Responding to a long-standing demand in the worldwide web, the Burma Center Prague has launched in 2006 the first Burmese-English online dictionary with a sophisticated search function and a virtual Burmese keyboard to enter even Burmese terms.
The implementation of this dictionary was initiated by an idea to support the countless people from Burma who, as students, refugees, workers or others, are forced to live outside of their home land and often don't find it easy to communicate in English. We wanted to offer a service, which is free, which includes the possibility to type Burmese words without having a Burmese computer equipment and which also finds the right words if you are not sure about the correct English or Burmese spelling.
After 2 years of operation and over 120,000 search runs, we finally implemented a major improvement of the software, resulting in a much faster search engine, an enhanced handling of requests for new words, a cursor in the virtual keyboard for better editing of Burmese terms and many bug-fixes.
Now, reaching the year 2010, the number of searches has almost reached 360,000. Maintenance, however, still has to rely on volunteering.
