Customer Reviews

AM99 Electronic English Chinese Talking Dictionary for Learning Chinese

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this to replace the heavy pocket dictionary I usually carry around in my purse as I gallivant around China. As I am now at an intermediate learning level in Chinese, my checklist of important features might be different from that of other buyers.

Lightweight: check. It's still a noticable weight in my purse, but it's a relief from the thick pocket dictionary.

Sufficient dictionary size: check. I have already used this to look up hundreds of words and phrases, usually checking how it compares to my pocket dictionary. So far it has had almost every word I've looked for. As for phrases, it has some that my pocket dictionary doesn't have, but lacks others that the book does include. Overall, I'm satisfied with the number of entries.

Able to look up Chinese characters: check. If I see a character on the street that I really want to learn, I can use radicals to look it up. It's not easy, but it works the same way as standard dictionaries. BUT, the frustrating thing is this: when I look up a character, it doesn't tell me the pinyin. I can press the audio button to listen to its pronunciation, but the voice is somewhat muffled and difficult to understand. I often have to guess what the real pronunciation is and double check by looking up the character using pinyin. Also, there is another problem I didn't even consider. If I hear someone say "Jia(1) you(2)!" and try to look it up, I can't just enter the pinyin and hope to find a matching word or phrase. First I must enter "jia" and find the correct character. After I have the first character, I can then type in "you" and easily find the phrase. But if I only heard someone say the phrase on the street, I probably don't know what characters it's made up of. This makes it impossible to look up the phrase.

User friendly: fairly good. My biggest complaint is the inability to turn off all sounds. When searching for a character using pinyin, dictionary pronounces each part of the word I enter (quite loudly). Besides slowing things down and being almost pointless, it's impossible to turn off. I went to settings and turned off both "Music" and "KeySnd" sounds AND turned volume to zero, but the annoying voice was still audible. If I want to use this in class, I'll have to also plug in the earphones.

After using this dictionary for a few weeks, I think it's obvious that it was designed with Chinese speakers learning English in mind. As an example, you can't find "New York" or even "China" in the English-->Chinese dictionary, but look up the Chinese words and you'll find the English translation. However, it's still usable for English speakers and is the cheapest electronic dictionary I've found. It also came with ear buds and a soft black protective case. That was a nice surprise.

I would recommend this product, but be aware of the drawbacks.

I found the AM99 to be pretty easy to understand and to begin using. It doesn't have all the words that I had been learning buy studying the Pimsleur Mandarin course but that was to be somewhat expected. My only disappointment was the Pinyin input capabilities. 1st you cannot enter tones. 2nd the results are all in Chinese and you have to select each character to get it's English meaning and you have to start all over to go to the next character. 3rd there were several Pinyin words that I tried to enter but the Am99 would not accept them. Try a simple word such as "nar3" and you can only input "na". Pinyin input was the #1 reason I went with the AM99 and after getting it Pinyin input is my #1 complaint. The AM99 also is limited due to its clock functions being set to Beijing. You set it for you local time (wherever that is) and the AM99 takes that to be Beijing local.

I bought one unit as a Christmas gift for my eleven year old daughter who is learning Chinese. She absolutely loves it. I asked her why she liked it so much. She said: "It helps me to do my homework". So I sat down not too far from her one day watching her doing homework. I summarize a few points here.

1) Which character to use?
If she doesn't know how to write a character, but she knows the English meaning, she'd type in the English word in the dictionary, and then look for the character. Another way is that she forgets a character but knows its pinyin, she'd type in the pinyin to find the character.

2) How to pronounce a character?
When she reads, but then sees a character that she doesn't know how to pronounce. She then figures out the radicals and the number of strokes of the character, enters those in the dictionary, and then press a button, the dictionary will pronounce it in mandarin. It also shows the pinyin.

3) A booklet of essential Chinese
It comes with a booklet of essential Chinese. She thinks that it's easy for her, since she has been in Chinese school for a few years now.

I am really glad that I bought her this learning device. It's a helping hand, and she learns to rely on herself to study Chinese. It's not a headache any more to find the correct characters, and not knowing how to say a character she hasn't learn or forgets.

I am an Enlish Professor teaching at a University in Guizhou Province in Southwest China. This translator has become my most valuable tool for both my students and I. When they want to tell me something and don't know the English word, they type in the Chinese and it immediately translates the word to English. When I shop and don't know the Chinese word, I type in the English word and press "english to chinese" and the shopkeeper immediately knows what I need to buy. I would be very frustrated without this tool; instead, my experience in China has been fabulous!!

I've done all the cassettes and CD program in the car, but those can only take you so far. When in China, I've always failed to make it to conversation level. At the very least, there are some terms that seem to be stumbling blocks. That's when I whipped out this pocket electronic gizmo. Worked well, however its not intuitive in its design. One really should sit down and try to read the manual before using it in a real life setting.

Ideally, you really need to study Chinese in an academic setting along with this product. That's when you can really leverage its variations for a particular word. The voice sounds are realistic and not computer-sounding.

In short, this a useful tool, but certainly not the savior to your language barrier.

Others have testified to this product's usefulness, but I just want to throw in a thought about a written dictionary v. an electronic one. I've taken one year of Chinese, and I'm now doing a Chinese immersion program in Beijing. Suffice it to say, my Chinese sucks, but it's getting better. However, just yesterday I had a three-hour conversation with a Chinese woman at a restaurant. Without my dictionary, it would have been impossible b/c I would have spent so much time flipping through pages. Electronic dictionaries enable you to have (relatively) meaningful conversations even at a low skill level. So get one! This one's great!

My mother bought the AM99 for my recent trip to Shanghai. She was worried because I never learned how to speak Chinese and that I might get lost somewhere without being able to find my way back. When I got there, of course (as I often do) I got lost around the Xiangyang Market and had no clue where the metro was or how to pronounce my destination to a taxi driver. After asking some locals for directions (with my usual charade of motioning arms and speaking loudly in English), they were seriously confused, so I took out my AM99 and typed in train. It announced the word train in Chinese and they pointed me in the correct direction. From then on, I used that method the whole time in Shanghai. The phrase guide helped me bargain at the market, ask where the tourist office was and to ask for a restroom. Although my communication was very basic, I got around much easier than if I didn't have it with me. This device is excellent for anyone who doesn't have the time to learn Chinese, but needs to know some basic words and phrases. Love it love it love it! I wish this came in all languages; then I'd be set!

On my first business trip to China I was extremely nervous about not communicating properly in a foreign country. I didn't speak Mandarin, but I wanted to learn so I could show respect to my potential Chinese business partners by conversing in their native language. I bought the BBK AM99 to assist me in achieving my goal. The electronic voice helped my speech with correct intonations and the pre-set phrase templates made me more comfortable in greeting someone, asking for information and ordering at a restaurant. The functions are easy to use and there are also travel features within the device, such as a calendar and information on China. After using the AM99 for a short period of time, I was confident in presenting my new skill. The Chinese partners were impressed that I had taken the time to learn some Mandarin and my small courtesy helped put my business proposal in a more favorable light.

The AM99 was a definite factor in ensuring my success overseas. This product has been so accommodating for my business ventures; I would absolutely recommend this to other Asia business travelers!

Length:: 3:13 Mins

My daughter took this to China with her and she said it was fantastic! She was in the hotel and needed to ask the maid for more towels and able to do it using this gizmo.