I'm looking for a good dictionary

[Harv]

I'm basically looking for a good japanese-english english-japanese dictionary. I've looked around a few shops but I've only seen pocket dictionaries or english-japanese dictionaries. I don't really want a pocket dictionary at the moment i'm looking for something a bit more comprehensive.
I've looked on the internet but there are basically hundreds of dictionaries out there. I've seen the 'kodansha kanji dictionary' which looks quite good but I wan't to hear some peoples opinions of it first.

So is kodansha the best one to go for, or are there any better ones out there?

[seanolan]

I would look into e-dictionaries, honestly. A really good dictionary is going to run you about $100/10,000円 as a hardbound book (and the non-hardbound USUALLY won't stand up to the use you put them through). I would look for an electronic one, with a stylus and kanji recognition. It will last you a long time, it is more convenient than a paper dictionary, and more portable. If you have a blackberry/PDA, there are EXCELLENT programs out there for it that do exactly that (some of the good ones are even free!). An electronic dictionary such as I described will probably run you $300/30,000円, but I think it is more than worth the price, and being able to write in the kanji to be looked up is the best thing when you are trying to read a sign or bump into a kanji you just cannot figure out.

Sean

[Jason]

I have Kodansh's Kanji Learner's Dictionary. It's really nice.

[Belton]

For what it's worth, here's what I have to say about dictionaries I use.

http://www.shiawase.co.uk/reading/jisyo.html

(rather than repeat myself here)

[Harv]

Thanks for the replys everyone

seanolan-san
An electronic dictionary does sound like a really good idea but at the moment i'm trying to cut down on my spending to save up to go to japan but i'll definately look into it when i've got some more money to spend.

Jason-san
Sounds good, I'll start looking around for the best price for kodansha kanji dictionary Would you recommend 'Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary: Japanese-English/English-Japanese' aswell?

Belton-san
It seems I can't get onto your website at the moment but i'll try later on.
edit: I can get on it now, very good information. Thanks.

[Jason]

Jason-san
Sounds good, I'll start looking around for the best price for kodansha kanji dictionary Would you recommend 'Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary: Japanese-English/English-Japanese' aswell?

I've never used it, so I don't know. I rarely use paper dictionaries. I usually use either JEdict in Mac OS X, JQuickTrans in Windows, or the Japanese<->Japanese dictionary at Goo.

[racum]

I use a dictionary for Nintendo DS, it is quite fun and easy to use, you can even "draw" the kanji in the DS touchscreen! It has EN-JP, JP-EN and JP-JP dictionaries, and it is very inexpensive (if you already have an Nintendo DS), about US$40. It requires you to know a bit of stroke-order to write the kanjis and sometimes there is not direct jump from JP to equivalent in EN, but overall the dictionary is very useful and portable.

Official page here:
http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/kanraku/index.html

The bad news:: I is almost impossible to buy this dictionary outside Japan, you have to import if you are outside like me.
The good news: It works fine in non-japanese DS devices.

[]'s
Racum

[Ulver_684]

I'm basically looking for a good japanese-english english-japanese dictionary. I've looked around a few shops but I've only seen pocket dictionaries or english-japanese dictionaries. I don't really want a pocket dictionary at the moment i'm looking for something a bit more comprehensive.
I've looked on the internet but there are basically hundreds of dictionaries out there. I've seen the 'kodansha kanji dictionary' which looks quite good but I wan't to hear some peoples opinions of it first.

So is kodansha the best one to go for, or are there any better ones out there?

This is the best electronic dictionary! I'm going to buy it right away and you should buy too now!

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

www.franklin.com

[NickT]

I think it depends what you are looking for. That Franklin dictionary looks like an interesting bit of kit, but it is more orientated towards tourists than a serious language student.

I am interested in the idea of a electronic dictionary that you can draw unkown kanji on using a stylus. I am worried about the comment about stroke order though. Do you really have to draw it using the correct stroke order for it to recognise it? Surely the fact that you don't know the kanji means you probably won't know the correct stroke order?

[Belton]

I am interested in the idea of a electronic dictionary that you can draw unkown kanji on using a stylus. I am worried about the comment about stroke order though. Do you really have to draw it using the correct stroke order for it to recognise it? Surely the fact that you don't know the kanji means you probably won't know the correct stroke order?

Some recognition software is better than others. You have to remember that it has been developed with adult Japanese in mind rather than language students.
Oddly one of the best I've seen myself is on nintendo that seems to look at the complete shape rather than the strokes. It's pretty good at recognising my efforts and seems 100% accurate when a native uses it, including cursive forms which is interesting.

That said there are fairly regular rules as to how a kanji is written, so even if you don't know it you could probably copy it accurately. Good software would make allowances for any irregular stroke orders. But obviously you'll get more accurate results if stroke order and count are correct.

Also some recognition systems I've seen for single kanji return several kanji based on what you've written for you to chose one.

If I had the money I'd definitely go for a dictionary that had character recognition.

I wonder if we'll ever see software that could analyse a photo on a camera phone and do OCR on it? 笑

[MattTheCat]

Oddly one of the best I've seen myself is on nintendo that seems to look at the complete shape rather than the strokes.

Agreed. The input recognition is very forgiving. It usually even accepts my horrendous handwriting.
One tip that I found helps a lot with the sonomama is to use a bigger stylus. The default stylus that comes with the DS is far too short and narrow to draw kanji comfortably. I wound up picking up a full pen-sized stylus from Nyko, and it makes things much easier.

Also some recognition systems I've seen for single kanji return several kanji based on what you've written for you to chose one.

Sonomama has this too. Right above the clear arrow there's a 候補 button that suggests up to 10 other possibilities for your input.

Another point for sonomama, it has pretty good compound capabilities too. Though I haven't used any other electronic dictionaries, so I don't know how they compare.

[Ulver_684]

I think it depends what you are looking for. That Franklin dictionary looks like an interesting bit of kit, but it is more orientated towards tourists than a serious language student.

I am interested in the idea of a electronic dictionary that you can draw unkown kanji on using a stylus. I am worried about the comment about stroke order though. Do you really have to draw it using the correct stroke order for it to recognise it? Surely the fact that you don't know the kanji means you probably won't know the correct stroke order?

Well In my case it is the best dictionary because it has the languages I plan to learn later on so if this dictionary has them all in one and it will help me out when I go and visit those countries too then it is magnificient!