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I'm taking some pretty intensive Spanish Classes here in Spain (native English Speaker and it's my first, second language if that makes sense). We are allowed and encouraged to use dictionaries in class but I've seen the electronic type are much faster.
Can anyone suggest one that might work on my Dash? Free is always good, but I'll also consider some inexpensive ones.
Thanks for your help.
Tony G-Z said:
I'm taking some pretty intensive Spanish Classes here in Spain (native English Speaker and it's my first, second language if that makes sense). We are allowed and encouraged to use dictionaries in class but I've seen the electronic type are much faster.
Can anyone suggest one that might work on my Dash? Free is always good, but I'll also consider some inexpensive ones.
Thanks for your help.
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Just found this on a google search http://www.ectaco.com/SlovoEd-English-Spanish-Dictionary-for-Smartphone/
Does Spanish <> English
Another cheaper http://www.smartphone.net/software_detail.asp?id=18
i've been seeing advertisements for an app for the iphone called jibbigo, that allows a person to speak into the phone, and the app on the phone will translate the phrase or word into another language which is then audibly spoken back out. kind of a speak-translate-hear (in different language) app, and this works in reverse.
here's the weblink: http://www.jibbigo.com/website/
unfortunately this app is only for the iphone right now. so i was wondering if anyone else knows of a similar app that will work with windows mobile 6.5?
i'll be traveling through switzerland, and then to south africa for the world cup this summer, and it'd be great to have a little help right there in my phone... all i have now is what i've learned from the rosetta stone lessons i've been taking
It isnt free...but
http://www.speereo.com/page_industries.html?prop_id=1&prodd_id=1&prod_id=1&tip=1
Cyclonezephyrxz7 said:
It isnt free...but
http://www.speereo.com/page_industr...tch).
thanks for the recommendation though
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Now we have some official information about regional availability.
In a nutshell, WP7 will support 5 languages (English, French, Italian, German and Spanish), and Marketplace will be available in 17 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and United States).
While at first I thought - fine, I'll just import one from wherever it's available, it won't work.
First of all, it will be next to useless if you speak Dutch or Russian, for example - it won't have dictionaries for auto-correction or, in the worst case, won't have the input characters necessary.
What's even worse, you won't be able to buy applications if your market isn't supported.
Big disappointment...
Disappointing low availability in the initial rush. I'd expected more of Microsoft.
Lol. You guys are way too harsh. Do you know how many carriers those markets contain? A LOT.
Rolling out an entirely new software platform and entirely new devices is not an easy process. Lighten up, they're doing an excellent job.
Iridox said:
Lol. You guys are way too harsh. Do you know how many carriers those markets contain? A LOT.
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No, we're not.
Apple iTunes is the only marketplace that supports selling/buying applications in those regions. And same goes for music services (iTunes Music Store) versus Zune.
Google after over a year of Android still haven't launched anything in northern Europe. It's super annoying that we're left behind innovation this easy. I'd expected more of Microsoft, who have a established business selling software and services in all the European countries, to be able to launch in all these regions at the same time.
Iridox said:
Lol. You guys are way too harsh.
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I'm not harsh, I'm disappointed because I'm left out of the party, even though I live in a country that almost 4 times as many mobile phones in use as in France, where Microsoft has over 30% market share in smartphones, where they have tons of people working at their offices including developers and localization contractors and what not, and where they have some of the biggest ISVs supplying third party applications.
So I'm frustrated, not harsh.
Windcape said:
Google after over a year of Android still haven't launched anything in northern Europe.
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Google isn't a consumer oriented company, have no infrastructure or processes in most places to sell anything directly to end users, so that's understandable. But Microsoft? Come on, they're just being lazy.
vangrieg said:
..
Google isn't a consumer oriented company, have no infrastructure or processes in most places to sell anything directly to end users, so that's understandable. But Microsoft? Come on, they're just being lazy.
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But it is still very successful.
Which makes Microsoft think.....and rethink its new product roll-out.
Could their not be other issues like Licensing and other laws that might make it difficult to get everything in order before a mass release is done? Just because you have access to similar products now doesn't mean it is easy to get new products to you when Laws/Procedure get in the way.
IM0001 said:
Could their not be other issues like Licensing and other laws that might make it difficult to get everything in order before a mass release is done?
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That is precisely the problem. It's the same reason that developers have to be in one of 30 or so countries because Microsoft can't pay them if they're outside of those.
Wow, none of the Nordic countries.
nizzon said:
Wow, none of the Nordic countries.
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Probably copyright issues. That and languages that aren't spoken by a large amount of people comparatively.
RustyGrom said:
Probably copyright issues. That and languages that aren't spoken by a large amount of people comparatively.
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All the Nordic countries speak/read/write English almost as well as their native language, so it's not a localization issue.
Legal issues is more likely the problem -- Specially when it comes to Zune, more than anything else.
But it's still disappointing, as Microsoft got large local divisions in the Nordic countries, specially Denmark (Microsoft Dynamics is developed here), so one would think they could be better than Google in this.
What I don't understand, is that Apple got both iTunes for Apps and Music available in all the European countries, so why would Microsoft be limited here with Zune?
However, it could also just be that Microsoft isn't pushing it to all countries due to simple logical issues -- there simply ain't enough phones. Nokia had same issue with the N900, which also were limited to the major countries + Finland (Nokia resides in Finland).
But is it common practice to sell stuff in english and not the local language? I really don't know but I would think they would localize it.
Zune has been interesting. Microsoft really hasn't bothered to sell it anywhere but the US. I suppose it's more of a cost/benefit thing. They just didn't care enough to take it abroad. They started that when they brought it to Xbox 360 and now they're going further with WP7.
But yea, it's going to be hard enough on them and their partners to do an effective launch in 17 countries as it is. And they're supposedly going to make their way to the Netherlands before the end of the year so that may just be it as well. Or maybe they couldn't get all the legal issues straightened out in time? At any rate, it's no small undertaking.
RustyGrom said:
But is it common practice to sell stuff in english and not the local language? I really don't know but I would think they would localize it.
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For cutting-edge it's generally accepted.
RustyGrom said:
Zune has been interesting. Microsoft really hasn't bothered to sell it anywhere but the US. I suppose it's more of a cost/benefit thing. They just didn't care enough to take it abroad. They started that when they brought it to Xbox 360 and now they're going further with WP7.
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Yeah, they stated that Zune will be released in all regions WP7 is released in.
RustyGrom said:
At any rate, it's no small undertaking.
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Doesn't make it less annoying for us
RustyGrom said:
Zune has been interesting. Microsoft really hasn't bothered to sell it anywhere but the US. I suppose it's more of a cost/benefit thing. They just didn't care enough to take it abroad. They started that when they brought it to Xbox 360 and now they're going further with WP7.
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Well, Zune is a very difficult thing because digital rights have to be obtained for every country separately... Plus, Zune has streaming, so you have to get streaming rights as well. Sometimes a label will have an agreement with the artist that won't cover digital rights, so you'll have to negotiate these separately. That's a colossal amount of "manual" work to make an international music store - and then you get videos, too...
As nice as it would be to have Zune Pass though, I can certainly live without it, and I sincerely hope this isn't something that's holding WP7 back - they won't open Zune in many countries till doomsday.
RustyGrom said:
But yea, it's going to be hard enough on them and their partners to do an effective launch in 17 countries as it is. And they're supposedly going to make their way to the Netherlands before the end of the year so that may just be it as well. Or maybe they couldn't get all the legal issues straightened out in time? At any rate, it's no small undertaking.
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Apart from Zune, however, I don't see any big hurdles. Translation isn't a big deal, they have a network of subcontractors that do it, and everything is in those MUI files. Marketplace is available in more than 17 countries even now, so they certainly learned how to deal with tax and legal issues by now, and it's not that difficult really. OEMs know how to sell devices there, have distributors, retail/MO partners etc. etc.
At the end of the day I don't care if they "launch" WP7 in Russia or not, all I care is that they add Russian keyboard. Adding language support is certainly not that big of anl undertaking which would sell a couple million more devices even without official launches and all that fluff.
vangrieg said:
As nice as it would be to have Zune Pass though, I can certainly live without it, and I sincerely hope this isn't something that's holding WP7 back - they won't open Zune in many countries till doomsday.
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As I said, Zune will be launched in all countries they launch WP7 in.
At the end of the day I don't care if they "launch" WP7 in Russia or not, all I care is that they add Russian keyboard. Adding language support is certainly not that big of anl undertaking which would sell a couple million more devices even without official launches and all that fluff.
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It's a software keyboard, can't be that difficult to implement, even for a Cyrillic alphabet.
Windcape said:
As I said, Zune will be launched in all countries they launch WP7 in.
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In that case we'll never ever see WP7 in Russia, even Apple hasn't been able to get deals with labels to launch iTunes store here.
Windcape said:
It's a software keyboard, can't be that difficult to implement, even for a Cyrillic alphabet.
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Certainly, given that CE supports Cyrillic, Silverlight supports Cyrillic, even Zune supports Cyrillic, and Microsoft has all the dictionaries and stuff. That's a really minor thing to do to get access to a market with some 200 million active mobile phones in use I'd say...
So we wont even get the Phones?!!!!!!!
I got the impression that we could buy the phones but not have access to the Marketplace. I though wrong?
If thats the case, when the F!!! will I be able to buy it in Sweden? Next summer?
This is ****ing uppsetting.
nizzon said:
So we wont even get the Phones?
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Well, you don't need a phone to be officially available in your country to buy it, you can just buy it on the internet from wherever you like. You may not get official warranty, it won't be subsidised etc., but you can get it if you want.
Lack of official status isn't a problem with WM because you can install any keyboard you want and you can sideload applications. This isn't a problem with the iPhone because it supports tons of languages regardless of where you buy it. In the case of WP7, text autocorrection won't work, you might not get the characters you need in the software keyboard, and you won't be able to install applications, so simply importing it will be pretty much useless.
nizzon said:
So we wont even get the Phones?!!!!!!!
I got the impression that we could buy the phones but not have access to the Marketplace. I though wrong?
If thats the case, when the F!!! will I be able to buy it in Sweden? Next summer?
This is ****ing uppsetting.
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Countries like the Netherlands have been told to get it around Christmas - so most likely the Nordic countries will get it too...
Don't be too upset, there will be announcements soon.
vangrieg said:
Well, you don't need a phone to be officially available in your country to buy it, you can just buy it on the internet from wherever you like. You may not get official warranty, it won't be subsidised etc., but you can get it if you want.
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Not in my case, I will get it from the company I work for and we have certain policys to follow.
Will it support tradtional and simplified chinese?
Wiki says:At launch, Windows Phone 7 will support 5 languages: English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Phone_7
Wikipedia is right. Only five languages will be supported at launch. When other languages will be added isn't known, I've only seen mentions of "wave 2" which will happen next fall.
Aw damn, guess we need to wait for third party...
Cant WP7 do the same thing as iphone? (multi language)
Yes, it can, but initially only five languages will be supported. Additional support may come unofficially only when and if WP7 will be "jailbroken" (just as was the case with the iPhone).
hope will supported multi language like apple os, or using 3rd party software to make it happened!
I believe chinese had been confirmed for a release somewhat later than the main launch.
Because of the high acceptance and market growth concerning smarthphones in China, it would be a good market for microsoft - one they wouldn't want to miss.
Just be patient
We know that it's quite easy to add a new language to WP7 during upgrade to Mango. It's just a little change in registry.
So some people here have directly asked MS on their FB about a possibility to add a new language (Czech)to their phones officially.
Well, the response is quite funny. They are telling us that they can not tell much details because of their partners but the problem is caused by HW.
In my opinion it's a lie, I can not imagine any HW limitation which would be causing this on all phones released before Mango and I also doubt that same phones before Mango and after Mango are somehow HW different.
It's Microsoft. If they could get away with saying it's cause of High Tide, they would.
Get used to that.
Do you have a link?
In Taiwan to add Chinese to a WP7, you have to take your phone to an HTC store and have them re-flash it. The reason given is that it is not possible to just add a new language to the ROM and then update via Zune.
I'm not clued up on the technical, but this does indicate that there is some hardware restriction in place. This must be costing HTC and MS a fair amount of money, so it's safe to assume if it were possible to roll it out online, they would!
http://www.facebook.com/windowsphonecz
Last post ("Už jen několik dní nás dělí od aktualizace Windows Phone 7.5. Kterou aplikaci nebo hru si v Marketplace stáhnete nejdříve?") in comments.
Radek Hulán said:
Do you have a link?
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sure, in comments within their latest post (https://www.facebook.com/#!/windowsphonecz)
"Windows Phone CZ Ohled na naše partnery (výrobce telefonů) nám nedovoluje zabíhat do podrobností, ale můžeme vás ubezpečit, že se nejedná o žádný marketingový trik a že problém je hardwarového rázu. To je všechno, co k tomu v tuto chvíli můžeme říct. Díky za pochopení.
Včera v 10:13 · To se mi líbí"
Posted on Thursday - "only few days left till Windows Phone 7.5 release". That is important info!
As for CZ not being available for current EN phones, I do understand that - additional languages do take more ROM space, and not all phones might handle that well.
Anyway, nobody is entitled to get "free CZ" upgrade when they purchased EN phone.
Radek Hulán said:
Posted on Thursday - "only few days left till Windows Phone 7.5 release". That is important info!
As for CZ not being available for current EN phones, I do understand that - additional languages do take more ROM space, and not all phones might handle that well.
Anyway, nobody is entitled to get "free CZ" upgrade when they purchased EN phone.
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Maybe they should have brought an Android, iPhone, or Blackberry that comes with that "free CZ" upgrade, instead?
That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
Yes, people in countries where CZ is an official language where Windows Phone is marketed and sold are entitled to a "free CZ" upgrade.
Maybe the issue has something to do with phones with a physical [English] keyboard?
I don't think it is matter of HW keyboard - they deployed Czech keyboard (without T9 of course ) in Mango on all phones.
N8ter said:
Yes, people in countries where CZ is an official language where Windows Phone is marketed and sold are entitled to a "free CZ" upgrade.
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WP7.0 phones were sold and marketed in CZ by HTC, Samsung, etc., not Microsoft directly. They were all EN versions and without any Marketplace support, not even free apps worked. You had to fake your Live ID to be from US/UK and get UK credit card (like Moneybookers) to download and purchase apps.
Horrible user experience. Of course, sales were extremely low. On the other hand, you could buy (formerly) 12 000 CZK phone for 5 000 CZK. Of course, there never was any guarantee EN -> CZ upgrade will be available.
With Mango, phones are not only getting CZ language, but also Zune SW is in CZ, Marketplace works now, and there is Czech support hotline.
But changing languages is not common. Unless you have "Windows 7 Ultimate" you cannot install all languages in existence. And you probably cannot switch to Chinese, Japanese or Korean on your US Windows Phone, right? So, even if I would love to see super easy US -> CZ upgrade, nobody is entitled to get one.
Radek Hulán said:
Posted on Thursday - "only few days left till Windows Phone 7.5 release". That is important info!
As for CZ not being available for current EN phones, I do understand that - additional languages do take more ROM space, and not all phones might handle that well.
Anyway, nobody is entitled to get "free CZ" upgrade when they purchased EN phone.
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So do you really think that Omnia 7, HTC HD7 or any other phone released before the Mango has different ROM size than a same model after the Mango? Seems not to be very likely.
I have no idea. CZ is working well on my Omnia7, as an added language to existing set of languages (DE, EN UK, EN US, ES, FR, IT), but it might not be feasible for all WP7 sets.
emkovicz said:
So do you really think that Omnia 7, HTC HD7 or any other phone released before the Mango has different ROM size than a same model after the Mango? Seems not to be very likely.
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Sure they have different ROM size. The space of IMGFS is pre-defined by content size + some amount of free blocks for updating . And by installing Czech, you might fill this empty space is what they think probably.
Which doesn't explain why there couldn't be new official ROM to flash, just as they did with Thaiwan.
Oh and Czech language has literally few megabytes only.
That is silly excuse.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
OndraSter said:
Sure they have different ROM size. The space of IMGFS is pre-defined by content size + some amount of free blocks for updating . And by installing Czech, you might fill this empty space is what they think probably.
Which doesn't explain why there couldn't be new official ROM to flash, just as they did with Thaiwan.
Oh and Czech language has literally few megabytes only.
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They could do an official flashing program like in Taiwan, but seems they've decided against it.
Taiwan is home of HTC so has hundreds of HTC stores; Therefore it was easy for them to offer HTC customers this official update (notice how LG, Samsung or Dell products aren't being given the same mangro upgrade). Without stores, the burden would fall on the carriers to do it; and they obviously don't want to..
Good news is, the ROMs are all publically available, and you can probably install it yourself (depends on your phone).
Omnia 7. Maybe newly sold phones with Mango will contain Czech language. Maybe not. Who knows.
I don't really need or want Czech, I am fine with English. Using phone in Czech seems weird to me, I got used to having phone in English. Mostly when all apps (except two, where one of them is mine) are in English too .
Aphasaic2002 said:
In Taiwan to add Chinese to a WP7, you have to take your phone to an HTC store and have them re-flash it. The reason given is that it is not possible to just add a new language to the ROM and then update via Zune.
I'm not clued up on the technical, but this does indicate that there is some hardware restriction in place. This must be costing HTC and MS a fair amount of money, so it's safe to assume if it were possible to roll it out online, they would!
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I was on nodo, non-branded unlocked LG optimus 7. I had no Chinese support until I installed mango beta 2. I didn't need to go to a shp or anything.. Did everything over Zune.
Sent from my LG Optimus 7
OndraSter said:
I don't think it is matter of HW keyboard - they deployed Czech keyboard (without T9 of course ) in Mango on all phones.
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Please read the OP.
I did read it, did you?
OP talks about deploying Czech language, I talk about deploying Czech language for keyboard.
Yea. And if you have an English Language keyboard on your phone (hardware keyboard), how will that work? He said MS said it was a HW issue. Perhaps the Soft Keybaord isn't the factor here.
Just putting it out there...
What phones are sold in TCH?