Update: All dictionaries except for Welsh and Esperanto (which aren’t supported by kindlegen) have been updated to work with the Kindle 4.
I’ve had a Kindle for a little while and really like it, but one of the areas it seems to be somewhat lacking in is the availability of translation dictionaries, as such I knocked up a quick script to convert TinyLex dictionaries from the Apertium project into indexed Kindle dictionaries. The most useful of these is probably the German – English dictionaries as these are very complete (over 160,000 entries).
One thing that I find quite useful is setting the German -> English dictionary as my primary dictionary (instructions below) then opening the English -> German dictionary and searching for words (or vice versa), this way you can get an instant re-translation of any words suggested to you.
Installation
Kindle 3
- Download whichever dictionary you’re interested in from the list below.
- Transfer the file across to your Kindle as normal.
- Press the menu key on your Kindle.
- Select Settings.
- Press the menu key again.
- Select Change Primary Dictionary.
- Select your new dictionary from the list.
Kindle 4
- Download whichever dictionary you’re interested in from the list below.
- Transfer the file across to your Kindle as normal.
If this is the only dictionary you have for this language you’re now done. If you have multiple dictionaries continue:
- Press the menu key on your Kindle.
- Select Settings.
- Select edit next to Dictionaries on the second page.
- Select the language you wish to set the dictionary for.
- Select your new dictionary from the list.
Afrikaans
English -> Afrikaans 5165 entries
Afrikaans -> English 5195 entries
Esperanto
English -> Esperanto 12344 entries
Esperanto -> English 21316 entries
French
English -> French 6315 entries
French -> English 6304 entries
German (includes phrases)
English -> German 162004 entries
German -> English 166733 entries
Polish
English -> Polish 8107 entries
Polish -> English 9373 entries
Portuguese
English -> Portuguese 4759 entries
Portuguese -> English 4609 entries
Spanish
English -> Spanish 8488 entries
Spanish -> English 8769 entries
Welsh
English -> Welsh 6674 entries
Welsh -> English 8632 entries
Scripts
For those of you interested in the scripts used to generate these dictionaries, they can now be downloaded here: kindle-dict.tar.gz.
Most of the heavy lifting is done by the tab2opf.py script from StarDict-Lingea, the tinylex.sh script will do the necessary conversion to get a tinylex dictionary into a tab delimited format suitable for use by tab2opf.py, it’ll then run tab2opf.py and kindlegen on the output, providing you with a Mobipocket dictionary for use with the Kindle. See the README for more in depth instructions on how to make use of it.
Hi! I downloaded the French – English dictionary, and sent it to my Kindle 5. It appears as French-English in the books list, but I could not see it as a choice in the dictionaries menu settings. Am i doing something wrong?
Please help…thanks!
Comment by Nadia — September 30, 2014 @ 3:34 am
Thanks so much for this. I d/l’ed the German-English which is a boon.
Comment by Liz — October 20, 2014 @ 10:34 am
Hello, please can you help me to find russian turkish dictionary. I tried to make it, but there was unicode problems with russion, when I used tab2opf, can you please help me, what can I do, to make that, russian characters will also shown (when I convert, the words are shown like 41043445643f), after conversion from lingvo dictionaries. Thank you very much, waiting for your answer.
Comment by Seyit — November 16, 2014 @ 12:15 am
Hello,
i love my kindle and I send so many time enjoying so many authors in german…..super! thank you very much for your diccionaries. For me, one in spanish-german would be more confortable, but thank you any way!!!
Regards,
Natalia
Comment by natalia — February 12, 2015 @ 6:44 pm
hi Mike!!
i am planning to bye a knidle paperwhite but i’m not so sure how many languages can get link with the book i am going to read because my most purpose is to use for studying languages so cuold you tell me more about that!!1
thanks!!!
Comment by thuan — April 14, 2015 @ 4:47 am
i mean to buy a kindle paper-white
Comment by thuan — April 14, 2015 @ 4:48 am
I have the same query as 228. But I cannot see an answer. 228’s query was as follows: “Hi, I have the most basic Kindle, I think it’s the one Amazon first released… but the dictionary I downloaded doesn’t come up under the list of options I could have as my dict. default? Apparently it’s not in the right format – or is this just my kindle?”
Comment by John — April 29, 2015 @ 5:43 pm
i see that you have done great job for the people i would like to request you to do for me a favor also
i want a english vietnamese dictionary for my kindle could that be possible?
thanks for your help !!
Comment by thuan — May 30, 2015 @ 12:16 pm
Is any good soul around here, having the English-Norwegian.mobi file still on the drive and willing to upload? The link to Bergeno’s dropbox is unfortunately dead. Tusen takk in advance.
Comment by Sand3r — June 8, 2015 @ 1:29 pm
I would like to read my kindle paperwhite in english but when I am checking a word in the dictionary can I have the answer in hungarian?
Comment by Timi — June 29, 2015 @ 3:51 pm
Thank you so much! Just what I’ve been looking for!
Comment by WiiiW — July 12, 2015 @ 1:29 pm
Thank you VERY much for this awesome work. I really appreciate it.
Comment by Dorian — July 24, 2015 @ 1:58 pm
あなたもこれを行うことができます。
Comment by 【激安市場】ディズニー キャラクター マルチスタンド (ミッキー/ラージ) — October 27, 2015 @ 8:01 pm
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3dwdlgw76y70uv/English-Norwegian.mobi?dl=0
The English – Norwegian dictionary, since the old link in post 198 is dead 🙂
Comment by Bergeno — November 5, 2015 @ 6:38 pm
Hello, really nice work, but can somebody please help me with german ↔ czech/slovak dictionary please.
Comment by Lukas — November 6, 2015 @ 8:14 pm
[…] of all, here is a good link for free Kindle bilingual dictionaries of Afrikaans, Esperanto, French, German, […]
Pingback by How to change the default dictionary on your Kindle | Longevity Letter — December 28, 2015 @ 6:18 am
This! This is brilliant!
step by step with links to dictionaries and all. you, my good sir, have done a wonderful work and will be in your debt 🙂
Comment by Ana — March 12, 2016 @ 1:25 pm
Thanks. I am learning german and it is really useful (and working).
Comment by Christophe Haus — April 21, 2016 @ 11:52 am
Thanks! Starting to learn German, and this is just what I was looking for
Comment by Alex Brown — April 30, 2016 @ 5:45 pm
Best dictionary i have ever seen.
Comment by DTP services pune — May 16, 2016 @ 11:29 am
This is great. Thanks! I got the Russian dictionary at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D587QSM/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . Works like a charm!
Comment by Charlotte — May 18, 2016 @ 8:15 pm
Thanks for the German dictionary!
Comment by Beek — July 29, 2016 @ 2:21 pm
Please provide English to Hindi dictionary or offline translation on kindle 7
Thanks
Chaman
INDIA
Comment by chaman mishra — October 7, 2016 @ 9:01 pm
Is it possible to install the german english dictionary into the Kindle Windows App? I can open it in kindle but cannot seem to get it to work when I click on a word in the book i am reading in german and get the english translation.
Comment by Joe — November 29, 2016 @ 5:02 pm
Hi,
Does anyone have Norwegian-English? takk!
Comment by amanda — December 21, 2016 @ 9:53 am
Link the reference? Im out looped, or something like
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