Customer Reviews

Oxford Beginner's Chinese Dictionary

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am dismayed that some people gave this book a poor score for not being something that it doesn't claim to be. It is not a comprehensive Chinese/English Dictionary. As the title and cover state, it is a beginner's dictionary for first-time learners. It is primarily designed for the student to look up an English word and find the pinyin and characters and how to use them. I have completed my first year of college Chinese classes and could not have survived without this dictionary. The font is a bit bigger than other dictionaries which makes it easier to see all the parts of the characters. The dictionary includes example phrases and sentences which are invaluable for getting the grammar right. My Chinese teacher commented on my correct use of grammar and vocabulary in my writing and asked how I was doing it. I gave all the credit to this dictionary and when she looked at it, she recommended it to her other classes. For a new student learning Chinese the way it's being taught at universities, this is the best there is. (I've purchased 6 Chinese/English dictionaries. Some of the others cover a lot more vocabulary but this is by far the best for a new learner)

If you are an english speaker trying to learn Chinese this is one book that you need. It is incredibly useful and well done. Oxford added enough new features that this dictionary is worth it even if you own the previous version (Starter's Dictionary).

There are many other resources for the beginner that one could debate which ones to buy. This one will complement any other resource that you choose to use.

This is an excellent dictionary if you are learning from Pinyin and not learning to read Chinese. However, if you need Chinese characters, you should be aware that the book uses simplified characters. That would be fine for some people and places, but NOT if you're studying in Taiwan as we are at the moment since Taiwan uses traditional characters only.

This is the dictionary students were waiting for ! Not only clear characters, but also the pinyin pronunciation and outstanding example sentences. I use this book in my beginners classes with great succes. Students love it.
I saw many dictionary's the lasr 25 years but this - rather cheap one = is the very best.
Prof. Dr Joeri van den Bergh, Netherlands

This dictionary is very useful if you're looking to translate from Chinese to English... the only thing is that you should be familiarized with pinyin. Translating written Chinese with this dictionary is basically impossible.

This is a very good dictionary for the beginner's level. The presentation is clear and pleasant, the explanation and examples direct, easy to understand and relevant. I particularly like the boxes. I wish the authors will expand it into a more advanced edition, following the same principles. The use of pinyin is certainly a plus.

Use the Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary along with the Oxford Beginner's Chinese Dictionary. The Tuttle is better for Chinese-English in that it contains more entries and examples. The Oxford is better for English-Chinese. One very nice feature is that the measure words are included with the nouns. Use both dictionaries together for the most helpful learning experience, but keep in mind the dictionaries are geared towards students and will not be overly comprehensive.

The biggest plus point for this book is the collection of "measure words" contained in the middle. Measure words are essential and every noun has one placed between the number and the noun. In english a measure word would be the word "pile" in "two piles of sand". In English only a few nouns have measure word... A flock of geese, a lump of sugar, a shoal of fish..... but in mandarin every noun has a measure word. The dictionary has 92 of them collected together in the middle with usage. For example in the phrase "yi zhang piao" =" a ticket" the measure word is "zhang". The dictionary tells us that this measure word is used for flat things such as sheets of paper, newspapers, tables, beds, pictures, tickets and stamps.

The dictionary also contains a section which helps decipher a chinese charachter to find the Pinyin, which you can then look up to find the English word. I think they are using the standard methodology for this but I found it quite difficult. I wish the chinese characters were a bit larger as they can be very complex.

On the negative side I was dissappointed to be unable to find many words that are in my text books are not in the dictionary. For example, the following words were missung from the English section:

edible
inedible
greengrocer
tough (to eat)
invoice
desire

From the Pinyin Chinese section I found certain words but with different characters and meanings from the ones I was looking up.

I can't type the relevant chinese characters here, but no meaning could be found in the dictionary correspnding to the chinese characters in my text book for the following words:
fa
er
qingcai
chengzhi
hongshi
zhangdan

I am sure my chinese text book is using very simple words, so I am a little dissappointed that these words are missing from my dictionary.

We actually own four copies of this little dictionary as we've found it so helpful! The format is exceptional (Fei chang!) in that it provides easy readability even to those just getting started with chinese like us. The blue headings make the words stand off the page so they are easy to browse through. Also there are specialized topics spread throughout the dictionary which clarify some of the more complicated subjects. The many example sentences provide excellent usage tips rather than just a definition in a vacume. We only wish it were a larger dictionary with more words, though the majority of what we've needed, we've found. Fantastic little dictionary!

I really cannot recommend this book highly enough. It takes an innovative approach of embedding entire box-out sections on aspects of Chinese just by looking that up in English. There's brilliant simple and practical examples in-line with the definitions and the grouping system is highly logical. This is no stuffy dictionary cut-down for beginners, the editors are to be commended for creating a resource which genuinely is in tune with the needs of a Chinese student.

The phrases in the back and sections on things like measure words and grammar also deserve special mention. The perfect compliment to a traditional dictionary. And at this price? It's a steal.