Hi Folks,

I'm looking for a good monolingual dictionary for Mac OS X.

Right now I'm using JEdict, which only uses single-word English definitions and doesn't convey any nuance, as a dictionary should. I'd rather not use online dictionaries, since I have ~2hrs of commuting time each day where I'm studying and the web is unavailable.

Any suggestions?

Open your dictionary in OSX. Go to preferences, click on Japanese dictionary. Voila.

OMFG. RisuMiso, that has persuaded me to upgrade at last to Leopard--er, Snow Leopard. Dictionary 2.0 only came in after Tiger. Maybe this weekend. Thanks for the protip. ^_^

Ah, I just have leopard. I didn't know it didn't exist before. But yeah, yet another reason why mac's are awesome.

You can also get some EPWING dictionaries and open them up in コトノコ or Jamming.

Let's be honest. Epwing readers blow, in general. I've never found a single one that works with most of the epwing resources I've found and when I did find one that sort of worked, it was one of the most obtuse bullshit trials of frustration I've ever had to endure.

I agree that they aren't ideal, but they are WAY ahead of the native OSX dictionary app in both features and interface.

Did you know you can add your favorite dictionaries in various kids of formats to the built-in pop-up dictionary app?

http://davidtse916.wordpress.com/2008/01...n-leopard/

Only stardict dictionaries... The only Japanese ones available are just converted EDICT files...

No thanks

I'm with Jarvik7, コトノコ is good stuff.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Only stardict dictionaries... The only Japanese ones available are just converted EDICT files...

No thanks

I've never used converted dictionaries, but what's the problem with them? If I remember correctly, it can handle dictionaries converted from Babylon, so I think you can install Meikyo J-J dic etc. It may not be the best way, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to have additional dictionaries and to be able to use them with a short cut command unless you disabled the built-in app for some reason. Does your dictionary app require you to disable the built-in app or something?

The response was directed to the "all of your favorite" part of your post.

I didn't say "all of" or "in any file format" though.

But I must admit that I didn't know it could be difficult to convert files in some major formats to stardict 2.0 or 3.0 because I've seen lots of converted dictionaries floating on the internet.

Come to think of it, J-J dictionaries are usually in minor formats. I'm satisfied with 大辞泉 and 明鏡, so personally I have no complaints about it. But if your favorites are only available in a minor format, maybe you can't use them.

It is not because they are converted that they are bad, it is because they are based on EDICT.

And 大辞泉 is awesome.

In my opinion TranslateIt is best dictionary for Mac users. Although this is multilingual dictionary but can be used in English if you want so. English dictionary for Mac has so many enhanced features and options using which you can easily find out meaning of any part word along with its usage information.

Great that the topic was pushed again
Lately, I used a Denshi Jisho of a friend a lot and I kinda liked it. I really would like to have such a thing on my Windows machine and I wonder if StarDict is the best choice.
On a Russian site I found "DigDic" and "EbWin" as EPWING viewers, too, and I wonder which is the best. Any experiences?

Tori-kun Wrote:Great that the topic was pushed again
Lately, I used a Denshi Jisho of a friend a lot and I kinda liked it. I really would like to have such a thing on my Windows machine and I wonder if StarDict is the best choice.
On a Russian site I found "DigDic" and "EbWin" as EPWING viewers, too, and I wonder which is the best. Any experiences?

I prefer EPWING over Stardict, as there are EPWING viewers for every major OS, and smartphone. Stardict does have nifty Rikaichan-like pop-ups, but Rikaisama is fine for most of my needs. I use both EPWING readers and Stardict when I'm on Windows though.

EBWin is good. I've never used DigDic. I mainly use EBWin for everyday use because I like the interface, and qolibri for anything EBWin crashes on, like Eijirou.

EBwin does not crash on Eijirou here Using EBwin 3.05 (Unicode) and 英辞郎１０３ on Win7 Ultimate.

EBMac works great on the Mac, and actually let's me use 三省堂 and 広辞苑 and even read a reference book on 手紙実 . The only program I've found so far that gives access to almost all functions of EPwing dictionaries. If EBWin is as good it must be the program of choice.