Building an Igbo Dictionary API from Converting and Parsing a PDF File

I wanted to see if I could build an Igbo dictionary API that serves Igbo terms and definitions. Since there wasn't anything like this out on the Internet, I had to work a little harder to grab the data I needed to power the API.

In this video, I'll show you how I converted a PDF into an HTML that contains words, word classes, definitions, phrases, and examples from the Igbo language. Then I'll show how I identified the pattern in the original PDF dictionary table and parsed that data to build a JSON object full of data.

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:09 What I'm Working On
0:28 Why Work on an Igbo Dictionary API?
1:27 Step 1: Find an Igbo-English Dictionary PDF
2:19 Step 2: Parsing the HTML File
2:50 Step 3: Identify Table Structure
5:01 Issues to Address in the Dictionary JSON files
5:11 Issue: Uncleaned terms were add to the dictionary
5:32 Issue: Similarily Spelled Terms were not batched
5:58 More Dictionary Files

== Let's Connect ==

== Who I Am ==
I'm Ijemma, a frontend software engineer currently working in New York City. I make videos on all things JavaScript and, more broadly, frontend web development.

#javascript #webdevelopment #softwareengineer

[kelechukwuchuoparah]

Daalu! This is wonderful! On behalf of my daughters who are being raised here in the states, your work will surely bless them!

[jennifernwoye]

So proud of you 👍 I’m still listening but I have to tell you how proud I am 🙏🙏👍👍🥰🥰

[ifeomauzochukwu]

Ijemma, well done! This is a project that’s going to influence several generations of igbo people down the line. I’m so impressed!

[adannaorji]

Really proud of you, Ijeoma. It’s a fantastic idea, and it’s going to have a much greater impact than you could ever imagine. Well done!

[ogechielekwachi]

Ij kudos to you. This is awesome, keep up the good work, and keep spreading the Igbo/Ibo language .

[muoghoedirin]

Wow this is really cool, looking forward to building same for my language

[CarmelleCodes]

soo sick! love this side project a lot, can’t wait to see where it goes

[HashtagObi]

dude this is so cool man; will definitely have to play around with this! (p.s. as someone who is still learning Igbo, this will be of great help to me hehe) #subbed

[yashpandey]

Interesting project. I liked the way you explained your thought process / work flow. :)

[funclip]

Hello, great work you are doing.
I gave a question. Can your API be used on a django website?

[UdochiOkeke]

Omg! I need to talk to you. I have a lot of resources on Igbo language and am also a software developer and wanted to do an Igbo dictionary app. I want to talk to you to see if working with you on this project might be the way to go.