MacOS X 10.5 Japanese Dictionary

[Charles]

OK, am I totally clueless and the last person to hear of this new feature of MacOS X, or is this the best, most obscure, unknown feature ever? MacOS X 10.5 now includes a JE/EJ Dictionary! It is always one click away, forget Rikai and WWWJDIC.



more inside..

[Charles]

I only found about the dictionary by accident. I was talking to someone about Kotoeri, he described how great the dictionary was. I thought he was talking about the little popup definitions in Kotoeri, but no, he was talking about the main Dictionary.app that comes with MacOS X. I had no idea there was a full Japanese dictionary in MacOS X. This appears to be a new feature of 10.5 Leopard.

To activate the dictionaries, go to Dictionary.app and enable them in Preferences. There are 3 Japanese dicts, The Progressive EJ/JE Dict, Daijiten kokugo jiten, and a dictionary of synonyms. I find the EJ/JE dict is sufficient, in fact, it is excellent.
Once this dict is enabled, a definition is only one click away. You can select any Japanese word (in a browser window for example) and right-click to get a menu offering "Look Up in Dictionary." If the selected text is Japanese, it goes right to the definition. You can also select a word, hover the cursor over it and hit command-control-D to get the little popup definition without launching Dictionary.app. You can also look up an English word and click the JE tab, for an E>J lookup.

Oh man is that useful. This is the holy grail of Mac Japanese computing, I've always wished for a system-level dictionary and this is a really good implementation, even the typography is excellent. So excuse me for gushing about it, this was a "forehead-slapping moment" for me, I usually know about these features but I was pleasantly surprised to have someone educate me about it. So I'll pass it along in case anyone else missed this great feature.

[nipponjin]

FANTASTIC!!!

Thanks a lot for letting us know this well-hidden feature!

Cheers

nipponjin:-)

[American Oyaji]

Thanks for the input Chuck. This may be the tipping point for my company getting me a MacBook instead of a Lenovo computer.

[Charles]

It was hiding in plain sight. I use Dictionary.app all the time, this was obviously a huge upgrade but it never occurred to me to check the prefs and see if there was anything new. As my dear departed mother would have said, "if it was a snake, it would have bit you!"
I noticed a few quirks, the kokugo jiten had place names and the JE/EJ didn't, and I wish there was a kanji dictionary. But this is a hell of a start, it can only get better, as Apple is obviously putting some effort into Japanese computing.

[maraboutslim]

I wonder if I just had the .dict files (they are stored in library/dictionaries) for the new japanese dictionaries if i could add them and make it work even in OS10.4? Anyone want to participate in a test? pm please...

[alicia454]

Wow, thank you very very much. I just enabled it on my MacBook and now I can't live without it! It is quite useful.

Maybe we should start a Guijin Mac user group?

Thanks again.

[Charles]

I wonder if I just had the .dict files (they are stored in library/dictionaries) for the new japanese dictionaries if i could add them and make it work even in OS10.4? Anyone want to participate in a test? pm please...

Just get the Leopard upgrade, you deserve it. Dictionary.app was upgraded in 10.5 to support multiple dictionaries, I suspect it uses Leopard-specific features. It hooks pretty deeply into the OS so it would be unlikely to work in 10.4.

[Charles]

Wow, thank you very very much. I just enabled it on my MacBook and now I can't live without it! It is quite useful.

Maybe we should start a Guijin Mac user group?

Thanks again.

There are a lot of Mac users around FG, we are a user group of sorts.

It's amazing how fast you can get used to a whizzy new feature, it becomes indispensable instantly. I haven't seen anything like this since the old UniDict, it was the first Mac implementation of a contextual-menu dictionary lookup, sometime around 1995. But this MacOS X version is way, way better.

[GomiGirl]

I haven't seen anything like this since the old UniDict, it was the first Mac implementation of a contextual-menu dictionary lookup, sometime around 1995.

Why thank you Charles - that is the nicest thing you have ever said about me.

We never made an OSX version but focussed on mobile implementations through the Newton, Psion, Palm, Nokia etc and now of course on keitai. Perhaps you may have heard of TangoTown?

The last version of UniDICT that was made for Mac or any desktop was v1.5 in 1999 I think. There were lots of things we wanted to do with the Mac version but the business model (ie cheap fuckers not wanting to pay for desktop software) really doesn't lend itself to extensive development of useful features.

[Baka Chan]

Mac rules!

[American Oyaji]

Why thank you Charles - that is the nicest thing you have ever said about me.

We never made an OSX version but focussed on mobile implementations through the Newton, Psion, Palm, Nokia etc and now of course on keitai. Perhaps you may have heard of TangoTown?

The last version of UniDICT that was made for Mac or any desktop was v1.5 in 1999 I think. There were lots of things we wanted to do with the Mac version but the business model (ie cheap fuckers not wanting to pay for desktop software) really doesn't lend itself to extensive development of useful features.

Waitaminute. GG, UniDict was YOU? DAAAAAAAMN!

[Charles]

Why thank you Charles - that is the nicest thing you have ever said about me.

We never made an OSX version but focussed on mobile implementations through the Newton, Psion, Palm, Nokia etc and now of course on keitai. Perhaps you may have heard of TangoTown?

The last version of UniDICT that was made for Mac or any desktop was v1.5 in 1999 I think. There were lots of things we wanted to do with the Mac version but the business model (ie cheap fuckers not wanting to pay for desktop software) really doesn't lend itself to extensive development of useful features.

I didn't know you were associated with EnFour. I don't have a keitai so I never checked out your stuff, but I just looked and there is the venerable old UniDICT, squished into a teeny keitai window so that I hardly recognize it.

When I first saw Mac UniDICT, I wondered just how anyone could make a living developing and selling Mac Japanese dictionaries, the target market didn't seem very big. And you can count me amongst the "cheap fuckers" who didn't pay, I borrowed a review copy from a respected lexicographer who I better not name or we'll all be in trouble. Sorry about that. But I did promote it amongst my Japanese student and scholar friends, and you know what? All of the people (including me) that wanted to buy it could not find a way to purchase it here in the US.

But that was a good implementation on OS 9. Once Apple released the contextual menu feature, it was clearly the perfect place to put a dictionary lookup. Apple obviously agrees since they've implemented it at the system level in Leopard.

[GomiGirl]

Waitaminute. GG, UniDict was YOU? DAAAAAAAMN!

Wasn't me per se but my company. It was developed by my brother and our engineers, some that are still working for us today. Plus in conjunction with Dan Crevier, Jim Breen etc.

Charles, shrink wrapped software was never really going to make developers like us any real money as there will always be people wanting to use stuff for free - sadly this is human nature. UniDICT was available in the US via a distributer and always available mail order from Japan. I looked after some of the mail order while I was still living in Australia and then my father took over it. We did ship a huge number in 1995-2001. Still got CD's available if anybody is running 0S9. I can do the shrink wrapping personally.

But UniDICT started as offshoot from our Font/IME/DTP work. It was a pet project that really spawned our whole dictionary division that went mobile. As a 15 year old company - you have to keep reinventing what you do and the strategies that you follow.

[Charles]

[quote="GomiGirl"]Wasn't me per se but my company. It was developed by my brother and our engineers, some that are still working for us today. Plus in conjunction with Dan Crevier, Jim Breen etc.

Charles, shrink wrapped software was never really going to make developers like us any real money as there will always be people wanting to use stuff for free - sadly this is human nature. UniDICT was available in the US via a distributer and always available mail order from Japan. I looked after some of the mail order while I was still living in Australia and then my father took over it. We did ship a huge number in 1995-2001. Still got CD's available if anybody is running 0S9. I can do the shrink wrapping personally. ]
We tried to get it from the usual importers, I think it was Qualitas or AsiaSoft or something, but they didn't carry it. It was hard to get the university to order direct rather than through an importer, I never figured out their bureaucracy.

I remember those olden days, the stuff in OS 8 and 9 seemed like the ultimate development of Japanese language tools. And now look how far we've come since then. At least you didn't pursue the MacOS X dict niche just to see Apple come along and stomp on it.

[GomiGirl]

We tried to get it from the usual importers, I think it was Qualitas or AsiaSoft or something, but they didn't carry it. It was hard to get the university to order direct rather than through an importer, I never figured out their bureaucracy.

We used to offer academic licences directly and sold a heap to departments who were able to legally allow faculty and students to use this. You could have always just sent me an email directly and I would have sorted it out.

I remember those olden days, the stuff in OS 8 and 9 seemed like the ultimate development of Japanese language tools. And now look how far we've come since then. At least you didn't pursue the MacOS X dict niche just to see Apple come along and stomp on it.

It was just not the way the market was headed. We learned our lesson from font development when Adobe came in and stomped on it - now it is all open type that has zero copy protection and hence no value in the market anymore.

For applications, we went to e-shops for PDA type sales and then to mobile phones for micropayment systems for subscription based services. Also we still do a heap of custom made work for B2B and embedded applications for manufacturers - not that people see this as it is all hush hush as the manufacturers want users to think that it is all made by them.

I didn't know you were associated with EnFour.

I am one of the owners. Aussies do things sometimes that do not involve drinking and puking in gutters. That is just a bonus.

[Greji]

Aussies do things sometimes that do not involve drinking and puking in gutters.

Ahhh, when would that be? You usually barf when you're out with me.

[GomiGirl]

Ahhh, when would that be? You usually barf when you're out with me.

That isn't from the drinking - it is all that damn goat poo that turns my stomach.

[Greji]

That isn't from the drinking - it is all that damn goat poo that turns my stomach.

It's hamaki night, but if you come don't forget to wipe your goat's arse and it might help your stomach!

[Charles]

I am one of the owners. Aussies do things sometimes that do not involve drinking and puking in gutters. That is just a bonus.

Ah, well there are always new bodily functions to lose control of, and new gutters to conquer. And sleep, blessed sleep.

[Greji]

Ah, well there are always new bodily functions to lose control of, and new gutters to conquer. And sleep, blessed sleep.

Charles, that ain't very nice. I was just a bit tired.