. However, there can be differences in the hyphenation of the syllables within the written English Language, depending on the country (Britain, U.S.A., Canda and others).
Now, In place of a loudespeaker symbol, at dict.cc always the symbol of the last called function appears, in this case a “P” for “PONS”. By calling the “Voice Output”-function from anew, the default “Voice Output”-preference is restored.
Some dict.cc-dictionaries are still under construction. Nevertheless for the sake of completeness, most of them are listed here. The language of the activated dictionary is also indicated via a flag symbol in the Favicon of the tab, except for English.
English | German |
The rich in tradition Publisher Langenscheidt (WP-article) offers a comprehensive online dictionary with (presumably computer generated) audio files as well as a synonym rubric.
Example translation query for the direction German → English: hinterfragen.
English | German | Spanish | French | Italian |
German ↔ English | German ↔ French | German ↔ Spanish |
German ↔ Portuguese | German ↔ Italian | German ↔ Dutch |
German ↔ Russian | German ↔ Greek | German ↔ Danish |
German ↔ Schwedish | German ↔ Czech | German ↔ Arabic |
German ↔ Persian; |
Woxikon offers dictionaries to 22 languages, as well as a mighty synonym dictionary on the German Language and on other languages; users can participate. Moreover, there are further useful language categories. By pointing on the loudspeaker symbol, the pronunciation of a word, recorded by native speakers, is automatically played (not yet accessible for all words). Example translation query for German ↔ English: mind, synonyms for mind, excellent.
German | English |
English | German | French |
Spanish | Portuguese | Dutch |
Schwedish | Italian | Polish |
phrasen.com is a huge data base for phrases, as well as a translation system for phrases, for the direction German ↔ English.
An application usage: You would like to become familiar with common German sayings/correspondence phrases, in connection with the order management.
2. Numerous phrases are presented which contain the word Bestellung
3. Choose the entry “Bitte bestätigen Sie den Erhalt der Bestellung”
4. Now appears the related entry with a link to the English translation Please confirm receipt of the order”, moreover, related German phrases are listed
5. Press on the English entry to call the related database entry for the English equivalent and its related phrases
Each entry contains a keyword column. Participation is also possible. On the title page, you find numerous sections, including the column “Business English”. The link list “Weiterführende Links zum Thema Recherche, Wörterbuch, Wortschatz und Sprache” (further links on the theme research, dictionary, vocabulary and language) lists theme-related websites.
A translated extract of the self description of phrasen.com (17.10.2016):
“Dictionary of English/German ExpressionsPhrasen.com is a dictionary for English-German, German-English expressions (sayings, empty phrases, proverbs, dictums etc.). However, Phrasen.com also offers translation examples of whole sentences without idiomatic reference.
For looking up translations on certain sayings and for extending your vocbulary, you either can feed the search mask with keywords or use the alphabetic overview.”
German original text:
“Wörterbuch englisch/deutscher Redewendungen
Phrasen.com ist ein Wörterbuch für englisch-deutsche, deutsch-englische Redewendungen (Redensarten, Floskeln, Sprichwörter, geflügelte Worte etc.). Phrasen.com bietet aber auch Übersetzungsbeispiele ganzer Sätze ohne idiomatischen Bezug.
Um Übersetzungen für eine bestimmte Redewendung nachzuschlagen und Ihren Wortschatz zu erweitern, können Sie entweder die Suchmaske mit Stichworten füttern oder die alphabetische Übersicht benutzen.”
Note the WP-link-lists “Wikipedia:Nachschlagewerke im Internet/Wörterbücher” (Wikipedia:Reference Works in the Internet/Dictionaries) and “Wikipedia:Nachschlagewerke im Internet/Kostenlose Übersetzungsdienste” (Wikipedia:Reference Works in the Internet/free Translation services), which list many dictionaries, also specialized ones.
Google search for dictionaries (you can add a specific language), for online dictionaries, and for sayings (optionally add a language).
bab.la is an “Online dictionary for 28 languages”, moreover, further language categories are offered as well as computer generated audio files. The website is available in 28 languages (user interfaces) and offers a participation function. Example translation query, English ↔ German: excellent.
Self description of Bab.la, Youtube-video “Welcome to bab.la”.
woerterbuch.info provides, for four languages, word dictionaries and synonym dictionaries as well as a machine translation system. Computer generated audio files help with the learning of the pronunciation. More information can be found in the German guide; there is also a participation function. Example translation queries: astonished, synonyms for astonished.
German ↔ English | German ↔ French | German ↔ Spanish | German ↔ Italian |
dict.blueseal.eu offers translation- and synonym-dictionaries. Extract of the self description (November 2, 2016): “[...] The Blueseal dictionary provides translations of words and expressions between German, English, Spanish and French in all possible combinations. It also provides a synonym dictionary for all these languages. [...]”
The user interface is available in English, German, French, and in Spanish.
Example translation query for the word recurrent, example synonym query for meritorious.
German ↔ English | German ↔ French | German ↔ Spanish |
English ↔ Spanish | English ↔ French | Spanish ↔ French |
German | English | Spanish | French |
QuickDic.org is an excellent dictionary for the language directions German ↔ English. From the start, check in the start menu the option “Show phonetic transcriptions”.
A version for the offline modus is also offered for download, you can extend and maintain it with own entries.
German WP-article “QuickDic”.
3LANG.DE offers online dictionaries for the language directions German ↔ English, and for German ↔ Russian. Various language categories contain worthy recommendations for the personal study of languages.
The userface is available in German, in English, as well as in Russian.
Wie sagt man noch? offers dictionaries and translations (including whole sentences) on dozens of languages, for the direction English ↔ [other language] (overview on all English-[other language]-dictionaries) and German ↔ [other language] (overview). Moreover, comprehensive fundamental information on the theme language are offered.
Application Example: Request the translation for the German word nachdenklich. At the left site of the result list, German synonymys for the word “nachdenklich” are listed, related to the context dependent, content-related meaning (semantic), which is written in parentheses. juxtaposed to the right you find the respective translation suggestion. All of these words are then again linked with a carrying on entry. A bit below a second synonym table is presented. Established since 2004, Wie-sagt-man-noch.de offers a comprehensive vocabulary.
ego4u.de runs a powerful “German-English-dictionary”. Activate from the start the possibility to display the phonetic transcription. (introductory article) and try out the following word translation queries: work out, answer.
The user interface is optionally available in English and in German. Furthermore there are numerous learning materials and articles for the personal study of languages.
Google-search-queries: German online dictionaries • German offline dictionaries • German dictionaries
Watch at Youtube: “Why Germans Can Say Things No One Else Can” (4 minutes), a film of “The School of life”. Related article: “Why Germans Can Say Things No One Else Can”. Excerpt:
“We’re hugely dependent on language to help us express what we really think and feel. But some languages are better than others at crisply naming important sensations.
Germans have been geniuses at inventing long – or what get called ‘compound’ – words that elegantly put a finger on emotions that we all know, but that other languages require whole clumsy sentences or paragraphs to express. [...]”