I'm still slogging my way through RTK, I'm at 1360 now. However I'm starting to do sentences on the side using Assimil, which has really boosted my motivation for getting through RTK. I've bought some manga, which I've had a browse through, seeing what phrases I can work out.

Anyway, I have no dictionary. I've been doing some searching through the forum, but I've decided to make another thread just so I can get the latest, since technology seems to change often these days, and I'm sure peoples opinions have changed too.

So, I need a dictionary for Japanese media I view on my computer, and one for novels/manga I read when I'm not at a computer. Since I'm only a beginner, I assume a J-> E is what I'm looking for. For the computer, Rikaichan seems to be decent enough. But what can I use for when I'm on the go? Electronic dictionaries seem to be quite expensive, but I'm willing to pay out if they are useful enough. I've also seen that there are dictionaries available for iPod touch and Nintendo DS; neither of which I have, but I can get easily.

Since I'm open to any suggestions, I guess that's all the information you need. A dictionary for a beginner (that can hopefully last until I need a J->J), that you can use on the go. Thanks!

An iPod touch plus the Japanese app from CodefromTokyo is basically rikaichan on the go

I got a DS so that I could use the Kanji Dictionary (Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki DS) as well as play games, and hopefully try and do some homebrew projects of my own.

It's probably not the best for a beginner, but it does give you a pretty good idea of what the words mean. Plus, it's cheaper than an actual electronic dictionary or an iPod touch.

I use it when I'm on-the-go. Plus, you can make wordlists, so if you're reading and you want to remember the words you want to study later, you can add them to the lists.

Asriel Wrote:It's probably not the best for a beginner, but it does give you a pretty good idea of what the words mean. Plus, it's cheaper than an actual electronic dictionary or an iPod touch.

An 8gb iPod touch+green goddess is a bit cheaper than a DSi+sonomama, has a better dictionary with a better interface (and room for expansion), longer battery life, faster startup time, more portable, and does a lot more than a DS.

Get a DS if you want to play a lot of games too, but it is a vastly inferior dictionary solution compared to an ipod touch/iphone or 電子辞書. Personally I own both, but I only use my DS to run study software and the (very occasional) game. I also own a high end 電子辞書, but rarely use it now since iphone is perfect for on the go, and EPWING on my computer is better for when I'm at home.

Summary:
iPod touch/iPhone: best portable solution, cheap
電子辞書: Used to be the best solution, but now overpriced and out of date compared to the above - not worth buying
DS+sonomama: Only worth considering if you already have a DS (and are broke)
computer+EPWING: very expensive, not portable, but otherwise the best

Jarvik7 Wrote:An 8gb iPod touch+green goddess is a bit cheaper than a DSi+sonomama, has a better dictionary with a better interface (and room for expansion), longer battery life, faster startup time, more portable, and does a lot more than a DS.
...
DS+sonomama: Only worth considering if you already have a DS (and are broke)

Aah, really. I haven't been keeping up with the iPod/iPhone things at all. Besides, if I were to get an iPod, I would want something bigger than 8gbs, personally...

Yeah, already have DS + play other games + homebrew = excellent for me

I've used a DS, a Nokia n810 and I now have an iPhone. The iPhone (or iPod touch) is by FAR the best option. It's a much more versatile, smooth and more capable device.

I particularly like the iDict+ app as an iPhone dictionary - it is an EPWING reader and as such you can start off using it as J>E and E>J, then change it to J<>J when you are ready. It can also have name dictionaries, conjugations etc.

I also really like the DAIJISEN app, is has an awesome interface. I'm not ready for J<>J yet, but when I am, this will be my app of choice.

Not only can the iPod option be cheaper, but it also gives you much greater scope for using your device. The number of apps is phenomenal, and a surprisingly large number are actually good. For Japanese learners there are huge numbers of useful apps (not least Smart.fm, MangaBear, iBunko, Crunchyroll etc.). AnkiMini on the iPhone is also excellent.

Jarvik7 Wrote:An 8gb iPod touch+green goddess is a bit cheaper than a DSi+sonomama, has a better dictionary with a better interface (and room for expansion), longer battery life, faster startup time, more portable, and does a lot more than a DS.

How do I load green goddess in my Ipod touch ?

usis35 Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:An 8gb iPod touch+green goddess is a bit cheaper than a DSi+sonomama, has a better dictionary with a better interface (and room for expansion), longer battery life, faster startup time, more portable, and does a lot more than a DS.

How do I load green goddess in my Ipod touch ?

First get one bigger than 8 gb

I am kidding, have no idea, but would like to know more about this myself, might finally persuade me to make the leap to the ipod touch

Couldn't live without my iPod Touch. I only have about 2GB of music, so the 8GB model is enough for me, even though I have quite a few apps and a bunch of videos I haven't watched on it (you only get to use 7GB of the storage, by the way). You're probably better off getting the 16GB model since the fact that it's twice as fast makes up for the additional cost.

The Touch seems like the best all round option, since you can use iAnki. RevTK are developing an app too, if you use that to review Heisig. You can get kanji games, newspapers, manga, organise more than enough audio/video to get you through the day, and it's way more portable than the alternatives. There are a bunch more features you can get from jailbreaking after OS 4.0 is released too. I'm playing the Japanese version of FF6 on the SNES emulator, and can review with audio using AnkiMini.

Even if you end up wanting a 電子辞書 for some reason (I haven't 13 months on), you won't regret buying an iPod because of all the other features it has.

Personally I find the input of the DS and kanji sono mama irresistable. To input kanji by hand in an ipod touch or iphone, you have to use traditional chinese which isn't the same thing at all. The stroke order is different, they sometimes look different (kyuujitai) and some kanji aren't even there. So yeah, I personally prefer kanji sono mama until Apple gets their thumb out of their butt and fix proper recognition for japanese.

The DS also happens to have one of the best game libraries in the world AND it's SO easy to get a hold of Japanese games for it since it's regionfree. I really advice anyone who is a student of Japanese who likes games to buy a DS immediately. Then get a flashcard and start downloading Japanese games.

Here is Green Goddess (Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary) on the App Store... http://itunes.apple.com/app/id298252561?mt=8

[Katsuo]

"Green Goddess": I've always presumed that this term refers to the "dai" (largest) version of the Kenkyusha J-E dictionary, which has a green cover. The "chuu" version is much smaller in content, but should be enough for most beginning and intermediate students.

One slightly confusing thing about buying dictionaries from the App Store is that sometimes more than one implementation is available. I've seen two sources for the Kenkyusha "chuu": LogoVista and Keisokugiken. Also note that sometimes several dictionaries may be packaged together (more expensive, but could be useful for jumping).

Kenkyusha Chuu 中 (E-J & J-E) LogoVista also Keisokugiken Both 3,600 yen.
Kenkyusha Chuu 中 (J-E only) Keisokugiken 2,000 yen.
Kenkyusha Dai 大 (J-E) LogoVista 13,000 yen.

Keisokugiken "Ultra" package of dictionaries (Kenkyusha 中 J-E, E-J, Reader's, Koujien, Kangorin, and others): Ultra 13,000 yen.

It would be handy if you could try the different versions before buying, but you can't.

Katsuo Wrote:It would be handy if you could try the different versions before buying, but you can't.

If you have a jailbroken phone you can try before buying, by installing appsync from cydia then downloading the .ipa for the app you want to try from the internet and dropping it into itunes, then syncing your phone. All of those dictionaries are available on the net, and I think in this case one would be justified in testing them before buying.

Jarvik7 Wrote:An 8gb iPod touch+green goddess is a bit cheaper than a DSi+sonomama, has a better dictionary with a better interface (and room for expansion), longer battery life, faster startup time, more portable, and does a lot more than a DS.

I have both an iPod with a ton of dictionaries and a DS with sonomama. I don't really know why but I just like sonomama. Sure there are more complete dictionaries but I like the fact that you can quickly switch between J->J and J->E also a lot of the J->E entries have good examples. The main problem with my dictionaries on the iPod is that they are independent apps so it takes time to switch between them (especially since the awful way to do a cut'n'paste on that thing).

I would recommend the DS as well. The UI for 漢字そのままらくびき辞典 is a little cluttered and maybe a little hard for a novice, but after while you get used to it. A DS lite is only $119 and is enough for dictionary and games. DSi is for kids

I already own a DS, so I'm tempted to try the Sonomama dictionary. But I have a question about it. Does it let you spell out multi-kanji words? Or can you enter only one kanji at a time? I ask because I can't find a dictionary in which I can write out the entire compound at once; instead you put in one kanji and then search a giant list of compounds, hoping yours is on the list.

For that matter, does the electronic Green Goddess have this feature? And does it rely on the Chinese input of the iPod/iPad etc? I'd get it in a heartbeat if it had good handwriting recognition.

Yeah, the DS will let you do multi-kanji words just fine. It's got the Genius 2 dictionary in it, so it won't be the most robust, but it should work just fine if you're on a budget.

Or you can go Android and get DroidWing which handles EPWING dictionaries just fine. You don't even have to root/jailbreak/whatever. Just download Droidwing from the market, put the dictionaries on your SD Card, and you're good to go.

Droidwing will also search online dictionaries as well. So you can search as many sources as you want with one search.

I've got daijirin, kanjigen, kenkyuusha, NHK accent dictionary, and koujien, as well as a link to the yahoo online dictionaries, so there aren't many words I can't look up.

Thanks, rich_f. I went ahead and ordered the DS dictionary.

Do you have kenkyuusha for the iPod/iPad, or the paper version? I'm curious whether the iPod/iPad version has its own handwriting recognition and, if so, whether it recognizes multi-kanji words.

Groot --

I've got EBPocket (an EPWING reader) for iPod touch. I've got Kenkyuusha, Kanjigen, Daijirin, and I could add more, but it takes a while to upload them.

For handwriting recognition, you have to turn it on in the settings to read "Chinese Characters"
This said, you're getting Hanzi, not Kanji, although I've found that this only matters a very small number of times where they don't match up. Sometimes even then it doesn't matter.

It does recognize multi-kanji words, just like you would expect it to. Write in the full word, it'll find it in all the dictionaries that have it.

One of the things I don't like is the iPod's way of going back and forth between text. For example, if I want to delete something in the middle of the search field, ("自動は販売機" to delete the は) you have to either delete all the kanji at the end, or use the stupid way of moving your finger to zoom up into where you can try and put the cursor where you want.

I quite enjoy my iPod with EBPocket, Anki, (completely innocent) eBooks, Podcasts, etc...

Thanks, Asriel. Yes, I use the "Chinese characters" handwriting-recognition with "Japanese," the EDICT-based dictionary I currently use on my iPad. As you say, the handwriting-recognition understands most kanji, but now and then it doesn't, which I find irritating. I recently downloaded another dictionary with its own handwriting recognition, which I find much more reliable, but it can handle only one kanji at a time -- so I have to type in the first character and then search a compound list for the word in question, hoping I get lucky and find it quickly.

Anyway, I'll look at EBPocket. Thanks for the tip.

How does EBPocket compare to iDic? I'm thinking about using an EPWING reader since, in terms of iPhone apps, they're a much better value than some of the other dictionary apps mentioned, such as Kenkyusha.

To those who have used EPWING readers as well as Dajisen or Kenkyusha, how do they compare? The biggest drawback I see is the clunky interfaces of the EPWING readers, but I'm sure there other benefits and disadvantages that I'm missing.

I'm thinking about selling my denshi jisho and just using my iphone. For the people using epwing dictionaries on the iphone, how is it? I remember seeing people saying they can use daijirin and NHK accent something. How does one get them, and on the iphone? Legal, or less than legal.

I really like my iPod with dictionaries. I've never used a real denshi jisho, so I can't compare, but it's way better than my Nintendo DS. You can read my post above to read about my complaints about EBPocket (although it's more the iPod and not EBPocket...)

Getting them...doing some megaupload and/or torrent searches may reveal something...all though it's slightly less than legal.
Getting on the phone was done through wireless FTP. Worked fine, but took a little while -- dictionaries are quite large.