Electronic
Japanese Dictionaries
2003/06/19
(Updated 2006/10/06)
Electronic Japanese Dictionaries (EJD)
are popular devices in Japan that can be used effectively in learning
Japanese as a foreign language. With rapid entry and lookup of words,
and being far more compact and portable than a set of paper
dictionaries, electronic dictionaries allow learners to quickly
decipher new words and phrases. A wide range of models exist
today, with some providing only a few of the most essential
dictionaries, while others include over twenty dictionaries and a broad
range of topics.
2006/10/06 - A solid choice for those wanting an
inexpensive pen input EJD is the Nintento Gameboy DS Lite and the ´Á»ú¤½¤Î¤Þ¤Þ
DS³Ú°ú¼Åµ (Kanji
Sonomama
Rakubiki Jiten) Dictionary Cartridge. Quite inexpensive, works well, and is a
convenient portable for travel and study. An ongoing review is available.
2004/01/04 - Two good, solid choices in EJD's,
which can be used for many years, are the Sharp PW-S7100 and the Seiko
SR960.
The Seiko SR960 is a very compact, pocketable EJD
which is smaller than most other models. It fits easily into a small
shirt pocket or purse, and uses the Kenkyusha dictionaries. While it is
not as advanced as other available models, it has all of the basics you
will need in a basic, simple-to-use dictionary.
The Sharp PW-S7100 is a wider, super-thin plastic
& aluminum body EJD which has very useful features not found in
most other EJDs: dual-time, worldwide clock; calendar and note memos;
letter templates covering many business and other topics; multiple
language phrase dictionary (including French, Italian, Chinese, and
others); super-search across all built-in dictionaries; currency,
measurement (metric/English) and date (Japanese emperor) converters;
and significant place and person names.
Both of these products can be exported from Japan
by: www.conics.net (let them know
Silverace.com sent you!)
In looking for a suitable electronic dictionary for
study, you should consider some key points (not necessarily in order of
importance):
1) The brand and
number of words in the Japanese to Japanese (J/J) dictionary.
This is the most popular J/J dictionary you'll find included in almost
all EJDs made today, called Kojien (¹¼�E,
published by Iwanami Shoten). With over 230,000 entries, Koujien
exists in a field of Japanese
dictionaries that has few rivals, of which are Daijirin (Âç¼ÎÓ
, published by Sanseido) and Daijisen
(Âç¼�E, published by Shgakukan). But of these three dictionaries,
only Koujien has been put into an EJD.
(One E/J translator rates these three dictionaries as Daijirin
> Daijisen > Koujien in terms of their usefulness in use for
translating texts. However, personal preferences will vary among users,
therefore this ranking is a subjective one. On another note, if you are
in Japan and have a iMode cellphone, you can access Kojien online
anywhere you go in Japan as an alternative to using an EJD. Also, all
three dictionaries are available in CD-ROM format for use on computers,
including portables such as the 1kg/2lbs Toshiba Libretto notebooks.)
While there are some beginner/learner EJDs with compact editions of
various J/J dictionaries, they are simply not worth closer examination
due to their limited vocabularies. It is simply much more annoying to
find out a word you want to look up is missing from the entries when it
would have been easier to have bought an EJD with a large J/J
dictionary. If one wonders if 230,000 entires will ever be used, they
will! Even the most basic 2nd grade Chobun (primers) in Japan use words
such as honba (ËÜÍÕ , the small leafs/cotyledon of a budding plant) and
you'll easily frustrate yourself working with a smaller J/J dictionary.
Thankfully, the rapidness by which one can look up words in an EJD
eliminates the problem of bulk and weight that prevents many learners
of
Japanese from quickly and frequently referring to the same large J/J
dictionary in paper form.
2) The brand and
number of words in the Japanese to English & English to Japanese
(J/E, E/J) dictionaries.
There are two major
sets of J/E & E/J dictionaries in use in EJDs today - Genius and Kenkyusha's New College.
The differences between these two are often quite significant, and
you'll find yourself going between the two in order to ascertain the
exact meaning of Japanese words. Both contain most of the words you'll
encounter in daily usage.
One notable difference between these two dictionary sets is visible in
the entry for fuwafuwa (¤Õ�EÕ¤�E, light, lightly, soft, softly, fluffy,
fleecy, spongy, unsteady, flighty, vacillating). The Kenkyusha entry
provides the learner with the best and broadest definition (all of the
above except fluffy & fleecy) whereas the Genius entry has little
to
help explain the word (only soft, fluffy, fleecy). Here, perhaps the
most significant difference is the missing definitions for
flighty/unsteady/vacillating in the Genius entry - a usage that is
found
in basic texts such as 2nd grade Chobun primers (where fuwafuwa is used
to describe a balloon vacillating in gentle breeze).
On the other hand, the Genius entry for ai (°¦ , love)
is
significantly longer, with more examples and definitions than that
found
in Kenkyusha.
(compare, Genius: love, charity, favor, brotherhood, adoration,
fondness, affection, etc. with pages of example sentences vs.
Kenkyusha:
love, affection, and several example sentences that is about 1/4
shorter
than the Genius examples) The Genius E/J entires often indicate the
correct sentence structure to use for a particular word (eg. SVO -
subject, verb, object - in that order) whereas the Kenkyusha entires do
not do so (here is one feature which is useless for an English learner
of Japanese as one would already know the correct word order. This
feature is best used by Japanese learning English.)
One notable difference apparent to native English speakers using these
dictionaries is the differences in the level of writing level. The
Kenkyusha entires and examples are written at a lower, more friendly
level than those in the Genius entries. Thus, you'll find the Kenkyusha
examples more like speech used in conversations; the Genius examples
more appropriate for translating and understanding texts and novels.
The Kenkyusha entries are often briefer and more succinct - better for
understanding the meaning of a word quickly - whereas the Genius
entries
are filled with longer, more varied examples - better for identifying
the proper words, word order, and sentence structure to use.
In my opinion, neither is preferable over the other due to their
significant differences and limitations. It would be better to have
both, if possible, or even better, a new, improved J/E & E/J
dictionary set that would combine the best features of both sets and
improve upon them. Unfortunately, no EJD today contains both sets of
dictionaries.
3) The quality of
the definitions and examples provided.
The quality of the definitions and examples
provided depend greatly on the type of J/E, E/J, J/J and E/E
dictionaries included, as noted above. However, many EJD manufacturers
can further collect and organize the examples to make them easier to
comprehend and use.
For example, the Casio XD-V4000 has a
most-appropriate word-grouping lookup. The word test brings up an
organized list of Japanese words that are best for expressing certain
uses of this word. (eg. test in terms of to undergo, take, have, sit
one
is ukeru in Japanese, while to inspect, test, check, audit as kensasuru
listed)
The benefit of having brief, organized lists of
examples, uses, etc. greatly enhance the ability of Japanese learners
to
quickly understand which word to use and how to use that word
correctly.
Here, the best way to gauge the breadth and depth is to try out the
various dictionaries in person since these features are often not
dependent upon the dictionaries used, but rather the customization the
manufacturers have added.
4) The ability to select any character or word and
jump to its entry in another dictionary.
Perhaps the most important feature a
Japanese learner would want and use in an EJD is the ability to look up
the entry of an unknown word or character by selecting it on-screen and
jumping to its entry in one of the dictionaries in the EJD.
Here, most modern mid to top end EJDs have this
option. It is almost required to have it included as a Japanese learner
who wants to efficiently utilize an EJD! Because there is no way to
lookup the Kanji (complex Chinese characters used in Japanese text)
quickly on most keyboard-based EJDs, this feature is the only way to
rapidly find the meaning, and most importantly, the pronunciation of
unknown words.
EJDs with handwritten input eliminate the problem of
not being able to look up unknown Kanji quickly, but this does not
eliminate the need for having the ability to select and jump on the
displayed entries.
Unfortunately, not all dictionaries can jump on all
words. Some can only jump on English word entries, whereas the more
powerful models can jump on both English and Japanese words - a more
useful feature for Japanese learners.
Some EJDs cover up the text surrounding the word you
have selected to jump on once you have brought up the jump selection
window, making it difficult at times to ascertain the correct entry to
choose. On the more advanced EJDs, both the original entry and the
dictionary entry jumped to can be displayed on-screen at the same time
for easy reference to both. Most EJDs however only display one
dictionary entry at any time, and users must go back and forth, from
the
dictionaries to the original entry, in order to translate and
understand
all of the words a long sentence.
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Example:
Word to dictionary jump feature.
(Note: This example is from a Seiko SR960. This model can only jump
from Japanese text to Japanese-only dictionaries, not the
Japanese-to-English dictionary, a feature useful to Japanese learners
who don't know the meaning or pronunciation of a particular Japanese
word.
However, notice how the pronunciation is displayed while you select a
dictionary to jump to. This reduces the steps needed to find out how a
word is pronounced vs. other dictionaries which require you to jump to
another dictionary before displaying the pronunciation. This feature
can
help learners who already know what most words are if they know the
pronunciation of it, but not the Kanji.
Notice how the jump window (middle) hides the original text during the
selection process, making it more difficult to use.)
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Example:
Word to dictionary jump feature.
(Note: This is an example of the jump feature found in the Casio
XD-V6200.
Notice how you can jump from a Japanese word to any of the available
dictionaries, including the Japanese-only and Japanese-to-English
dictionaries.
However, notice that the pronunciation is not displayed until you have
selected a dictionary to jump to. This extra step can slow you down
when
you want to examine all of the available possible entries to pick from,
or when you are simply looking for the pronunciation.
Thankfully, the Casio XD-V6200 is a very fast EJD, so going back and
forth among the various levels is accomplished with almost
instantaneous
and quite rapid response.
Notice how the original entry is not displayed at the same time as the
word jumped to.)
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Example:
Word to dictionary jump feature.
(Note: This example is from the Sharp PW-9700.
Notice that while the selection window displays the possible choices to
jump to among the various included dictionaries, the pronunciation of
the Kanji are not displayed.
Notice how the original text is displayed at the same time the
definition of the jumped word is. Very useful for rapid translation of
multiple words in a sentence for understanding it.)
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Example:
Word to dictionary jump feature.
(Note: This example is from the Seiko SR-T6500.
Notice that the jump selection window covers the original text.
Notice that the jump selection window does not display the Japanese
equivalent of the English words unlike the Sharp PW-9700 example above.
Notice how the original entry is not
displayed at the same time as the word jumped to.)
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5) Whether keyboard
or handwritten entry is used
There
are currently only two main EJD entry methods in use today - by
keyboard and by handwriting.
Keyboard entry is used by the majority of EJDs today
due to the implicit understanding that most EJDs are used by native
Japanese who already have a comprehensive grasp of the pronunciation of
most words and their knowledge of the various pronunciations possible
for each Kanji. Thus, native users can look up entries quite rapidly
even if they do not enter the right combination of pronunciations for
each word correctly at first.
However, for Japanese learners, it is often quite
difficult and tedious to look up unknown words when Kanji is used (due
to the fact that each Kanji pictogram is written uniquely and there is
no basis for discerning the pronunciation, ie. correct way to type the
entry, from the shape of the Kanji alone). The methods often used are
stroke count and main Kanji component, both of which take time to
learn,
and time to look up since both methods often bring up a list of
potential matches several pages long. And even after looking up one
character, a Japanese learner is often faced with the enormous
challenge
of deciding which pronunciation to look up compound character words,
where each character in the word can possess numerous possible
pronunciations.
It is perhaps why a few companies have released EJDs
that accept handwritten input, and that beginners without a firm grasp
of Kanji should consider having a primary or secondary dictionary that
allows them to find entries this way until the day comes when they have
at least memorized the basic 1006 Kanji, if not the 6000+ Kanji in
daily
use.
Here, even a used, Sharp Zaurus PDA selling for
under $50 USD used in Japan would greatly enhance the ability of
Japanese learners to quickly look up new and unknown words. Note that
on
most of these older Sharp Zaurus PDAs, such as the MI-506, MI-610,
etc.,
the handwriting input is quite accurate and one can even write
cursively
in Japanese. However, it depends upon stroke order at times to
understand what you are writing, so the drawback of using EJDs with
handwriting input is that you must learn how to write Kanji in the
proper stroke order taught. Nevertheless, having to rewrite a Kanji a
few times in various stroke orders is oftentimes faster than looking up
the word by stroke or component.
6) Screen
capabilities
The newest EJDs possess large,
high-resolution screens and zoom capabilities that are very useful to
Japanese learners. Kanji is often written with numerous strokes and on
lower resolution displays, one will discover that many of the
characters
have been abbreviated (ie. have modified or missing strokes or squished
out of shape) in order to correctly display within the confines of the
display. Unfortunately, this leads users to make mistakes in learning
Kanji and in recognizing them when printed or written. A large,
high-resolution screen allows one to see more information at once with
everything in clear and sufficient detail.
The zoom feature differs between EJDs. Some allow
you to zoom in on just one line you have selected but not let you
select
another line without returning to the non-zoomed display. Others allow
you to continue scrolling up and down the entry displayed while the
current line is zoomed.
Some EJDs allow you to change the entire display to
a larger or smaller font size. Even among zoom or variable font models,
the degree to which you can zoom in or the largest font size can vary,
with some models having only two display sizes while others have many
more. This feature allows you to scan long entries quickly at a smaller
font size and allows you to examine and read complex Kanji passages in
clear, large detail at a larger font size.
Some EJDs possess a smaller screen for compactness,
others possess a larger screen to allow you to read more information at
once. Another feature which allows the display of more information on
screen is the use of variable width font display. This feature
eliminates the spaces between characters and displays them in the more
natural manner used in most printed books.
No matter how big or small the screen is, the
resolution of the entire display affects the clarity by which all text
is displayed on an EJD screen. Higher-resolution displays will allow
better display of complex Kanji without the jarring blockiness
associated with lower-resolution displays, and allow the display of
more
information on screen.
The latest color EJDs can display everything quite
beautifully, and are the only models which can be used in low-light and
in darkness. No non-color EJD (as of the date of this publication) has
a
backlit display!! - quite a surprising disappointment considering how
useful such a feature would be and the many years most manufacturers
have been making EJDs. The benefit of having a color display is that
pictures from the built-in dictionaries and encyclopedias can be
displayed in better detail, and often times, the only way to
distinguish
something (eg. colors).
For learners who truly want to test themselves, EJDs
with the option of right-to-left, top-to-bottom display of text as it
is written in common Japanese publications (eg. books, newspapers,
etc.) will allow them to practice their ability to read text displayed
in this format.
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Example: Line at a time
zoom.
(Note: On some models, the entire text of the line being enlarged is
displayed on screen at once (upper example), which is more convenient
than on models where you must scroll to see the entire enlarged line
(bottom example, from the Sharp PW-9800).)
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Example: Adjustable
display font size.
(Note: Not all EJDs possess all font sizes shown.
The upper example is from a Sony DD-IC7100
The bottom example is from a Sharp PW-9800 with a 320x240 pixel screen
and variable 9 to 48 point display font.)
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Example:
Variable font width.
(Note: The upper and middle examples of variable display are from the
Sharp PW-9700.
The bottom example of non-variable font display is from the Seiko
TR-5000.)
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Example: Low resolution
display.
(Note: This is an example of a 96 x 32 pixel screen used on the Sharp
PA-630.)
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Example:
High-resolution color display.
(Note: This is an example from the Sharp PW-C6000.)
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Example:
Vertical display of text in traditional Japanese style.
(Note: Example is from the Canon Wordtank IDF-4500.)
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