Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary [Paperback]

Kodansha International (Author), Paul C. Hulbert (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995 | ISBN-10: 4770019831 | ISBN-13: 978-4770019837

A dictionary for beginning and intermediate students with pronunciation for all kanji characters shown in hiragana, and cross-referencing of synonyms. The book also includes three appendices for verb conjugation, numerals and place names.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Students of Japanese will find this Japanese-English Dictionary from Kodansha International to be a strong, definitive paperback dictionary which adds Furigana readings to all kanji, provides over 16,000 vocabulary words, and adds many sample sentences as examples. An excellent, in-depth reference worth every penny of its price tag. Highly recommended! -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN) (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770019831
• ISBN-13: 978-4770019837
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,411,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent For Learners of Japanese, May 12, 2000

By 

"radagasty" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary (Paperback)

Kodansha's Furigana dictionaries are simply a few of the best Japanese<->English dictionaries I have seen on the market, especially for students of Japanese. The Japanese-English volume of this wonderful dictionary is simply indispensable to beginners of the language once they have mastered the two kana scripts, viz, hiragana and katakana, as would be expected of any serious student, since the dictionary does not contain any Romanised entries.

The entries are listed in kana, in the kana order, which is much better than other Romanised dictionaries which list Japanese words in English alphabetical order. If kanji exists for that entry, then it immediately follows the headword, after which comes the definition. One great feature about this dictionary particularly valuable to beginners who may not know many kanji is that all the kanjis, be they in the entries or the examples, have small kanas printed over them indicating their pronunciation, i.e., furigana. The definitions themselves are up-to-date, clear, being written for English speakers, and most entries contain illustrative example sentences indicating of usage. Synonyms are also indicated in the entries. Three appendices are included, listing verb conjugations, numerical counters and place names.

The book itself is physically handsomely produced, with a soft vinyl cover. The paper is of good quality, and the print is clear without being too small. Moreover, the size of the book is neither so large nor so heavy as to become inconvenient to the user.

In summary, then, the Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English dictionary is a great boon to any serious beginning student of Japanese. For the advance learner, however, its limited scope of some sixteen thousand words makes it perhaps not quite as useful. Two of its features, i.e., doing away with romaji (Romanised script), which is very irritating to users familiar with kana, by using kana instead (as the Japanese would, in any case), and indicating the reading of all kanjis with furigana, sets this dictionary apart from others in the market, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to any serious student embarking on a study of the Japanese language.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST dictionary for beginning to intermediate students, March 18, 1999

By 

gr6120 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary (Paperback)

As a North American living and working in Tokyo for the past three years, it was inevitable that I'd come to study Japanese. After learning hiragana and katakana (the foundation for further language studies), I soon realized I needed a good dictionary to help build my vocabulary.

Unfortunately, all of the dictionaries I found were either "romanized" (a step backwards once kana has been learned), lacking an adequate base of intelligent vocabulary, or filled with advanced kanji intended for native speakers.

I was thrilled to find this excellent "furigana" dictionary by Kodansha. Furigana (small kana printed above the kanji entries which allow even beginning students to read the Chinese characters) has been provided for each entry. This was exactly what I'd been looking for.

The 16,000-word basic vocabulary has proven a great starting point for my studies, and I've come to rely on this book as a vital supplement for conversation, homework and continuing studies. Sensical definitions in clear English, along with sample sentences in modern Japanese makes this dictionary indispensible. The publisher's companion volume, "Kodansha's Furigana English-Japanese Dictionary," is also highly recommended. Both books feature a basic grammar explanation and useful index containing "counters" and other related information.

In Tokyo, I was able to get the 1997 and 1998 editions, respectively, for each volume, and they're both soft cover editions--a plus over the hard cover versions. Overall, a must have for all beginning to intermediate students of Japanese.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tries Hard, but not at all Comprehensive, March 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary (Paperback)

I studied Japanese in college and recently moved to Tokyo to live and work. My Japanese is at an intermediate/advanced level and I was looking for a Japanese dictionary to use at work. I really loved Kodansha's English-Japanese dictionary so I thought that the Japanese-English dictionary would be just as good. I was very wrong. I just read a newspaper article about banks and not ONE word I looked up was in the dictionary. My co-worker lent me her Kenkyusha's New Collegiate Japanese-English Dictionary ... and every word was in it. Any one need a paperweight?