Creating a Dictionary: Tool/Technique Recommendations?

[Ban]

As the title states, I'd appreciate suggestions in regards to creating a dictionary. I am working on a personal project which requires it and I'd like to set the dictionary up in such a way that I can easily find the corresponding English and Dutch, and ideally also German and French, words for any given term. Furthermore, I'd like to set the dictionary up in such a way that I can easily find corresponding articles, as well as verb-conjugations, and the singular/plural/diminutive/plural diminutive forms of the nouns. Does anyone have experience setting such a dictionary up in a manageable manner? While a simple excell sheet would suffice for a purely alphabetical ordering of words, this does not take into account the aforementioned other features I wish to implement.

 

[pmmg]

Gonna say that sounds like a daunting project and id look to purchase something rather than make it. How many words? If excel is not sufficient, access is your next tool.

 

[Ban]

Gonna say that sounds like a daunting project and id look to purchase something rather than make it. How many words? If excel is not sufficient, access is your next tool.

What do you mean with "purchase something"? As for how many words, a full language worth of them. Excell is my go-to tool for the moment, but with a project this large I don't want to start off on bad footing. As for access, I will need to look up how it works.

 

[pmmg]

Create Your Own Dictionary - The Linguist on Language

Found that with google searches, but google searches is kind of the same place you are at. I have no program to recommend.

Access is for building small home user apps and databases. Its like Excel's next level. Building from scratch is a long process.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I came across these suggestions in a quick search: Is there an app that allows me to build my own dictionary? - Quora. There's a few in there which look useful.

If you don't want to go down that route, and you've got enough IT knowledge, then you're looking at a Database of some kind. Microsoft Access is an easy to use one, though it costs money. There's also free database software out there you can use (like MySQL), though that doesn't have the slick user interface and is probably a bit harder to get into.

For what you described a spreadsheet probably wouldn't cut it, since you need more dimensions than just the two a spreadsheet offers (as in, you have the word and its meaning, conjugations, and translations). You could try playing around with pivot tables in Excel to see if you can tie together different sheets in such a way that you can get it all in there. It's probably possible (since most things are in Excel), but I'm not sure if it's still usable.

 

[Ban]

I also found those links, but I was hoping a conlanger on this forum might have already tested some of them. As for Microsoft Access and Excess, I luckily can use it for free through my university, though I'm not sure whether or not this still applies when I graduate from my Master's. Perhaps it would be best if I used a freeware product.

 

[skip.knox]

Look at Libre office for a free alternative.

You are at a university. Have you spoken to a linguist prof? They might have some good ideas

 

[pmmg]

If your ms subscription expires you get reduced functionality. But there is still open office and google docs and other choices you can use. Though life is easier if you dont let it expire.

 

[Mad Swede]

What you want to create isn't just a dictionary, it's also a grammar and maybe a thesaurus too. That is a huge project, far bigger than you might appreciate. Personally I'd suggest buying a copy of Babylon Pro and making sure you have access to the extra dictionaries.

 

[Ban]

What you want to create isn't just a dictionary, it's also a grammar and maybe a thesaurus too. That is a huge project, far bigger than you might appreciate. Personally I'd suggest buying a copy of Babylon Pro and making sure you have access to the extra dictionaries.

Perhaps it would be best if I simply explained what I'm working on. I'm trying to create a standardised version of Limburgish that combines the grammar and lexicon of various Limburgish dialects (though primarily from South Limburg) to create a "poetic" form of Limburgish that is as far removed from both standard Dutch and Ripuarian German as I can manage, while maintaining a coherent whole that is enjoyable to read. As such, I prioritize local words, French loan words and the localised forms of words with shared Dutch/Ripuarian roots. The way I do this is through slowly plucking away a story in this poetic dialect using my own knowledge, as well as ample dialect dictionaries for reference.

My idea for a dictionary exists for a few reasons. For one, the longer this story gets the more I might contradict myself with perfectly valid, but inconsistent spelling and terminology. Secondly, Limburgish can be quite tricky in certain regards. Most dialects use different articles for singular masculine, singular feminine and plural, with some dialects even opting for two different forms of singular masculine. Similarly, there is no standardized noun pluralisation, so some plural forms end in -s, some in -e, and some maintain the same form as the singular noun but are pronounced differently. A conjugation which if present in many verbs, but might also be tricky for some potential readers is the imperative, which is present in unique spelling in a decent amount of words.

While for the moment my intentions are simply to use this dictionary/thesaurus for personal use, I do want to ensure before I start writing it that whatever tool I use has the option for me to expand into the dimensions I described above. I like having the option to expand it as far as I wish.

skip.knox I'll look into libreoffice. Should still have it installed in fact.

 

[Mad Swede]

Hmm. Do you have any idea of how long that will take? I'm not trying to dissuade you but the Fowler brothers, working together and full time, took nearly six years to compile the first edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. And they weren't trying to produce a combined dictionary/thesaurus/grammar.

 

[Ban]

Years at least, perhaps decades to do it properly and build up a literature of my own to support it. I'm not in any real rush seeing as there are no material or commercial stakes, merely my own interest and enjoyment. Nevertheless, I wish the foundation to be right.

 

[Sherryl]

As the title states, I'd appreciate suggestions in regards to creating a dictionary. I am working on a personal project which requires it and I'd like to set the dictionary up in such a way that I can easily find the corresponding English and Dutch, and ideally also German and French, words for any given term. Furthermore, I'd like to set the dictionary up in such a way that I can easily find corresponding articles, as well as verb-conjugations, and the singular/plural/diminutive/plural diminutive forms of the nouns. Does anyone have experience setting such a dictionary up in a manageable manner? While a simple excell sheet would suffice for a purely alphabetical ordering of words, this does not take into account the aforementioned other features I wish to implement.

Home - FieldWorks

This software is free although it has a bit of a learning curve.