Langenscheidt Dictionaries for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By Newtonian2

  Lost dictionary

  Two years ago I purchased the $80 "Expert" dictionary. While it was (emphasis on WAS) a superb product it has now gone missing after an upgrade of the Langenscheidt app, which serves as little more than a device for selecting and purchasing dictionaries (think about the implications of this: since any purchases of dictionaries are conducted outside the Windows app store, the dictionary itself will not be backed up on the app store — all that can be recovered in the greatly limited demo dictionary). I've submitted a help request (including the original receipt) on the "hotline", but have yet to get a response. While I am still hoping I will (eventually) get a response, the entire experience has left me decidedly leery of the company.

  
  
• By Levo Dextro

  Purchased dictionaries not showing

  I purchased a dictionary for $20, but it is nowhere to be found. I have dug around in menus, restarted the app, etc.,etc. and still my purchased dictionary is not available. The “in app” purchase mechanism seems to be badly broken.

  
  
• By ace apertura

  Comprehensive offline dictionary

  I have come to like Langenscheidt's high quality translations. You can question whether you need it given online resources. But it does have high-quality data and is also available when you're traveling. It's also great to have the domain translations such as technical or economy or ..... And, seriously, who would still look up things in an actual heavy-weight dictionary if there's a computer solution that you always got with you? Downsides: - you have to manually select with the mouse in which direction to translate. Seriously? How hard can it be to search both directions at once? - Thesaurus functionality is missing, which is a realy pity and weaker than some free online dictionaries. I still like the quality of the data though. - why do I manually have to select which dictionary to search through? If a word can't be found in one, just use the other. Or just show the merged entries one after the other with a little symbol saying which dictionary they came from. - Langenscheidt should register themselves as a source for Force Click on words to improve user experience. - I am a little annoyed that they update the app every month with the only change being a free lexicon of the month. Some investment in the basic software should have higher impact. - The application name "Try & Buy" is really ridiculous. Change it back! Hidden feature: - you probably didn't notice but if you happen to be able to locate the paragraph key on your keyboard then Command-Paragraph lets you look up words in Langenscheidt from any application. That's awesome. Except for the paragraph key. You can change that in system's keyboard settings.

  
  
• By Mark Stoneman

  Good dictionary and dictionary app, annoying marketing strategy

  I use the Expert German-English, and it is a solid dictionary. The app works well too, although I wish it had a search function to find certain words within a given definition (like Microsoft’s Dictionary.app). I also wish it could lead me to words with an “ß" when I type the equivalent “ss". There’s no excuse for it not knowing that equivalency. What annoys me most are the frequent updates that offer nothing other than a chance to check out one of their basic dictionaries. That wouldn’t be so bad, but often I need to restore my purchase afterwards. That’s the annoying bit. Couldn’t they make this offer from within the app without having to have us download a new version each time? And couldn’t they make this bit optional?

  
  

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