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I have the one from the second link.
I like it a lot.
It's all furigana and the definitions are clear and simple.
I haven't mined it too much for sentences to put into anki, I usually just use it for definitions to define new words on my cards. This is because the example sentences are usually fairly simple. (I find the definitions themselves to be more of a workout for my Japanese)
Here are a couple definitions and sentences for anyone that wants to see a sample:
なつかしい 【懐かしい】 （形容詞） 昔のことが思い出されて、心が引かれる。 （例）アルバムを見て、小さいころを懐かしく感じた。
（and it would have furigana, which I'll type out -> むかしのことがおもいだされて、こころがひかれる。 アルバムをみて、ちいさいころをなつかしくかんじた。）
みゃくはく 【脈はく】 （名詞） 心臓が血をおし出すたびに起こる、血管の規則正しい動き。 脈。 {参考} ふつう大人で一分間に六十～八十回くらい。 子どもはそれよりも多い。
(and the furigana → しんぞうがちをおしだすたびにおこる、 けっかんのきそくただしいうごき。みゃく。 ふつうおとなでいっぷんかんに六十～八十かいくらい。こどもはそれよりもおおい。
Edited: 2008-02-29, 9:15 am
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I picked up the one in the first link when I was in Tokyo in November. I'm guessing that since you can't get it new from Amazon that it's out of print now-- looks like the second one was published in November... just after I left.
My なつかしい and なつかしい definitions are the same as johnzep's, but I'd guess the new version is probably just a touch more up-to-date. I'd say get whichever one you want, or whichever one is cheaper. It's a good dictionary.
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OK, let me test the dictionary with the pen right here.
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Hmm... I don't think the pen likes this dictionary very much. I'm not really sure what's going on with it. I haven't had any problems with other books, but I hadn't bothered to try this dictionary yet. If I had to guess, it would be all the little words in boxes and circles that this dictionary uses that are throwing it off. Also, all of the entries are in vertical columns, so that may be putting extra stress on the software, combined with the font this particular dictionary uses. It's a font where all the characters have uniform thickness strokes, so maybe the software is having problems with it. I dunno...
The formal ceremony comes first.
まず正式な式典が行われます。
Ok, that's out of the Kodansha Communicative dictionary. Got it to work after a few tries, because I haven't used it in the last 10 days or so. (Been obsessing just on RTK.)
formal adj. (9f cere~~ny)正式な,フオ}
It doesn't really like mixed languages, huh? I think maybe when the software encounters "unexpected" characters, it gets buggy.
Let me try just the sentences from the チャレンジ小学国語辞典...
... no, it's not working. The text is too crowded, I think, and it's confusing the scanner. Sometimes it'll read the wrong column, other times just the furigana...but it's a mess with this book. Maybe someone can try with a regular scanner/OCR combo?
This pen thing is better suited to textbooks and things that aren't so crowded, I think. I've scanned vertical text from a light novel, so I know it can do vertical. I'd still get this dictionary-- just be prepared to do some typing, unless you can find a better scanner.
If you're looking for dictionary sentences, there's always online options too, btw.
Ah, and if you're just looking to pick sentences out of the dictionary, use the excite.jp one-- it uses the kenkyusha dictionary. It's free, and it comes with translations if you want them.
Edited: 2008-02-29, 11:55 am
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I admit I hadn't thought of getting a dictionary for kids. That's an excellent idea to get started with a Japanese only dictionary. I just ordered stuff from amazon.co.jp this week so I'll wait a while (it's best to order a lot of stuff at once as there is a one time shipping fee of 3400円 for every order that includes books (when shipping to Europe))
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Thanks for the tip, vosmiura-- I'll try it and see if it helps.
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Ah, no, still won't scan cleanly. I'll see if I can find a software update for it or something.
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Nope, no software update. I tried using it on text in the back, which was horizontal... no love. I think the pen has serious issues with certain fonts. It has no problems with the standard Japanese fonts, but the "sans-serif" or whatever you'd call it fonts don't seem to be recognized well. I'll see if I can dig up some more material with these kinds of fonts-- it could also be because the text in this dictionary is waaay tiny and crowded.
I'd be interested to see if anyone with a regular flatbed and OCR software has any trouble with it.
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Okay, testing it with a book I found "Breakthrough Japanese" with a similar font:
日本の食べ物は好きですか?
あまり好きじゃないです?
That was the first try, and no mistakes.
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Ah, tried it with one of my JLPT practice books with a more stylized version of the font-- and it totally craps out. (日本語パワーアップ series) So it looks to me to be a function of the font used, and a function of the developers going cheap on the SW development.
So yes, the scanner pen works... if you're using mostly textbooks and not scanning anything with a non-standard font. It won't work on this dictionary.
Edited: 2008-02-29, 5:51 pm
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@ pm215
Yes thats what I thought. While it makes things a little uncertain its good that their not actually making a profit from shipping.
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I too have the old version and I adore it! When I'm having problems understanding a definition from the sanseido online dictionary, looking for the same word on this dictionary simply enlightens me.
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i have the Bennesse 小学国語辞書 as well... i love it's easy to understand definitions and examples... i even started to enter sentences on Anki from it for about a month... but, after awhile, I decided that it would be much better to learn to read a dictionary such as Yahoo辞書 or whatever because I could copy and paste easily everything that I wanted to study... I have gone back to studying kanji and grammar for awhile before I go back into that.. i want to finish out the 常用漢字 readings and The Dictionary of Japanese Grammar (all 3 books) before I attempt to tackle that monster...
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I've got the book too, but I just use it to read up definitions of words I don't understand (no SRSing etc). Half the time I don't understand the definition either, but I don't bother looking up the words in the definition.
