Chinese dictionary recommendation?

henning

September 15, 2008, 01:34 PM

Here is an old discussion on Grammar resources including John's personal recommendations. Here some more.

Regarding dictionaries check out this thread also.

light487

September 18, 2008, 08:56 PM

I still refer to my "Chinese Phrases For Dummies" book quite a bit.. It's not a dictionary of course and it's not a proper textbook by any means but it does hold a lot of useful and quick-search phrases and words. It suprisingly has a reasonable amount of grammar inside it as well, as well as pointers and cultural references.

xiaohu

September 15, 2008, 01:41 PM

Jim,

The Goldic: MD-9288

and the Besta: CD 636

Both have very complete dictionaries and lots of functions, plus real voice functions so you can hear authentic Chinese pronunciation.

If you're serious about your Chinese, then these would be a great investment.  I take mine with me wherever I go.

jim_parker

September 15, 2008, 02:34 PM

xiaohu:

Thanks!  I was thinking about a print dictionary, but I realize I might need to be dragged into the 20th century.  Especially because it's been the 21st century for a while now...  :)

-jim

dunderklumpen_2

September 15, 2008, 03:55 PM

Hi!

I didn't read the old discussion, hence maybe a double post. In that case sorry. However, I find

http://www.nciku.com/

very helpful. It is a free online dictionary with sound and plenty of examples. Also it can recognice handwritten chinese characters.

Markus 

tvan

September 15, 2008, 04:28 PM

I think the Oxford Chinese English-Chinese/Chinese-English Dictionary is a good solid choice.  It is published by an American company, so you avoid some of the confusing instructions in Chinese dictionaries.  Also, as a newbie, you'll probably find the English-Chinese section necessary as well. If you continue your studies, you'll outgrow it.  However, IMO, it is a good solid choice that will serve you well until you gain enough knowledge to make an intelligent choice on more advanced (and expensive) dictionaries.

Out of curiosity, which character style are you planning to study?  Traditional, simplified, or both?

jim_parker

September 15, 2008, 01:38 PM

Henning:

Thanks.  I figured there was a spot somewhere on the site, I just couldn't find it.

-jim

jim_parker

September 15, 2008, 09:19 PM

dunderklumpen:

Thanks.  I'll check out this site.

tvan:

I think I'vs seen the Oxford at Amazon, and was wondering if it was any good.  Nice to know someone recommends it!  Also, I am probably going to stick to simplified characters.  They just sound so much... easier.

Frances:

Good point about a bigger dictionary.  I hadn't thought about the problem of having too many choices.  I just got WenLin and have been using it a little.  I like the 'instant lookup' feature.

-jim

 

chrka

September 17, 2008, 07:25 PM

My recommendation for a print dictionary would be The New Age Chinese-English Dictionary (新时代汉英大词典) from The Commercial Press (商务印书馆). I believe that is available from Amazon, altough it seems as if it is rather expensive there (I bought mine in China for about a hundred yuan, if I remember correctly).

I think the New Age dictionary is a bit better than Wenlin (vocabulary-wise, that is), especially for scientific and technical terms.

It is a rather big book though, so you will probably want something smaller (physically) as well. For that, I would probably recommend the ABC Chinese-English Paperback dictionary. I believe the hardcover edition is a more recent edition which is closer to the one included in Wenlin, but the much smaller paperback edition is still quite useful. It is arranged in a strict alphabetical order according to pinyin, and the most common word of a given pronunciation is marked with a star, which can be really helpful when listening to someone talking.

calkins

September 17, 2008, 08:38 PM

This is a great grammar book:

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

It is well organized and graphically designed to optimize learning (I see so many Chinese learning books that are so bad, graphically, that it's difficult to learn the content).

Speaking of content, it is excellent.  It uses everyday, useful topics and provides pinyin, traditional, and simplified characters.

I read this book about 2 years ago, before I started learning characters.  I recently started reading it again, after studying characters for about a year.  It's not at all necessary to know hanzi to read this book, but it has made my understanding and retention so much better.  Could also be that it's my 2nd time reading it, but I think knowing many of the hanzi makes it sink in that much more.

Definitely worth the $35 US!

sebire

September 17, 2008, 10:45 PM

I picked up a book in China called "Chinese Grammar without Tears" for about £2. Wasn't bad, I am not going to complain for that price. Full of sentence patterns and less horrible grammar terms, which is more to my liking.

lechuan

September 18, 2008, 03:39 PM

DICTIONARIES

I haven't really found a chinese-english combo I'm super happy with, so I use the following individual ones:

Tuttle Learner's Dictionary (C-E)

Great for Beginners as it has example pinyin/character sentences for every single entry. Alphabetically sorted. My current favorite for learning high frequency vocab.

ABC Pocket Dictionary (or comprehensive) (C-E)

Very comprehensive simple to look up when you hear words (alphabetically sorted). I use this most when I need to do a lot of looking up while listening.

Cheng and Tsui Chinese-English-Pinyin Learners Dictionary (C-E)

Tons and Tons of example sentences for every entry. Sorted by character. More advanced than the Tuttle. Great for really learning how to use the character

New World Press English-Chinese Pinyin Dictionary. This one actually is pretty comprehensive and has some example sentences. Like most other E-C pinyin dictionaries, It's sometimes hard to know which of the chinese alternatives to choose for any one english work. Best so far... But would be interested to know if anyone found a E-C with pinyin that they're actually pleased with.

Just for comparison I own the Oxford E-C-E but I don't use it as much since I'm currently focusing on spoken chinese, but it's grouped by character. I also own the Langenscheidt/Berlitz  E-C-E but don't find that it's comprehensive enough. It does sort the chinese by alphabetic pinyin, so useful for listening.

That's if you want to stick with print... If you go with technology, I'd get the Pleco dictionary for pocket pc or palm (www.pleco.com). The ABC Comprehensive, Tuttle Learners, Oxford, New World Press, 21st Century, as well as a half dozen other dictionaries are available for it. The soon to be released v2 also has stroke order diagrams and audio. You can search by pinyin/roman, drawing the characters, entering the radicals and in v2 it will even have a reverse look-up so you could type an english word in a C-E dictionary and it will search for all definitions that contain the english work. By far this electronic dictionary gets WAY more action than my printed ones and is a lot lighter and more convenient! It also has a built in flashcard feature which I use all the time to review vocabulary and characters that I have learned.

GRAMMAR: I second Calkin's recommendation for a grammar book. Best grammar book I own (I own 5... the rest are now just taking up space on the bookshelf). I also like the workbook for extra practice questions.

While not strictly a grammar book in the traditional sense, I also highly recommend "Speak Correct Chinese" (http://findbook.tw/book/9789867438737/basic)

I picked up this book in Taiwan and it has been an eye opener to many common grammar mistakes. It basically lists rhe most frequently misused words, examples of wrong usage and correct usage, and an explanation of what is wrong and how to use it properly (and why). This book has corrected many bad habits that I developed while learning Chinese. It has pinyin/simplified/traditional.

frances

September 15, 2008, 05:21 PM

I'm also a big fan of the ABC Chinese-English dictionary. It's available in print (it's a big volume), or you can get it electronically with the Wenlin application for PC or Mac, or the PlectoDict application for PDAs. It's a great dictionary, but it doesn't have an English-Chinese component.

Regarding English-Chinese dictionaries, I would recommend sticking to a small or learners' English-Chinese at first. When you're pulling Chinese words out of a dictionary, there's always a risk of getting the wrong words, or really obscure words that will create misunderstanding, or just make you sound odd. A learners' dictonary will help lead you to use and learn the more common terms first.

I've heard the same recommendation for Chinese-English dictionaries, but it's no fun when you can't understand something because the Chinese words aren't in your Chinese-English.