ABC Chinese-English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized (ABC Chinese Dictionary) [Paperback]

John Defrancis (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: Chinese
Original Language: English

Product Details

• Paperback: 897 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824817443
• ISBN-13: 978-0824817442
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,812,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best for its size..., January 2, 2006

By 

James Forsyth "www.jamesforsyth.net" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ABC Chinese-English Dictionary (ABC Chinese Dictionary) (Paperback)

I have been blessed with 20/20 vision but do empathise with the comments regarding the smallness of the text. Although the text size is very small, the font is good and the print quality is generally a high standard (aside from one or two areas that haven't printed perfectly).

I appreciate the inclusion of both the CASS and Kangxi Radical Charts towards the back of the dictionary. The inside covers are blank, which could have been used in a similar way, perhaps for a summary of stroke-order rules.

I have rarely, if ever, seen a satisfactory treatment of stroke-order rules in any Chinese text, let alone dictionary. Unfortunately this includes the volume at hand. The best method that I have seen is employed for the use of Japanese lexicography, in Hadamitzky and Spahn's Kanji & Kana (Tuttle - 0-8048-2077-5).

The inclusion of words with Roman lettering (such as "BP-ji1 - N pager; beeper" p44) shows the trend towards the use of English words and letters interspersed in Mandarin in modern China.

The "er" retroflexive suffix is a handy inclusion - at each relevant entry - for anyone wanting to travel to Beijing or the surrounding area. The same word can have this suffix appended or not, depending on the intended meaning. Thus, it is of great benefit to be able to check at a glance whether it is included in each individual entry, without having to memorise the rule/s concerned. A cheap handbook (shou ce) on the "er" suffix, called "hanyu erhuaci xuexi shouce / Chinese-er suffixed words without tears" is available, published by Beijing University.

It would have been good if measure words were included in the entries as well. But this may have overly complicated the process, as a word can have more than one measure word depending on the context in which it is used.

Whenever a character has been simplified, the traditional character is shown in square brackets. This is essential for anyone interested in the etymology of a character. Also, if you have spent time in Hong Kong or Shen Zhen, or have studied Chinese before using fantizi (traditional characters) you will appreciate being able to move from the familiar to the more challenging.

This dictionary has an electronic counterpart, namely Wenlin. Wenlin is top-of-the-range Chinese dictionary software, with many added benefits over using the book alone. This includes a flashcards function, a drawing box for character look-up, and spoken pronunciation of a high quality; not to mention the ability to upgrade from Wenlin's website.

If you are thinking of buying both the ABC dictionary and Wenlin, I would err on the side of "lexical diversity" by choosing Wenlin and, possibly, Oxford's 3rd edition English-Chinese/Chinese-English dictionary, the one with the red cover (0-19-596457-8). The main benefit here is that you would have an English-Chinese dictionary (which ABC has not and Wenlin's is limited).

Perhaps most importantly, with this dictionary most of all, please read the Introduction and Reader's Guide at the front of this dictionary as soon as possible. It contains information on the arrangement of words, orthography, parts of speech and many other indispensable tools.

Highly recommended, 5 stars.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best in its league, but not perfect, May 2, 2002

By 

Kent M. Suarez (Taipei, Taiwan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ABC Chinese-English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized (ABC Chinese Dictionary) (Paperback)

(re: orig. paperback ed.) When you hear Chinese, this is THE ideal book to find the term you heard, by looking up the pinyin alphabetically. It is reasonably complete, but is missing some common terms and contains some obscure words. Overall, it is extremely useful, carefully compiled and proofread, and a good value. It balances completeness and conciseness quite well, so it's a great paperback to carry around, if a tad heavy; the superbly improved and more complete desk reference version (ABC Comprehensive CED, reviewed separately) is highly recommended for your study desk.

A big bonus is that all terms with the same or similar pronunciation are grouped together, so you can compare them and make a more informed guess as to what you probably heard. The most common term is often marked with an asterisk -- very helpful! The pinyin lookup is not as useful when reading unknown characters, although radical indices *are* included, so, contrary to another review, you *can* look up characters when you don't know the pronunciation. (And compared to some other books like Harbaugh's Chinese Characters: A genealogy and dictionary, the definitions are much more complete and professional.) But when reading characters I know how to pronounce, I find this ABC is the fastest way to find definitions of compounds, so my three copies are well worn.

The compound entries are in simplified char. only. Single character entries (which DO exist, contrary to an earlier review) are in both forms, which suffices for users of traditional characters most of the time; but unfortunately, these do not always include some characters which occur only as part of one or more particular compounds, such as the liao2 in zhi4liao2, to cure or treat (#=tone; don't worry, the ABC has proper tone marks). As a result, there is no way to find out whether this liao has different simplified and traditional forms, or what the latter form is. This has been remedied in the Comprehensive version.

Equally egregious is the failure to properly distinguish between the different traditional forms which share one simplified character; for example the li4 in li4shi3, history and nong2li4, lunar calendar are dealt with jointly as one simplified character, and the same traditional form is shown for both, which is incorrect. Instead, these should be listed as two different char. with the same simplif. form; thus, it fails to show the proper way to write nong2li4 in Taiwan. Again, the Comprehensive rectifies this.

There are some usage examples, albeit not extensive, and in pinyin only. The addition of more examples, more usage notes, and syllabic separation where needed (e.g., is zhengan zheng'an or zhen'gan?) would all be welcome in future editions. There is some slang and many colloquialisms, but not enough of either. Again, the Comprehensive rectifies this.

To some extent, differences in usage between the PRC (e.g., chu1zu1 qi4che1 for taxi) and Taiwan (ji4cheng2che1) are noted, which is greatly welcomed, but there are many more differences which have not been noted, including pronunciation differences, like the PRC's la1ji1 (trash) vs. Taiwan's more colloquial le4se4), or tonal differences, such as the 2nd tone in Taiwan for qi1, period of time. (Yes, the Comprehensive fixes this.) Still, overall, a great book. If you only have 4 Chinese-related dictionaries, this should doubtless be one of them if you'll carry it to class; if it will stay on your desk, invest in the Comprehensive version instead; it's absolutely worth the price!

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best will only get better, December 13, 1999

By 

Frank Karabotsos (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ABC Chinese-English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized (ABC Chinese Dictionary) (Paperback)

When you hear a Chinese speaker use a word and you want to look it up fast, this is the best dictionary for the job. I have both editions of the Oxford, but looking up words in ABC saves me time since it's strictly alphabetical. I recommend the pocket edition which you can take anywhere. It has the same entries as the desk size exactly, just reduced in size. Of course, it would be more useful if it also had an English-Chinese section. The publishers have announced that they have several other dictionaries based on this one in preparation: ABC Chinese-English English-Chinese Dictionary in both pocket and reference editions, ABC Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary in pocket and reference editions, Chinese Proverbs, Chinese Etymology, and others.