Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This new edition of the Oxford Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary has been extensively revised and updated to reflect the most recent developments in English and Chinese. An ideal tool for study, the dictionary now provides authoritative coverage of over 26,000 words and phrases from every major field of reference, including science and technology, in addition to core general vocabulary. Simplified and orthodox Chinese characters are used throughout the dictionary, and thousands of examples illustrate and expand on how and when a word can be used. Also including a guide to the most commonly used radicals and an additional key to the pronunciation of Chinese, this dictionary is an indispensable reference tool.

Language Notes

Text: English, Chinese

Product Details

• Paperback: 1176 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (July 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195911512
• ISBN-13: 978-0195911510
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #387,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Resource, July 19, 2000

By	kim bennett (BETHLEHEM, PA USA) - See all my reviews

As a Chinese language learner for 20 years and as a college teacher of Chinese for five, I have found this dictionary to be invaluable. It has many important features not found in most other dictionaries, not the least of which is that it has C/E and E/C sections in the same book. One previous reviewer said his Chinese friends found mistakes. Welcome to language learning! No dictionary can possibly handle all the subtleties resident in language translation, especially between English and Chinese since both languages are spoken by an enormous variety of speakers (usage varies widely from one region to another). Having the ability to cross check (ie look up a word on one side and take the translation to the other side and see if it comes back the same as you started) is the only way to be sure you're using a word properly. The pinyin with each Chinese word in the E/C allows that very easily. I own 5 copies of the first edition, one for every room and my brief case, and all are worn to the spine. While not as portable as the smaller first edition, this present edition was more warmly welcomed by my students (and my own eyes!) for the larger characters. Also useful when you get a little farther along are the multitude of example sentences and phrases included. I own probably 20 dictionaries of various types and flavors, and this one is not the only dictionary a serious language learner should own, but it should be the first.

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, easy to use reference for students of Chinese, February 25, 2001

By	Elizabeth Yu (Northport, NY USA) - See all my reviews

I am a teacher of Mandarin Chinese and this is the dictionary I recommend to all my students. The book uses pinyin romanization which is standard in most Chinese language classes in the US today. When a character is written in its simplified form, the traditional form is also shown - a feature hard to find in many Chinese dictionaries. Definitions are followed by the word used in a simple phrase or sentence. The English-Chinese, Chinese-English format makes it convenient for students to cross-reference words. A radical index in the center of the dictionary enables you to look up a word if you only know what a character looks like but you don't know how to pronounce it. (However you do need to know how to identify all the radicals first). The book is relatively small and easy to carry (unless you are one of those unfortunate students who have to lug a twenty-pound backpack to school each day).

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The very best Chinese dictionary for English speakers., August 11, 1999

By	[e-mail] "mikeo243" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

After struggling with the miniscule type in the first edition, it's a joy to use the second edition with its extensive revisions and much larger type.

This is the only dictionary that allows you to look up Chinese words by their pinyin spelling and to look up English words and find their pinyin and Chinese character equivalent. If you are studying Chinese this book is an absolute must. If you are traveling and want a pocket-sized dictionary, get the first edition otherwise you'll be a lot happier with the second edition.