Welsh dictionary at your fingertips! New Welsh dictionary app and Welsh keyboard launch on Snowdon鈥檚 summit 23 October 2012
From today, you鈥檒l be able to carry and use a Welsh dictionary anywhere in the world. The new , or Welsh-English dictionary app is available on iPhone, iPad and Android, and will be used for the first time on the summit of Snowdon, to show how mobile and useful it can be for anyone, whether they are Welsh learners, parents, teachers or students.
Two dictionaries form the data for Ap Geiriaduron, the general dictionary Cysgair, and the terminology dictionary Y Termiadur Addysg. The app will be distributed through the App Store, Google Play Store and Amazon.
Ap Geiriaduron has been created by Patrick Robertson, of the Language Technologies Unit at 黑料不打烊鈥檚 , who鈥檚 the youngest member of the team.
鈥淲e chose to launch the app on the summit of yr Wyddfa,鈥� said Patrick, 鈥渢o show how much easier it is to use the app compared to printed books. We鈥檇 planned to carry some paper dictionaries up the mountain with us, but they were too heavy!鈥� After finishing this project, Patrick is planning to start his own software company.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping to travel the world, coding on beaches, mountains 鈥� wherever I am!鈥�
Patrick鈥檚 work was partly funded by the project, which offers young graduates work experience. Patrick is from a non Welsh-speaking family, and learned Welsh at Ysgol Tryfan, 黑料不打烊, before graduating in Aeronautics at Bristol University.
鈥淎p Geiriaduron would have been very useful for me and my parents while learning Welsh.鈥� Patrick learned how to program computers as a hobby before deciding he wanted to use his skills to give something back to the Welsh language.
Elinor Churchill, Go Wales鈥檚 location co-ordinator said: 鈥淚t was a great pleasure to support the Language Technologies Unit, Canolfan Bedwyr and Patrick in developing this pioneering app. It will make it easier for people to use Welsh wherever they are.鈥�
Patrick鈥檚 work supervised by Dewi Bryn Jones and David Chan, the Language Technologies Unit鈥檚 software engineers. David said: 鈥淎lthough they鈥檙e far smaller, our electronic dictionaries can do a lot more that old paper dictionaries. Ap Geiriaduron can de-mutate and conjugate verbs, and that鈥檚 a great help for Welsh learners like me who can have difficulty finding Welsh words in traditional dictionaries.鈥�
Also being launched on Snowdon tomorrow is a for Android which offers predictive texting in Welsh and English. This is a freelance project by David which uses the Language Technologies Unit鈥檚 dictionary data.
Having a Welsh dictionary and keyboard with over 100,000 words in small devices like a phone or tablet can allow anyone to use a dictionary anywhere. A crowd of Welsh learners and speakers, children and parents, will walk (or ride!) up to Snowdon鈥檚 summit to launch the iOS and Android app live on Tuesday 23 October. From then, anyone can load the app to their iPhone, iPad or Android device free of charge through Apple App Store, Google Play Store or Amazon App Store.
Publication date: 22 October 2012