How to make a New Dictionary
1. If you haven't seen a paper version of a dictionary we recommend that you download a dictionary from one of the languages pages to see what it looks like. Most "professional" dictionaries are much more elaborate than ours, but this means that they require much more paper and work!
2. Download a list of English words. There will soon be different versions with different quantity of words and arrangement. Have a look at them and chose which one you prefer. We recommend that you start with the 2500 word version (currently the only one available), and when this is successfully finished and distributed, you/the network is encouraged to expand it. Make sure you save an extra copy of the file you download in case you need to go back to the original list of words.
3. Translate the words into you language, and separate different meanings with a tab (a key with an arrow to the left on the keyboard). It's also possible to convert it into a table. Make sure you separate the English words and your translations. The person who does the layout needs to be able to know which words are the English ones and which are the translations. With thousands of words it's important to keep them apart!
At this stage you don't have to think about the layout, such as making columns or the size of the text etc. The only thing that matters is the translations, and keeping the translated words apart from the English ones.
Some words do not readily translate into local languages. How do you say "astronaut" in your language? The best way of translating these words is to translate a simple (simplified) English dictionary explanation, so that "astronaut" would be "a person who travels in outer space". Remember to avoid lengthy explanations. We just want to give the user of the dictionary a general idea, not to provide him/her with an exact definition. The word "apple" can be translated as "a kind of fruit", or "a fruit common in temperate areas".
4. When you are done, or almost done, ask someone to read through.
5. Ask someone else to read through. There are always some mistakes no matter how hard you try to avoid them!
6. If you wish you can send a draft of a dictionary to the coordinator (espensj@gmail.com) who will put the draft on the language page, so that other people can make changes and suggestions. Otherwise, proceed with the next step.
7. The last step is the layout. Click on How to do layout to read about this, or contact the coordinator.
See * Printing out a dictionary or storybook and How to print cheaply for further information.
How to reverse the dictionary
When a dictionary is ready, it is only one-way. But to go from, say, English-Luganda to Luganda-English is quite simple. The coordinator will do this for every language, but the people in the network will have to go through this new reversed dictionary, since it has been done mechanically without consideration of the content.