Seiko RM2000 Japanese/English Dictionary with Roget's II New Thesaurus

by Seiko Instruments

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.6 x 3 x 0.8 inches ; 5.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005QEYV
• Item model number: RM-2000
• Batteries: 4 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 25, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Kenkyusha Romanized English-Japanese Dictionary is one of the most comprehensive and popular dictionaries among those who are studying Japanese as a second language. The unit provides over 20,000 examples and idioms. It will also prove useful to those who want to speak, read and write everyday Japanese. The Roman alphabet-based dictionary is derived from the standard Hepburn system. All entries have been selected to meet daily needs, based on native Japanese frequent usage.

Features

• English-Japanese/Japanese-English Dictionary (Romanized)
• Thesaurus (Roget's II: The New Thesaurus)
• Spelling checker (Wild card search)
• Recognizes phonetically spelled Japanese words
• Phrase search; Idiom/Example sentence search
• Unit shows keyword, part of speech, English or Japanese equivalent, stress and accent marks, example sentences and idioms
• Japanese translations are provided in romanized form with accent marks and in Japanese orthography
• In Japanese to English mode, headwords are written in roman letters, followed by the standard writing in "hiragana" or "katakana" (the two Japanese syllabaries) and, where appropriate, "kanji" (Chinese characters)
• History function recalls previously entered words
• Large 5 line x 30 Character Display
• Magnifying "ZOOM" Function for Easy Reading
• Help function; Path function; Jump function
• Inflection search (for English-Japanese Dictionary)
• Context Sensitive Help
• Resume function
• Large high-contrast display with wide angle view
• Auto shutoff : 3 min. (approx.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the money, January 12, 2003

By 

David D. Mcnerney (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seiko RM2000 Japanese/English Dictionary with Roget's II New Thesaurus (Office Product)

The dictionary works fine, but suffers from a lack of words, especially going from Japanese to English. To give one of many, many examples, it doesn't have Chuugoku (the word for "China") going from Japanese to English. It's totally unsuitable for a student studying Japanese. It might be OK for a tourist or someone living in Japan who doesn't intend to learn the language, except for one other problem: the price.

I had hoped that this dictionary would have a stock of words similar to the Franklin dictionaries that I've used in the past for French and Spanish, but no go. This thing doesn't have anywhere near the range of those dictionaries.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good for a first shot, October 22, 2002

By 

Robin Banks (Terre Haute, IN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seiko RM2000 Japanese/English Dictionary with Roget's II New Thesaurus (Office Product)

I'm an exchange student in Nagoya right now and I bought the RM2000 to help me get around. As a student of the Japanese language, I was dissappointed. It couldn't really help me converse with my friends. But it has proven useful at such places as the bank ("Hmm... how do I say, 'I'd like to open an account'?") and other various stores and shops. It is a good dictionary for a traveler or a beginning student. For a more advanced person, I recommend the Canon Wordtank IDF-4000. It has a jump feature that allows you to look up a word in English, select the kanji, and then jump to the pronunciation. That way, you don't have to search all around just to say the word. It too has an English interface.
I'm really happy the RM2000 was made though. I hope it will lead the way for other dictionaries focused on the foreign user.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Limited - But a Step Up, August 27, 2002

By 

"72" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seiko RM2000 Japanese/English Dictionary with Roget's II New Thesaurus (Office Product)

Here is what is good about the RM2000:
1) It is the first serious electronic dictionary designed more foreigners learning Japanese.
2) It is light.

Here is the down side:
1) It uses the "Hepburn" Romaji. Hepburn Romaji went out of fashion in the long ago - It is not the Romaji used in modern Japanese textbooks.
2) It is not possible to input hiragana - pain in the "neck"
3) It lacks many common words (i.e., "feudalism"; "stance"; etc.).

Up to now I have been using the Canon Wordtank Super IDJ-9000. It is designed for Japanese learning English. It is quite frustrating, because it assumes you can pronounce the kanji.

The downside to the Canon Work Tank is that it takes extensive work-arounds to get the pronunciation of the kanji, although it is often possible. Moreover, it does have an English display mode and manual.

Also, with the Canon Wordtank I can look up kanji by strokes and radicals.

Alas, what am I to do? I will anxiously wait for a better dictionary. I will not return the Seiko RRM2000, but I will carry both the Seiko RM2000 and Canon Wordtank with me. Not so bad since they are much lighter than hardcover dictionaries.

Such is life. Sophisticated dictionaries for students of Japanese are limited.