Re: [tlug] a japanese dictionary

[David Stibbe <dstibbe@example.com>]

Michael Engel wrote:
> > > I'm working on building a japanese dictionary
>
> Principally that's interesting, could you please explain your concept
> of the dictionary in some words.
> What structure will it have, where do you get the data for the
> dictionary, etc...?

Currently I'm in the planning phase.
I am afraid I should have phrased myself more clearly before, for you 
might have misunderstood the goal of my project.

The concept is to create a graphical dictionary utility for several 
platforms (linux first, then windows and hopefully mac after that).
I think you thought I was going to create a new dictionary as EDICT and 
KANJIDIC ?

> > How about classifying the words by subject, searching for synonyms or
> > related words and for antonyms (oposite meaning words)
>
> Are such data available or do they need to be written from scratch ?

I do not know if this exists, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't 
for the antonyms; for the synonyms and 'related words' one could make a 
work around.

> > A sort would be pretty usefull too. Sort by furigana, by stroke count, by
> > some dictionary number. Grouping by kanji.
> For such data, see the KanjiDic maintained by Jim Breen

Even though this data is available, the current utilities do not often 
provide a whole lot of choices when it comes to sorting ...

> An interesting project would be to set up an "open (extendable) SQL
> database" and "open source scripts" for it.
> I guess every good dictionary has such a database behind it anyway.

Even if though falls outside the scope of my original project, that 
wouldn't even be such a bad idea; this would be interesting to do :P

Kind regards,
David