- About Oxford Language Dictionaries Online
- What's New
- FAQs
- Guided Tour
- Free Trials
- How to Subscribe
- Subscriber Services
- Contact Us
- Word of the Day
- More about Oxford Dictionaries
Frequently Asked Questions
General Content Questions
- What is Oxford Language Dictionaries Online?
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online offers Oxford's high-quality bilingual language reference content in an expanding range of languages. Now including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, this innovative website features essential language resources never before available online - fully searchable, completely comprehensive bilingual dictionaries, and unique study materials that provide extra help with learning and using an expanding range of languages.
- Is all of the content from the print dictionaries included online?
Yes. Subscribers can search the full A-Z text from both sides of the dictionary in Oxford's top-range unabridged bilingual dictionaries (French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish are already available; the Chinese dictionary is currently the Pocket Oxford Chinese). You can also browse through the supplementary material that is included in the print versions of these dictionaries, for example sample letters and verb tables.
- Is there material online which is not available in the print dictionaries?
Yes. We have gathered reference material from across our dictionary ranges and added it to the site, and we have also created some new material specifically for the site.
- Will there be more languages added?
Yes. We have just launched Chinese and Russian (May 2008), and we will be adding other languages in the future.
- How often is each language updated?
The site as a whole is updated twice a year. Each language available on the site will be updated at least once a year with new words and/or new supplementary material.
- Will all the features and supplements also be available for English?
Yes, all the features including pronunciation and tools and resources will be available in English.
- Do I have to subscribe to the site to access the Words of the Day feature?
No. You can access the Words of the Day feature, and have the Words of the Day sent to you by email, without needing to subscribe to the site.
- How do I submit a comment or correction?
You may use the Contact us form to submit your comments. When providing a comment about a specific entry, please provide as much detail as possible and include the URL of the page being referred to by copying and pasting the URL from your browser's address box into your message. Comments will be reviewed by our editorial staff.
- How do I use the Chinese dictionary?
The Chinese dictionary works on similar principles to the other languages, but for more detailed information on how to enter Chinese characters and how to use the Radical and Character Index, please see here in the Help file. To see Chinese characters correctly you may need to install Asian language fonts - please visit Microsoft for information on how to enable East Asian languages for Windows. (If you have Windows XP, you may simply need to adjust the settings at the Control Panel under Regional and Language Options.)
- I can't get the audio pronunciations to work.
Please see here in the Help file for a step-by-step troubleshooting guide.
- The text is too small or hard to read - particularly the Chinese characters.
To increase or decrease the size of the text on screen, hold down Ctrl while scrolling your mouse wheel. If the Chinese characters look too bold, you may need to reinstall the latest version of Flash Player.
- The display doesn't look quite right - I can't see the Radical and Character Index icon, and/or the soundwave icons are displaying on separate lines accompanied by "hear this word".
These are problems associated with not having installed the latest version of Flash Player. You may need to reinstall the latest version of Flash Player.
Subscription Questions
- How do I subscribe to Oxford Language Dictionaries Online?
Annual subscriptions are available for schools, libraries and organizations. Subscribers can select any combination of languages. For complete pricing information or to subscribe, please Contact us. Monthly and annual subscriptions are available for individuals.
- Is it possible to have a free trial?
Free 30-day trials are available to libraries and institutions considering a subscription. If you are an individual and would like to try out the site, find out if your library or organization already subscribes or would like a free trial. Librarians and administrators can sign up here.
- Are discounts available to consortia and consortia members?
Special pricing is available for library consortia. For further details, please get in touch with your consortia manager or contact us.
- Is Oxford Language Dictionaries Online available for purchase?
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online will not be available for purchase on a perpetual access basis.
Access Questions
- I cannot access Oxford Language Dictionaries Online.
Library administrators- Please verify that you have submitted your library's signed subscriber agreement to OUP. All new subscriptions require a signed license agreement on file that has been verified prior to activating service.
- Please verify that OUP has your library's most current IP address information on file. Administrators may verify account details from Subscriber Services. You will need an administrative login. If you have lost or forgotten your administrative password, you can also update or change this information from Subscriber Services.
- If your library's IP information has been changed, please contact us to report the new address(es) or to update IP information currently registered.
- Your library's access may have expired or been placed on hold if OUP has not received your subscription payment or if your free trial has expired. It is customary for OUP to contact subscribers before a renewal/anniversary date or trial expiration. For further assistance, please contact us. Individual subscribers
- You have entered an incorrect username or password or no longer have an active subscription. Please contact us.
- Is remote access available?
Remote or off-site access is available to all institutional subscribers at no additional cost. For further assistance setting up remote access, please contact us.
- Is library card access available?
Libraries have the option to allow patrons to access the site using their library barcode. Please have your librarian or administrator contact us for further details on setting up library card access.
- Is Athens access available?
Yes
- I have forgotten my username and password.
If you are using access information provided by your library, please contact your school's librarian or administrator for library access information. Individual subscribers in the UK and ROW click here to change or be reminded of your login. Individual subscribers in North and South America click here to change or be reminded of your login.
Technical Questions
- With which browsers is Oxford Language Dictionaries Online compatible?
The site should be accessible to general users using a variety of modern browsers, including those below, although for best results we recommend Mozilla Firefox 2:- Firefox 2/Windows
- IE6/Windows
- IE7/Windows
- Opera 7/Windows
- Safari 1/Macintosh
- Pages will display on Lynx.
- Is the site accessible to visually impaired users?
The site is designed to meet Priority 1 and 2 of the Web 3 Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Compliance with each of these guidelines has also been documented and reviewed during the visual design build phase.
- Does Oxford Language Dictionaries Online support federated searching?
Yes; the site can currently be accessed by federated search software via HTTP request and supports the method="get". For example, a search on the French-English list would use the following base URL:http://www.oxfordlanguagedictionaries.com/search/SearchDispatchPage.html?_fmt=context&_op%3Atext=field&_f%3Atext=basicSearch&direction=b-fr-en&_f%3Adirection=opp%3Adirection&go_submit=go&text=X&_start=1
Followed by text=X where X is your search term. Separate search terms should separated with the .+. sign. For example:dream deferred: text=+dream+deferred
The "direction" element should take one of the following values, dependent on the language to be searched:- "b-zh-en" Chinese to English
- "b-en-zh" English to Chinese
- "b-fr-en" French to English
- "b-en-fr" English to French
- "b-de-en" German to English
- "b-en-de" English to German
- "b-it-en" Italian to English
- "b-en-it" English to Italian
- "b-ru-en" Russian to English
- "b-en-ru" English to Russian
- "b-es-en" Spanish to English
- "b-en-es" English to Spanish
- Can I add the Oxford Language Dictionaries Online search box to my site?
Yes; librarians or site administrators who wish to provide a short cut into the site can copy the html text below and paste it into your own web page. Please note that this search box will only be able to be used by those who have a subscription to the site.<form id="oldo_search" name="oldo_search" action="http://oldo.ifactory.com/search/SearchDispatchPage.html" style="padding: 0; border: 1px solid #c6dbe4; width: 330px; text-align: center;"><h1 style="margin: 0; padding: 5px; border-bottom: 1px solid #c6dbe4; background: #e2f0f5; color: #000; font: normal 18px georgia, times new roman, serif;">Search Oxford Language Dictionaries</h1><div style="margin: 10px;"> <select name="direction" id="translate_languages_choices"><option value="" selected="selected">Choose a language:</option><option value="b-fr-en">Chinese to English</option><option value="b-fr-en">English to Chinese</option><option value="b-fr-en">French to English</option><option value="b-en-fr">English to French</option><option value="b-de-en">German to English</option><option value="b-en-de">English to German</option><option value="b-it-en">Italian to English</option><option value="b-en-it">English to Italian</option><option value="b-fr-en">Russian to English</option><option value="b-fr-en">English to Russian</option><option value="b-es-en">Spanish to English</option><option value="b-en-es">English to Spanish</option></select><input type="hidden" name="_f:direction" value="opp:direction"/></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><input type="text" name="text" id="text" size="30" value="Enter word or phrase here" /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><input type="radio" name="_f:text" id="title_text" value="titleSearch" checked="checked" /> Headword <input type="radio" name="_f:text" id="full_text" value="basicSearch" /> Full Text</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><input type="hidden" name="_op:text" value="field" /><input value="search" type="submit" name="go_submit" id="go_submit" /></div></form>
Your OLDO search box will look like this:
Subscriber Services Questions
- Are usage statistics available?
Usage statistics are available on a monthly basis to subscribing institutions and library consortia.
- How do I access my institution's statistics?
Please visit Subscriber Services. Your administrative login will be required. If you have lost or forgotten your administrative login, please contact us.
- How can I view or update my subscription record?
Institutions and individuals within North and South America may view or change their subscription details at our account management system. Subscribers outside of North and South America click here
- Can I add our institutional logo on the Oxford Language Dictionaries Online site?
Your logo can be displayed to users of your account on appropriate screens within an Oxford online product site. You may also use a "Logo Link" option to activate a hyperlink from your logo image to a specified destination address (e.g. to your library, department or institution home page). To add your logo, use your administrator username and password to log in to our account management system and follow the instructions.
