I'm wondering if anyone can check this page out:

http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/catalog/...16800.html

and let me know what they think of this edictionary? I'm not up to the level where I'm going to buy it yet, but I'm thinking this is the one I'll get in a few months. Maybe use my tax return or something to make it cheap. Anyway, some might see this as overkill but it seems to have a lot of terrific features including a lot of Japanese audio, encyclopedia, etc. Plus, I'm a bit of a gadget lover and figure if you're going to get something, might as well get the best. Any thoughts?

If you have a Mac, there are built-in Japanese-Japanese and Japanese-English dictoinaries that are as good (maybe better since it has so many good example sentences) as the ones used in electronic dictionaries.

Personally, I have a Canon Wordtank V300, but I used my Mac OSX dictionaries much more often.

On a side, those same dictionaries are going to be on the iPad as well, since Apple is porting them over..... :-)

$600!? Why not get an iPhone with 大辞林 and a 和英・英和辞書. You can use Anki too, and carry around media with you so you can get exposure on the go. Then there's all the other non-Japanese stuff you can do with an iPhone that help justify the cost. If you don't want a phone, then an iPod touch works out even cheaper. I'm not sure why people even buy these electronic dictionaries anymore...

I've known many people with the expensive Casio dictionaries.

But IMHO, they are worth it if you put them to good use.
They contain many specialized dictionaries and lists that you can't
find anywhere else (business, medical, technology,etc).

Until you have become reasonably fluent in Japanese, there probably isn't
so much need for the specialized dictionaries (below I bolded dictionaries that I think are interesting).

Something about this dictionary is that it is packed with study tools.
Maybe you can find free apps here and there that do similar functions,
but these dictionaries have everything in one place (not to mention incredible
battery life. 150 hours for this dictionary).

So yeah, they are overpriced, but for users they are indispensible.
I know a Japanese translator with an older model Casio dictionary from over 5 years ago and it still works beautifully. I wonder if an iPhone could last that long without any issues.

Here is the feature set list:

Display
528 x 320 full dot-matrix liquid crystal indication
117 x 66. 1 mm touch panel
Letter Input Method
Kana, Romaji, Korean and Russian input
Character Size on Screen


* 48 dot, 24 dot, 16 dots for Japanese
* 24 dot, 16 dot, 12 dots for Romaji

Japanese


* Kojien Japanese-Japanese Dictionary (6th Ed.) – Approx. 240,000 entries
* Meikyo Japanese-Japanese Dictionary - Approx. 70,000 entries
* Seisenban Japanese-Japanese Dictionary (3 Volume Set) – Approx. 300,000 entries
* New Kangorin Kanji Dictionary - 14,353 featured kanji, approx. 50,000 words included
* A Dictionary of Synonyms in Japanese - Approx. 25,000 entries (divided into 6,000 groups)
* Zenyaku Kogo Jiten (Classical Japanese Dictionary, 3rd Ed.) – Approx. 22,500 entries
* Comprehensive Japanese Thesaurus – Approx. 1044 categories & 320,000 entries
* Gendai Katakana Dictionary - Approx. 13,700 entries & 1,700 abbreviated words
* NHK Japanese Accent Dictionary - Approx. 69,000 entries
* Meikyo Proverbs Dictionary - Approx. 4,055 entries
* Yojijukugo Dictionary - Approx. 2,653 entries
* Japanese Collocation Dictionary - Approx. 4,000 entries

English


* New Kenkyusha Japanese English Daijiten Dictionary (5th Ed.) – Approx. 480,000 entries
* Leader's English-Japanese Dictionary (Kenkyusha, 2nd Ed.) – Approx. 270,000 entries
* Leader's Plus English-Japanese Dictionary (Kenkyusha) – Approx. 190,000 entries
* Random House English-Japanese Dictionary (2nd Ed.) – Approx. 345,000 entries
* Genius English-Japanese Daijiten Dictionary – Approx. 255,000 entries
* Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary (3rd Ed.) - Approx. 90,000 entries
* The Kenkyusha Dictionary of English Collocations – Approx. 380,000 entries
* Spell Vocabulary by Katakana Dictionary – Approx. 67,000 entries
* New Oxford Dictionary of English – Approx. 355,000 entries
* Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Ed.) – Approx. 250,000 entries
*
Oxford English Thesaurus – Approx. 600,000 entries
* Oxford Collocations Dictionary – Approx. 9,000 main entries & 250,000 total words
* Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary – Approx .183,500 entries
* Longman Modern English-English Dictionary – Approx. 207,000 entries
* Japanese-English Dictionary of Technical Terms – Approx. 1 million entries
* English-Japanese Dictionary of Technical Terms – Approx. 1 million entries
* Oxford Learner's Wordfinder Dictionary - Approx. 630 keywords, 31,000 entries
* Oxford Idioms - Approx. 10,000 entries
* Oxford Phrasal Verbs - Approx. 6,000 entries
* And more

Studying


* Royal English Grammar Guide – 395 entries
* Japan History Encyclopedia – Approx. 6,800 entries
* World History Encyclopedia – Approx. 7,200 entries
* TOEIC English Vocabulary and Phrases Mastery – 2,000 entries
* TOEFL Perfect Vocabulary – 700 entries
* Kanken (Kanji test) Drills for KanKen Levels 2, 3 and 4
* TOEIC Test Idioms 730 – 883 entries
* And more

Business Information


* Nikkei PC Terminology Encyclopedia 2009 – Approx. 5,300 entries
* Nihon Keizai Shimbun Economy & Business Dictionaries Series – Includes economy, management, stock market, finance, real estate dictionaries and more
* Nikkei Business Keywords – Approx. 1,000 entries
*New Business Words English Dictionary – Approx. 11,000 entries
* English Letter Dictionary - Approx 200 examples
*
And more

Life Reference


* Encyclopedia (Mypedia Electronic Dictionary Edition) - 66,000 entries; 1,800 illustrations [the Hitachi system and service]
* Britannica International Encyclopedia – Approx. 154,000 entries (In Japanese)
* Nikkei Health Supplement Encyclopedia 2008 – Approx. 1,000 entries
* Home Medical Encyclopedia – Approx. 5,000 entries
* Japanese Counters Reference Book – Approx. 4,600 entries
* English Listening Crossword Puzzle - Approx. 30 questions
* Japanese Crossword Puzzle - Approx. 30 questions
* National Geographic Visual History of the World - Approx. 650 entries
* And more

English Conversation, Travel, Etc.


* JTB Travel Language Guides (in 12 different languages) – Approx. 2,000 entries each
* English Conversation Dictionary – Approx. 8,000 example phrases
* Travel English Approximately
* Dr. PASSPORT Essential Travel Helpers (in 7 different languages) – Approx. 350 entries each
* English Pronunciation Guide Book
* Kikutan Series (Entry, Basic, Advanced, Super)
* Kikutan Reading Series (Basic, Advanced, Super)
* And more

Additional Functions


* Abundant search functions which can be utilized quickly and easily
* Multiple dictionary example search
* Multiple dictionary jump function
* Example forming phrase jump search
* Word register function/history search
* Japanese & English keyword example search
* Chinese character partial reading search
* Spelling search and common phrase search
* Preview and layout change function
* Back light, 3 letter sizes, favorite dictionary register function
* Two input methods for ON/OFF function, automatic power off
* Dictionary key direct power source ON function and resume
* Phonetic sign indication and simple search mode change
* 12 column portable calculator
* Ultra-high-density liquid crystal (touch panel), large screen longhand panel
* EX-VOICE, voice CD taking function
* Display vertical writing function
* Highlighter word card, study notebook function (memory card/wordbook/finding memo)
* Handwritten input /hand-written operation function/touch operation function of the main panel

Power Source
2 X AA batteries
Electric Battery Life
Approximately 150 hours depending on frequency of use of back light and voice function
Size
Depth 106.5 x width 148.5 x height 16.3 mm (thinnest section when closed), height 18.9 mm (thickest section when closed)
Weight
Approximately 300 g (battery included)
Accessories


* One stylus
* Earphones (3.5 mm plug)
* USB cable
* 2 X AA batteries

Hmmm, I guess it's all those dictionaries that put the price up. I've seen medical and law dictionaries in the iTunes Store, and they were ridiculously expensive. I'm not suggesting these devices are somehow inferior, but are they the best solution overall for the money?

It's unlikely you'll need to know a word that won't be contained in 大辞林 unless you're working in one of those specialist fields. Of all the words I've ever looked up, my J-E dictionary has only failed to find one or two 擬態語, and that only has 156,000 entries or so.

Personally, I just use my J-E dictionary to make vocabulary lists, and then automatically grab the definitions from goo to put in my flashcards. I don't remember anything simply by reading definitions, so I've barely got any value from 大辞林 since I don't bother using it. Same with the 四字熟語 dictionary I bought. Being able to look up translations of phrases with i英辞郎 is useful when writing though.

Naturally, it's going to depend on how you learn and how you study and what your needs are. My dictionary does what I need it to, and I find being able to do 50 reviews when I'm stirring my instant ramen or 500 on a boring train journey worth the price of an iPod in itself. Plus I can play 熟語クロス and what not

I almost paid way more than the price of my iPod for a dictionary, and I haven't regretted choosing the iPod in the 14 months I've had it. I'm just suggesting taking a bit of time to think about your options before you jump into anything.

Not that specific model, but this forum thread has a couple of people (including me) saying they have and like some of the other Casio dictionaries (I have the XD-GP9700). I'm not sure I'd pay the extra $120 for the A10000 over the A9800, though. (Perhaps if you're into Classical Japanese?) This summary of dictionaries suggests that the Kojien has a better rep than the Daijisen but isn't necessarily better, especially for non-native speakers.

Mostly on mine I use the Daijisen and Meikyo J-J dictionaries plus the Kenkyusha J-E. The encyclopaedias are sometimes useful for a quick summary of some bit of Japanese culture or history (plus general random browsing). Some of the editorial columns in the "Japanese Counters Reference Book" were vaguely diverting reading. The rest is (for me) baggage, but then I bought it for the dictionaries rather than the random extras...

(On the ipod/iphone approach, this page suggests that input is via keyboard IME only, no kanji handwriting recognition. If that's still true, it would be a critical missing feature for me.)

pm215 Wrote:(On the ipod/iphone approach, this page suggests that input is via keyboard IME only, no kanji handwriting recognition. If that's still true, it would be a critical missing feature for me.)

There's Chinese handwriting input. It's generally okay with your finger, although the pogo stylus makes it more accurate. Personally, I prefer typing in words containing the kanji I'm trying to look up if I can't guess the reading. For example, 経行 didn't come up when I typed けいこう, so I typed 経験 and 行く (not a useful word by the way). That seems to be the most efficient way for me, although sometimes I have no choice but to write them.

Thanks for everyone's comments. I understand others might have a problem with me spending the money on the dictionary, but as I said, I like gadgets and why not get the best. I personally was interested in this option because of all the features it advertises, plus it seems to integrate sound with text so it seems to me like it'd be a great way to really get immersed in Japanese.

I was mostly looking to see if people thought it was actually a decent dictionary. Seems like, though some of you might have a problem spending so much, it is still at least not a complete waste. Thanks.

I bought an older casio ex-word model off amazon.jp for a far lower price. It's a XD-GP6900 and it has the daijiten and the daijisen. I think it was around 2万円. Then I just added the Kenkyusha green goddess to it after.

[Katsuo]

Advantage of the Casio is to have so many useful books interlinked all in one package; jumping between dictionaries is quick and easy. I've played around with this model in a local store and would love to have one.

My only major gripe is the absence of a multi-radical look-up facility in the kanji dictionary. This has long been a standard feature on other makes and, for me, is usually the most efficient method for finding a particular kanji.

The iPod Touch is more portable and far more versatile. If you are a gadget lover you need one of these too! As mentioned in other posts above, the finger-drawn kanji input is for Chinese, but can be used for Japanese kanji to some extent as well. It finds the correct character maybe 80% of the time (but doesn't do kana, of course). Some apps get round this by having their own built-in Japanese writing recognition system.

One frustrating thing about the iPod from a Japanese-learning point of view is that to switch between apps you need to close them. As well as the short delay involved, many apps do not remember their closing state, so on reopening you have to navigate back to where you were before.

Links to catalogues & user manuals.

Katsuo Wrote:Advantage of the Casio is to have so many useful books interlinked all in one package; jumping between dictionaries is quick and easy. I've played around with this model in a local store and would love to have one.

Casio has long had this feature...

Ex: If I want to find 清 I just enter in さんずい　あおい. Or I can select 氵 in the radical list and then enter in あおい as one of the parts. It's pretty much always faster to just do it the first way though.

I rarely use my denshijisho anymore since I got an iPod touch (and then an iPhone) though. The kenkyuusha J-E dictionary + Daijinrin + Kanjigen is good enough for on the go, and when at home I have my awesome EPWING setup.

[Katsuo]

Jarvik7 Wrote:

Katsuo Wrote:Advantage of the Casio is to have so many useful books interlinked all in one package; jumping between dictionaries is quick and easy. I've played around with this model in a local store and would love to have one.

Casio has long had this feature...

Ex: If I want to find 清 I just enter in さんずい　あおい. Or I can select 氵 in the radical list and then enter in あおい as one of the parts. It's pretty much always faster to just do it the first way though.

Slightly confused by this... did you mean to quote the second paragraph of my post?

I've only found multi-radical look-up on Casios with the KanjiGen. Newer ones with the Kangorin don't have it (or if they do, I couldn't find it).

err yeah..

I've never used any with kangorin, but I'd be surprised if they removed such a major feature.

According to Kakaku, you can find that Casio for 44,599 yen at 3 stores. Here's the Kakaku page on the XD-A-10000:

http://kakaku.com/item/K0000077542/

If you use some of the other shopping services (forget which... but they're not hard to find... maybe PriceJapan?), they'll buy from the cheaper shops on Kakaku for you and ship to you for *probably* less than the WRP price. Depends on shipping/fees. I noticed the WRP price didn't include EMS shipping as well, which is usually a small bomb.

If you bought it at a major electronics shop you'll also get a significant amount of points. The MSRP for my 電子辞書 was 70,000円, but after the lower store price, a small amount of bargaining (free case and extra points), and the points (23%!), I ended up only paying like 30,000円.

Import stores are a ripoff. I ordered my first 電子辞書 online (Aiko trading) before I first came to Japan. It cost at least 50% over the store cost, and the "free case" was just one of those crap cloth zip up bags they sell at the 100yen store, not the proper case.

Yeah, I had similar experiences. I bought my first one from an importer and paid way too much... probably $100 over what it should have been. The second one I bought while over in Japan on vacation at Bic Camera, got it at a decent price, and got hooked up with a point card, too. I used some of the first batch of points to get a good shock-absorbent case for it.

I had around 5000 yen in points by the time I was getting ready to leave the country, so I used them to buy more crap to take home with me.

I am a user of the XD-GF10000, which is the model released the year before the one you considering to buy.

In short, I am extremely happy with it. I waited until the casio XD-A10000 was very close to release, so that I could get the lowest price possible in stores. It was still expensive (45000 yen at bic camera, but I did get lots of points for it), but I do not have a credit card at the moment, so ordering through Kakaku would be too complicated.

Still, I do not regret it, and it was worth every penny.
However, it is not appropriate for everyone, and my needs are specific.

First, I am a Master course student of the University of Tokyo, and I will study architecture history of the 16th century. After I learn normal Japanese, I will have to study Classical and Meiji-period japanese, so as to decipher old documents. Besides my learning, I have other Japanese in the lab who can assist me.

So, I needed a really good quality set of dictionaries, including a classical one.
I already did RTK, so kanji handwriting recognition makes the process extremely fast (I spent one year doing RTK, and always writing every single kanji, so now my writing is very fast) and simple. The only serious lack would be a Japanese names and places dictionary (although the japanese dictionaries cover it partly), but I will try to copy edict and the names/places dictionary in epwing format and put it on the SD slot of the electronic dictionary.

While my overall japanese level is somewhat between JLPT 3 and 2, it is sufficient to make the best use of the electronic dictionary. I managed to master practically all of its functions in a week of casual use, but I think people who are below JLPT 3 will have some hard time. They can certainly do the basic search stuff, but there are many small interesting functions that beginners will not discover at first.

Right now, of course I am using mostly the Green Goddess, but I have already made use of several monolingual dictionaries for several small things, and that use will only increase with time.

Also, another peculiarity of mine is that I strongly dislike Apple products. I grew up with Windows, and I am used to being able to customize stuff to the very limit (When I bought my Sony Vaio in Japan, I spent a week reconfiguring the whole OS for optimal speed) , and Apple's OS is just too restrictive and dumbed down for me. I hate ITunes with a passion, for reasons that are not within the scope of this text, and for me Apple products might be jacks of all trades, but I have a hard time tailoring them to do any specific function to the maximum of their abilities. I have to use a Mac desktop at the lab, and it's tremendously frustrating to handle, almost counter-intuitive for me (especially when it comes to web browsing and changing between applications and windows).

Therefore, I much rather prefer to spend my money in specific products which do one thing with great detail and efficiency, than have jacks-of-all trades. I have no use for an Iphone. I already have a cell-phone from AU which cost 1 yen (on a 2 year plan, and it already has GPS, more applications than I have use for, internet, yadayada), I already have a laptop that plays games with more quality than an Iphone, I already have an MP3 player that does not have the restrictions that apple imposes on its users, where I can listen to a wide variety of audio formats without the need for any Itunes software. I was a heavy user of Edict, and I still appreciate all the hard work that people did and do on it. But once I started using the Green Goddess, I was floored by how much more nuances I could understand at first sight. It might not have as much words as Edict, but it is an excellent resource that will improve anyone's studies.

So, for all of these reasons, this Casio dictionary is great for me.

BUT, for most people, it would be a waste of money. Most of my foreign colleagues only need to learn general, normal level japanese, and they will not really need to use Japanese in a serious way in their academic studies.

For them, the Iphone is more than perfect, and highly recommended.

So, as a summary, the Casio is recommended in these cases:

--If you need to do serious, in-depth japanese language study (classical, literature, translation, writing thesis in Japanese, etc)
--If you are now leaving the beginner stage and entering intermediate level
--If you already mastered RTK (to make good use of the kanji recognition feature)

My only quirks with my model are:

-screen contrast is not good, even after adjustment (problem solved in the ad10000)
-kanji recognition can be picky at times (but most of the time it works great)

I recommend that you wait for the prices to lower. Next February, the new models will be launched, so if you can wait until January, I think you will get a much better bang for your buck.

Just bought the Japanese Language Tools PDA "Complete System" - http://www.japaneselanguagetools.com/complete.html

Looking forward to giving a review.

I bought this dictionary at the end of January in Ueno. I like it a lot, but I'm comparing it to older Canon dictionaries. The hand-drawn entry for characters seems to work well enough for me, and the character dictionary is large. I like the NHK accent dictionary, and use it a lot. The J->E capabilities seem fine so far, but I haven't put them to use much yet. Mostly, I've been working on some of the more uncommon Japanese characters, and I'm using it for learning some Chinese pronunciations, etc, as well.

I wish the dictionaries were more integrated. Once I find a word in the Kojien, I'd like to get the accent markings right there, but the dictionaries are all separate. You can often get the pronunciation by tapping on the screen. I'm going to have to look at all the various functions, though, when I get to more serious use. Generally, though, I'm not a "power user" as far as device features.

I probably will get an iPhone this summer, but I still like having a dictionary that doesn't run on phone batteries. I likely will look for some BlackBerry tools as soon as I learn how to use mine.

bertoni Wrote:I bought this dictionary at the end of January in Ueno. I like it a lot, but I'm comparing it to older Canon dictionaries.

Canon dictionaries have always been pretty substandard. They are only common among foreigners since they offer(ed?) English manuals and are somewhat cheaper than the competition (which just means extra profit for price gouging importers). I've never seen a Japanese person with one and if you check the rankings at Electronics stores almost the entire top-10 is Casio.

I'm not trying to bash Canon or anything, I love their cameras and printers and I think pretty much everything Casio makes is bad EXCEPT their dictionaries

I agree that the dictionary on my old Canons weren't all that good, but neither am I. They were fairly convenient to use, though, which was a plus. The Casio is nice, but doesn't seem to "jump" as well as my previous units. It's far, far better, as far as content, of course.

The advantages of having an electronic dictionary can't be over stress. Yes, they are very expensive. However, the convenience is the ability to search multiple databases of words for their sense and meaning.

Of the Ex-word Dataplus 5 only the A10000, among a selection of other models, have the 70,000 Native Japanese words recorded. This is a great feature for those who want to improve their listen and pronunciation of Japanese words.
http://casio.jp/exword/feature/hardware_6/

It is possible to study new Japanese words and listen to the correct pronunciations. This seems to be a good way of help retaining new Kanji's and words. All the Ex-word Dataplus 6 have this feature.

The Dataplus 5 and Dataplus 6 contain the correct stroke sequence for each of the first 1962 Kanji.

The Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionaries haves example of sentences in both languages.

There are a wealth of other features that some might find interesting.

For those you use their computer a lot the device can be powered by the USB port.

The A10000 has many Japanese and English Dictionaries that are not contained in Casio's less expensive models. However, Casio's other EX-word XD-B/XD-SC/XD-A models and models from other manufactures are worth investigating.

The A10000 is worth the investment for those whose desire is to have a very deep understanding of Japanese.

[Katsuo]

Omoishinji Wrote:Yes, they are very expensive.

My local branch of Ksdenki (store map) has the A10000 on sale for 29,000 yen at the moment, i.e. about half the original price. Probably the range has been updated and they are being sold off.

tokyostyle Wrote:I'm not really sure why this 1.5 year old thread was bumped, but there are better dictionaries for learners of Japanese.

It was because I left a comment. This post was about the XD-A10000, so I didn't want to write about the XD-B10000.

I was looking for reviews or comments on the XD-A10000 when I came across this post, as I was interested in the NHK 日本語発音アクセント辞典.

I find it up to the individual to decide on which dictionary is best for them, but only a few are available outside of Japan. Once you are ready to prepare for the N5 any dictionary will do. As, I said before it is up to the individual.

I do how ever like how they incorporated the 楷行草 筆順字典 with the 新漢語林 in the Ex-Word Dataplus 6 series.

tokyostyle Wrote:

Omoishinji Wrote:I was looking for reviews or comments on the XD-A10000 when I came across this post, as I was interested in the NHK 日本語発音アクセント辞典.

I have this dictionary if there is anything you want to know about it. The voice does the correct, naked pitch of the words. For example you can hear the difference between 病院 and 美容院 very clearly. It doesn't seem to have any example sentences though.

...

Anyway, the XD-A10000 is awesome. I didn't mean to imply it wasn't, but for most people a Casio dictionary that is half the price will fit them just as well or even better. However, if you're going to use the business, legal, and medical dictionaries then there is really no substitute.

I came across NHK 日本語発音アクセント辞典 and another pronunciation dictionary at my local bookstore. From what I remember the paper version don't have sample sentences either.

Sorry, my comment meant that people have different considerations for purchasing a electronic dictionary. With Casio having a good range of dictionaries for different purposes, people sometimes get confused. I just don't want to add to the confusion.

My view on the XD-A10000/B10000 is that they are designed for professionals. Which would intimidate any language learner. I have seen people with electronic dictionaries that look over 5 years old.

Some electronic dictionaries seem to be only recommended because they have English/Chinese manuals. I for one am more satisfied with trying to figure out the Japanese manual, and how to use the electronic dictionary on my own. This is because I view it as all part of the learning process. Or, I am just crazy....?