Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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72 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Significantly Improved though not Perfect, May 13, 2000
The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary is based on the classic Nelson edition, but has undergone significant thorough revision, although whether the changes be improvements or otherwise is debateable, insofar that this new edition little resembles its older counterpart save in content. In any case, neither editions of this dictionary are suitable for beginners in the language, offering scant help in point of usage and composition.This edition of the dictionary has a totally new system of arranging characters, discarding the strange algorithmic system in favour of the much better traditional arrangement based on the arrangement by semantic components, known as radicals, used in Chinese dictionaries following the famous and authoritative 42-volume Kangxi Character Dictionary of the Chinese Ch'ing dynasty which sets out over 40,000 characters classified under 214 radicals. This is an improvement only insofar that the idiosyncratic algorithmic system of Nelson was replace by the traditional system. However, this transition was not completed, and, instead of the full traditional system being implement, only the veneer of using the traditional arrangement is present. Upon closer examination, one finds that certain characters have been classified under different radicals than that under the traditional system fixed by the Kangxi dictionary. Granted that the Kangxi dictionary is a Chinese work that would not contain kokuji, characters invented in Japan, but these characters are very few in number compared to those borrowed from China, and, in any case, were made up according to the principles of Chinese characters, thereby having a natural place in the Kangxi classification anyway. This half-hearted implementation of the traditional system is a great misfortune, for it is at once irritating and disconcerting, making the finding of certain characters a wild-goose chase indeed. Despite the deficiencies of this method of arrangement, it is yet a significant improvement on the ridiculous mathematical arrangement used in the classic peculiar to that book, making it difficult to move to the traditional arrangement used by most Japanese dictionaries. This new edition is very much larger and heavier, and cumbersome to use, due to the inclusion of the Universal Radical Index. This URI would seem to be an attempt to repair the shortcoming in the arrangement of characters outline above. It lists each character under every radical that could possibly be the character's radical. This makes for a very big index, substantially increasing the book's bulk without adding functionality that could have been more easily achieved by proper traditional arrangement of characters. However, the arrangement being what it is, and the cross-references in the dictionary being almost eliminated altogether, the URI is more-or-less essential. All, however, does not bode ill for the dictionary. The quality of the entries themselves are what they always have been: clear, concise and comprehensible. They have been thoroughly revised to make the definitions more up-to-date and more copious, a number of new words having been added. In terms of content, there is indeed a noticeable improvement. Note, though, that this is not a writer's dictionary, for it gives no indication of how a particular character or word might be used. Rather, it is for the reader who encounters unknown words in a text he reads, and desires to seek its meaning in the dictionary. For this latter use, the dictionary serves its purpose admirably, having such a comprehensive vocabulary that one seldom notices its omissions. Physically, the dictionary is well produced, giving allowances for its large size. The print is sharp, clear and not too small; the liberal use of white space gives the page a much more appealing look. This book is also well bound and generally handsome in appearance, the weighty tome it is. Whilst I would not dissuade a potential buyer from this book, I would advise him to consider carefully whether the classic edition, despite its awkward algorithmic arrangement and silghtly dated entries, might not better suit his needs than this new edition. I would not hesitate to recommend this edition to any advanced student of the language, the two main detracting factors being the arrangement of characters, which is no worse than in the classic edition and its size. Nonetheless, if size is no consideration, then this is indeed an improvement on the classic edition, albeit not perfect, but nonetheless having a better arrangement of characters, a more copious vocabulary and more up-to-date entries. In short, this new dictionary is certainly better than the classic, and surpassed by few other Japanese-English character dictionaries on the market, and flawed though it is, nonetheless indispensable for the serious reader of Japanese.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The New Nelson is a good buy for students of Japanese., December 26, 1997
By A Customer
The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary is a complete revision of the previous Modern Reader's dictionary compiled by Andrew Nelson. The original dictionary (now referred to as "Classic") has long been the stand-by for many students of the Japanese language. It's main strength was the large amount of character-compounds it listed. It's primary weakness was that it was slowly but surely getting outdated. So users of all character dictionaries, and Classic Nelson owners especially, have been waiting for this new revision. The question is: does it disappoint? It is important to consider at to whom this book is targeted. The foreword to both editions make claims to being a "writer's" dictionary as well as a "reader's" dictionary, but considering the title of the "Classic" edition, and the make-up of the current edition, it is clear that it is meant for those who read Japanese; Japanese language students, and those living in Japan. Frankly, the Nelson dictionary has never been a "learner's" dictionary, and this edition is no different. History, use, frequency; the Nelson dictionary makes no attempt to clarify any of this. It is a static reference tool, and it does not try to be anything else. You will not find compounds listed by the second, or third, character. There is nothing demonstrating stroke order. There are no examples of usage. It is difficult to actually glean anything from the dictionary, beyond a somewhat barren definition to a character and/or its various compounds. It is important not to try and make the Nelson dictionary something it is not. The Nelson dictionary has but one purpose; to provide a meaning to whatever character/word/compound a reader of Japanese might come across while in the course of reading some kind of literature. The "writer's" aspect of the dictionary is auxillary at best: since stroke order is not shown, basic character knowledge is required. One can use the Nelson as an aid to writing simply because of what it is, not because of any special design. What the Nelson intends to do, it does very well. It is not at all easy to "stump" the dictionary; more often than not the compound one is looking up is available. As a listing of definitions, the New Nelson is as good as any other dictionary. It lists verb and adjective forms of words under their character, as well as nouns and conjunctions. And the compound listings can't be beat. This is the reason the Nelson dictionary has been the "standard" for years, anyway. The "New" Nelson would've continued to be a standard simply by updating the definitions, and cleaning out the obsolete characters. But in this day and age, character dictionaries are ultimately judged by their character-look up systems. Every dictionary has its own system. Usually, the users of the dictionaries tend to use whichever system they are most familiar with. This makes the question of what is "better" largely moot. However, that doesn't prevent it from being argued. The New Nelson's response to the argument is the Universal Radical Index. This is immensely easy to use, and makes a lot of sense. It is the obvious answer to any question of looking up characters: simply list all characters by all their possible radicals. The only reason this has not been done before is because compiling such an index seems to be commercially a wildly impractical idea. Frankly, I'm surprised Tuttle, the publishers of the New Nelson, even had the balls to do it. There are disadvantages to such an index, and the New Nelson has them. First, such an index is HUGE. Consequently, if you were to hollow out the pages of the New Nelson, you could easily fit the Classic Nelson inside, with room to spare. This means the New Nelson is not every portable. That's fine, though. The New Nelson is made to used when reading, not in conversation. Second, to accomodate this HUGE addition to an already thick book, the editors had to take out some infrequently used characters and compounds. They also had to take out many of the cross-references, one of the strengths of the Classic Nelson. This may make some Classic Nelson users upset. But the benefits of the URI outweigh the disadvantages. There are too many characters without readily apparent radicals, and the URI is an enourmous asset. There is an important question: is the New Nelson a good buy for those with the Classic Edition? Well, it really depends on how you use it. The benefits of the URI are less for someone already familiar with the Nelson Radical Index system. In fact, users of the Classic Nelson will probably rarely ever use the URI. If you are a Japanese-language student, or a teacher for that matter, it's probably in your best interest to buy this book, even if you already have the Classic Nelson. After all, it's in your best interest to have as many different dictionaries as you can get. If you read Japanese more as a hobby, you don't need to run out and get this new dictionary right away. Go ahead and use the old Nelson until it falls apart, then buy the new one. If you are just a casual learner of Japanese, living in Japan and in need of a dictionary, then it doesn't particularly matter what you get. However for someone new to the Japanese language, student or otherwise, the New Nelson is your best bet for your first dictionary. It is comprehensive, easy-to-use, affordable, and has some appendices in the back that are quite useful. In conclusion, the New Nelson is the best Japanese-English character dictionary out there, especially for beginners. It's combination of the URI, the on-kun index, the appendices, and above all its comprehensive listing of characters and compounds can't be beat. It doesn't have everything (no dictionary does) but it has more than enough.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
So near, and yet so far., July 15, 1997
By A Customer
(The following contains a few Japanese characters. If possible, set your browser to read Shift-JIS encoding.)
- The book is now 1600 pages (the previous was about 1100). The paper seems
to be a slightly whiter, heavier, and more opaque grade. The binding is
dark blue and sort of plasticky (not sure exactly what it is), as opposed
to the maroon cloth weave of the old one.
- The pages have an airier appearance than before, but are the same size.
The gutter between columns is distinctly wider, there seems to be more
whitespace in general, and the type is bigger. The typography is still high
quality, as before. Entries now include JIS numbers when available.
- The useful appendices in back are pretty much as before, perhaps expanded
a bit. Pinyin is now given along with Wade-Giles for place names.
- The cover claims to have 1200 new characters. I'm not sure about this,
but the new characters that I noticed look like PRC-style simplified
characters.
- There is now a "Universal Radical Index" (URI) that allows you to look up
a character by any of its component radicals, and even includes a few of
what they call "nonce radicals", that is, frequently-recurring shapes that
aren't radicals, like the three dots on top of "íP".
- Sadly, nothing resembling Spahn & Hadamitzky's lookup by any character.
- There does seem to be more vocabulary. As a rough-and-ready measure of
new vocabulary, I looked under "ìd" and found a number of new words, like
ìdéqâªé'èë (denshi-ka jisho). Unfortunately this is not itself an
electronic dictionary, and the new terms didn't go as far as they might: no
"ìdãCéËíÝ"
- Here's the bad part: Nelson's has (sort of) returned to traditional
radical indexing, as opposed to the algorithmic style pioneered in previous
editions. Furthermore, it has pretty much eliminated cross-referencing from
the "wrong" radical in the main body of the text, relying instead on the
URI in the back. This may make the thing nearly unusable for previous
Nelson's owners.
Even though they are mostly using the traditional radical system, they
haven't gone all the way. All the characters that should be classified
under tsuki-hen are instead classified under niku-hen. So the editors have
managed to offend both their existing clientele who like the algorithmic
system *and* traditionalists who don't.
This is a huge mistake. If they wanted to, they could have released two
editions: one based on traditional indexing, and one based on Nelsonian
indexing. And if they had more imagination, they would have included a
CD-ROM.
Bottom line: This is like a beautifully-made clock that doesn't keep time
accurately. The indexing system provides the central structure of any kanji
dictionary, so it damned well better be a good one. This one isn't. If you
are an existing Nelson's user like me, you'll be frustrated. If you are a
classicist, you'll be irritated. If you are a first-time buyer, you'll be
mystified. Apart from that, this is a very nice dictionary.
Nelson's users should stick with the older edition (which is evidently
still being printed). First-time buyers should get the older edition or
S&H's Kanji Dictionary.
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