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English may be the lingua franca (Google it), but there are other languages--in fact, a lot of them. Software designed to translate text from one language to another is nothing new, but most typically involve lots of typing or cutting and pasting. Dicter is a free translation tool based on Google Translate. It automatically detects the original language and translates it into one of more than 40 other languages. It's much quicker and easier to use than most other methods, too.
Most of the time, Dicter is nowhere to be seen, but it pops up automatically when you type its hotkey combo (Ctrl + Alt) or click its system tray icon. Dicter works pretty much anywhere there's text, including Web sites, documents, and programs. We selected some text and typed Ctrl + Alt. After a brief moment, Dicter's tiny window opened, showing Translate from English at the top and English to Spanish at the bottom with our text translated into Spanish in between. Aside from Settings and Close buttons, there's only a button labeled To clipboard. We clicked it and pasted our text into a blank Word document, as easy as empanada. We sampled several languages, and each time Dicter quickly and completely translated our text from the original to the selected language; accurately, too, we hope, though when we translated one piece of text into three different languages consecutively and finally back to English, the results seemed more like something from the "Whisper Game" than readable text. That's to be expected with any machine translation, though, and that's why it's critical to work from primary sources. The program's Settings button let us choose to retranslate the text into another language selected from a long menu of choices or set a language for default translations from English.
Dicter is hands down the best translation software for everyday use we've encountered. It's extremely easy to use, with virtually instantaneous translations to and from 42 languages (so far) and an unobtrusive, flexible modus operandi (Dicter it!).
Publisher's Description
From iTVA:
Dicter - Google translate client - One click translation from / into 42 languages. Just select the text and press Ctrl + Alt key combination to get translation in a popup window. Language autodetection, 1 Mb installation package and great translation from the best translation service - Google Translate. Supported languages Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Estonian, Filipino, Dutch, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Servian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
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All versions:
3.5 starsout of 20 votes
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Current version:
3.3 starsout of 15 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"interesting approach"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
Installed easily and integrated into Firefox 4 fine. Easy to use and wqorks quickly.
Cons
Didn't find it all that useful.
Summary
I have non-Enbglish-speaking friends and it would be nice to send them a communication in their language. The only way to test this was to write a few sentences, translate them, then translate them back into English. It did not work to my satisfaction, so I may use it as a help when encountering foreign language, but I won't trust the translation.
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"10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cons
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Summary
2 4 6 8 10
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"image is not in the Public Domain."
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
In order to comply with the license this image is released under, any reproduction of this image, in any medium, must appear with a copy of, or full (hyperlinked) URL of the GFDL license.
Cons
unlimited jobs for seekers
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"So far I haven't had any problems and it's easy to use"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
I'm real new to any translation program so I need the easiest thing available for me and my computer skills. I need to be able to use this program for German and Persian translations and I am still practicing but it seems to work so far.
Cons
I still have to figure out how to get the Persian to download the translation straight to the printer since I don't have the keyboard to translate direct.
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"Very practical and amazingly accurate translations"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
Very easy to use and
Cons
As I translate back and forth between the two languages to check accuracy of translation, it would be practical to have a button to do a revers translation rather than to re select the two languages in the opposite direction.
Summary
Great little translation program
The new version 3.05 has a major problem that I did not have with any previous versions.
Updated on Oct 21, 2011
After about three words or sentences translated I keep getting the following: Unable to translate this text, possible reasons: unable to detect the language of the marked text; No internet connection; Web translation service temporary down"
This is on both my home computer with windows 7 and ADSL and my work computer with xp and WiFi. My internet connection in both places is fine so the problem seems to be with the new version of Dicter.
o I don't like the new version -
"Dicter is alike to Tradukka, and is OK for Port/English"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
Light. Fully Word compatible.
Cons
No configurations available. The step that transfers the translated text to the pad and them to Word is a nuisance. It should directly substitute the text, an allow la larger, or configurable window.
Summary
See above.
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"it dosnt get any easier than this, great product !"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
easy to use, there when you need it, works great and is amazingly acurate. I am living in Brazil, and this simple to use program has quickly become my number one go to translator.
Cons
whats not to like....this program is incredible!
Summary
It nice that someone took the time to make a quick and easy translator that is right at your fingertips. To add icing on the cake, they made it FREE! wonderful program!
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"Very convenient."
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
Very convenient
Cons
Haven't used it enough to be able to judge the quality of translations.
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"Seems to work pretty good"
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
Easy to use and close translations, you get the idea.
Cons
Haven't used long enough to really give good review. There seems to be a need for some more work on the translation at least from Italian to English.
Summary
Worth while to check out but be careful if you're sending a business or personal letter of importance.
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"Good small program."
Version: Dicter 3.05
Pros
Like the size and it does not take up memory. Also the translations are very fast
Cons
Sktill testing but none as of yet.
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