DDB Access

macOS / Education

Gratuit

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DDB (Digital Dictionary of Buddhism) and CJKV-E (Classical Chinese) are collaborative works edited by Charles Muller, University of Tokyo. DDB Access gives access to DDB and CJKV-E from iPhone and iPad.

DDB Access is a free application. Any user may access the dictionary by entering "guest" as the username with no password. This will allow a total of 20 searches in each of the DDB and CJKV-E dictionaries in a 24-hour period.

Contributors can get unlimited access by submitting a 350+ word entry as specified at http://www.buddhism-dict.net/contribute.html

DDB and CJKV-E are primarily resources for scholars. Contributors are required to have completed a graduate degree to at least the equivalent of the M.A. level in graduate school program at a fully accredited university, where one has received direct formal training in the reading of classical East Asian Buddhist texts.

DDB Access also contains a demo (WIP) of Séraphin Couvreur's "Dictionnaire classique de la langue chinoise" which supports most of its translations with example sentences and their sources.

SEARCH

Search dictionaries by Chinese, pinyin or translation.

PARSE AND LOOKUP

After copying a full text, SmartHanzi provides immediate access to unknown words.

User chooses to show pronunciations in Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese.

The app shows links to related words (also in, contained) and character details: character series (Kangxi, etymology). With this perspective beyond immediate usage, one gets naturally familiar with words and characters.

It also recognizes multiple traditional variants. For instance, searching 真 (or finding 真 in a text) will show both 真 and 眞, according to what is present in selected dictionaries. Or it will recognize equally well 為 / 爲 or 眾 / 衆.

Texts or individual words can be read aloud with Apple voices.

ETYMOLOGY

Along centuries, Chinese writing has developed a number of reference points, reasonable or simply traditional, well known by most Chinese: "Se non è vero, è ben trovato". Character series emphasize these reference points.

All character series available for the current character are easily accessible.

USER INTERFACE

Lookup is easily customizable to just show preferred details and keep presentation clear.

The app can show either in full screen (with both parse and lookup parts visible) or in compact, smartphone-like format side by side with the original text.

MAC VERSION

This Mac version, specifically designed for desktop / laptop environment, is most effective and can run on relatively ancient systems.