I’m looking for reccomendations on an electronic dictionary with E->J, J->E, and kanji dictionaries. I know we have a few Japanophiles/students of the Japanese language here, so please plug your favorite.
(unless your favorite is the Canon Wordtank G50, which I disgustedly just sold after 2 months of frustration).
You’re looking for the portable hardware type are you? If that’s the case, I’m sorry I can’t help you as I never managed to justify the expense. Those are between 10,000 and 30,000 yen, aren’t they?
If you have a computer, though, http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ is a terrific site.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Yes, looking for the electronical pocket dictionary.
The kanji lookups have got to be comprehensive and flexible as I do a lot of reading.
Oh. I have the Canon Wordtank IDF-3000 (the model previous to the G50) and I love it. Took me a while to get the hang of kanji look-ups but now I’m pretty fast. Helps if I can figure out either the radical or the name of a part. What didn’t you like about it?
Anyway, this page has some good info on Japanese electronic dictionaries. It’s skewed in favor of the Wordtank but there’s also info on other models.
The main thing is if I’m trying to look up the English meaning of a kanji compound word. On the Wordtanks, I can pull up any kanji I want without problem. But there’s a only 50/50 chance of finding words that start with that kanji, and a 0/50 chance of finding words containing that kanji in other than the first position.
Thanks for the info, it was moderately helpful.
For look and feel I like the new Seikos, but the Sharp seems to have more comprehensive dictionaries.
Actually, now that you mention it, I find that annoying too. I keep thinking there must be a tool I’ m not using correctly. What I usually do is enter the “on” reading of the kanjis and scan for it. But that involves memorizing the readings (possibly multiple) and hopping back and forth between the kanji lookup and both the Japanese-Engllish and the Japanese-Japanese dictionaries. When I get totally frustrated, I go to Jim Breen’s online dictionary. Anyway, if you find one that makes the look-up process easier, let me know. I’ve been thinking about replacing my Wordtank 'cause it’s getting kinda beat up…
I’ve gone through 5 electronic dictionarys. I don’t remember all of them, but the worst one was the wordtank, and my favorite (the brand I’m still using) was the Sharp. It had the best search feature and the largest screen. I’m not sure what you mean about more comprehensive dictionaries, though… seems like they all have the same JJ, JE, and EJ dictionaries: Kojien and Genius.
On the Sharp, if you’ve looked a kanji up in the kanji dictionary, you can push a button that will then give you a list of all compounds containing that kanji. That list contains the reading for the compounds, so I can then either look up that reading, or, if I select the compound, I’ll be taken to the Kojien listing for that word.
Actually there’s quite a bit of difference. The cheaper ones don’t have Kojien, for example, and for English->Japanese I’ve found the Readers 2nd Edition to be more complete than the Genius. Each manufacturer sells various models with different dictionaries, so don’t read a few reviews and conclude “Sharp has better dictionaries”.
I’m bilingual so my requirements may be different from yours, but I like my Seiko SR9200. My mother uses the same one and she’s happy with it too. It has the Kojien, Readers 2nd Edition (English-Japanese), Shin Waei Chu-jiten 4th Edition (Japanese-English), and the Concise Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus. I think this was the top of the line when I bought it early last year, but I see it’s been replaced by one that contains even more dictionaries (at a higher price).
Thanks to everyone who contributed. The responses continue to leave me torn between the Seiko and the Sharp. I guess I’ll have to wait until I try the latest models of each when I go to Sapporo this weekend.
If anyone has any parting wisdom before I hit the denki shops, I’d really appreciate…
I ended up buying the Seiko T-7100, and after using it for a couple of months, I must say that I find it far superior to any other Japanese-English electronic dictionary I have ever owned. I think it beats the pants off of the much-vaunted Canon G-50.
Here are the reasons. Basically it is all about being able to see the kana version of words along with the kanji. Not exactly furigana, but the next best thing:
The “kanji example” key not only gets you a list of words beginning with the kanji, but also hiragana spellings of each word.
When you “jump” on any phrase, you get a list of every word beginning with every reading of that phrase (no matter if it’s kanji or kana). Plus, you get both the kanji and kana spellings of the word.
Basically, the Seiko T-7100 gives you more hiragana spelling context than any other dictionary. Not only can you look up words, you can actually pronounce them.
I give it my unreserved reccomendation!
Cool, I’m so glad you updated, I was just thinking about this thread the other day when I wanted to hurl my Canon across the room because I couldn’t find a kanji compound. Hmmmmm, I’m off the check eBay…