Hawassa University

Institute of Technology
School of informatics
Proposal: Android based bilingual dictionary for Amharic,
Sidama and Tigrigna languages
Group members
Name ID
1. Amanuel Kindu………………….CS/0032/08
2. Ejigu Tesema………………….....CS/0075/08
3. Adissu Mulu……………………...CS/0012/08
4. Yidnekachew Admasu……………CS/0209/08
5. Solomon Girmay………………….CS/0186/08
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Android based dictionary for Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna languages.

ABSTRACT

In this project we are going to develop an android based Dictionary Application that translates
between Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna languages. The application will provide a simple and easy
way of searching of words by providing user friendly interface, supporting prediction of words
and pronunciation support. The languages will be listed in two dropdown menus: one named
FROM and the other named TO. The FROM dropdown contains languages that the words to be
translated are in while the TO dropdown will contain the languages the word will be translated to.
The user will select a language from both menus and type the word he/she wants to translate. The
application will translate accordingly. The application will used by Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna
language speakers. The application will enable a user to listen to the pronunciation of the word
he/she searched for. It will enable users to add words to favorite’s category (for example, words
that they are frequently encountering and finding it difficult to remember). The application will
have an interface that will allow a user to add new word (words that were previously not added by
us during development) to a language, of course this will have to be verified and approved by us
first and the users would need to be connected to the internet. When searching a word the user has
to enter at least one letter for the dictionary to suggest the available words or scroll down on the
screen and after that the dictionary displays the suggested words.

Hawassa University Project proposal

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Android based dictionary for Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna languages.

Introduction

Language is used for many different reasons. The primary uses of language are informative,
expressive, and directive in nature. Language is used to reason, to express ideas, argue a point,
provide directions, and much more.

Language impacts the daily lives of members of any race, creed, and region of the world. Language
helps express our feelings, desires, and queries to the world around us. Words, gestures and tone
are utilized in union to portray a broad spectrum of emotion. The unique and diverse methods
human beings can use to communicate through written and spoken language is a large part of what
allows to harness our innate ability to form lasting bonds with one another; separating mankind
from the rest of the animal kingdom.

The importance of communication is often overlooked. Despite our great prowess in

communication, misunderstandings and mistranslations are commonplace. It is arrogant to believe
that one can travel the world and expect all of mankind to understand his or her native tongue. In
order to travel the world, whether for business or pleasure, a desire and willingness to adapt to new
cultures and methods is necessary. Adaptability, of course, includes the ability to communicate
with new people in various dialects. Being unable to communicate in a country is akin to living
with a serious impairment; it is very difficult and near impossible, to adapt and get along with new
people if there is no way to communicate with one another.

The ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming more and more important in the
increasingly integrated global community. Communicating directly with new clients and
companies in their native language is one of the first steps to founding a lasting, stable international
business relationship. Being able to do this automatically puts any multilingual person miles ahead
of his or her peers in the competition for jobs and high-prestige positions.

A dictionary is a very important tool for anyone who is learning a new language. As these
languages are not generally spoken in day-to-day living, the learner could consult a dictionary to
comprehend a text, not necessarily to learn and remember the new word, but through regular
reading, they may remember and recognize some new words they came across in their reading in
a subconscious way. Dictionaries can be monolingual or bilingual. A monolingual dictionary
explains the meaning of a word in the language that you are learning. A bilingual dictionary

Hawassa University Project proposal

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Android based dictionary for Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna languages.

provides a translation or explanation using another language, a language you are very familiar
with, usually your native language. Bilingual and monolingual dictionaries both have advantages.
The chief advantages of a bilingual dictionary are its brevity and simplicity. In a bilingual
dictionary, you can look up a word from the target language (the language you are learning), and
you will see a direct translation for this word in your native language, without having to navigate
text in the target language that you may not easily understand. This makes a bilingual dictionary
quick and easy for a learner at any level to access. The main advantage of monolingual dictionaries
is that they provide more comprehensive information about the target language. This information
can include additional meanings of a target word, more examples of how the word is used in
context, and, embedded in these examples, useful information about the grammatical behavior of
the word.

With a good dictionary you can do the following:

 look up the meaning of a word you see or hear

 find the translation of the word in your language
 check the spelling of the word
 check the plural of a noun or past tense of a verb
 find out other grammatical information about the word
 find the synonym or antonym of the word
 look up the collocations of the word
 check the part of speech of the word
 find out how to say the word
 find examples of the use of the word in natural language

To be a good dictionary user, however, it is not enough to know what to use the dictionary for.
You must also decide which the best dictionary is for any of the purposes listed above. As well as
this, you need to be able to find what you are looking for quickly; you need to be sure that you
have found what you were looking for; and, most importantly, you need to know when to use your
dictionary.

Hawassa University Project proposal

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Android based dictionary for Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna languages.

Statement of the problems

Ethiopia has been seeing dramatic political and economic changes since recently. These changes
are connecting Ethiopians to each other more than ever; discussing the country’s economic and
political situation, sharing information and debating about things and trying to create a common
understanding for a better tomorrow. Today you will find very many Ethiopians on different
platforms like facebook and others actively communicating and sharing information about the
economic and especially political trends in the country.

However, Ethiopia has over 80 different languages with up to 200 different dialects spoken. The
largest ethnic and linguistic groups are the Oromos, Amharas and Tigrayans. The great number of
different languages spoken greatly reduces the communication and hinders flow of information
between these active citizens. Due to its large population, most of the information and discussion
conducted over the different platforms are usually conducted in one of the above three mentioned
languages (i.e. Amharic, Oromic and Tigrigna). Since Amharic has been serving as the country’s
working language, it is spoken and understood by most of the citizens. We believe that a bilingual
dictionary that translates between these languages will greatly reduce the gap in communication
and flow of information because most of the discussion will be in one of these languages and there
is a high probability the user will know one of these languages. However, to make sidama people
the beneficiary of our application and because we believe it will greatly help us in our work
(because we are living with them) we will be replacing Oromic language with Sidama language

Objectives of the project

General objective
The aim of this project is to develop android based bilingual dictionary for Amharic, Sidama and
Tigrigna languages.

Specific objective
 Data gathering
 Gathering requirement analysis to identify and classify functional and non- function
requirements.
 Design the interface of dictionary for android OS mobile phones.
 Implement and Test the designed application.
 Deploy the application.

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Android based dictionary for Amharic, Sidama and Tigrigna languages.

Significance of the project

After the deploying this project the whole speakers of those languages became beneficiaries. For
example:-

 It will help users improve on those three languages.

 It will help users learn new language.
 Reduce the gap between communication and information sharing due to the number of
diverse languages in the country.

Scope of the project

This project for Ethiopian users who are speaking Amharic, Sidama, And Tigrigna languages. And
it contains the following tasks:-

 Translate words between the three languages.

 It provides pronunciation of the words.
 Provide an interface that will allow users to add new words and their equivalent in the other
language.
 Allow users to add words to favorite’s category (for example, frequently visited words that
they are finding hard to remember).

Limitation of the project

 Since the dictionary will be an android based, it will only be used on mobile phones.
 If the user doesn’t know one of these three languages, it will be useless.
 In order to add new words the user will need to be connected to the internet.

Development environment
Hard ware tools
 Personal computer
 Android phone
 4GB RAM or Higher
 Processor: core i3

Software tools
 Android studio

Hawassa University Project proposal