Kenkyusha's New Japanese - English Dictionary [Hardcover]

Masuda Koh (Editor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 2824 pages
• Publisher: French & European Pubns; 4th Edition edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English, Japanese
• ISBN-10: 0785971289
• ISBN-13: 978-0785971283
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.5 x 3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #721,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use the 5th edition, December 10, 2005

By 

A. Chambers (Tempe, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kenkyusha's New Japanese - English Dictionary (Hardcover)

As a literary translator I've turned to both the 4th and 5th editions thousands of times. There are two essential differences. First, the entries are in romanized Japanese in the 4th, and in kana in the 5th. This might deter some students, but it shouldn't: it doesn't take long to get used to the Japanese system. Second, and far more important, the 5th edition contains 40% more words than the 4th, and the English equivalents provided are far more useful and contemporary. All of us have chuckled and moaned at the quaint "English" that appears here and there in the 4th edition--expressions that one has never heard from the mouth of a native speaker. In the 5th edition these have been replaced with sensible, real-life equivalents.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars overpriced, to the max, November 21, 2006

By 

Mike (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kenkyusha's New Japanese - English Dictionary (Hardcover)

This book costs 18900 yen, that translates to $160. The amazon pricing is simply put, insane. As a dictionary it's the most authoritative, but as a product it is not worth this much money.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kenkyusha's New Japanese - English Dictionary, March 24, 2007

By 

F. Schrader "jpnthailand" (Nashville, TN & Osaka, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kenkyusha's New Japanese - English Dictionary (Hardcover)

Having worked for too many years now as an interpretor (Japanese to English) and translator and being deemed "native speaker" in the process, I can only say that, if one must use a dictionary, the so-called "Green Goddess" is the only one. A suggestion: Stay from any English-Japanese dictionaries, because they can be quite misleading. Want something cheaper and more authoritative than the Kenyuusha Green Goddess? Use the Japanese TV. Only from real-life situations can one fully grasp the parameters of a word's usage. As the Japanese say, "hada de wakaru".