OpenTaal

OpenTaal
Motto	Taal is van ons allemaal (Language is for all)
Formation	November 1, 2005 (2005-11-01) (age 6)
Type	Non-profit organization
Legal status	Foundation
Purpose/focus	providing software assisting proper use of Dutch language
Location	Netherlands
Website	http://opentaal.org/

OpenTaal (Open Language) is a Dutch foundation which provides free Dutch language files to be used in open-source software spell checking, hyphenation, synonym lists and grammar checking.^[1][2][3]

Background

In 1996 a working group of the Dutch TeX User's Group created a word list for spell checking and hyphenation to be used in TeX software. This list is also used in OpenOffice.org and has been developed since. At the end of 2005 the Dutch Language Union (Nederlandse Taalunie), the formal Dutch language institute, published a new version of the "Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal" (Dutch Language Word list, also known as "the Green Booklet"). The new spelling rules laid down in it are compulsory in government and education of participating countries since August, 2006. To comply with the spelling changes, the existing free language files had to be adjusted. At the same time, the opportunity arose to have them certified by the Dutch Language Union. The OpenTaal project was founded to facilitate the collaboration of open source projects in this area.

Projects

OpenTaal provides files for spelling check which are being used in software such as OpenOffice.org, Firefox^[4], Thunderbird^[5], Safari, Opera, TinyMCE and more. Some of this software receives custom files from OpenTaal while other software uses the generic spelling checker Hunspell. This is using its own custom file from OpenTaal. Even the Dutch Wiktionary^[6] uses this list of correctly spelled words.

The Dutch Language Union^[7] has approved OpenTaal's word list and labelled it with Keurmerk Spelling. Also OpenTaal has been granted funding by the Dutch Language Union to implement missing functionality in Hunspell.

OpenTaal also provides grammar rules which are used in the grammar checker LanguageTool. This is offering grammar checking via its own website^[8] but is also used by OpenOffice.org and Thunderbird^[9].

External links

• Official website

References

1. ^ What is OpenTaal
2. ^ (Dutch) Stichting OpenTaal opgericht
3. ^ (Dutch) OpenTaal woordenlijst krijgt keurmerk: interview op radio 1
4. ^ Dutch Dictionary add-on for Firefox
5. ^ Dutch Dictionary add-on for Thunderbird
6. ^ WikiWoordenboek OpenTaal
7. ^ (Dutch) Producten met Keurmerk Spelling van de Nederlandse Taalunie
8. ^ LanguageTool Community on-line Dutch grammar checker
9. ^ Grammar Checker add-on for Thunderbird