Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary (Chinese Edition) [Paperback]

Martin H. Manser (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 755 pages
• Publisher: The Commercial Press (October 1, 2003)
• Language: Chinese
• ISBN-10: 7100025583
• ISBN-13: 978-7100025584
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 3.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good beginners dictionary, April 21, 2011

By 

Bob - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary (Chinese Edition) (Paperback)

Very comprehensive dictionary that's small & portable. I like how important characters stand out, but fonts are so small that it can be difficult to see tone marks.

5.0 out of 5 stars How do I love this dictionary? Let me count the ways, September 19, 2010

By 

Lemas Mitchell "Libertarian/ Empiricist" (Hunan Changsha) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary (Chinese Edition) (Paperback)

I didn't realize what a wonderful dictionary this was until mine got stolen (here in China).

If you want a good dictionary, then there are several things that you will need, at a minimum:

1. Chinese-English and English-Chinese in one single volume (instead of having to buy two volumes that you need to lug everywhere).
2. Portable and paperback and light enough to carry.
3. Characters indexed by radicals and then by stroke count after that.
4. Simplified characters as well as traditional (in hexagonal brackets in this particular book).
5. A good sampling of words that can be made by combining the root character with several other characters, and PINYIN NEXT TO THOSE COMBINATORY WORDS (since seeing a character next to one that you don't know entails your looking up that character to find its spelling-- and some of these characters can take as much as 20 minutes to look up).
6. Traditional characters and Hanyu Pinyin *in the same place* (the only place that uses traditional characters is Taiwan, which also uses Wade Giles-- to varying degrees of consistency-- and that can be a bit confusing as a way to look up a word).

Finding a dictionary that fit all those constraints was impossible-- IN CHINA!!! (Can you imagine being in China and not being able to find a suitable Chinese dictionary?). There were a good number of dictionaries that had 2 or even 3 of my needed things, but not one (and this is after visiting about 15 bookstores) that had the same features as this dictionary. When I asked for dictionaries that contained traditional characters, people looked at me like I had exposed myself to them.

This dictionary used to be sold in China. I am not sure what happened. But every single store to which I went in this city was sold out. So apparently many other people have realized the value of this dictionary.

If you are a student coming to China to study Chinese, be warned that it is best to bring your own dictionary with you.

5.0 out of 5 stars Teacher said perfect!, October 22, 2009

By 

Dezigner (DALLAS, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary (Chinese Edition) (Paperback)

I bought this for my 8 year old daughter to help her with her Chinese lessons. She is at a big disadvantage being the only non-Chinese child in the class, and we've had to rely on the kindness of her teachers to assist her with her homework questions. This dictionary is such a big help for her. Not only does it have both the Chinese characters and the Pin-Yin, it has both Chinese to English and English to Chinese look ups. Now I can finally help her with her homework- and perhaps learn some Chinese myself!! Her Chinese teacher and the school directors thought this was a great dictionary for both adults and children.

If a larger print version comes out, I will buy it to keep here at home.