Customer Reviews

New Age Chinese English Dictionary

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This dictionary is extremely comprehensive, equally useful for reading modern and classical texts. It's much more up to date than most Chinese dictionaries, and is one of the few to include internet-related and other modern terms.
Unusually for a dictionary produced in China, the radical index is good and clear.
Also noteworthy are the appendices, which provide clear information on everything from ethnic groups to terms for family members, from musical instrumets to acupuncture points.
All in all, the best choice for an advanced student of the language.

This dictionary is without a doubt of the same standard as the Oxford English Dictionary.

I have used this dictionary almost daily for about 3 years and have always found the word I am looking for, be it through pinyin or radical.

The print is easy to read and supplies both the simplified and traditional character. This is then followed by a clear, precise, and succinct definition. The dictionary includes most of the set phrases as well. I cannot say enough good things about this dictionary.

I just bought the 2006 edition of this dictionary in Beijing last week (the price has gone up to a whopping 112 yuan/14 US$--c'mon Amazon, you're losing your competitive edge!). In the store I compared it to the big dictionary recommended by my professor, and found that the New Age dictionary not only had more entries per word, but also had many more idomatic usages as well. Plus it includes proper names and place names, classical, cultural and folklore references, tons of botanical and esoteric references and finally has a big appendix including all sorts of helpful charts about family relationships, heavenly stems, chinese musical instruments (illustrated), Chinese governmental offices, a breakdown of the Chinese communist party, and many more things, making it almost a mini almanac! The only negatives are that the introduction is in Chinese only, there doesn't seem to be list of the chinese abbreviations for 'part of speech' notations (ie--'v','adj','m. word', etc), and the print is not as big as I wish it were.(NOTE: Mar, 2008--I've translated the Parts of Speech notations myself, and will be glad to email anyone a copy to tip into the dictionary) But I still really recommend this one!

the total number of page is more than that stated on the information column if we take into account the size of this gigantic dictionary. Worlds apart from other Chinese dictionaries. Nearly perfect. Precise definitions.On the other hand you can find the ultimate internet terms.There is everything you may want from a dictionary.Thank you the Creators of this monumental masterpiece.

As with other reviewers said, this is THE definitive Chinese-English dictionary. If you need just one Chinese-English dictionary, make sure you buy this one. If you're a serious learner, this dictionary is a must have.

* It has more than 2,000 pages describing thousands of characters.

* It's indexed by Pinyin and its corresponding intonation mark.

* It has a radical table at the first few pages making it a breeze to search for the entries.

* It contains entries of rare / classical characters with annotation.

* It even contains entries of the ancient / obsolete meaning of the character, if any.

* It contains examples of the word usage plus its meaning, making it very suitable for advanced learners.

* It briefly explains the idiom (if the entry is an idiom / proverb) and a little background on it.

* It contains an appendix that explains Chinese culture a bit.

The characters are indexed like this:

X --> Main character, (pinyin sound)

Main meaning: xxxx... Example: xxxx Translation: xxxx

Secondary meaning:

1. xxxx... Example: xxxx Translation: xxxx

2. xxxx... Example: xxxx Translation: xxxx

...

n. xxxx... Example: xxxx Translation: xxxx

Words using X:

XA (pinyin): Meaning: xxxx. Example: xxxx. Translation: xxxx

XB (pinyin): Meaning: xxxx. Example: xxxx. Translation: xxxx

...

From here you know that it's extremely comprehensive. You'll find dozens of pages per each common word like Bu (No), Shi (Yes), Yi (One), etc. And even contains idioms (like Bu San Bu Shi, etc).

The only down side of this book is there's no electronically searchable version and it's heavy.

I own this edition (2001 edition) and use it ever since I bought it in 2004. I heard that there's a newer edition (2004) with ISBN 710003308X. But I haven't confirmed it. If it is, then I'll definitely buy it again since my copy creased a lot due to frequent use.

I will not repeat too much what previous reviewers have said. This is indeed the best Chinese English dictionary around, my copy is so worn out I need to get a new one. I will just point out what I think is missing, at least from my edition (the 2000 one I think)

- Somebody already mentioned- a table of grammatical functions, not too critical really

- The measure word for nouns would be most useful

- A section of difficult characters, some characters are hard to look up as their root is not clear, some dictionaries have a special section for these, and this is missing.

And last but not least, not really a problem on its own, just my personal preference, I like the traditional characters much much more than the simplified ones, and would have liked them to be used as the 'default', but since this is printed in China, it's probably too much to ask for.

This is one of, if not the best, chinese-english dictionaries to have come out in the last few years. Formerly, The Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary was one of the best dictionaries produced on the Mainland. However, it was woefully out of date and full of Cultural Revolution platitudes. The 'New Age...' is roughly 2000 pages, has many more characters than the 'Pinyin..', and has most, if not all of the new phrases and terms of the last 20 years. As China has modernized, so has its language vastly increased the number of compound words in current use. The 'New Age...' is also printed and bound much better than most books produced on the Mainland, athough its pages are necessarily thin.

All in all, this dictionary is a 'must have' for anyone studying Chinese at an advanced level.

I bought my copy for Y180 in China in 2002, and thought that was expensive (it worked out to around $21), but it was very worth it; this dictionary has EVERYTHING, and has pride of place on my desk. If you are serious about your Chinese, this is the dictionary for you. (Note also that a concise version has now come out in China, too, and this has become my standard traveling dictionary.)

I have looked at just about every available dictionary in China and the US and this is my choice. As a graduate student doing research in Chinese I have made extensive use of this dictionary for a few years now and it's hard to imagine a better tool. It even includes an impressive amount of classical words and usages. In answer to the questions submitted by another reviewer, yes, the dictionary includes pinyin (words are organized in alphabetical order by pinyin) and yes there are example sentences, given in Chinese with English translation.

There are no entries beside words explaining their grammatical category (noun, adjective, adverb, etc.) and this deficiency really disappointed me. I have never seen a serious dictionary neglecting these entries.