February 21 is International Mother Language Day and Translate.org.za has started a new initiative called 'Dictory' to help put dictionaries back to good use.

Many people have dictionaries sitting on their shelves, gathering dust. Nobody likes to throw a dictionary away, but we would like to breath new life into your old dictionaries.

Translate.org.za will do the following with your dictionary:

• Improve our Free spell checkers: We create Open Source spell checkers for the OpenOffice.org Office Suite and Mozilla Firefox web-browser. The dictionary will be used to validate words, check hyphenation, etc.
• Increase the quality of our translations: We translate OpenOffice.org and Mozilla Firefox which are available for Free. Our translators are often having to coin new words, dictionaries help them to find the right word and to help coin new words.
• Create a resource for language practitioners: These dictionaries are useful for many people working in language and we will be making them available to others.

If you have a dictionary that you would like to share then you can either contact on (012) 460 1095 to find out more or simply deliver it to: Translate.org.za, 63A Wenning St, Groenkloof, Pretoria.

Press Release