FunctionalityUp

TeraDict is a family of simple user interfaces to the PanLex database. Each interface has a user language variety. It lets the user enter an expression in that language variety. It then shows the user a list of the language varieties into which there are distance-1 translations from the entered expression. The user can choose any of those language varieties, whereupon the user is shown the texts of the distance-1 translations in that language variety of the entered expression.

Execution

To make use of any language-variety-specific version of TeraDict, visit https://panlex.org/teradict/?lg=xyz, replacing xyz with the code representing the language variety. That is generally the language code of the variety.

Localization

To produce a language-variety-specific TeraDict interface requires only specifying the language variety’s PanLex ID and translating the 17 interface labels into that language variety. This information goes into a new file on the server in the /opt/nodejs/teradict/i18n/ directory. The file is named xyz.json, with xyz replaced by the code representing the language variety (see above). Use one of the existing files as a template and replace the language-variety-specific information. If we have TeraDict in more than 1 variety of a language, add differentiating characters to the substring that replaces xyz.

Once a new localization file is present, restart TeraDict, or have an authorized administrator do so, by executing sudo supervisorctl restart teradict, and then TeraDict functions in the newly added language variety.

As of July 02016, there were TeraDict versions in English (eng), German (deu), Turkish (tur), and Esperanto (epo).

Implementation

TeraDict queries the PanLex database by means of the PanLex API.

Work in progress

The set of interface strings in TeraDict includes strings required for an additional feature, which had not yet been added by July 02016. That feature will let the user see all distance-1 translations of the entered expression into all language varieties, rather than only into a selected variety. It can be implemented with a link to the PanLinx expression page for the entered expression.