Hi Frank,
Please find below a proof of concept-type program based on your idea of
using a dictionary search for (semi)automated translation.
This is a very crude example. I added a few screenshots so that you can see
what it does.
If you like to try it with other dictionaries, I added a a few more to the
mix. Unfortunately it does not break compounds and so the results are better
for sutta texts than commentaries. One could do much more with a tool like
this, but the Tipitaka is just a limited amount of text and hopefully, with
advances in bilingual corpora and machine translation, I guess pretty soon
we will get quick Google translations for the Tipitaka as well [=> does not
mean we will understand it any better without applying it :-) ]
Download the program here:
[download <
http://www.nibbanam.com/pali_language_tools.html#ptrans>] (at the
bottom of the page)
A screenshot can be found here
[link<
http://www.nibbanam.com/AutoTranslationPOC-2.jpg>
]
Metta,
Lennart
PS: Thanks go to frank for the idea and Frank Snow for CST4's dictionary.
On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 9:47 PM, frank <fcckuan@...> wrote:
>
>
> I just noticed today that DPR has the english to pali dictionary as
> well. i had been using a website for that, now I know the easier way.
> I just looked up kaama in DPR, it's a massive entry, much more info than
> CST4's dictionary.
>
> -frank
>
>
> On 2/7/2010 8:36 AM, frank wrote:
> > Hi Ria,
> > DPR is a great tool. I like how it can access several pali
> > dictionaries, and tries to break down compounds, often with success.
> > The limitation is the lookup entry takes velthius. With CST4 I can
> > mark, cut, paste unicodr pali script from the web and local digital
> > copies of the canon and drop it right into the search window (of
> > cst4). Otherwise, I would use DPR more.
> >
> >
> > -fk
> >
> > On 2/6/2010 2:29 AM, grasje wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi Frank,
> >>
> >> In the Digital pali Reader
> >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/digitalpali/
> >> <http://sourceforge.net/projects/digitalpali/> (new version
> >> available!) this funcion is automated.
> >>
> >> Just click on a word in the text and in the grey line between the
> >> reading window and the dictionary window long words are broken down
> >> into possible dictionary entries.
> >>
> >> Thus on clicking bhiyyobhaavaaya you get on the left:
> >> bhiyyo- bh�?v�?ya
> >>
> >> and on the right
> >>
> >> bhiyyo: exceedingly; more; in a higher degree; repeatedly. (ind.)
> >> bh�?va: condition; nature; becoming. (m.)
> >>
> >> And in the dictionary window below the full PED-translation of
> >> Bh�?va. You can easily paste bhiyyo into the search field to get the
> >> full PED translation of bhiyyo as well.
> >>
> >> The DPR is really an amazing piece of work.
> >>
> >> Translating a sentence becomes a matter of clicking the words one
> >> after another.It almost seems easy to translate a sutta!
> >>
> >> Kind regards,
> >>
> >> Ria Glas
> >>
> >> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:
> Pali%40yahoogroups.com <Pali%2540yahoogroups.com>>, frank
> >> <fcckuan@...> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > for you other Pali beginners out there, I learned how to use an
> >> > interesting feature in CST4 to sort of make it translate a sentence
> >> at a
> >> > time.
> >> >
> >> > I just mark and copy a line of pali text, either from CST4 suttas or
> >> > worldtipitaka.org (or any site showing unicode compliant pali),
> >> paste it
> >> > into CST4's dictionary search window. Because it does partial
> >> matching,
> >> > and it only tries to show the possible definitions one word at a time
> >> > (starting from left), I just put the cursor to the far left of the
> >> > sentence, hold down the delete key to delete one character (then word)
> >> > at a time, and the partial matching of the dictionary will usually
> >> do a
> >> > pretty good job of finding a usable definition as I pass through each
> >> > word until I get to the one I want.
> >> >
> >> > Before, I was marking, copying, pasting one single word at a time, and
> >> > then realized by grabbing a whole sentence, or 2 or 3 words at a time
> >> > and dropping it into the dictionary, it gets much speedier results. I
> >> > tried a paragraph to test the limits, but it does seem to be
> >> limited to
> >> > a certain number of characters in the dictionary search line.
> >> >
> >> > This has become my dictionary of choice because of its ability to read
> >> > cut and pasted unicode pali, instead of only taking velthius input.
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >
>
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>
>
>
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