ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries for Android

Powerful translation tool for Android

ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries is a translation app that gives you access to a huge range of dictionaries in a vast range of languages.

What makes it special?

So why use ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries over Google Translate?, you're probably thinking. For starters, the app has dictionary definitions for every word as well as the translations themselves. Unlike Google Translate, you don't need to be connected to the internet, as all dictionaries are available offline.

There are more than 250 dictionaries in 28 languages, with special editions for subjects like economics, business, and medicine. There are also pronunciation guides for certain languages.

ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries has some basic free dictionaries but you need to purchase and download most dictionaries through the app.

Another neat feature of ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries is the ability to capture 'photo translations' of words in print. You simply point your camera at a word, or upload a photo, and the app will give you the translation based on the to/from languages you've selected. The word recognition and translation works well, but it's much more limited than WordLens, which translates whole chunks of text, transforming what you're looking at before your very eyes.

ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries has a 'live translation' feature, too. You can tap any word you don't understand within a dictionary definition and you'll be shown a translation.

I found the verb tables and inflected forms in ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries very useful, giving you more of an insight into how a language works and helping you to better understand irregular forms.

The application could do with more audio pronunciation guides, as unfortunately, spoken words are not available in many of the dictionaries.

How does it work?

ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries is pretty comfortable to use. The main screen allows you to select source and destination languages from drop-down menus at the top of the screen. There's a button for reversing the direction of the translation, too.

The auto-suggest feature in ABBYY Lingvo's search box is very helpful. As you type it will suggest the word you're looking for, as well as popular expressions that contain that word. If you mis-spell a word the application will automatically display a list of words it thinks you might have meant. This function doesn't seem to work with all languages, however. 

The final word

ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries is useful for people who require a more powerful alternative to free translation tools like Google Translate. It contains a huge amount of dictionaries, although some are less comprehensive than others.