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Eng/Jpn dictionary for English-speakers?

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
johnboy3434
Newbie
United States
Joined 4339 days ago

1 posts - 1 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 1 of 5
09 January 2013 at 8:21am | IP Logged 
Sorry for the abbreviations in the title, but the character limit was holding me back. Just to make sure we're clear, I'm talking about an English/Japanese bilingual dictionary.

From the research I've done, the bilingual dictionaries made by Kenkyusha are held to be the most "authoritative" and academically rigorous. The problem is that Kenkyusha is a Japanese publisher. Their dictionaries are made for Japanese-speakers trying to learn English, not the other way around.

The question I have is this: which bilingual dictionary from an English-speaking publisher* has the best academic reputation? Is there any one that's considered the most authoritative, or is the top shared by a few different competitors? Also, which one has the most words, if not the one that answers the previous question?

I haven't been able to find any definite answers from Google searching. Every result I get for this query ends up talking about dictionaries from Japanese companies. The few that don't are usually limited to recommendations like "it's easy to use" or "I like it" rather than focusing on its linguistic merit. Note that while I am a beginner, this does not necessarily have to be a "beginner's" dictionary. In fact, a more "general use" one may have a broader scope. My only real prerequisite is that it provide romanized readings of the Japanese words, since I'm not used to the writing systems yet.

*Nationality is irrelevant. It can be American, Canadian, British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand, whatever. I can make up for the differences in terminology.
1 person has voted this message useful



TixhiiDon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 5465 days ago

772 posts - 1474 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian
Studies: Georgian

 
 Message 2 of 5
09 January 2013 at 11:52am | IP Logged 
In the big Kenkyusha Japanese-English dictionary the Japanese words are listed in romaji, so I presume it's
also meant for foreign learners of Japanese.
1 person has voted this message useful



baskerville
Trilingual Triglot
Newbie
Singapore
scribeorigins.com
Joined 4247 days ago

39 posts - 43 votes
Speaks: English*, Tagalog*
Studies: German*, Japanese
Studies: Hungarian

 
 Message 3 of 5
12 June 2013 at 2:23pm | IP Logged 
In bookstores in my country, we don't have Kenkyuusha. But we have those published by
Oxford, Langenscheidt (sp?) and Colliers. Before I used dictionary apps, I was loyal to
Oxford. Now it's imiwa app all the time :)
1 person has voted this message useful



Lakeseayesno
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Mexico
thepolyglotist.com
Joined 4335 days ago

280 posts - 488 votes 
Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 4 of 5
12 June 2013 at 8:01pm | IP Logged 
Imiwa fo' sho! (Okay, no.)
But seriously, if you're just starting and have access to an iOS device, download Imiwa. It has kanji, kana and romanized reading of each word, and you can look it up both ways (eng-jap and jap-eng).

However, if you're looking for a good paper EN-JP dictionary, my recommendation would be the Langenscheidt Pocket Dictionary of Japanese. I started with it and it carried me all the way into basic intermediate.
1 person has voted this message useful



baskerville
Trilingual Triglot
Newbie
Singapore
scribeorigins.com
Joined 4247 days ago

39 posts - 43 votes
Speaks: English*, Tagalog*
Studies: German*, Japanese
Studies: Hungarian

 
 Message 5 of 5
13 June 2013 at 2:34pm | IP Logged 
^ And the great thing about imiwa is it's FREE :)
I use it all the time -- I've even stopped using my Canon Wordtank because imiwa has
better content, better functionality.


1 person has voted this message useful



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