I used to use the Microsoft Bing (Engkoo) online dictionary a lot: in my classes, I gave Bing dictionary links to words & phrases in the chat window. (I prepare in advance and have the links saved in my class notes, so that I can quickly copy & paste them into the chat window during class.) And in articles on this site, I give Bing dictionary links to words & phrases that I use in the article. In short, I used to find it very useful for teaching English online to my students in China. Some other articles of mine about Bing: But none of those links will work now, because Microsoft/Bing have changed the format of their links (URLs): not only have they introduced a new format for their links, but also they killed the old links, so clicking on one will just take you to the Bing home page. Different URL formats for Bing over time.
This is the 4th time they have done this. Four times before, they've done this; four times before, they have ruined all the links I already have in my class notes; four times before, they have ruined all the links in my articles on this website. Four times before, I have had to fix all the links in my notes (not extremely hard) and twice before I've had to fix all the links in my articles (much harder and much more time-consuming: in fact I'm not sure I've found & corrected all the links in previous formats.). I will not try fixing them all again. And unless I can find some way of automatically updating them (and keeping them automatically updated for all future changes), I will not use Bing online dictionary again. I will not invest more of my time in links for an online dictionary that keeps breaking those links. I can't even complain to them, because their own feedback link on their new-style home page doesn't even work! I'd appreciate any suggestions for alternatives. I already use Jukuu, which provides whole sentences in English, with Chinese translation. (And Jukuu has never changed the format of its links; ones I saved 3-4 years ago still work today.) But can anyone suggest something similar to Bing/Engkoo? An online dictionary, with definitions of words as well as example sentences, preferably also giving a Chinese translation. Also, I apologize to anyone browsing this site who finds lots of broken links to Bing. I will try to find them all and eliminate them (or replace them with links to another online dictionary). Update 2014-04-07: Oxford just changed the links and appearance of their Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary... but 99% of the previous Oxford links still work! The old links are automatically redirected to the new URLs. At least someone at Oxford has enough sense to to make changes in an intelligent way. What a pity I can't say the same for Microsoft. As for English<>Chinese links to give my students, I now use Baidu's dictionary: it doesn't have quite as many features as Bing, but at least the links don't keep changing every few months.
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G.A.L.E.S.L. / joe3
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