LinguaNabanga is a web app for building and browsing multilingual, project-based dictionaries. It loads structured data from JSON, supports Markdown content, multimedia, and offers fast text search with configurable fuzziness. It works offline (PWA) and supports flexible data types and presentation, including images and audio.
LinguaNabanga project on GitHub
LinguaNabanga is free and open-access. Once downloaded, it can be used offline without an internet connection, making it ideal for remote areas and fieldwork.
The app provides multi-access filters and search tools to narrow or find entries, through free-text queries or defined categories. Fuzzy search helps deal with non-standardized orthographies, which is particularly useful for languages with emerging or variable writing systems.
Easy data management
Your dictionary content lives in a simple Excel spreadsheet (XLSX), which allows you to define any type of data or structure you wish to capture. Media files are organized in a plain folder structure. You can compile them into a single data.json file with the built-in importer—no complex database setup required.
This approach makes it easy for linguists, researchers, and community members to contribute and update dictionary content without needing programming expertise.
Flexible and powerful
- Multilingual support: Create dictionaries with multiple source and target languages
- Rich media: Include images, audio recordings, and formatted text
- Offline-ready: Works as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for offline access
- Smart search: Fuzzy search accommodates spelling variations
- Customizable: Define your own data fields and presentation
- Open source: Free to use and distribute
Get LinguaNabanga
Visit the live reference implementation to see LinguaNabanga in action with dictionaries of several Vanuatu languages.
Download the source code and documentation from GitHub .
Project history
I originally created LinguaNabanga for the Plants mo Pipol blong Vanuatu (Plants and People of Vanuatu) research project , a collaboration among the New York Botanical Garden, the Vanuatu National Herbarium, and the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta.