Ultralingua Dictionaries7.3.2

I'm a teacher and a professional translator. I've been using Ultralingua through all its versions since around 1999 when it was one of the first electronic dicos for Mac on the market. Over the years I've experimented with, but definately not bought, many others on both Mac & PC. I use Ultralingua for Spanish/English, German/English, and German/French, and the monoligual French dictionary and thesaurus. Pros: Simple download and ease of installation. Wide lexical base for collegiate and non specialised pro use. Speed: results as-you-type. OneClick back translations. Lots of examples of language in use. The grammar sections, the conjugator, the embedded forum, and best of all the HOTKEY (which launches the app automatically) are all additional features that don't come with most other dictionaries in the same price range. The flashcard feature is useful in teaching situations. Cons: Minor: Needs some improvement to the language selector system when working in multiple languages on one document. Not enough free upgrades to the lexical databases. Could do with an 'insert' button to put a found result directly into a work document. Summary: I've always appreciated its uncluttered resizable interface and results display. The lexical info is excellent and offers more than most dicos in the same price range, including IPA pronunciation, irregular German plurals, pre and post spelling reform, and regional variations. There may be an occasional word missing, but it is not a intended to be a complete lexis for every language in the range of products, and does not mar its quality. Other dictionaries from large traditional publishers have a similar rate of inaccuracies. Particularly useful is the conjugator although I don' t personally use it much except for rare subjunctives etc. Very stable application, rarely if ever, causes any crashes. Low memory and CPU consumption, and can be left runnig in the background. I think the bad reviews are spam from competitors or people using old versions. I've always had good, friendly service support and a refund for anything that didn't work. Those who don't get replies from customer service probably don't express themselves politely enough. I'm very satisfied, I buy the pay-for upgrades willingly, and I see no need to change.

I bought almost 2 years ago the version 6. It's a amazing software. I like the interface, and all the features, really simple and direct to use. Whatever I did not upgrade to version 7 because to me it's a little bit expensive. I have two dictionaries. Ultralingua is the best dictionary to Mac nowadays. I hope they keep the good job, with some small improvements, and also a little bit less expensive updates.

The upgrade prices and the ridiculous prices for each module (now duplicated with Collins dictionaries as well) should alert anyone with any sense to stay away from this pack of wolves. I see people who upgraded to version 5 have been shut out in Leopard and have to pay another $20 per dictionary. If you are online, there are better versions for each language which you can bookmarklet in your browser for quick use - dict.leo.org for German - English for example. On the other hand, when you find yourself offline Ultralingua (or its equivalent) can be useful. Good news - if you can live with non-Universal Binary, version 4 works just fine under Leopard and doesn't show any signs of breaking in future versions of the OS either. The interface I don't find particularly Windows-like, just very plain-jane. But it works. And that's all we need. Screw Ultralingua. After seeing what they did to the people who upgraded to the most recent version, they will not be seeing any more of my money. Talk about a good concept gone bad.

Instead of making useless features (widgets) please add words and definitions to your incomplete dictionaries. In English, I miss the American Heritage Dict. so much, in French there is Antidote (thank godness!) and in German, nothing.

Comparisons of this program to printed dictionaries are totally irrelevant, since I yet to find a program selling for less than $50 that comes anywhere NEAR the coverage of a good printed dictionary selling at half the price. Furthermore, I carry around five Ultralingua dictionaries on a single PDA. to carry 5 printed dictionaries instead would be ridiculous. Even version 5 has a ways to go to cover what it should and as well as it should, but I still rate it above any of its competitors.

If you are upgrading, be careful! They will not exchange keys if you order the wrong one. I inadvertantly marked the French dictionary, instead of the French-English (they are right next to each other), and then I'm told, completely after the fact, that I just threw away $19.95. I can't believe it is that difficult to deactivate the mistakenly-purchased key. This is a bad business practice, and as far as I'm concerned, close to theft considering the high price I paid for this dictionary originally.

Ok interface that lets you search words in context on the internet. Provides basic paradigms. However, a dictionary should, before all, be a dictionary and provide as large a portion of the vocabulary of a language as possible. In the case of my French-German dictionary it doesn't even come close. The first versions even lacked a substantial number of core vocabulary words. Things are getting better with the quality of idiomatics sometimes really okay, sometimes bad. Still, the ability to enter your own words makes this into a useful tool over time. Just one example:Once the .dmg opens, an arrow pointing to the UD folder says 'Drag this folder to the Applications folder'. That is translated into German as 'Kopieren Sie diese Mappe auf die Mappe Applications'. Well, I don't really wanna glue one briefcase on another :D. This should read (more literally): 'Ziehen Sie diesen Ordner auf den Ordner Applications' or 'Kopieren Sie diesen Ordner in den Ordner Applications'. Not very professional, indeed not at all.