The Starter Oxford Japanese Dictionary (Paperback)

by Jonathan Bunt (Editor), Gillian Hall (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This extraordinary new dictionary is created specifically for beginners, offering color headwords and translations; no confusing abbreviations; and warning symbols to show potential problem areas. There are thousands of example phrases drawn from real-life situations and Japanese script is used throughout. It is specifically designed to give you a comprehensive introduction to Japanese in a completely new way while covering all the vocabulary learners will need in their first years of study and giving unique guidance to the grammar and usage of the language.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1st edition (December 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198601972
• ISBN-13: 978-0198601975
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #656,806 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #76 in

  Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Polyglot

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for students of Japanese Language!, April 20, 2001

By	m.a.r.i.l.y.n (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

Reasons why this reference is so wonderful:

1. The "How to use this dictionary" section in the beginning has perhaps the world's best chart for converting conjugated verbs back to their dictionary form. (Making them much easier to look up.)

2. All Japanese entries are in Japanese syllabic script (kana), and followed by their kanji character if they have one. (They are also arranged kana-betically in the J-E section.)

3. The "Glossary of grammatical terms" is a fantastic refresher for those who haven't taken high school English in quite some time.

4. Headword entries are colored blue to help draw the eye.

5. Words which have issues associated with their use, have, after their definition, a special explanation which is marked with an "!" and enclosed within a blue box.

6. Multiple senses of a word are each bulleted. Different parts of speech are numbered.

7. Most words have examples of usage, and/or arrow points offering page numbers of related entries.

8. All verbs are followed by their -te, -nai, and -masu forms as an aid to beginners. And, particles which can be used with a particular verb, are displayed in circles in the verb's entry.

9. The usage notes in the center (which have a blue edge for access convenience) are excellent, clearly explaining and illustrating a variety of topics from verb conjugation, to irregular counters, to the Japanese school system. There is also a convenient kana chart in the back of the book.

10. The book contains both J-E and E-J sections, and its relatively small size makes it portable.

The Oxford Starter Dictionary is one of the best dictionaries available for students of Japanese. It may not be as complete as Kodansha's Furigana dictionaries (which are broken up into two separate books) but it is surprisingly excellent for a book which categorizes itself as a "beginner" reference. Definitely a worthwhile asset for even intermediate students of Japanese.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vocabulary, not a dictionary, December 30, 2004

By	Avery Morrow "Namu Tenri-O-no-Mikoto" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're trying to write Japanese for a pen pal, translating Japanese from your textbook, or studying Japanese alone and need a vocabulary, this book will be invaluable. Hiragana and katakana are used exclusively for the Japanese words; kanji spellings are added alongside when needed, which is even better than furigana because the hiragana alone will help you remember the actual pronunication. The book is loaded with helpful guides along many of the words to help you better understand English and Japanese meanings and homonyms and not confuse them. Overall, I would recommend it for any student.

This dictionary's only fault is from lack of a large vocabulary; if you're at the point where want that, you'll have to buy a full dictionary without the helpers.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most useful dictionary I have, August 7, 2002

By	J. Bernard (Ladson, SC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the dictionary I use the most. It doesn't have as many words as other dictionaries, but the ability to look up words by the hiragana and katakana in the order they appear in Japanese is just so natural after you've learned the basics. You may become frustrated with other dictionaries after using this one because the layout is just so good. I especially like the example sentences given for some words because they help clarify which form to use to get the right meaning. The only other dictionary I have that I like even remotely as much is the "Kenkyusha's New College Japanese-English Dictionary (4th edition)" which I bought in Japan. I only wish that Oxford would make an expanded Japanese Dictionary. I would buy that in a heart beat.