It started with a simple dictionary tool on browsers, maybe the simplest one compared with a lot of other options.
It started a long time ago as a side project. Then it turned out to be my most used and most efficient productivity tool, and a lot of people love it.
At first it’s called FairyDict.
I used it to learn English. For me English is both a hobby and a pain. I found a lot of Chinese users are like me, struggling on English. They liked my idea, so I keep on making it.
Now I changed the name FairyDict to Dictionariez, because my goal is to make it a more general tool to learn languages, to rule all dictionaries, or maybe not just dictionaries.
But of course I don’t compete with all those dictionaries, and I don’t want to violate their rules. Basically Dictionariez is an entry to those dictionaries, like a portal. You could choose your favorite dictionaries. Dictionariez could help you use those dictionaries more efficiently.
So how to use Dictionariez is really straightforward. Just double click on a word, you will see the definition. And click on the app’s icon, a dictionary window will pop up. Simple, right?
Floating definition is the fastest way to look up a new word. In this case the app has builtin dictionaries to support English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean (aka CJK), German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Tajik languages, and I am happy to add more languages support if you are interested.
And the popup window could let you look up any words in tons of your favorite dictionaries. This way you can look more deeply on the words. And it just looks like a traditional dictionary app. It has autocompletion function, word history, keyboard shortcuts, real human pronunciation and many more. Some example dictionaries include Urban dictionary, Oxford, Cambridge, Longman, Thesaurus, Merrian webster, Collins and Wikipedia etc.
The basic flow of using Dictionariez to help you learn a language is like this: reading an article, looking up new words, exporting them to Anki after finish the article. With the launch of pnlpal community, you can share your reading with pals all over the world now. No matter it’s a news story, or a technical review, or even a youtube video. As long as it benefits our programming and language community, you could share it. Check it by yourself. Let’s learn together, and grow together.
Now Dictionariez is just a small tool running on your browsers, not even an app. But if it’s proved to be working, I will make an app of it.
So please tell me whether you like it or not. Help me review it. Your feedback will keep it going, make it stronger and benefit the others like you and me.
Since I am a English learner, I also wish you could help me revise this article, help me find out all grammar or whatever errors in it. Thank you. This is the way.