Electronic dictionaries

Japanese
#21

Thanks for the tips. In the end I went for the elementary/middle schooler dictionary as I don’t like fondling with my phone that much, but it’s good to have a backup.

The problem is I checked Aedict3 before, but I don’t seem to be able to hide the English translation, so it doesn’t really serve as a true J-J dictionary that will force me to read the Japanese translation to understand the meaning.

On the other hand that keyboard is really nice, I’ll probably end up purchasing it.
I haven’t found what are the limitations of the trial version are, but I guess it’s timed?

#22

Yeah mazec is available on iOS too, I use it. It’s pretty great.

As far as iOS dictionary apps are concerned, it beats the ones that use crowd sourced data by leaps and bounds (they’re often flexible when it comes to stroke order and count, but get confused by complex kanji), however the expensive dictionary app that I use (Dictionaries by Monokakido) has even better recognition as long as I get the stroke order right.

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#23

That looks good. Was that rated “good” or “very good”? A used one is tempting, the new ones are pricey.

Just curious what makes you say that it’s out of your league?

1 Like
#24

It’s high school level, my kanji and vocabulary is no near enough to understand the definitions.
Also since it’s an older model, doesn’t have fancy ease of use features, like highlighting a new kanji in a definition and getting nested definitions.

Also on the lower levels, the definitions tend to be dumbed down, which is exactly what I’m looking for now.

Sadly seems like elementary school used market is almost non-existent, probably because the kids end up destroying the devices without being careful.

This one was rated Good, not Very good, because it has a small crack in the case.

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I put some strong glue on the crack in hopes to avoid expansion, although I doubt it will have an effect on functionality as the main frame on the front, as shown on the picture above is intact. Mostly have a aesthetic thing.

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#25

So sorta as a Birthday gift to myself I ended up caving in:

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I can tell I’m already in love with this device, it’s exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks to everyone for the advice!

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#26

Probably almost identical (contents wise) to my one. They are crazy useful.

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#27

Yeah, I went with the 3800 instead of the one you have for the extra “Easy” dictionaries. But 国語-wise they are almost identical.

In fact, when I went around comparing models, I looked at the ones that had the most 国語 variety, and contents starting from my level.

With this model I have both normal and easy dictionaries available so I guess I can keep it around until it breaks, which hopefully will last a long time, another of the reasons to go for this model. The SHARP ones look nice, but they use lithium-ion batteries, and those can be tricky to replace and procure outside Japan.

For dictionary comparison, here’s a normal definition, and an easy definition aimed for kids:

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This should allow me to ditch J-E dictionaries all together, as part of doing more immersion.

Although there’s a bunch of content I’ll never use like Math, I could see myself going into Japanese History sometimes as a curiosity thing.

5 Likes
#28

Since this thread I’ve been considering more and more about picking up an easier one, and then moving over to my more difficult one later. The 新完全マスター books from N2 onward are all only Japanese so maybe it’s time I start getting used to swimming in the deep end. The only thing I’m on the edge about is it’s so much easier to make anki cards with copy+pasting from Jisho rather than just typing everything out. :sob:

1 Like
#29

Typing stuff over could help you memorize.

Otherwise you could use an online dictionary for when generating cards and keeping the electronic dictionary for everything else.

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#30

That’s a pretty interesting thread, I like your approach. I ponder about acquiring one for a few months now and was going to get one with the dictionary considered as must have (green goddess etc), but I like your stand much more.

Where did you buy it from?

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#31

Amazon Japan, they provide the customs paperwork for me so it’s all advantages.

They have a 6.000JPY discount coupon until the 24th.

It’s also available on ebay for the same price, if Amazon is not a possibility.

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#32

The price is steep, more than the high school models, though. :confused:

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#33

It’s because they have more content and should theoretically last longer.

If you go either high school or elementary school the price drops.

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#34

Yeah. I meant between high school and elementary schools too, but I understand the reason why: amazon.co.jp high school models listed are from last year, the current models aren’t listed. But the elementary school model is the latested available.

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#35

Yes, for high school models seems like there’s a later release, while the middle and elementary still seem to have the old model as the current one.

They also update through internet, so not sure what changes are that relevant that might require a new SKU.

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#36

Can you load epwing by yourself?

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#37

If it’s not a purchase option I doubt it will let you do that.
I bet there’s some nasty DRM checking.

But maybe, most of the documentation online about these devices is in Japanese, as they rarely are used by foreigners or exported.

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#39

it’s interesting that amazon didnt embrace the ideia of these dictionaries into their kindle

almost same screen size, the battery last quite some time, as well right?

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#40

The kindles have a Japanese dictionary on them, you can enable them on settings.

I’m unsure if they enabled a way to look up words that are not coming from an ebook though.

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#41

As someone that uses kindle quite a lot, the Japanese dictionary is actually terrible. For the most common words in the language, it will usually be correct, but the yomikata that it displays for many (not so common) words is incorrect. I have no idea why this is the case, but it happens far too often for it to be viewed as reliable. I always copy/paste words from kindle into a real dictionary now to make sure the reading is correct.

3 Likes