A Denshi Jisho Dictionary Review

[Big Booger]

http://www.bornplaydie.com/japan/dictionary/dictionary.htm#sharp_canon

Thought some of you might get something out of that link. It compares all the recently released models of dictionaries for the Japanese learner.. Several makers are reviewed, but the main focus is on the two top contenders, sharp and Canon.. But seiko, Casio and a few others are mentioned.

I am probably going to get the Canon G50. Because it's what I need.

This is what sets it apart from ketai and PDA based dictionaries:

The second new function was not announced, or at least I didn't here about it until I bought the G50. When you are looking at a kanji in the Kanjigen dictionary, you can push the Spelling button and it will animate the drawing of the kanji displaying not only the stroke order, but also the direction of the strokes. I believe it will do this for 2,600 of the kanji listed.

I mean, getting the stroke order is very helpful when learning Japanese. Plus it is the top of the line model, with the most entries of any other product.

[GomiGirl]

The keitai version has that as well.
an example:



These animated gif's are also embedded into daily kanji lessons emailed to your phone.

but it is good to know your options as everybody as there own fave dictionary reference system.

[Big Booger]

The keitai version has that as well.
an example:



These animated gif's are also embedded into daily kanji lessons emailed to your phone.

but it is good to know your options as everybody as there own fave dictionary reference system.

now that is nifty.

[omae mona]

BB - I'll throw in my 2 cents about the G50. Overall, I have been really happy with it. Just remember: this is not designed as a Japanese learner's dictionary - I think its target audience is real honest to goodness Japanese people. So it's might not be as English-friendly as some other models. But it does have an English menu mode, and I've heard rumor that you can get a English manual for it (I was not so lucky & am stuck with the Japanese manual).

The Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionaries are a breeze to use as long as you can read hiragana. But note that its Kanji dictionary doesn't have one iota of English. The explanations of the characters' meaning, derivation, etc., are all in Japanese only. Of course, inside the entry you can highlight words you don't know and use the "jump" function to hyperlink to the other dictionaries, but you have to know what you're looking for. So anyway, depending on your current Japanese level and depending on what you're trying to do with the Kanji dictionary, it may or may not be a pain.

Also - for some reason, the jukugo (kanji compound) dictionary seems to have pretty spotty coverage, though it's quite convenient when it works. Lots of not-so-uncommon compounds aren't listed there. Of course they're covered in the J-E and J-J dictionaries, though.

But anyway, I give it a big thumbs up except the price tag, which as I've mentioned before, is like the equivalent of about 180 years worth of TangoTown.

The keitai version has that as well.
an example:

GG, you're not sending a secret message to BB there, are ya?

[Oradea]

anyone got any info about the electronic kanji pen dictionary??

I wanna buy a dictionary, and i have jtest level3.
Any advice.?

[yakinoumiso]