MULTI LINGUIS
MEET THE LANGUAGES
 
 
MULTI LINGUIS
MEET THE LANGUAGES
 
 
printed from the site multilinguis.com
https://multilinguis.com/!about-project/
MULTI LINGUIS
MEET THE LANGUAGES
 

ABOUT PROJECT

 

ABOUT THE PROJECT AND OFFERED DICTIONARIES IN GENERAL

 

Multi Linguis is an independent indie project. All work on downloading and processing sources, as well as creating books and the website, was carried out by the forces of one person - the author of the project. Although there are other dictionaries of this type, many of the ideas underlying the project are original.

The Multi Linguis Project is based on the corpus of the English version of Wiktionary as well as linguistic articles of Wikipedia and is licensed under the open license Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0.

The project offers dictionaries for more than 260 languages and various language groups. These books can be bilingual or multilingual, with translations from the English language into foreign ones.

The Multi Linguis Dictionaries are intended to help you study, overview or compare many languages, as well as revise your vocabulary. They can be applied separately or as additional tools for any suited educational courses. You may also use them for spelling simple broken phrases, translating and just for fun.

A database of the project includes 12'000 lemmas (that is, morphemes, words and phrases with a specific meaning). This corresponds to levels A1-B2 by the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference), or Beginner - Upper-Intermediate by other language learning systems, taking into account features of Wiktionary as a source. This number covers approximately 100 percent of self-sufficient vocabulary and 85 percent of all word use.

Except usual alphabetical, the Multi Linguis Dictionaries can be frequency-thematic. This means that entries in these books can be arranged by levels, themes or parts of speech, but never alphabetically. When you use them, you will study often used lemmas previously than rarely used ones, and thematically related groups in unity, rather than separately. In addition, this approach speeds up the process of learning languages, promotes memorization and develops associativity, flexibility and rapidity of lingual thinking.

Several different types and kinds of dictionaries are offered for the same language. They differ in the number of included lemmas, varieties of the arrangement, the completeness of contained information, external and internal design. To achieve particular purposes, using one option is more effective and convenient than the others.

For all dictionaries of the same type, a universal division into levels, themes and parts of speech is applied. This means that books of the same type, but different in language have completely equal structure. This approach promotes studying of the second and subsequent foreign languages, as well as comparing them.

The Multi Linguis Dictionaries are available in .epub, .mobi, .pdf and paperback formats. This means that you may use them on any device. The .pdf version may be printed on paper in a size convenient for you - for example, in the form of a book A4 or brochure A5.

Because these books are not flawless, they are allowed for editing. In the .pdf version or its printed copy, you may correct the provided entries and add in omitted ones - with the help of writing supplies or special software.

In addition to the dictionaries themselves, the Multi Linguis Project includes its own website, as well as pages on Facebook and Twitter. We invite you to register there.

ABOUT DESIGN OF THE DICTIONARIES AND ENTRIES

 

The Multi Linguis Dictionaries include the main part, a description of the project, a license information and sometimes additional sections - a short description of a title language (or languages) with useful links, a key to the pronunciation and the IPA phonetic symbols. To make using more convenient, they also contain a table of contents and occasionally an alphabetical index.

The main part consists of a certain number of entries, every of that is visually presented in form of a separate card. The entries are joined into blocks grouped into small subsections which in turn make up larger ones.

The base of the entries are lemmas - dictionary forms of lexemes. A lexeme is a linguistic abstraction that has a specific meaning - grammatical (a role in a sentence) and semantic (subject matter). In speech, lexemes are expressed in the form of particular words or phrases that differ from each other grammatically, graphically and phonologically.

In the entries, lemmas are represented by headers and flags of part of speech. Definitions are not given in the Multi Linguis Project, and therefore their semantic meaning can only be clarified through headlines of the sections. In difficult cases, short tips are offered to facilitate understanding.

The entries also contain flags of levels.

The entries contain one or more translations into the title language with indication of its code, when it is needed. The translations are accompanied by grammatical flags and comments, as well as transliterations for languages with non-Latin scripts. In addition, entries in the Learner's and Small Dictionaries may provide transcriptions (IPA characters are used).

In the .pdf and paperback versions, the entries are divided into three parts - the left one with a header, flags and a hint, the central with a translation and comments, and the right with a transliteration and a transcription. You may hide the central and (or) right part of the page to intensify to learn or revise the vocabulary.

ABOUT DIVISION OF THE DATABASE INTO LEVELS AND THEMES

 

Any division into levels and themes given in dictionaries is not indisputable. Structuring of entries is not necessary to create a perfect system (this is impossible) but to make you arrange your own vocabulary. Using division proposed by dictionaries, you will agree or disagree with it, and therefore more effectively build the studied lemmas in the order appropriate to you personally.

Multi Linguis proposes an original division of lemmas into importance levels, performed as follows:
1. In the Original and Learner's Dictionaries, the database is divided into 8 levels of 1'500 entries each. The first of them corresponds to the CEFR level A1, second - A2, third - B1.1 and so forth until eighth (B2.4);
2. In the Small Dictionaries, there is no division into levels - all lemmas have the same importance (A1-A2).

The levels follow each other in decreasing importance to speakers and frequency of use - that is, the lemmas related to the first one are the most necessary and frequently encountered. Linguistic studies show that the CEFR level A1 covers 10% of self-sufficient vocabulary and 30% of all word use, while a range A1-A2 - 30 and 55, A1-B1 - 60 and 75, A1-B2 - 100 and 85 percent respectively.

Levels are indicated in the entries by special flags.

You may study the Multi Linguis Dictionaries at any convenient speed, and the uniform division used in them will allow you to determine the approximate time that will be spent on each level. For example, at a rate of 5 lemmas per day, it will take as long as 300 days to study a group of 1'500 ones, and at a rate of 50 lemmas per day - only 30.

In addition, Multi Linguis proposes an original division of lemmas into vocabulary themes:
1. In the Original and Learner's Dictionaries, the database is divided into 300 themes. They all themes are joined into 30 superthemes and divided into over 2'000 subthemes;
2. In the Small Dictionaries, there are only 30 themes.

The proposed division describes such vast semantic areas as Properties of objects, Actions, Time, Natural world, Body, Mind, Communication, Society, Economics and others.

Themes and superthemes are indicated in the headlines of the sections. Subthemes are also presented - the separated blocks of entries are made up on their basis.

There is no indication of themes in the Original Dictionaries.

Also in the Learner's Dictionaries especially close lemmas are grouped into unbroken sequences to facilitate their studying (for example, "North - East - South- West"). In this case, the entries, initially referring to different levels by their weights, turn out to be at the same.

ABOUT TYPES AND KINDS OF THE DICTIONARIES

 

Multi Linguis offers 3 types of dictionaries - Original, Learner's and Small.

The Original Dictionaries are alphabetical, while Learner's and Small - frequency-thematic.

The Original and Learner's Dictionaries can include up to 12'000 lemmas, which are divided into 8 importance levels from Beginner to Upper-Intermediate (corresponding to the CEFR levels A1-B2), as well as 300 vocabulary themes grouped into 30 superthemes.

Entries in any type of books contain shortened texts of translations from the Wiktionary corpus. In the Learner's and Small Dictionaries they additionally provide transcriptions.

There are the following kinds of the Original Dictionaries:
1. Ordinary - intended to help you study lemmas of a specific language;
2. Overview - compare lemmas of the main languages in a specific group or region;
3. Special - study or compare specially selected lemmas of a specific language, group or region. The entries can be limited by themes or parts of speech.

And the following kinds of the Learner's dictionaries:
1. Theme-Arranged - intended to help you learn lemmas regardless of their levels or revise them. For this, the entries in them are arranged only by themes;
2. Level-Theme-Arranged - learn lemmas gradually, according to their levels. For this, the entries are arranged by levels and then by themes. It's an alternative to the previous variety;
3. PoS-Theme-Arranged - revise lemmas considering their roles in a language. For this, the entries are arranged by parts of speech and then by themes. These books are offered only for some languages.

The Small Dictionaries are sets of vocabularies of related languages, each includes up to 999 lemmas. These books are intended to help you get a list of elementary words and phrases. The entries in them are arranged by parts of speech and then by themes.

Currently, Multi Linguis is able to create the Learner's Dictionaries for more than 80 languages, and the Original and Small ones - for more than 260.

ABOUT VARIETIES OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF LEMMAS

 

Lemmas are complex phenomena that have the following characteristics:
1. Level - shows the importance of a lemma in the vocabulary and approximate frequency of its use;
2. Theme - semantic meaning that it conveys;
3. Part of speech or part of a word - a grammatical role that it plays in a sentence or word;
4. Keyword – a group of related words that it belongs to;
5. Rhyme – a group of words with which it is similar in sound or spelling.

The Multi Linguis Dictionaries differ from each other not only in range of levels but also in varieties of the arrangement. Entries in them can be arranged by one or two of characteristics specified above. This is made for you can view the studying language from different angles.

The last level of arrangement is always parts of speech. It is applying in blocks of entries inside sections of dictionaries.

ABOUT THE SOURCE, SELECTION OF LEMMAS AND PROCESSING OF ENTRIES

 

The Multi Linguis Project is based on the Wiktionary corpus, which contains a huge number of English lemmas, their definitions, grammatical and etymological information, as well as translations into many languages and related transcriptions. Wiktionary is maintained by enthusiasts, including native speakers and professional linguists, that makes this source authentic and modern.

At the time of the first download in 2016, the Wiktionary corpus included approximately 350'000 lemmas, of which about 120'000 were translated into at least one language.

Of these, 20'000 lemmas were selected according to their weight. In the Multi Linguis Dictionaries, the main principle of assigning weight is the number of its translations into 80 key languages ​​of the world. Although this approach is an alternative to the standard selection by frequency of use in books, TV programs or spoken speech, it also has the right to exist. Additional principles are the occurrence of the lemma in open frequency lists given on the Simple English version of Wiktionary, as well as personal opinion of the author of the project about its importance.

After that, 12'000 lemmas with the highest weight were included into the database of the Original and Learner's Dictionaries, and 999 - of the Small Dictionaries.

For comparison, the total number of lemmas of the CEFR levels A1-B2 in professional projects (Cambridge, Oxford, Longman, Macmillan) is approximately 9-10'000. However, Wiktionary as a source has certain features (a lot of specialized and vulgar words, as well as proper names). Therefore, in order to include as many important lemmas as possible in the final database, its limit was set at 12'000.

Levels and themes were defined for the selected lemmas, also parts of speech were checked and corrected. Some proper names, as well as unnecessary synonyms, were removed from the database of the Multi Linguis Dictionaries.

The lists of related translations and transcriptions from Wiktionary were cut off as close to the beginning as possible, since this is where the most accurate and important varieties of them are located. Then they were standardized, errors and typos were corrected whenever found.

ABOUT ERRORS AND CHANGES IN THE SOURCE

 

Despite strict recommendations for adding new entries, conducting regular rechecks and fighting vandalism, there are still more or less serious errors in the Wiktionary corpus, and therefore in the Multi Linguis database. According to made estimates, the percentage of such entries for the corpus of the Russian translations does not exceed 2.5%, and for other languages, the percentage may be slightly higher.

Since the project is carried out by one person, it is likely that some errors occurred when processing the source data. The percentage of such entries does not exceed 0.5%.

The Wiktionary corpus is constantly updated and supplemented. The current rate of updating and adding new entries does not exceed 3% per year.

Translations for the modern version of the Multi Linguis Dictionaries were downloaded from Wiktionary in the spring of 2022, transcriptions - in the autumn.

ABOUT STORES, PRICES, DISCOUNTS AND PROMOTION

 

The Multi Linguis Dictionaries are offered for sale in some e-book stores. The main store is Payhip  - links from the website of the project lead there. In the store you may get .epub, .mobi and .pdf versions of the dictionaries.

The prices of these books do not exceed $6, which is significantly lower than the prices of professional analogues.

The price of the Learner's Dictionary is determined by the range of levels that make it up. The book that includes a wider range has a higher price. You may firstly buy a small book at a more affordable price to appreciate it and then buy a more voluminous and expensive one.

The price also depends on the completeness of translations of its entries. This means that for books that have at least one of its levels filled with translations of less than 80% the prices are reduced by $0.5. If this rate is lower than 60%, then such books are not created and offered at all. For the Small Dictionary, the discount threshold is 333 lemmas for any language it includes. We hope that you will find this approach to price and quality fair.

For the Payhip store visitors, Multi Linguis offers some various discounts of 20%. To get one of them requires entering the coupon code, which you may find in a book purchased on the store before. The discounts are added up. The total depth can exceed 40%.

Multi Linguis is ready to offer a special 50% discount to customers intending to purchase more than 20 dictionaries at a time, as well as agents of educational institutions. To get it, you may contact the author of the project through the form on the Feedback and Commentaries page.

In addition, special conditions are offered for members of the affiliate program.

On the Multi Linguis website and pages of the project in social networks, the promotion of dictionaries of a specific language (or languages) is regularly carried out. A 20% discount off the regular price is offered for these books.

ABOUT PLANS FOR THE FUTURE AND ADDITIONAL SERVICES

 

In the future, it is planned to perform the following updates:
1. Correction of errors in the database;
2. Increase of the number of translations into various languages;
3. Publication of new dictionaries for both already submitted and new languages.

Also possible will be implemented:
1. Creation of a collection of cards;
2. Creation of a mobile application.

Multi Linguis is able to publish non-standard varieties of the Original and Learner's Dictionaries to order. You may determine a kind of this book, a variety of the arrangement, a range of levels, as well as select its themes and parts of speech. If a similar need arises, you may contact the author of the project through the form on the Feedback and Commentaries page. The possibility, price and time of production will be notified to you in a reply letter.