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Todays every body know what's babylon and some of windows users use this dictionary as their favorite dic .
now i want to learn you how do you use babylon glossary in ubuntu . it's not hard !

for first you need to download dictionary in ubuntu .

when package downloaded , double click on it and install package using package manager .

Close the Stardict if it's running .

then go to and download your favorite Glossary .

now you need to convert the bgl file ( bgl is the format of babylon glossary ) . to convert it you need a program call dictconv . type this commands in terminal :

wget -c 

sudo dpkg -i dictconv_0.2-0~3v1ubuntu1_i386.deb

when you installed dictconv , you should convert bgl file with this command in terminal :

dictconv test.BGL -o test.ifo

(test is the name of your downloded glossary )

the output of this command is three file :

test.ifo , test.idx , test.dict

now type this commands in terminal :

sudo apt-get install dictzip

dictzip test.dict

this will convert your test.dict file to test.dz .

now put these files to a folder same as test :

test.ifo , test.idx , test.dz

then you should copy the " test " folder to Stardict dictionary directory . to do it :

sudo cp -r test /usr/share/stardict/dic

that's all . now open Stardict again .

Enjoy :icon_wink:

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by manishmcg

Dani AI

Generated

Nice write-up. A quick 2025 tip for Ubuntu users: you can skip conversion entirely by using GoldenDict (or the newer GoldenDict-NG). Both can read Babylon .BGL files directly and render their HTML cleanly. Install, open Edit -> Dictionaries -> Sources, add the folder with your .bgl files, then Rescan. This also avoids the old dictconv download issues mentioned later in the thread. (manpages.debian.org)

If you prefer to stay with StarDict, keep dictionaries in your home directory so you do not need sudo. Create a folder per dictionary under ~/.stardict/dic and drop the three files there: .ifo, .idx, and .dict (or .dict.dz if compressed). For example:

mkdir -p ~/.stardict/dic/mydict
mv /path/to/mydict.ifo /path/to/mydict.idx /path/to/mydict.dict* ~/.stardict/dic/mydict/

StarDict/sdcv will auto-detect them on next launch. ()

Troubleshooting notes based on replies:

  • : “Error opening … .BGL” usually means a corrupted download or a newer/DRM variant that older converters do not understand. Either use GoldenDict to open the .BGL directly, or convert with PyGlossary, which can read many .BGL files: 
pyglossary "Babylon_English_Arabic.BGL" mydict.ifo --write-format=Stardict --remove-html-all

The --remove-html-all flag also helps when entries show raw XML/HTML in StarDict, as reported. (pypi.org)

  • : that old dictconv .deb host is long gone. If you need compressed StarDict data for faster lookups, Ubuntu still ships dictzip (produces .dict.dz files). Install it from the official repo rather than chasing third-party links. (launchpad.net)

If you only need Babylon glossaries working quickly on Ubuntu today, GoldenDict/GoldenDict-NG is the least fragile path. (packages.debian.org)

Recommended Answers

All 11 Replies

Member Avatar for TheNNS

Stop Spamming!!!!!

Member Avatar for arsham

Ey val

Member Avatar for Ubuntu

Stop Spamming!!!!!

who are you ?
are you ok ?

do you know whats the meaning of spam ?

i am sorry for you and all of users that think same as you .

bye...

Member Avatar for TheNNS

Yes, I am OK, and I do know the meaning of spam.
After your first post, another user, or bot, posted spam, which is why posted that. I reported the post and was deleted. So even though it looks like I'm referring to your post, I'm not, I'm referring to the one that was deleted. Sorry about that.

Member Avatar for John A

Yes, I am OK, and I do know the meaning of spam.
After your first post, another user, or bot, posted spam, which is why posted that. I reported the post and was deleted. So even though it looks like I'm referring to your post, I'm not, I'm referring to the one that was deleted. Sorry about that.

So what's the point of replying to a post which is going to get deleted anyway? What's even the point of replying to spam? It's not like the spammer is going to read your post. :icon_rolleyes:

Member Avatar for TheNNS

>So what's the point of replying to a post which is going to get deleted anyway? What's even the point of replying to spam? It's not like the spammer is going to read your post.

That's true, I shouldn't have done it. I apologize to the original poster. Next time I'll just report it.

Member Avatar for nogamal

I tried following your instruction on converting the BGL file to ifo but everytime terminal tells me the following:
Error openning Babylon_English_Arabic.BGL
Error converting Babylon_English_Arabic.ifo

What is the problem?

Member Avatar for Bibby

I tried following your instruction on converting the BGL file to ifo but everytime terminal tells me the following:
Error openning Babylon_English_Arabic.BGL
Error converting Babylon_English_Arabic.ifo

What is the problem?

Hi, I'm new. I've recently installed Ubuntu, and I have the same problem with Babylon. Help?

Member Avatar for esypotter

tnx for you post.
Its ok. But there is a problem. after converting .bgl fies, stardict displays some of them in xml format instead of interpreting them.

Member Avatar for alexPH

I am really pissed off, that Babylon is not available for Linux and with wine Babylon it is not working...
I already tried some other manuals and they are not working.
But the good thing, Stardict works great with YOUR manual!
Thank you, I love it!

Member Avatar for manishmcg

hi,thanx...

after using this on terminal

wget -c

this problem was shown

Resolving 3v1n0.tuxfamily.org... failed: Name or service not known.
wget: unable to resolve host address `3v1n0.tuxfamily.org'

help me for this...

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