I live in Canada so I have numerous resources in English in Dictionary.app on my Mac. I'm a translator and I'd like the same convenience for (at least) thesauruses in French, Spanish and Italian. Can I download those anywhere? Also, are there other resources I can download for Dictionary.app?
I think the only available thesauruses are in English. At least, I can't read most of them. Those I can read appear to be just basic dictionaries.
There are a few 3rd party dictionaries, but they are very rare. Although Apple provides a dictionary development SDK, it does not include copyright protection or any kind of digital rights control. Consequently, very few people are willing to make their content available for free. Years ago, I made a few custom dictionaries using the dictionary development SDK.
The Dictionary app does have quite a few basic translation dictionaries. You have to go to Dictionary > Preferences to enable them. If you need more than that, I would recommend going to more authoritative sources. For French, I highly recommend Antidote (https://www.antidote.info/). They have a complete set of tools in both French and English for all platforms. Plus, they are a Canadian company. I would expect there are similar products for the Spanish and Italian markets.
I think the only available thesauruses are in English. At least, I can't read most of them. Those I can read appear to be just basic dictionaries.
There are a few 3rd party dictionaries, but they are very rare. Although Apple provides a dictionary development SDK, it does not include copyright protection or any kind of digital rights control. Consequently, very few people are willing to make their content available for free. Years ago, I made a few custom dictionaries using the dictionary development SDK.
The Dictionary app does have quite a few basic translation dictionaries. You have to go to Dictionary > Preferences to enable them. If you need more than that, I would recommend going to more authoritative sources. For French, I highly recommend Antidote (https://www.antidote.info/). They have a complete set of tools in both French and English for all platforms. Plus, they are a Canadian company. I would expect there are similar products for the Spanish and Italian markets.
LuigiBenetton wrote:
I have Antidote. Great product. I just need to remember to use it.
Antidote also includes links to Termium and the GDT. I actually didn't even know about the GDT until I used Antidote to see how it references Termium. Like you, I often forget about Antidote's reference features and just use it for grammar.
I can't help but believe that Mac buyers in France, Italy and Spain get thesauruses (and other resources?) in their native languages, but I haven't thought of anybody I could ask about this. And if they get these resources (especially the thesauruses) there must be some way to get them for my Mac's Dictionary.app.
I'm afraid there is only one macOS the world over. When Apple says it is "designed in California", they're not kidding. Sometimes Americans will go ballistic when they see a non-traditional US holidays listed in Calendar, or a bunch non-English fonts that show up in their (also California-designed) Adobe apps, because Adobe had never considered the possibility of non-English resources.
For comparison purposes, here is the list of resources available to me. (I'm only using the ones with the check marks beside them.)
That's all anyone has.
LuigiBenetton wrote:
I live in Canada so I have numerous resources in English in Dictionary.app on my Mac. I'm a translator and I'd like the same convenience for (at least) thesauruses in French, Spanish and Italian. Can I download those anywhere? Also, are there other resources I can download for Dictionary.app?
See this page for some suggestions about where to look for things that can be added to dictionary app:
https://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2013/01/adding-dictionaries-to-dictionaryapp.html
LuigiBenetton wrote:
One would think that macOS localization would extend to offering a more complete set of language resources to people who don't live in a predominantly anglophone country...
Let them know what you want via
Every year something new gets added in this area, but it is a slow process.
Thanks @etresoft. This answers my question, and confirms the results of the cursory research I've done.
I have Antidote. Great product. I just need to remember to use it.
I can't help but believe that Mac buyers in France, Italy and Spain get thesauruses (and other resources?) in their native languages, but I haven't thought of anybody I could ask about this. And if they get these resources (especially the thesauruses) there must be some way to get them for my Mac's Dictionary.app.
For comparison purposes, here is the list of resources available to me. (I'm only using the ones with the check marks beside them.)
And I'll tag this post with terms that Mac owners who use those languages regularly might search for:
dictionnaire des synonymes
dictionnaire analogique
tesauro
diccionario ideológico
diccionario de ideas afines
tesauro
Thanks again @etresoft. I marked your reply as helpful, though I confess I would also mark it as disappointing - and a bit confusing (Apple confuses me, not you). One would think that macOS localization would extend to offering a more complete set of language resources to people who don't live in a predominantly anglophone country...
Thanks for your reply, Tom. The only two things that might have been new to me are the Italian dictionary (one already ships with Catalina) and the link under "German thesaurus" (which seems to be broken). But there's stuff here that might be useful to other people.
I just posted this question on Twitter as well as to an #Apple localizer who might have more insight.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd share a 3-year-old 20-minute video on the language resources I use on my Mac. If you know of others, please add them to this thread.
@Tom Gewecke
Here's a good one - the feedback page (I had forgotten about it) does not offer a spot where you can ask about the Dictionary.app. I suspect that may be a sign of how little Apple thinks of Dictionary.app, and that's a shame. For language service providers of all stripes, it's an excellent first step in our research... regardless, I'll pick what seems to be the most appropriate topic and send my feedback there. First item: create a feedback category for Dictionary.app ;-)
Also, that localizer I mentioned did not have any answers for me.
It's sad to think that Apple would overlook this opportunity to better differentiate the macOS among multilinguals...
I am curious, do you use any 3rd party translation/localization tools? I have an ancient blog post about these but have not kept up with the topic.
https://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2007/01/translation-and-localization-tools.html
@Tom Gewecke I use Wordfast Pro 3 at work (may be changed soon), plus an in-house bitext tool. I have SDL Trados Studio 2019 (I use Parallels Desktop to run it). There are some half-decent MT engines, but I would never rely on them for anything more than getting the gist of a text.
For comparison purposes, here is the list of resources available to me. (I'm only using the ones with the check marks beside them.)
For the German item, this may work
https://github.com/Tekl/openthesaurus-deutsch/blob/master/README.md
How do you get thesauruses for French, Spanish and Italian for Dictionary.app?
