Kindle with German books and German dictionary?

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
1
I'm slowly getting ready to buy a Kindle (or a similar device). What would really push me over the edge and make me order one today would be if it's possible to translate words I don't understand in an easy and convenient way, seamlessly. What I'm envisioning is reading a German book and then double clicking a word I don't understand - and look it up or get an English translation for it.

But I can't find any information about this on the Amazon site, it says something about an English dictionary but not if they sell titles in German and definitely not if it is possible to translate words.. I know there are a lot of Kindle owners on this forum so maybe someone can tell me?

(sorry if this should be in the "language" forum instead, feel free to move it if you think so)

2
Here's a site with lots of useful info on ebook readers: mobileread . There are discussions about using different dictionaries on the Kindle, so you should be able to find the answer to your questions there. I don't remember all the details of how it works off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure it has been done.

3
There ARE books in German, but not too many, and they are the out-of-copyright classics (which does at least make them very cheap, often under a dollar). Go to the Kindle store and type in 'German edition' into the search to see a list.

Don't know about the dictionary, sorry; I buy and read Kindle books but via an app on my iPod Touch. Be cool if it worked, though, I could do the same for French.

kodokan

4
If you change your location to Germany on Amazon, I'm assuming there will be more books in German, but they will be more expensive (~$2). Here's a couple of links to threads on books in German on German Authors/Publishers and Current German Books for Kindle , there may be more relevant ones that those two though.

Here's a link to where someone explains how to put a German-English dictionary.

5
There are not many German books available in the kindle store. That doesn't bother me because that's not what I bought it for .

6
Hi. My sincere suggestion to all of those that want an ebook reader to read in foreign languages is definitely the Sony PRS-350 (or 650 if you like it bigger).

It has for me 3 killer features:

- Incorporates 10 dictionaries of all main European languages (Collins for German-English and v.v.)

- It has touch screen (although you find that Kindle can also have have extra dictionaries, it is a pain selecting a word with cursor keys)

- It is epub based, which makes it much easier to buy books in German (look at books.ch, libreaka.de,..)

I like the no-frills of 350, with no waste of space for keyboard,wifi,3G.., and the 5" screen is just perfect to get it into any jacket pocket. Price could be better though.... Digitec has them with a better price.

7
If German books are a main reason for you to have a Kindle, then I would advise to wait. Publishers in Germany (and Switzerland) are very reluctant for many reasons, but mainly because all are puzzled whether they will loose money on short and/or long term. Laws about prices of books are also an issue. Amazon will have to compromise with european reality and book culture. Nobody knows right now if they even understood the problem with that or if they are just waiting for the publishers to give in eventually. Press review is very very superficial on that topic, and some of the more optimistic are clearly hidden publicity.

As German and French are my two main languages, as language teacher, I did a bit of research in november. It's status quo on the French side and a pocker game on the German side. It's too early to get involved - so far my modest opinion.

8
Hi all, any new news in the area of Kindle German books with a German to English dictionary?

Dan

9
Hi.

Currently comes with Duden Universal dictionary (De-De) and you can buy Collins de/en dictionary on amazon (~10EUR) : ( http://www.amazon.de/Collins-Concise.../dp/B0052ZQMLO ).

There used to be a good PONS DE/EN .mobi product, which I can't find anymore but maybe you can still find it somewhere on Internet.

10
I use my Kindle to read German books, and when I come across words I don't know you can highlight them and easily look them up in the dictionary. It doesn't translate the word, just a German definition, but I prefer this as it keeps my brain in German as it were. It makes reading in German a much easier process for me, and means I do it.

11
Thanks for the replies.

Ricardo, if I understand correctly, it looks like what you recommend is exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks.

Alice, you make a good point. I suppose (and hope) if my German is good enough, reading a definition in German might also work and helps with learning as well. Thanks.

Dan

12
Hi,

Can somebody recommends me the German de-de dictionary that I can use in kindle touch.

And if someone knows the name and where I can find, it will be really helpful.

Thanks & regards,

Basit

13
I use Duden Deutsches Universalwörterbuch...I think I paid $4 or something for it in the Kindle store.

14
I feel the same - no point in making life too simple!

I wonder whether anyone can tell me whether the Kindle that I bought in England (on which I have only downloaded English language books) can be used without any modification for displaying German language books if I buy them from Amazon.de. Will the kindle automatically display umlauts etc. without my having to do anything pro-active? If I download a German language book, does my kindle also automatically activate a German dictionary to be available - same as when reading an English book?

Thanks

15
The display should be fine--I believe the character sets are in the book files themselves, so the umlauts should display appropriately.

As for the dictionary, you have to select the default dictionary for each language--so you'll probably need to download/buy a german dictionary and then set it as the default for german language books. I don't remember how exactly you do it, but it's very easy. I'm sure you can google the instructions if it's not immediately obvious from the options menu on your kindle.

16
Thanks a lot Megsandbacon. It's great to get a response so quickly. This forum looks like it has some interesting and very active members. Following your input I downloaded a German book from Amazon Uk straight away (only a cheap one for trial purposes!) and it's perfect. I'll follow your input re dictionary and get back into reading German while I am on holiday in the US next week (used to read quite a lot in German, but got a bit lazy recently. English is so much more 'flowing' for me).

btw - I didn't realise that Amazon UK has a large selection of e-books in German. But I will go to Amazon.de to check out their selection as well.

17
Don't worry, I read German and French all the time on Kindle, it's all fine.

Amazon might however ask you to transfer your Amazon account onto .de - you might want to think about it a minute before doing it, because my experience with French and German books is that you don't always access the exact same amount of books in the other language from each site (I feel there are less German books on .fr than on .de and the other way around for French books). For English books, you'll have to check and make your own experience. Good luck.

18
Thanks Faltrad. I appreciate this input.