About


The Dictionary at Marshallese.org

The Dictionary at Marshallese.org is a unique translation tool combining the Naan Dictionary, data from the Marshallese-English Online Dictionary, and a search engine with which you can search bilingual texts for words and expressions.

The search results are divided into two sections. On the left hand side you see vocabulary results from the Naan Dictionary. This provides you with a quick overview of various translations of your search term. Thanks to the work of Nik Willson, the tool will turn up results even if searched using non-standard spellings. On the right hand side, you see example sentences from other bilingual sources to give you an idea of how your search term has been translated in context.

Compared to other dictionaries, the Dictionary at Marshallese.org focuses on translated texts, which are displayed in full sentences. The dictionary shows translations for expressions such as “his son”, “his daughter”, “my son” or “my daughter”, and even for some rare expressions or specific technical terms.

What are the benefits?

The Dictionary at Marshallese.org offers numerous benefits compared to other online dictionaries:

  • It contains approximately translated texts that serve as example sentences
  • Single word translations are displayed in a clear, user-friendly structure
  • Searches can be made using both dictionary and popular spellings
  • The Dictionary at Marshallese.org offers a great variety of contextual translation examples
  • The Naan Dictionary provides part of speech information for words
  • Most translations are highlighted to make them easier to find
  • The source of an example sentence is shown as a link below the respective sentence

How do I use the Dictionary at Marshallese.org?

You can use the Dictionary at Marshallese.org as a dictionary – or as an internet search engine. Just search for a word or expression. On the left hand side, you see dictionary entries arranged clearly, and on the right hand side, you find example sentences that contain your search word or phrase as an exact or similar match. In general, it may pay off to search the same word several times using different forms and different spellings. For example, you can search for “nejin”, “nejim” or “nejū”.

Attention! The Dictionary at Marshallese.org is not an automatic translator.

This is why you cannot translate complete texts or webpages with the Dictionary at Marshallese.org. Automatic translators may help you get the gist of foreign language texts. However, in many cases they are not helpful with looking up vocabulary and you cannot rely on the quality of the generated translations – a machine cannot understand the subtleties or contexts of language. Marshallese.org takes a different approach: every entry in the Dictionary at Marshallese.org has been translated by humans. If you need a translation but do not have a human translator at hand, using Marshallese.org will help you make the best possible translation.

Where does the text content come from?

The vocabulary entries you see on the left hand side come from the Naan Dictionary. It also provides part of speech information made available thanks to the work of Nik Willson.

The majority of the example sentences you see on the right hand side is from translated books such as the Bible and other religious works. Other valuable sources come from the bilingual web, particularly from professionally translated websites of companies, organizations, and universities.

We are constantly searching the internet for Marshallese language webpages. The translated sentences and words are extracted. The texts are then evaluated and cleaned out to make high quality translations for display.

What does the future hold for the Dictionary at Marshallese.org?

Since there is no other website like this for Marshallese, we are working to broaden the range of texts used as sources for sample sentences

The Dictionary at Marshallese.org is not an automatic translation machine!

The Dictionary at Marshallese.org does not translate whole text passages. Automated computer translation services such as Google Translate or Yahoo Babelfish may one day in the future be able to help you to roughly understand Marshallese language texts. However, such computer translations often contain serious grammatical mistakes. This is due to the fact that computers are unable to analyze the context and subtleties of the human language.

The Dictionary at Marshallese.org takes a different approach: You do the translating yourself, but you can use Dictionary at Marshallese.org to find out how other people have solved tricky translation problems. As a result, you can single-handedly produce a much better translation than any other computer program.

Can I download the dictionary?

The vocabulary data used by the Dictionary at Marshallese.org is provided by Nik Willson and is available in the Naan Dictionary for free.

About Marco Mora-Huizar