Electronic Dictionaries

[karavshin]

Working in Tokyo next week, but stealing the weekends as some vacation time. While I'm there, I want to buy an electronic dictionary.

Considering either a Canon G90 or a Canon V90.

First, any other ideas on buying an electronic dictionary. Secondly, recommended stores beside general references to, for instance, Akihabara?

For reference I am only learning Japanese now. Beginner.

[padrik]

I have a older Canon G50 bought a few years ago and I still use it all the time. You can set the menu's into english if you cant read everything yet, and I assume you can do that with the G90 as well.

As far as where to shop, there are electronic stores all over, some disguised as camera stores. Of course in tokyo, Akiba is the place with the biggest selection in a small area, but there are stores all over Tokyo, usually near any major Train station.

Oh, and have a great time while you are there, and try what Japanese you know, make mistakes, and learn from them.

頑張ってね。。。
カール

[annie]

i love Sakuraya in Shinjuku, near the station. (not that near the station is really helpful)

i have a Canon Wordtank, about 10 years old. I drop it all of the time. still works perfectly. the new ones though, you have to be careful with. ... buy a case. and if you live in japan, an extended warranty.

and make sure that you get a point card. you can generally use the points the same day.

[Alan]

A bit late to add to this thread, but...

I bought the G70, as it has much larger J-E & E-J dictionaries. However, it doesn't have the ability to write unknown kanji. I mostly use mine to look up unknown words I've heard in films or conversation. Much easier to carry about than a stack of dictionaries.

The kanji look-up would probably be a higher priority when reading unknown kanji in manga (which is still most of them in my case). You can still look up by strokes, or radical with the G70, but not by drawing. I also have a casio dictionary, which allows kanji to be drawn and occasionally resort to this, but find I'm much more successful in correctly looking up kanji that I already know how to draw than unknown ones.

If you don't need a portable dictionary, then the cheap option is to install some form of EDICT on your computer instead. I have rikaichan to help read websites, although I do find it encorouges laziness, and I don't really learn new kanji that way - It's just useful when I need to know what the site says.

However, I wouldn't part with my beloved G70, it's just too useful.

Alan

[JohnCBriggs]

I have a Canon Wordtank G55 that I had someone purchase for me in Japan. At about $300, this was an expensive purchase. However, I have enjoyed having it as an alternative to EDICT. EDICT is installed in so many places, sometimes it seems like it is hard to get a second opinion on a word. The WordTank gives that second opinion because it is not EDICT based.
The Wordtank has a number of nice features
1) good example sentences.
2) multi-dictionary lookup (e.g. look up in all dictionaries at the same time, japanese to english, japanese to japanese, thesaurus, kanji,etc.)
3) You can highlight a word and jump to its definition, and then return back. Very, Very Nice.
4) The kanji dictionary includes stroke order animation. Cool
The weaknesses are that it is a little difficult for beginning students to use (still difficult for me at times). Although the menus can be switch to English, the dictionary is clearly designed for Japanese people and sometimes there are Japanese explanations in the middle of an English definition.
Another problem is I cannot find anyway to input unknown kanji. This unit does NOT have a touchscreen.
Primarily, I use Ectaco Partner Dictionary (EDICT based) on my Pocket PC because I always have it with me. But very often I look at the Wordtank for more details.
ジョン

[Outkast]

I'll be the second one to vouch for the G70. When I'm with my computer, I alternate between the wordtank and EDICT while doing documents. EDICT has a lot of strange, lesser known kanji combinations for technical and other words, and the wordtank has a lot of English equivalency words and phrases (since it was designed for Japanese natives interacting with English.)

[Michelle]

I think I'd vote for Seiko actually... I've used a (now) relatively old Seiko SR-T7000 for the past four years, and it's worked great. If you want the new edition of the Kenkyuusha's Japanese-English Dictionary, then the Canon G70 or Seiko SR-E10000 are probably the two best models. But everyone's looking for different things in their dictionaries. http://www.thejapanshop.com/recommendationsjisho.htm offers a good comparison of the pros and cons of the current models.

The site says:

Recommendation for upper beginner: Canon G55 or V80
Since the beginner doesn't need translator level words the G55 or V80 are probably the best choices. The V80 comes with a full English manual. The G55 and V80 have animated kanji strokes and allow English menu screens. If money isn't too much of a concern I would lean toward the V80, V90 or G90 since you can draw unknown kanji on the screen. (see video on the V80 page for examples)

[Belton]

I too love my Canon G55! (and the batteries seem to last forever!)

But I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a beginner. You have to hop around a fair bit to arrive at a. English definitions of kanji and b. a reading for a kanji compound.
You might find it too much to take in or too slow and therefore don't use it. I find it much easier to use a dictionary on my laptop when studying. And when out in the wider world, while it's easy to carry a dictionary like this, things move a bit fast to make much use of it...
It might be more of a long term investment that'll be much more use at Intermediate and Advanced levels.

I found PADict on a PalmOS device to be a much simpler proposition and it more than met my beginner needs. much cheaper too if you own a PDA already as it's free. It has kanji writing recognition as well. It uses a subset of EDICT or I think it can now do the full EDICT and there are plans to allow other dictionaries. The single kanji reference is quite nice with animated stroke diagrams. The only thing I disliked was the touch entry of kana, but it'll accept romaji input via graffiti as well.

If you own a Nintendo DS I'd have a look at the dictionaries available for it for about 4000yen. It'll probably have the same limitations as a wordtank (if not more so since there's no Jump feature) as it's for Japanese studying English but you get a lot for your money.

On looking up unknown kanji on the G55 in the kanjigen, The easiest way for me is to be able to break it down like using a paper based dictionary. Find the radical by stroke count and the stroke count of the whole kanji and with these you should be given a manageable amount of kanji to chose from. (If you knew the reading it wouldn't be unknown!)

for what it's worth here's what I thought of various dictionaries I've come across
http://www.shiawase.co.uk/2007/06/01/dictionaries/

I've just looked at Amazon.jp and they have Canon G90's for 9,400 !! (80% off list) that's a serious bargain. All you need is a delivery address in Japan. only 3 left in stock...

---edit---
updated url

[Sequa]

So would you recommend buying an electronic dictionary or a PDA to use PADict on it?
It's important for me to be able to draw kanji. I'm not sure if a PDA is as fast as real electronic dictionaries. Do PDAs have a long startup time? I'd only use it as a dictionary so I don't know if it isn't overkill to buy a PDA with many features which I don't need.
I don't live in Japan so I'd have to import an e dictionary and I guess it'd be expensive with tax and customs. PDAs on the other hand don't need to be imported.

[Belton]

So would you recommend buying an electronic dictionary or a PDA to use PADict on it?

Tough call.
If you already owned a PDA I'd say try that first.

A PDA will be cheaper. I reckon you could pick up a Clie for around €100 or less. (PDA's seem to have gone out of favour and Sony have stopped making thier excellent little PDA's) and PAdict can handle wadoku dictionary in German which you might find useful. I've never seen anything other than Chinese and English on Electronic Dictionaries.
the link
http://www.wadoku.de/
I don't understand a word myself!
Startup time isn't an issue with PDAs they are on all the time in effect. The search is slower than my Wordtank but still fairly instant. (The wordtank does a live search that refines as you type more letters or kana)
The handwriting input is reasonable. But still more convienient than a radical lookup method. It might depend on your writing ability. My Japanese teacher when playing with handwriting recognition gets instant results I find I need to rewrite! But any recognition I feel is training me to be more accurate in my writing.
I only used PAdict, the alarm clock, and an electronic book reader on it. maybe the notes feature and address book too.
Since I got the G55 I've stopped using PDAdict though I must say. I've made myself learn and use the G55. The ability to write a kanji I miss. Also the simpler kanji information and kana readings for everything. But I think the G55 is forcing me to improve my reading slightly. Ironically I've slowed down in searching because I have to jump to get the reading of kanji.

Ultimatly an Electronic dictionary is better. Better input. Better navigation. More detail. Example sentences. Bigger screen. But not as simple and can be expensive. It's more use if you are beyond the basics and are getting comfortable with kanji.

Ideally I'd say play with them before you buy if that's possible.

Also ask yourself if it *has* to be portable.
There are excellent online dictionaries.
ALC
http://www.alc.co.jp/
and denshi jisho
http://www.jisho.org/

as well as good standalone solutions for computers
--The beauty being cut and paste abilities and a lot of my Japanese seems to happen online or on the computer in some way. Even when writing or reading my MacBook is beside me usually.

Eijiro from ALC again
JEDict
http://www.jedict.com/
a reader for the Mac that accepts and searches a lot of formats (don't know PCs sorry)

Overall My preferences are JEdict with edict, kanjidict and Eijiro on my MacBook. Then the G55, then paper dictionaries, (Oxford Starter and Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary) I usually have my MacBook with me and sometimes use it in class. My books at home. My G55 for class and I just carry it with me (日本語オタク！). I had it with me when I was travelling in Japan, although I rarely had cause to use it. A phrasebook was more helpful or just trusting my wits. I was on holiday after all. Time to do and not let things like looking up dictionaries get in my way!

[Ulver_684]

Working in Tokyo next week, but stealing the weekends as some vacation time. While I'm there, I want to buy an electronic dictionary.

Considering either a Canon G90 or a Canon V90.

First, any other ideas on buying an electronic dictionary. Secondly, recommended stores beside general references to, for instance, Akihabara?

For reference I am only learning Japanese now. Beginner.

Try out my dictionary of choice if your interest, I really recommend it!

You have nothing to lose!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/techn ... ir&emc=cir

www.franklin.com