electronic pocket dictionary

DEFINATELY WORTH EVERY PENNY! The model that is the most beneficial to those trying to learn Chinese is the (Kuai Ti Tong) Instant Dict, MD 9288 http://us.yesasia.com/en/prdGrpDept.aspx/section-electronics/code-c/version-all/pid-1004119616/ Although I'll tell you you can find them MUCH CHEAPER if you have a Chinese community in your area, you will be able to get it for less than $400. Look around a little online and you might be able to find it cheaper. Instant Dict just came out with another model that's similar but with less Multimedia power (for example, mine can play movies from a memory card) but has all the same dictionary power. I THINK it's the MD 8390...but I'm not sure. Again the functions are virtually the same but will save you some money.

Thanks Christine. I'm still toying around with all the different functions... is there a way to copy whole phrases into the flashcard list? Do you know of other ways to make learning games with vocabulary aside from the flashcards?

How do these compare with PlecoDict?

I've never used Plecodict before, actually i've never heard of Plecodict before, so I can't give you an accurate evaluation.

Xiaohu & AuntySue... as far as your suggestions go (MD9288, MD8390, PlecoDict), which of these is most portable in a pocket?

Someone else will have to compare, because we two don't know anything about each other's devices. PlecoDict is a program you buy to run on a PDA. You can pick up an excellent second hand Palm PDA for under $100, or a little less than the price of the full kitchen sink version of PlecoDict. PlecoDict comes with several core C-E and E-C dictionaries (e.g. the ABC Dictionary as used by Wenlin etc) plus additional ones you can purchase if needed (like a huge Chinese-Chinese dictionary, specialist subject areas, etc.) The new version (in beta) has sound, document reader, flashcards, exercises, stroke order, radicals, etc. My very cheap Zire72 PDA fits into every kind of pocket, and it is also my lesson podcast mp3 player, diary/todo/alarm, database, notepad, camera and voice recorder, so my full Chinese learning kit is always within reach.

Haha, somebody really loves PlecoDict! http://www.plecoforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1171

The dictionaries I was referring to are also both very portable, can play Mp3's and has an organizer as well as many other handy gadgets thrown in, so it ounds like the determining factor here is just the price point. The two dictionaries I reviewed here are both around 400 dollars so if a PDA and the plecodict software is less than that, go with Plecodict.

The dictionaries I was referring to are also both very portable, can play Mp3's and has an organizer as well as many other handy gadgets thrown in, so it ounds like the determining factor here is just the price point. The two dictionaries I reviewed here are both around 400 dollars so if a PDA and the plecodict software is less than that, go with Plecodict.

Xiaohu... are your dictionaries (MD9288, MD8390) already loaded with the Mandarin translation software at time of purchase? I'm shooting for simplicity. At the risk of coming off sounding like a technological rube, I don't even know what a PDA is!

Oh I forgot to tell you... unless you're REALLY deeply developed in you're language skills, including recognition of Characters and Pinyin I don't recommend the CD-628, the MD 9288 and the other model are made with foreigners in mind. Trust me using the CD-628 is VERY CUMBERSOME and I've been studying for 5 years now. The CD-628 has some great features but it's not very intuitive and VERY SLOW when trying to search from one dictionary to the other. I bought the CD-628 and several weeks later bought the MD 9288 because I was so fed up with the problems with the CD-628. Neither model is perfect but if you had to make a choice...and actually the MD 9288 is really good.

get Plecodict as AuntySue suggested! the best

(both Plecodict and AuntySue are the best :-)

I discovered PlecoDict just as my Mandarin level 1 class was coming to an end. If I had had PlecoDict while I was actually taking my Mandarin level 1 class, I have no doubt that my grade would have been a lot better especially for my dictation quizzes (using PlecoDict's flashcard feature would have made studying for my quizzes a piece of cake). ;-)

MD9288 is only 70% accurate? Hmmm, that's not a big vote of confidence there. Are there retail stores that sell any of these models mentioned so I can get my hands on one and test the funcionality for myself? Could they be found at BestBuy or Circuit City in the U.S. or some other specialty shop? I've come to like the idea of having one, but as I'm trying to put away as much $$$ as possible right now for travels, I wonder if this would be the best use of $400. Galois... did you end up taking the plunge and buying one?

DEFINATELY take the plunge! At the stores in my neighborhood you can also buy the older models used for less than half the money, some even have the full sentence translator built in or (like my previous model) have it on a memory card. The thing is that the full sentence translator isn't the main reason to buy it, each dictionary has more than 30,000 words, plus a Chenyu (idiom) dictionary, lot's of specialty dictionaries and more that you can download for free from their website. The model I had before was the MD-8300, (which is good) the MD-8350 is VERY good, with all the same functionality as mine except it doesn't have their new "10 Language dictionary" which has the worlds 10 most important languages in one with TRUE VOICE (which is REAL, TRUE voice from MP3 recordings, not computer simulation so it's really, really accurate), but can save a hundred or two hundred if you buy them used. You can also get one of the lesser models (it doesn't have touch screen though, which is a MUST for ease in looking up characters without having to go through radical and stroke count to find it), and no voice, with a black and white screen, BUT can still help tremendously. Trust me, mine is ABSOLUTELY indespensible I use it constantly, I carry it with me wherever I go. If you forget a word or want to know how something is said, your dictionary is always there to help you. You can put your Chinesepod lessons on your memory card and plug it into the dictionary and play them so it's a total learning center! You might want to call them and ask if you can order one over the phone and have it shipped to you. Goldic Technology Inc. 626-292-1972 626-285-8688 Toll Free 800-608-8088 Website: www.goldic.com

You know what? I just looked on their website and you can order many of the models online, if you don't want to spend as much money, I recommend the "Yishen 888", it doesn't have a backlit color screen, but I've used it before and the functionality is GREAT! The touchscreen technology is actually more accurate than my model, and it's REALLY built with foreigners in mind (more so than any of their other models) so it has all the info a foreigner learning Chinese would need. IE: Pinyin, Zhuyin, English translations all right there. The only drawback is that (at least the model I used which was the first Yishen 888 not the "SUPER" Yishen 888 doesn't have rechargable batteries, you just have to buy 4 AAA batteries to run it). The Truevoice technology is not bad at all on that model, very clear and sounds humanlike. Also the MD-8880 is a good model, the full sentence translator is much more precise and will get you let's say...around 85% accuracy. Simple sentences will be almost 100% accurate! So just enter in what you want to say and spit out what it gives you and you'll be FINE! The only thing is that model will set you back $399! Anyway, don't be afraid that the translator isn't 100% because you need one of these to help you on your road to fluency and if you're always cheating by using the translator then you won't learn the parts of speech you need to create your own sentences anyway!

I figured I'd share my follow-up thoughts after having crossed the threshold from shopper to user about 2 weeks back. I went ahead and splurged for a Tungsten Palm Pilot and the Plecodict software downoload. All told, it set me back about $265 ($165 for the Palm, $99 for the download)... and it cost me a full weekend of time to properly load the software and make sense of the program and its features. Initially I was very frustrated by its apparent user-unfriendliness for a technological hack like myself, but now that I've toyed around with all the bells and whistles I see its convenience is starting to pay for itself. I had a bit of a scare a few days ago when my battery began to run low and the Palm could no longer detect the dictionary. Since I had already spent signifant time creating a personal 500+ character flashcard database, my knees went weak at the prospect that they would be gone forever and that I'd have to start from scratch creating a new list. Fortunately, the dictionary (and the flashcards) returned once more juice flowed into the Palm during a recharge. Phew!! Overall, I'd say it was a very good purchase. I'd reccomend it to others as a good learning tool to carry on the go, to squeeze in a little studying while waiting in line at the bank, etc. I'm hopeful that it will be most beneficial during my summer travels, being able to lookup words/characters on the fly, and being able to store new vocabulary safely in my pocket (rather than trusting my own short-term memory). Thanks for all the above posters for input on this topic.

hey there Mandomikey, just followed you here from the other dictionary thread you just commented on... personally, i am relieved you went for pleco... was hanging on my seat for you for a while there! i found it a little tricky to start with, and it is really useful to hook up with someone who knows it well, as you can customise a lot of the settings on the bar at the top for optimum use, but after that.... ahhhhh. the world is your oyster. i also needed a palm for other work related reference books, and due to that, was strongly advised to get a more powerful palm the T/X. (even despite using memory cards, i needed extra internal memory to handle the data on the memory cards!) For most users it's not necessary. But it does also come with wireless/bluetooth and you can surf the web and download mp3 etc. i have to say i love it. now, i wonder what podcasts you could then listen to on the move?? Personally, I really trust the pleco company and know of many many satisfied users who would not use anything else, myself included. Good luck everybody.

mandomikey, All the models I mentioned have full sentence translation (English to Chinese and Chinese to English), built in standard. As well as MP3, Video Players, Organizers, and many many professional and technical dictionaries for more specialized language study. The main two drawbacks of the CD-628 is the interface between the translator and the rest of the dictionaries is very slow, basically the way it works is that the full sentence translator serves as your main dictionary and it can look up any single word through the other dictionaries and bring up the word in a list from all the different dictionaries, of which you can pick which one you want to look up the definition through, the problem is that is "thinks" too slow and it gets annoying waiting 15-30 seconds for it to run the search. Secondly it's built for Chinese speakers to learn English so most of the dictionaries don't contain Pinyin, only Characters and don't have the definition in English only CHINESE so you have to constantly flip through the different dictionaries until you find the one that contains the information you are looking for, in other words no one dictionary is complete with the English, Pinyin pronunciation, alternate Zhuyin pronunciation and the Chinese definition, you have to flip to one to find the pronunciation, flip to another to find the definition, flip to another that contains examples in sentence form so you can see which word is actually correct within the context of what you're trying to say. IT'S A HUGE HASSLE! So again, go with the MD9288, it's got all you need in one and full sentence translation is right there, just be aware that it's only about 70% accurate, but it's as good as using Google translator.