Customer Reviews

Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary Japanese/English English/Japanese

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I cannot praise this fine compact dictionary enough. I've owned or used a number of Japanese-English-Japanese dictionaries and have not been satisfied with any of them - all failed in some area: lack of vocabulary, romaji only(no kanji), few phrases, lack of sub-definitions, too large, too small, poor printing or binding, or they were outdated

This dictionary has no failings. It's compact but has a wealth of vocabulary (even some "naughty" words)- forty thousand references; listings are in romaji with kanji or kana; each entry is further defined and clarified if needed (so you know exactly which word you are using or need); the 1945 jouyou kanji are arranged in a stroke count table at the front of the dictionary for easy reference (there is also the usual kana page); there is a numbers & dates page at the back; the book is bound with a sturdy plastic & paper cover; the pages are easy to turn and the text is crisp & pleasing with a nice contrast.

The dictionary uses American English. The vocabulary is up-to-date: page 615, surf 2 v/t:~the Net "netto safin o suru"...junk mail... There are many idioms and example phrases.

This compact dictionary is a great success and will surely be helpful to all students & users of Japanese. And unlike other compact dictionaries, it is both portable and helpful in its breadth of detail. I'd buy one for myself again, and for others, too.

I am a self-study student of Japanese and this pocket dictionary was the first Japanese dictionary I bought to aid me in my studies. The compact size of this dictionary makes it very easy and convenient to carry around, and it’s perfect for people on the go. (That is, no more suffering under the weight of a full dictionary!) ^^

The English-Japanese, Japanese-English dictionary format makes it handy to look up and translate words both ways. And the dictionary also comes with a pronunciation guide, hiragana and katakana table, which is also handy for beginners. I absolutely love the Jouyou Kanji table where you can look up the Kanji characters and pronunciation, but you’ll need to have a little bit of knowledge in Chinese characters as you’ll need to count the number of strokes a character has to be able to look for it, since the table sorts the Kanji characters by strokes.

Also, this dictionary is arranged according to romanization, making it easy for beginners to lookup a word by “pronunciation”. The inclusion of Hiragana, Katakana & even Kanji (depending on the word itself), alongside the romanji and meaning of the word is another major plus since you can check how to write a particular word in Japanese.

It’s also easy to look for phrasal verbs and vocabulary with the same “words” you’re looking for. For example, you can find under “watch” the noun and verb form (and explanation), as well as “watch for”, “watch out”, “watch out for” and so forth. This is extremely useful and convenient especially when looking out for common, everyday words. There’re also some informal words like exclamations (e.g, oh! ah!) and Internet or technical references such as website, email address and so forth.

Although I wouldn’t say this is a perfect dictionary for fluent Japanese speakers as it doesn’t provide as much words and extensive information as a complete dictionary do, it is, nevertheless, an excellent dictionary and guide for everyday use and people on the move as it covers useful and commonly used words. If you're tired of browsing through “thick” dictionaries just to find that simple, everyday word you want, give this a try. :)

Sometime back, I picked up the "want" to learn about the Japanese culture and language. So to get myself started, I bought this handle little dictionary. Now, while it is not precisely pocket size (or mayhaps my pockets are too small), it's size is still convenient, especially when you consider all of the content. It has a complete listing of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Each word is spelled out in romanji as well as the characters. A rather in depth Japanese - English dictionary as well as vice-versa. Now, while not a complete source for all words, it is more then you can expect from a dictionary this size. 5 Stars.

I realize that no pocket dictionary can be all-encompassing given the space limitations. However, I think it's a serious oversight that verb categories are not indicated in this dictionary. If you are unfamiliar with a verb whose dictionary form ends in "ru", you need to know whether this is a "ru-verb" or "u-verb" before you can conjugate it (in some cases this can be determined from the vowel preceding the "ru" syllable, but not always). Since this salient piece of information is omitted in both the Japanese-English and English-Japanese entries, the user is forced to look elsewhere (outside of the dictionary) to identify the verb category. I find this frustrating. Of course, this is more of an issue if you are trying to write or speak Japanese rather than just read it. With the exception of the aforementioned issue I am pleased with the Langenscheidt dictionary; it generally compares favorably with the pocket Oxford Russian-English dictionary that I used as a beginning student of Russian. If Langenscheidt would address the deficiency regarding verbs, I would give this dictionary five stars.

I've a love for words - exotic words, obsolete words, obscure words, etymology, the study of languages. So I've got a cache of language dictionaries in my library. But this one is the star of them all. The makers of Langenscheidt's Japanese-English pocket dictionary actually thought out words with multiple uses and definitions in English. Say for example, you look up the word "stormy" -- the Japanese words for "stormy" as in weather condition and "stormy" as in relationship are given. Many other definitions in this dictionary follow that example. I've never seen this in any other brand of language dictionary. Rest assured, I'm sticking with Langenscheidt from now on.

This dictionary is just fantastic! Not only is the Japanese-English half extensive and easy to use, but the English-Japanese half is astounding with the number of words they have! A definate must-have for someone serious on studying the language.

(This reviews refers to the 1998 edition.) It took me a while to find a Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary that I'd be comfortable recommending to beginner and intermediate Japanese language students, but the Langenschedit is the one. With more than 50,000 entries, it has all the common words, and more than enough uncommon ones. Like most Japanese dictionaries, words are listed alphabetically in Romanji, which is fine by me because it makes looking up entries a speedy affair. However, unlike other dictionaries, the Langenschedit also displays Hiragana/Kanji next to each entry. This is something all Japanese dictionaries should do, but strangely, they don't. Many are just Romanji, and that's far from helpful. Also, no other dictionary I've found differentiates foreign loan words, but the Langenschedit does, by neatly illustrating the Katakana characters. I also like this dictionary's soft cover with rounded corners, so I'm comfortable throwing it into my backpack without fear that it will become all bent and torn. It still looks brand new despite the heavy use. One complaint: I wish there was an appendix of verb conjugations, particularly of the irregulars. One recommendation: The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary makes an excellent companion. Get it!

It might not appear to you from the previews on Amazon, but this incredible dictionary is very small. It is small enough in diameter to fit in your pocket, which surely is a plus. Yet, the small size of the book does not hold back one of the dictionary's most redeeming features; a huge list of words, in both J-E and E-J. Truly a great book; I wholehartily reccomend it for the Japanese student traveler.

LANGENSCHEIDT ROCKS

This is a wonderful dictionary, perfect for a westerner.
I also own Chinese, and it is as easy to use as this one.
This japanese version comes with blue headwords, makes it even faster to look up and use.

this little guy is built to last and even get under the rain! love my langenscheidt.

A MUST BUY

The cover of this dictionary is made of sturdy plastic and is well bound. This dictionary will never fall apart. Looking up words in romaji is simple. It has Jouyou look up tables to make finding words in kanji easy, it helps if you can count strokes in kanji to look them up but it's not necessary. Each English entry has commonly used phrases for that word i.e. "knock-out, nokku-auto suru; (of medicine) gussuri nemuraseru; (power lines) hakai suru" also with the appropriate kanji, hiragana or katakana in addition to the romanji in both the Japanese to English and English to Japanese sections. My brother bought the Webster dictionary and it's terrible it's falling apart and there are dozens of common words it's missing just like the reviews on this site say.