Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's, well, FAST!, May 6, 2005
This review is from: Chinese Character Fast Finder: Simplified Characters (Paperback)
This is an awesome reference. In just a few minutes I could find nearly any character. The thumbed index that you can cut yourself, if you so choose, makes the lookup much faster. (Initially I used a razor blade but finally just used scissors.)
If you happen to look up the character in the "wrong" place, instead of cross-referencing characters to another page, he just shows them on the page in grey. That way, you know they really don't belong there but, hey, since you found them, the meaning is provided.
He also includes traditional characters in the appendix.
It is really a well thought out reference.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It really works!, March 11, 2005
This review is from: Chinese Character Fast Finder: Simplified Characters (Paperback)
As this book is really meant to be an locator/index of Chinese characters, I thought it should be able to do just that. So, before purchasing it, I looked up one or two characters and found it only took a couple of seconds!
This is far better than using the radical index of a dictionary if you don't know the hanyu pinyin. At times the radical for a character can be quite arbitrary. I believe it is no longer the case, but apparently characters could, in the past, be listed under a radical it had nothing, seemingly, to do with.
Careful! The thick black line for page 68 of the thumb-index is misdrawn, causing me the need to re-stick my #68. Frustrating!
An alternative for home use is the Wenlin Chinese Dictionary software, which makes looking up characters a breeze if you can handle the mouse ok. But on the run this won't be possible, until they bring out their PDA version - IF you can afford a PDA. At only about $32 in Australia the Chinese Character Fast Finder is a great buy!
Laurence Matthews also has a Kanji Fast Finder out too.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Remarkably easy, March 21, 2005
This review is from: Chinese Character Fast Finder: Simplified Characters (Paperback)
Call it a crutch, a shortcut, or whatever you wish..this book makes the process of looking up characters remarkably easy. I would consider it the best investment I have made in a language book thus far. It doesn't replace the need for a good dictionary. But if one is stumped as to the meaning of a character, this book dissects it, and gives various meanings. Then with the pinyin in hand, it is much easier to look up a word in the dictionary.
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