Next steps for the Ladino dictionary

Based on some of my earlier work and a 3000-line Excel file from the Ladino community I have build an online Ladino dictionary with translations to English and partial translations to Spanish, Turkish, French, Portuguese, and Hebrew.

Now I am wondering what should be the next steps.

TODO

There are a number ways I can make progress and a number of ways I might be able to involve others in the development of this project.

We have to go over the 2730 YAML files and improve them in various ways:

  • Add the plural version where exists.
  • Add the feminine version of the word where exists.
  • Add the grammar-type of each word (noun, adjective, etc.) noting that a word might be used as more than one type.
  • Add the conjugations of the verbs. (There are 229 verbs.)
  • Add examples for every word and if possible every conjugation of every word.
  • Add the translations where they are missing.
  • Add many more missing words.

  • Add some pages about the grammar of Ladino.
  • Include voice for the words and the examples.
  • Include short stories with voice examples.
  • Show statistics of how many examples are for each word.
  • Under "examples" include both the ones that are in the file of the word and where that word is used in other files. The latter can be separated.
  • Link the words in the examples to their pages.
  • Make the site work on mobile devices as well where the screen-size is much smaller. (Show less translations? Let the user select which ones?)
  • Make it easier for the user to see information about a word without the need to click to the page of the word. (at least when there is only one word in the input box.
  • List all the words based on the grammar-type and list all the words that do not have a grammar type yet.
  • Add the origin of each word: from which language it came from (e.g. French, Turkish, Hebrew etc.)
  • Convert the words used in the application to Ladino (e.g. change masculine to maskulino)

Strategies

When I read message in the Ladino community or when I read an article I can copy the text in the converter to see which words are in the database and which ones have the correct translations.

When something is missing sometimes I can guess what is the meaning of the word and what should be the meaning, but I don't know how much should I rely on that or if I should then ask in the Ladino community to verify. I think instead of asking the community I should send an email with "new words" that I added to the dictionary with the links to the new words and ask them if my translation is correct and if they can help with the other translations?

I can ask the Ladino community to check the site and send me reports of errors, but this sound too generic.

When I read and update the YAML file of a word and I add the plural or the gender I can send an email to the community asking if the information is true and I can ask for translations.

When I read emails or other texts and I don't have the word in the dictionary I can ask the community for the meaning, the gender, the plural. Maybe offering my guesses.

I can write emails with the various words I see in the dictionary and rely on the moderators to let them through or to fix them. Then I can update the dictionary accordingly.

Later, I can ask the Ladino community to check their writing in the dictionary and if the dictionary does not recognize a word (or a conjugation of a word), or if the translation is missing or incorrect then send me the details privately so I can update the dictionary.