Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Printable Version

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Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - dusmar84 - 2011-12-31

Is kindle the best e-reader on the market?

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Bokusenou - 2011-12-31

dusmar84 Wrote:Is kindle the best e-reader on the market?

That depends on what you're looking for in an ereader, but out of the ones I've tried at stores, the Sony Reader I had and the Kindle I have, I like the Kindle best of all (for reading English books, for Japanese I think a smartphone is better). I wish it had better PDF support though.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Bokusenou - 2011-12-31

IceCream Wrote:ugh. i'm bored of waiting.

so... if i buy a kindle from the UK, can i buy books from the sony ebook jp store?? i don't really understand how these things work.

if i can buy books from the sony ebook store & they work on the kindle, and there's a version of edict on the kindle (would it also work on sony ebooks??), that's all i need really...

When I had a Sony Reader I never bought books from the (US) ebook store, but it looks like those books come with DRM (I'm not sure about the JP store, but it's probably the same), though there looks like there is a way to remove it, and then convert the books to mobi format with something like calibre.

The version of EDICT for the Kindle supports romaji searches only, since there is currently no Japanese IME.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - suffah - 2011-12-31

I have a Kindle DX (so no PDF issues due to the size) and love reading Japanese text on it. I go from text -> word -> apply the ruby macro -> choose font/size -> pdf. They come out brilliantly.

That said, I'm addicted to paper books as well, so I usually have at least one physical book in my bag at all times, sitting next to the Kindle.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Clocks - 2012-01-14

suffah, where do you buy the japanese text? Ive heard there arent many Japanese ebooks so im curious how you get them on your Kindle.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Clocks - 2012-01-14

Also if I can add a hopeful note to the discussion:
apparently Rakuten (Japan's Amazon) has recently bought the Kogo e-reader company and also launched their own ebook website with an initial launch of 10,000 e-books. http://ebook.rakuten.co.jp

From what I've seen they have 2000+ light novels which would be good for intermediate readers. Also they have some CS Lewis Narnia books which are great and somewhat simple. I also saw Isaac Asimov, Luis Carol, Charles Dickens, George Orwell, and other good foreign authors listed in the selection. As for Japanese authors I am still not sure who is good or who is bad so I can't tell if they have a good selection yet. I do know that my favorite Japanese author, Haruki Murakami, has yet to release any of his books digitally which makes me sad Sad

But still 10,000 books seems like a pretty good start to me!

It would make me laugh if Kogo didn't support the books sold on Rakuten's own store but I'm going to have to research a little to figure that out.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - SomeCallMeChris - 2012-01-14

Hnnn, that's not great news to me....

I have an application on my iPhone called 'BookGate' (see bookgate.info if you like)
I can purchase books from their library of 1000+ ... volumes... in dollars and without extra import charges. However, the number of light novels they have is zero, and the number of novels they have is under 50.

A lot of manga (none I want to read, and if I did, I wouldn't want to read it on an iPhone screen, but YMMV), a lot of non fiction (especially golf, business communication, and iphone tips), and a bunch of magazines (golf again in magazines, and cars).

The good bit is they have IQ84, and some decent mystery/police procedurals. (I have 推理小説 and the novelization of BOSS Season 1). Unfortunately they don't have much interesting (to me) outside of mysteries/police procedurals.

Now it sounds like all the light novels are going to these Rakuten people, who have a bunch of apps on the iPhone... none of them look like a bookstore. Hnhh. Maybe it's time to work out how to get access to the Japanese iTunes store... do they have an iPhone app there? :o

Every day lately, I lament the closing of Sasuga Books (that used to be my local Japanese bookstore.)

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Bokusenou - 2012-01-14

Clocks Wrote:suffah, where do you buy the japanese text? Ive heard there arent many Japanese ebooks so im curious how you get them on your Kindle.

You might want to go have a look at the totally innocent Japanese books thread.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Clocks - 2012-01-14

Bokusenou Wrote:
Clocks Wrote:suffah, where do you buy the japanese text? Ive heard there arent many Japanese ebooks so im curious how you get them on your Kindle.
You might want to go have a look at the totally innocent Japanese books thread.

Well thats certainly easier than 'finding' things on the internet. Thanks! If I can confirm that Kobo does support Rakuten's Japanese e-books though, that seems like a much more convenient solution to finding Japanese books that you want.

Also Chris- jealous about the IQ84 Sad

. I think Murakami is a bit above my level right now, spent about 1 month getting through half a book one time and decided I was using the dictionary waaaaay too much. Very informative but not enough fun. I'm definitely going to be re-reading all of his stuff in Japanese after I read a few easier books first though!

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - ziazdamauler - 2012-01-30

You can buy these eijiro dictionaries for the kindle 3 or 4

http://www.east-village.jp/KINDLE/

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - IceCream - 2012-03-23

well, it seems like one major publisher has signed with Amazon now:
http://www.gizmodo.jp/2012/03/kindleamazon_1.html

not too hopeful about the April release date, but hopefully the other publishers will come along. They are so backwards, really.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - IceCream - 2012-03-23

Clocks Wrote:
Bokusenou Wrote:
Clocks Wrote:suffah, where do you buy the japanese text? Ive heard there arent many Japanese ebooks so im curious how you get them on your Kindle.
You might want to go have a look at the totally innocent Japanese books thread.
Well thats certainly easier than 'finding' things on the internet. Thanks! If I can confirm that Kobo does support Rakuten's Japanese e-books though, that seems like a much more convenient solution to finding Japanese books that you want.

again, it doesn't look too bad, but does it come with a Japanese dictionary?

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Javizy - 2012-03-23

I ended up sending my Kindle back, since it was way too dark and blurry compared to my iPod. I buy a ton of books on the Kindle store and read them on the PC/iPod app though. I'll be very pleased if I can start getting some Japanese books on it, although I imagine it'll involve a lot of tedious logging in and out.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - ta12121 - 2012-03-23

I remember someone on the forums recommend a sony e-reader(import version). That includes a Japanese Dictionary/reading look-ups. Plus it's designed for Japanese text, which is what we are looking for.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - IceCream - 2012-03-23

well, i thought i read somewhere that you couldn't buy books from the Japan store unless you live in Japan / have a Japanese address? Or was that something else?

Also, when i look at the UK site, it says nothing about a japanese dictionary, so... i guess i'd have to buy it from Japan? http://www.sony.co.uk/product/rd-reader-ebook/tab/overview

One thing all the Japanese readers seem to lack so far is a good selection of academic books. That kinda sucks...

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - Inny Jan - 2012-03-23

On my recent trip to Japan, I acquired a Japanese edition of Sony's Reader. The device is designed with a Japanese customer in mind, which means that:
1. Reader comes with three built-in dictionaries: 大辞林　第三版, ジーニアス英和辞典　第四版, New Oxford American Dictionary.
2. In order to buy books from Sony's Reader Store (a bookstore for this device) you need to have a credit card that has been issued in Japan. (Which, as I understand, you can get if you have permanent address in Japan and an account with Japanese bank.)

I wouldn't think that, let's say, UK or American editions of the Reader would come with those two features. Most likely they would be specifically designed for people from UK or America.

Although the second point might mean that there is limited use for a person not living in Japan to buy the Reader, I hope that you can buy books from other internet bookstores (like Kobo or Amazon) and once they reach agreement with Japanese publishers the limitation will become irrelevant. This theory is to be verified though. There is also Aozora Bunko so not all is lost.

Kindle 4 & Japanese dictionary - vileru - 2012-03-23

@IceCream
If you plan to purchase an e-reader for academic purposes, then an iPad is the way to go. Format issues can easily be dealt with by using third-party programs, which means an iPad can access a much wider body of literature than any of the e-readers that only display a limited number of formats.

Furthermore, there are a handful of third-party apps that make the research process much more efficient and convenient. Apps for citations, annotations, note-taking etc. Dropbox alone is a deal maker. There are even apps for drafting LaTex docs (although, I personally use my laptop for writing anything exceeding a few paragraphs).

At any rate, although this thread is about standalone e-readers, I want to emphasize that the iPad is an incredible research tool that should not be overlooked.

Note: the iPad has a built-in J-J dictionary.