Aim
IsiXhosa.click is an online dictionary for IsiXhosa and English. The project aims to create a free, open-source, and easily usable dictionary for learners of isiXhosa.
Usage
To search for a word, start typing either the English or the IsiXhosa word in the search bar to show live search results. You can click on a word to find more information about the word, such as examples and related words. The dictionary currently has 2095 entries. You can also download the words as an Anki flashcard deck.
Submitting edits
If you'd like to help the project, submitting new words and editing old ones would be greatly appreciated! First, you will need to create an account with the site. To do so, click the Sign in with Google button in the top right. From your Google account, IsiXhosa.click will only record your email, in order for the team to email you about any issues regarding your account or the site, and your Google OpenID Connect ID, to identify you when you log in.
Publications and articles
If you'd like to learn more about the project, take a look at the following publications and articles:- Our profile on SADiLaR's ESCALATOR site
- Our profile on UCT's DOT4D site
- Our profile on Rising Voices
- "isiXhosa.click: student-led project makes isiXhosa vocabulary easily accessible" , by Birgit Ottermann
- "IsiXhosa.click: online, open, user-friendly, and searchable isiXhosa-English dictionary software" , by Cael Marquard (presented at AfriLex 2024)
- "Using computational tools and a corpus lexicography framework in developing an isiZulu LSP Dictionary" , by Mthuli Buthelezi and Cael Marquard (presented at AfriLex 2024)
Terms of use and privacy policy
The terms of use and privacy policy of IsiXhosa.click are currently available here.License
This section is a simple explanation of the license terms of IsiXhosa.click and in no way should be considered as legal advice. Please check the licenses linked below for the full terms and conditions.The database of IsiXhosa.click is licensed under the Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution ShareAlike License. This ensures that the information of the dictionary is freely usable by all, as long as appropriate credit is given, and edits are also released under this license. Similarly, the software is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3.
In simple terms, it means that you are free to
- copy
- reuse
- redistribute
- edit
- and build upon
- give credit (for instance by providing a link)
- indicate if changes have been made
- distribute the edited version under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license
The source code is available from its GitHub repository, and the database of words, examples, and linked words is available on GitHub. The logo, designed by Jaydon Walters, is available under CC-BY-SA 4.0 in original resolution here.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the following people, without whom this project would not have been possible:
- The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) for their valuable collaboration and for partially funding the project during the 2022 DH OER Champions grant project .
- The UCT Department of Computer Science, for hosting the site's server and partially funding the project.
- Craig Balfour, for his assistance in setting up the server at UCT.
- Mthuli Buthelezi, for translating the user interface of the website into isiZulu as well as other valuable collaborative efforts.
- Tim Low, for graciously allowing us to reproduce his isiXhosa statistics glossary on the site. Almost all entries relating to statistics are from there. We are currently working on a better way to attribute these words individually, but for now they should say "stats glossary" in the notes field.
- Dr Tessa Dowling, for her guidance and many corrections.
- Alexandra Bryant, for allowing us to use the glossary at the back of her excellent book "Xhosa for Second-Language Learners".
- Cuan Dugmore, for giving us permission to use his word lists containing thousands of words that he has collected over the years.
Contact
You can get in touch with us on our Discord server. Anyone is free to join and there are no obligations or requirements except to act respectfully 🙂.
Otherwise, feel free to get in touch by email: restiosondev@gmail.com.