Lingro helps you translate ginormous words
On-the-fly reference can be a pain. Say you're reading something with a word you don't understand or that's simply been written in a foreign language. Finding out what that word means usually requires a copy paste into Google and going to one of the free online dictionaries. If you're lucky enough to be using Safari on a Mac, you can just hit Cmd-Control-D, which will pull up the definition from the built-in dictionary, but that's not going to work on words outside of English, or if you're on a PC, or using another browser. That's where Lingro comes in handy.
Lingro is a translation and reference tool that lets you look up words simply by clicking on them. It works in one of two ways--either by having you run any link through its translator or by saving a browser bookmarklet that will automatically convert whatever page you're looking at with a single click. The service also supports conversion of documents from your local machine as long as they're a .Txt, .Doc, or .PDF file.
What makes the service nice is that it sits quietly in the background and pokes out with definitions only when you need it to. Also, if you run across something in another language while on any page you can also swap over to one of seven dictionaries and click on that word again. It's a nice touch--that is as long as you know what language the word belongs to.
Lingro has also thrown in an element of crowd sourcing for its definitions. If you come across a word without a decent definition, you can add your own that will go on the list and be linked up to your account. This same account tracks all the words you've ever looked up, giving you a quick guide for later reference. It's not just some boring list though, you can apply those words to little games. For now there are just flash cards that you can re-arrange and get rid of, but I'm assuming we'll see some others in the future that are more fun to play.
To see this post with added definitions using the tool you can simply click here.
[found via ReadWriteWeb]
Want to read the German version of the Crave gadget blog? Lingro makes it easy.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Josh Lowensohn is an associate editor for Webware.com, CNET's blog about cool and otherwise useful Web applications and services. If you've found a site you'd like profiled, shoot him an e-mail. E-mail Josh.
