Oxford Basic Japanese-English Dic - is it worthy?

[Saiyan]

I'm thinking of getting the Basic Japanese-English Dictionary from Oxford, and decided to get to know the opinion of you all experts over here

Will it be a good addition to my Japanese bookshelf? Will it help me at least 20% in my learning? also, is there a better dictionary? please tell me what you think.

thanks a lot!

[Belton]

I used the beginner dictionary from Oxford when I started out. It was good because of the extra information it gave as to idioms and usage etc, especially from English to Japanese.

I haven't used the basic dictionary however.

Indeed once I started using electronic/computer dictionaries I rarely use paper ones. They are just faster and more convenient than a paper reference. It is much easier to find an unknown kanji. Many more usage examples usually, better cross references.

There are a few minuses; you've got to figure usage out by yourself from examples, there's no usage guidance and possibly less editorial oversight. Language doesn't have a one to one fit. take wear for example, which Japanese word should you use, kiru, haku, kaburu, suru, kakeru, etc.
Also a search throws up more than just one entry usually so you can be a bit overwhelmed with choice sometimes.
You need a computer! maybe. there are also iPhone solutions, PalmOS solutions, or dedicated devices.

If you haven't already have a look at
http://www.jisho.org/
http://www.alc.co.jp/
http://www.saiga-jp.com/kanji_dictionary.html
for examples of online resources

the Edict and ALC dictionaries can also be used in offline readers. JEDict is a good one on the Mac. In fact OSX 10.5 comes with 3 rather good Japanese dictionaries as standard.

The question you might be asking yourself is what advantage can a paper dictionary give you over a computer one. (I don't own a computer, I don't have 24/7 access to a computer, doesn't need power. better usage guidance?, I like books on paper, cheaper?... )

[Javizy]

I got good use out of Kodansha's Japanese-English Furigana Dictionary as a beginner. It has 16,000 entries, no romaji, example sentences, and usage patterns, idioms, and compound words for some entries. I remember it helping me with phrases like 調子を乗る and 面倒を見る, as well as various uses of 気, among others. It helped me learn to live without romaji pretty quickly, as well.

I was going to jump to recommend an iPod or electronic dictionary, but Belton makes a good point about usage guidance. Just about all these things are more like thesauri than the kind of dictionaries we are used to, and this can lead to a lot of mistakes as a beginner. You might want to start off with the paper dictionary and the links Belton posted or something desktop based like Wakan, and then save your pennies for the handhelds when you've eased into the language a bit, although it couldn't hurt to have both if money isn't an issue

[mykolos]

Once you have mastered the kana, I would have to recommend Kodansha's Communicative English Japanese Dictionary. It's much better than the furigana dictionary when it comes to looking up words from English to Japanese. English words with multiple meanings are effectively broken down into each individual meaning and then translated into Japanese, and there are lots of example sentences to show you how to use the words in a sentence. The dictionary also features Japanese translations of English phrasal verbs (ex: get up, get ahead, go out).

As you start to first explore the squiggly lines of the Kanji, I would recommend you pick up the Kanji Fast Finder by Laurence Matthews. It has a very intuitive kanji look-up system that allows you to very quickly find the readings, stroke number, and core meanings of the Joyo Kanji (the most frequently used in Japanese). The lookup system in the Kanji Fast Finder is much quicker than any other kanji dictionary I have ever used (surpassing even Halpern's Kanji Learner's Dictionarywith its SKIP codes in terms of ease of use). The speed with which you can look up a kanji determines whether you will bother to pick it up and actually use it when you are reading Japanese [IMHO].

頑張ってね。　Good luck with your studies!

Cheers