Perhaps I am being as bit dim, but I can't find a topic offering advice on a good Japanese-English English-Japanese dictionary. Any suggestions?

I want to steer clear of romaji, if possible. If the dictionary has proper Japanese text, with furigana to transliterate kanji, but also shows romaji, that's all right, but I want to avoid becoming over-reliant on romaji.

Does anyone know Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary? There are Japanese-English and English-Japanese versions, and one that combines both. It seems to be good, but I have never seen it in real life, so would welcome any comments before committing to it.

Thanks.

I have Kodansha's Furigana J-E/E-J dictionary (in one volume) and I think it's great. In both sections (E-J and J-E) it provides example sentences in both English and Japanese for all but the most concrete words. This helps to get a feel for words that have different meanings, the right particle to use with which verb, and words that may translate from Japanese into a familiar English word but are used differently.

Also, it's not enormous - thick but not too big, so it's very information-dense and not too hard to carry around.

See my reply here:
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...9#pid58459

The Kodansha dictionary is okay, but you'll outgrow it fast. An online dictionary like dic.yahoo.co.jp is great if you use an SRS, because you can just copy/paste right into it.

Free is better than $60 anytime in my book. Save the $60 and buy some books.

Thanks. I do specifically want a real book. I'm old and feel more comfortable with books. And, more to the point, I don't always have access to a computer.

But, I shall certainly also look at free on-line stuff too. Anything that helps...

Thanks again.

研究社新和英大辞典, nothing else matters.

It does cost one or two hundred dollars in deadtree form, but deadtree dictionaries are borderline useless.

Actually, printed dictionaries are bloody useful if you're not in front of a computer, and if you like browsing dictionaries and other books. I like them.

I stumbled on a good overview of various dictionaries here

http://www.gally.net/translation/kokugo.htm

This is kind of related and I didn't want to start a new thread so about Rikaichan: how do I make it stay on? It's super annoying, I activate rikaichan to check something but a minute later when I try it on a new compound, it won't do anything until I deactivate/activate it and I have no idea why. Side-note: is there some way to turn off the translations in Rikaichan? I find myself trying to avoid reading the translations, feels silly...

In my humble opinion, 新和英大辞典 published by 研究社 is the best J-E dictionary. The Japanese entries are written by Japanese experts on the Japanese language so the dictionary represents the current natural usages and include idiomatic phrases that other J-E dictionaries often fail to explain. It's so well-designed native Japanese speakers can use it as a simple usage dictionary of their mother tongue.

You might be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of usages a single word has because the Japanese entries include a bunch of usages even J-J dictionaries for native speakers don't explain. But if you really want to be good at Japanese, it's a must-have if you ask me. Normally I don't recommend a bilingual dictionary to learn a foreign language, but it's a rare tome you can use to deepen your understanding through various idiomatic example sentences.

I often answer questions about word usage on this forum, and I often find the right examples that illustrate the point in question in this dictionary. Your average J-E dictionary and textbook suck so hard in this regard, which I think is the reason why learners keep posting questions in the first place.

As for E-J dictionaries, I have yet to see a decent one that I can recommend to Japanese learners. I think every E-J dictionary equally sucks when it comes to learning Japanese. If you have to resort to an E-J dictionary, you most likely come out sounding like a machine translator. I understand sometimes you just need to know the Japanese equivalent of an obscure noun like the name of your favorite flower, though.

sushidushi Wrote:Actually, printed dictionaries are bloody useful if you're not in front of a computer, and if you like browsing dictionaries and other books. I like them.

I always have an ipod touch, denshi jisho, or DS somewhere handy.

Jarvik7 Wrote:

sushidushi Wrote:Actually, printed dictionaries are bloody useful if you're not in front of a computer, and if you like browsing dictionaries and other books. I like them.

I always have an ipod touch, denshi jisho, or DS somewhere handy.

Yeah, get a electronic dictionary, that's the way to go these days and way faster. DS is also a cheaper option and can play (surpise) games.

Thanks, all. I understand why people prefer electronic resources, but I just love real books. The fact that they are slower to use is, in some ways, an advantage. I often intend to check one word and end up spending ages flipping pretty much randomly through the dictionary to look up things that catch my eye.

Not a good way of knocking off 200 kanji a day or anything, but it's fun.