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 Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:00 pm
Pray tell me the Random House paperback Japanese/English English/Japanese is not the best dictionary available? Its glue is weak; mine started falling apart in the first month, when I wasn't using it frequently. Now whole sections have come loose. And it isn't very thorough. It seems to focus more on terms for specific conversations instead of the most commonly used words. And then it has translations in one side of the dictionary which aren't in the side, sometimes forcing me to scour the book word by word.
To those who rely heavily on a dictionary, is there one you prefer over others?
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:40 pm
I use Kodansha's dictionary, but it doesn't seem very accurate. You can probably find some on amazon, eaby, half.ebay, b&n, or bamm.
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:17 pm
Electronic dictionaries are by far the best tool for pros and begginers alike. Cannon, Sharp, and Casio make the best, IMHOP domokun
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:30 am
Electronic dictionaries (denshi jisho) are great, but they cost big bucks, and all the information they have is very daunting (I think a beginner would have a hard time with one, actually).
My friend had a randomhouse dictionary, and she had the same problems. For a while she would put a rubber band around the whole thing to keep all the loose sections together.
I have an Oxford Japanese Minidictionary, which is basically a smaller version of the Oxford starter dictionary, and it also doesn't have the grammar guide in the middle. I think it's a great format (it's all kana, no romaji) and has lots of usful examples for how to use the more common terms. And you really can take it anywhere, I carried that thing everywhere and used it all the time until I bought a denshi jisho. In the "Starter Dictionary" version, I'm not sure what the guide in the middle all has, but it looked useful for beginners.
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:49 pm
Like Bakahito, I am going to say that investing in a denshi jisho/electronic dictionary, though hard to get used to in the beginning, is SO VERY worth the investment. I paid $500 for my first denshi jisho in 2000, before they were fully available the way they are today. And despite the fact that that one is relatively primative now, I was able to use it for at least 3 years before having to invest in anything else.
Also, it will eventually force you to use the Japanese-Japanese dictionary, which helps your reading proficiency a LOT.
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:55 pm
Surprisingly, many new model dictionaries actually have an English setting. But of course they all require a basic knowledge of the kana. My new Canon v80 has English, Chinese, and Japanese menues as well as a full etimology dictionary and idiom dictionary and a stylus kanji input (its was about $400US at the time of purchace 2 years ago). Another option that one of my German friends uses is a Palm Pilot dictionary program. Its much cheaper and takes advantage of the touch screen for kanji input.
Just google electronic Japanese-English dictionaries and I`m sure you`ll come across plenty of good stuff whee
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:46 pm
make sure if you are looking at a denshi jisho that you shop around. When I was shopping for mine online (I ended up getting a canon g55) the prices from website to website varied at least 100 dollars. Ebay seems to have the best prices on Canon Wordtanks, but not much of a selection on Casio, Sharp, or Seiko. Another website that has a wide selection and decent prices (in comparison to other sites) is smartimports.net.
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Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:58 am
bakahito Surprisingly, many new model dictionaries actually have an English setting. But of course they all require a basic knowledge of the kana. My new Canon v80 has English, Chinese, and Japanese menues as well as a full etimology dictionary and idiom dictionary and a stylus kanji input (its was about $400US at the time of purchace 2 years ago). Another option that one of my German friends uses is a Palm Pilot dictionary program. Its much cheaper and takes advantage of the touch screen for kanji input. Just google electronic Japanese-English dictionaries and I`m sure you`ll come across plenty of good stuff whee
Rawr! Did that, and stumbled upon http://www.speedanki.com/. It's basically online flash cards, to help you remember Kanji, although I would siggest using this in tandem with a Japanese word processor (which I am doing at the moment), so help find the multiple ways of saying each Kanji. I've been doing it for a few minutes, and I can already feel my brain expanding...
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Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:06 pm
I have a new Random House one. It works so well for me!
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Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 5:02 pm
I just bought a new "comprehensive" Random House J-E/E-J dictionary, and the thing on the back says 'now available in paperback'... so I assume it's also available in hardback? I think that would solve the binding problem. I haven't used it yet, so I don't know how helpful it's going to be, but flipping through it, it looks pretty awesome. whee Each side has the english word, part of speech, and both romanji and kanji/kana for japanese.
so like, an E-J side, then a J-E side search would look like:bamboo shoot, n. takenoko 竹の子. takenoko, n. 竹の子 bamboo shoot. I don't know how the word variety is in this dictionary, but since I'm trying to learn kanji, I think it should at least be useful for seeing which words use which kanji. xd
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Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:52 pm
I use a Japanese/English English/Japanese Random House dictionary and it's lasted me years. *shrug* I also have multiple phrase and grammar books, Internet dictionary sites, and a Japanese/English only college-level dictionary a mile wide. gonk It's actually a dictionary for Japanese people learning English.
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:30 am
hieiandkurama I have a new Random House one. It works so well for me! Yeah same. And I've had mine since May 7th.
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