Buggy app for lousy, barebones German dictionaries
It's 2024 and PONS Langenscheidt last updated their app 3 years ago! Bugs include an automatic crash on launch whenever there is no Internet connection or a slow cellular data link; disappearance of the icon for the keyword/full-text search toggle (you just have to remember where to tap); and a prompt about pasting permission every time you switch to the app, even if you haven't quit the app since last granting or refusing permission to paste from the clipboard.
The German dictionaries (and I bought the whole library, for hundreds of dollars) suffer from the stupidity of German academics who still think they're limited to the printed page. The tilde (~), which stands for the keyword, is repeated 10 to 20 times in each keyword entry, when it would be easy, in a digital medium, to just repeat the keyword in every expression that uses the word. There's no quick way to jump between the different parts of speech, when the same word can be a noun, a transitive verb, and an intransitive verb; you just have to scroll through the long text. And the biggest shortcoming of all (which, in fairness to PONS Langenscheidt's incompetent user interface designers and programmers, also affects the publisher's printed dictionaries): you don't get a full set of verb conjugation tables! (The only company ever to get that right, in any medium, is Bescherelle, for French verbs.)
I don't know what to recommend for German dictionaries. PONS Langenscheidt is the best there is, but it's far from good, and the app is unmaintained as of 2024.
The German dictionaries (and I bought the whole library, for hundreds of dollars) suffer from the stupidity of German academics who still think they're limited to the printed page. The tilde (~), which stands for the keyword, is repeated 10 to 20 times in each keyword entry, when it would be easy, in a digital medium, to just repeat the keyword in every expression that uses the word. There's no quick way to jump between the different parts of speech, when the same word can be a noun, a transitive verb, and an intransitive verb; you just have to scroll through the long text. And the biggest shortcoming of all (which, in fairness to PONS Langenscheidt's incompetent user interface designers and programmers, also affects the publisher's printed dictionaries): you don't get a full set of verb conjugation tables! (The only company ever to get that right, in any medium, is Bescherelle, for French verbs.)
I don't know what to recommend for German dictionaries. PONS Langenscheidt is the best there is, but it's far from good, and the app is unmaintained as of 2024.
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Painful, pre-digital user interface
Especially for languages like German, this one-size-fits-all search user interface is a pain. You can only look up a word in isolation, which makes it necessary to read every single element of a search result entry that might combine 25 different usages and contain 50 distinct expressions/usages, when you include reflexive pronouns, separable prefixes, and prepositions. Another stupidity: you can only find verbs if you know the exact spelling of the infinitive. In any authentic text that you might be reading, most of the verbs are conjugated. Yes, the endings are standard, but German, Spanish, and even English verbs exhibit numerous regular and irregular changes in the verb stem.
This publisher basically copied its print dictionary, tacked on a generic, minimally useful text search feature inappropriate for the domain of languages, and left the display of result entries unchanged from paper, with no enhancement for the powerful new medium of a mobile phone app.
I hope a creative, tech-savvy company will invent a more effective digital dictionary user interface and put these clowns out of business someday.
This publisher basically copied its print dictionary, tacked on a generic, minimally useful text search feature inappropriate for the domain of languages, and left the display of result entries unchanged from paper, with no enhancement for the powerful new medium of a mobile phone app.
I hope a creative, tech-savvy company will invent a more effective digital dictionary user interface and put these clowns out of business someday.
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Failed to Download Dictionary
I have spent over $40 in their German dictionaries and they continually fail to download. I have reached out and their customer service has been unresponsive.
Response from developer
Hello, we are sorry that there were problems with the app. It should now be possible again to download the dictionaries, if you have any further problems please contact software-support@pons.de.