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I'm looking for a German dictionary that'll give me the following things for, of course, as many words as possible:

  • Audio files of pronunciation.
  • IPA.
  • All declensions.
  • The definition of the word in English, if possible.

Wiktionary is okay, but it lacks many words.

Any recommendations? I'm open to both online dictionaries and commercial software.

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6 Answers 6

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I will try to split your question into three parts and answer them separately.

Some general remarks: unlike in English dictionaries, it is rather uncommon for German dictionaries to provide any phonetic transcription. Most German words (more than 95%) are just read according to simple rules and you don't need a special IPA case for every word. Duden, one of the most comprehensive and known dictionaries of German language, provides IPA only for small amount of foreign words. But many dictionaries provide the audio of pronunciation, so you can use this if you are not sure how to read the word correctly.

Concerning a free web dictionary that would suit your needs I would recommend using the BeoLingus dictionary. It has the following traits:

  1. It provides you with extensive help on the words having many meanings in German, whereas for every word you usually get a derived German word that helps to understand the meaning (see first picture below).
  2. Every word in German it gives you an English translation (though you can also choose to use Spanish or Portuguese as well).
  3. Almost every word -- both in German and in other languages -- has pronunciation associated with it.

Here is a screenshot:

Beolingus sample search

Down below you can easily navigate to word usages (example sentences), synonyms etc.

Beolingus down panel

If you are looking for declination or word construction you can easily find them on related sites: just click on the word and you'll find all necessary direct links in the opened context menu:

Beolingus context menu

If you can drop the English language from your criteria then you definitely should try Duden online. It is a monolingual dictionary (so, it is completely in German), but it provides all the information you need for understanding how to use certain German word:

  • Grammar information (part of the speech, usage frequency, declination etc.)
  • Meaning
  • Synonyms and related words
  • In case of foreign words it also provide IPA together with audio file, for genuine German words it gives only the audio

Here is an example:

Duden webpage screenshot

From all offline one language dictionaries I tried I liked Wahrig most, which is available both as software (rather outdated, unfortunately) and a printed book. This is somewhat more than just a dictionary and more like an encyclopedia, but still it contains valuable information on every word including pronunciation, grammar remarks etc.

Wahrig dictionary cover

Of course, there are also the complete Duden series of dictionaries, many of those are available in electronic form as well. I especially recommend the Bildwörterbuch (picture dictionary), which exists now in two editions: one for language learners and one for mere Germans (so-called "Band 3"). It is really very entertaining and educative, but it does not relate to your question...

Duden picture dictionary for learners Duden Band 3

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  • Where is the declension table in Duden? Also, you said that in BeoLingus I should just use the links for declension, but which one? Wiktionary sometimes has declension, but not for all the words.
    – Ram Rachum
    Dec 14, 2011 at 12:25
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    Declension is given in the "Grammatik" section, not as a table, but in a shorter form. If you want to see the table, follow the canoo.net link from BeoLingus context menu and from there click on "Wortformen" -- you'll the declension in table form. Dec 14, 2011 at 12:31
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Not a single source, but I like combining leo with the resources which are linked to the words (the 'info' button) you get to see. Includes, e.g., the aforementioned canoo.net.

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Langenscheidt’s Professional-Wörterbuch Englisch software (for Windows, Mac or smartphones) looks like it might have the features you’re looking for, except the “Word Forms” tables giving all declensions only seem to be available for English headwords.

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If you are using a Mac it might be good to know that macOS includes a digital version of the Duden. Just open the "Lexikon" (German system) or "Dictionary" (English System) app which you easily find using Spotlight.

The Dictionary app includes high quality dictionaries for all major languages, but they need to be enabled in the app's preferences. enter image description here

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This site does not answer all your questions, but as a native German speaker I find it useful, so it might be useful to you too: www.canoo.net

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I am categorizing answers here. I am sorry but mobile dictionaries are iPhone/iPad-biased, you could suggest other-platforms-biased edits if you need them.

Essentials

  • Pronunciation hier

  • Mobile iPhone/iPad-biased dictionaries hier

Comparison

  • Linguee.de here for comparisons between English and Deutsch.

  • DWDS.de here: analysis, statistics, less comparative newspaper -lookups and other things.

ONLINE: Dictionaries and some Grammar

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