Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries vs Van Dale Online

Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries brings together seven dictionary and grammar reference titles. Its website provides the complete A–Z content of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Oxford Advanced American Dictionary free online, along with a Text Checker, word lists and sample resources. The Oxford 3000, Oxford 5000 and Oxford Phrase List are aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Learn & Practise Grammar adds free explanations and interactive exercises in beta. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English has 50,000 examples and is integrated with the OPAL academic vocabulary list. OALD Premium includes iSpeaker, iWriter, My Word Lists, downloadable resources and ad-free OALD and OAAD pages. The Oxford Dictionaries API supports 35 languages and six programming languages; its tools include search filters and sentence, word and inflections endpoints. A free API sandbox trial includes 500 calls. OALD10 app access is listed at $3.99 a month, $9.99 a year or 29.99 USD once for four years.

Van Dale Online provides access to online dictionaries for professionals, secondary and higher education, and NT2 learners. A search checks all available sources together, with further searching available within results. Van Dale says it continues to add words and improve definitions, translations, expressions and example sentences. The professional workspace brings dictionaries in major European languages and professional reference sources onto one screen. The school edition covers Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish, with spelling, meanings, translations, examples, idioms and grammatical explanations. Its school environment has no distracting advertisements and is described as a safe learning environment. The service runs on web, iOS and Android. The mobile app requires a Van Dale Online account and an internet connection; it does not let users download dictionaries. An account can be used on one mobile device at a time, although it can be installed on multiple devices. Eligible students and staff at participating Dutch higher education institutions can sign in through SURFconext without registering. Plans include a school licence at €3 a year and professional dictionary subscriptions at €19.80 a month or €198 a year.