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Could you please help find a plug-in for Firefox that supports the following functions:

  • Showing translation of a word by a simple shortcut (like Shift + Right click).
  • Allowing to modify list of dictionaries (by giving links to web dictionaries).
  • Storing the words into personal vocabulary for later reference.
  • Allowing to type in the word for translation.

There is a large list of plug-ins for Firefox that have some of the functionality above, but after quite a long time I wasn't able to find one that satisfies all of the requirements.

However, if you know some good plug-ins that do not satisfy the requirements, but are good in some other sense, this is also very welcome!

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Is there any particular reason you need to install just one instead of a number of better plugins? –  digitxp Aug 29 '10 at 23:51
There is no particular reason if these several plug-ins work well together. –  Grigory Yaroslavtsev Aug 30 '10 at 0:02
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3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Does the backword add-on help?

Backword helps people learning English by mouse-over pop-up translation and easily new-words collection.


  • Translate an English word into French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Korean,
    Traditional or Simplified Chinese when mouse cursor hovers over it.
  • With one click, remember all context of the word, such as URL of the page and the paragraph which the word belongs to.
  • Get Pronunciation of the word with one click.
  • Write a note for the word.
  • Search more explanation of the word with one click.
  • Review all words and context collected on a build-in page.
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Thank you, this really helps a lot! However, it doesn't allow to type the word here and the list of dictionaries for "cursor translation" is fixed and very limited. Sorry, I can't vote your answer up, because I lack reputation for this. –  Grigory Yaroslavtsev Sep 1 '10 at 0:07
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ClicknLearn seems to be the best one for this purpose. It does everything you mentioned except typing in a word.

For the word translation, you can use this thing in your search bar (assuming you speak Russian, else you can search on this page < your language > English).

In addition to that, you may also want to install [After the Deadline] which is really really strict with English so you can learn some grammar as well.

I wish you luck in learning the language. :-)

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I am asking for Firefox plug-in, not a Windows application, because I need to use it under Linux. –  Grigory Yaroslavtsev Aug 30 '10 at 3:22
@Grigory Yaroslavtsev: BabelFish is a Firefox plug-in. –  harrymc Aug 30 '10 at 13:01
Updated Answer –  digitxp Aug 30 '10 at 13:18
This ones looks really good, but I can't find any interface to look through its stored vocabulary --- looks like it can only highlight the words from it. Am I right? –  Grigory Yaroslavtsev Sep 1 '10 at 0:17
If that's so, it's also quite possible to use one of the many notetaking methods out there, from opening notepad up to using Evernote. –  digitxp Sep 1 '10 at 1:02
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I use Dixio desktop from Semantix which is available for Win, Mac or Linux. It won't save the words at least the free version, but does the rest. For vocab list you could use QuickFox notes which is saved with your bookmarks if you have a backup service for that.

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Installing an application for this looks like an overhead, but thanks anyway. –  Grigory Yaroslavtsev Sep 1 '10 at 0:18
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