Japanese Character Dictionary With Compound Lookup Via Any Kanji (English and Japanese Edition) [Paperback]

Mark Spahn (Author), Wolfgang Hadamitzky (Author), Kimiko Fujie-Winter (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 1683 pages
• Publisher: Cheng & Tsui (June 1991)
• Language: English, Japanese
• ISBN-10: 0887271707
• ISBN-13: 978-0887271700
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,937,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Source, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Japanese Character Dictionary With Compound Lookup Via Any Kanji (English and Japanese Edition) (Paperback)

This is an excellent Kanji dictionary. Not only can you look up characters by either their radical or their reading, the dictionary provides a comprehensive list of compound words in which that character appears. This means that you can often find the meaning of a compound word by looking up only one character (even if you know neither of the character's readings) which saves a lot of time and frustration. The dictionary also includes older versions of characters and characters which have become obsolete (and are not found in most dictionaries). Highly recommended both for students and professional translators of Japanese.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If it ain't in here, it probably doesn't exist..., December 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Japanese Character Dictionary With Compound Lookup Via Any Kanji (English and Japanese Edition) (Paperback)

I got my copy back in 1992 and it has been my number one reference for looking up complex Kanji compounds eversince. So comprehensive yet so easy to use. You'll be hard pressed to find another Kanji dictionary that has more entries than this one. I studied Japanese at university for 4 years and have been working in Japan for 6 years so far. I always have this book at my side. The only thing that might be better would be one of those modern palm-sized electronic dictionaries. But you have to be in Japan to get one and you need to be able to read Japanese to use it; not to mention the expensive price. Think you're a hardcore Japanese student or strive to be one, get this book. It'll make your Kanji studying life a lot easier, I guarantee it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, easy-to-use - Brilliant!, April 11, 2004

By 

Alec (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Character Dictionary With Compound Lookup Via Any Kanji (English and Japanese Edition) (Paperback)

This is dictionary is extremely comprehensive and remarkably easy to use.

One of my big concerns before buying a kanji dictionary (I got this one second-hand from a university graduate studying Japanese) was that it would take ages to look up a kanji. Surprisingly, looking up a character with this wonderful book, takes me not much longer than looking up an English word in an English dictionary. Kanji can be located by their radicals, readings and/or number of strokes making this so easy to use for anyone. Compounds take just a second longer and can be looked up by their first or last character.

There are 7,000 main character entries with a whopping 47,000 entries including compounds. The book is built well and despite being second-hand and receiving quite a lot of use, is not falling apart as other dictionaries of mine are.