Reference Sites

[impressive]

Okay -- you're writing -- and you have a spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation question. Where do you turn? What sites do you rely upon for answers about lay/lie, who/whom, comma splices, and dangling participles?

dictionary.com (which includes a thesaurus as well) has been a regular stop for me ... but when I have a grammar question, I tend to just Google and take my chances. I'd rather have something bookmarked.

How about translators? I've used altavista.com -- but it defaults to the male gender, which can be confusing. Any others?

 

[CharleyH]

Okay -- you're writing -- and you have a spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation question. Where do you turn? What sites do you rely upon for answers about lay/lie, who/whom, comma splices, and dangling participles?

dictionary.com (which includes a thesaurus as well) has been a regular stop for me ... but when I have a grammar question, I tend to just Google and take my chances. I'd rather have something bookmarked.

How about translators? I've used altavista.com -- but it defaults to the male gender, which can be confusing. Any others?

I use a trusty hard copy for everything, however, if someone does happen upon a translator that will tell me how to say "Fuck me," or various other terms in multiple languages, I would much prefer to say it in the foreign language of choice then use a phrase like "she said in French."

 

[Weird Harold]

but when I have a grammar question, I tend to just Google and take my chances. I'd rather have something bookmarked.

I don' t use them enough to know whether my bookmarks for Purdue University's Online Writing Lab and Trinity College's Writing Center are still good or not. If they aren't, then I'll just google for the new URLs and/or other "Online Writing Labs" and "Writing Centers" when I need to look something up.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

How about translators? I've used altavista.com -- but it defaults to the male gender, which can be confusing. Any others?

Never, I repeat, never trust Babelfish unless it's for your own quick reference in translating something foreign into English. English grammer is far too simple to make the automated transition to any romance languages properly - most of the times, the results are, quite simply, unreadable.

 

[impressive]

Re: Re: Reference Sites

... if someone does happen upon a translator that will tell me how to say "Fuck me," or various other terms in multiple languages, I would much prefer to say it in the foreign language of choice then use a phrase like "she said in French."

Perdita provided this Alternative Dictionary site:

http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/

It is visitor built (in that folks submit entries). I don't know if/how they're verified.

 

[impressive]

Re: Re: Reference Sites

Never, I repeat, never trust Babelfish ...

Agreed. It's a starting point for me, nothing more.

 

[CharleyH]

Re: Re: Re: Reference Sites

Perdita provided this Alternative Dictionary site:

http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/

Thanks. I will be able to verify grammatical things via those who have learned other languages. But erotic and porn terms are not exactly the langue du jour of Academic institutions. lol, although strangely I learned 'big tits' in my spanish class?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Re: Re: Re: Reference Sites

Perdita provided this Alternative Dictionary site:

http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/

It is visitor built (in that folks submit entries). I don't know if/how they're verified.

There's a Brazil-Portuguese section with no entries, and a Portugal-Portuguese section with loads. More then half of these, though, are only used in Brazil and never in Portugal, and a couple are just plain wrong. Still, looks like an interesting resource.

 

[English Lady]

I use


www.wordsmyth.net


ALOT. It is great for when you're not quite sure you've spelt something correctly as there is a "broad" and "spelt like" function.


I don't use anything for grammar except learning from what I read and how my porn reviews get edited. Maybe I should use something but I am sure i'd just end up confusing myself further *L*

 

[mismused]

How about translators? I've used altavista.com -- but it defaults to the male gender, which can be confusing. Any others?

=======================

Try "Free-Translator.com"

mismused

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Re: Re: Reference Sites

Try "Free-Translator.com"

mismused

I remember someone last year using it to translate stories for the Survivor contest, and the results were catastrophic. All the stories were deleted, as they were unreadable.

I gave it a try just now, tried to get it to translate this thread, but the site couldn't access the page and returned an error message in Portuguese. Even that error message, which was pretty short and standard, had several of the kind of mistakes only automated translation programs can do.

 

[oggbashan]

I used a translator on one of my shorter stories to translate into Spanish. I then translated back into English. All the women had become men. I hadn't intended it to be a gay story. It was also unreadable.

Og

 

[mismused]

Re: Re: Re: Reference Sites

I remember someone last year using it to translate stories for the Survivor contest, and the results were catastrophic. All the stories were deleted, as they were unreadable.

I gave it a try just now, tried to get it to translate this thread, but the site couldn't access the page and returned an error message in Portuguese. Even that error message, which was pretty short and standard, had several of the kind of mistakes only automated translation programs can do.

======================

LOL. Never tried it like that, just for a few words, or a sentence. I also had the problem of female/male gender based spelling problems, but it is useful at times.

Like another here, I also use the hardback dictionaries. The two in tandem often help clear up often murky waters. Stilll . . .

mismused

 

[CrazyyAngel]

In German I am arrogant enough to say I am perfect enough in that language and don't need a dictionary. As for english, thats another matter. Words I don't know I translate via www.leo.org ... other languages I don't speak . As for grammar and stuff in english, I think I am good enough to do without it ... only spelling or translations I look up.

CA

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I tried that site [free-translator.com] with one of my stories now, translating to Portuguese. The phrasal construction is all messed up, about 10% of the words aren't translated, the program can't differentiate between verbs, nouns, adverbs and adjectives (and genders) and to top it all off, it's in Brazilian.

I do use Babel Fish sometimes - I even have their Toolbar installed in my IE - but usually just to get one word, or for my own reference, if I find something written in Polish or Swedish and want to have an idea of what it says. To actually produce text, it's completely unreliable.

 

[yui]

Japanese-English Dictionary Interface - Not perfect by any means (and not for translating documents!), but it is one of the few sites I have found that allows input/output of English/Japanese/Romaji to English/Japanese/Romaji.

Not a translator, but when writing I use Encyclopedia Mythica as a jumping off point for various myths, folklore and legends. The references are not necessarily comprehensive, but the mythology is divided into geographical regions and this allows me to target the myths of specific cultures. Again, the information in seldom comprehensive (and I personally like to verify the info with more research), but once I have, say, the name of the ancient Sumero-Babylonian god of the sweet waters (Ea), then I can google for more details. Plus, it is just interesting to browse the myths and legends of cultures unfamiliar to me.

Yui ^_^

 

[Guest]

This site is very good: OneLook Dictionary.

And this I often merely browse: Rhetoricae.

This one is a bit less elegant but useful too.

Mostly I use actual reference books. For Spanish I have a collection of dictionaries and grammar books including slang and "Mexican" Spanish.

Perdita

 

[impressive]

Not a translator, but when writing I use Encyclopedia Mythica as a jumping off point for various myths, folklore and legends.

Okay, I *wasted* a ton of time just cruising around this site.

It's your fault, Yui, if I don't finish my Rainy Day story now!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

For spelling and dictionary work, I use OneLook Dictionary search. It simultaneously searches like 20 dictionaries and encyclopedias http://www.onelook.com/

For everything else, try the Facts-at-a-glance section at Refdesk (http://www.refdesk.com/) Everything from unit converters to language translators to lists of popular Korean names and manuals of style in Urdu. I rarely get out of refdesk without a little browsing though.

I don’t use manuals of style anymore. I just don’t. I feel like I’ve paid my dues, and if I have a question I can’t answer myself, I take it over to the experts in the Editor’s Forum. They’ve never let me down yet.

---dr.M.

 

[impressive]

and if I have a question I can’t answer myself, I take it over to the experts in the Editor’s Forum. They’ve never let me down yet.

---dr.M.

Ah ... thanks for the tip.

 

[yui]

Okay, I *wasted* a ton of time just cruising around this site.

It's your fault, Yui, if I don't finish my Rainy Day story now!

Mwauhaahaahaa (<--- Never sure how to spell evil laughter…)! The truth is, I have "lost time incidents" there, too. So glad that some one else got sucked into world myth and legend. I love that place!

Oh, and congrats on finishing your Rainy Day story well ahead of the deadline. I am impressed! Still trying to come up with something, myself…

Luck to you,

Yui ^_^

 

[Black Tulip]

Japanese-English Dictionary Interface - Not perfect by any means (and not for translating documents!), but it is one of the few sites I have found that allows input/output of English/Japanese/Romaji to English/Japanese/Romaji.

Not a translator, but when writing I use Encyclopedia Mythica as a jumping off point for various myths, folklore and legends. The references are not necessarily comprehensive, but the mythology is divided into geographical regions and this allows me to target the myths of specific cultures. Again, the information in seldom comprehensive (and I personally like to verify the info with more research), but once I have, say, the name of the ancient Sumero-Babylonian god of the sweet waters (Ea), then I can google for more details. Plus, it is just interesting to browse the myths and legends of cultures unfamiliar to me.

Yui ^_^

Hi Yui,

So that is you I keep bumping into over there! I agree it's a great place.

For spelling I use WordWeb and it's also helpful to find synonyms. Sometimes I use the Merriam-Webster online. Really translating is mostly ridiculous online. Or they don't have the most common words. So Dutch-English is a hardcopy, but I don't use that very often.

WordWeb is my trusted ally and has earned its own place on my taskbar.



P.S. This site is great for names: http://www.20000-names.com/