AM101 Electronic English Chinese Translator / Dictionary - Translates English Sentence / Phrase / Words to Chinese

Other products by BBK

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 3.4 inches ; 5.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• ASIN: B000NQII6Y
• Item model number: AM101
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 25, 2007

Product Description

Product Description

For English speaker learning Chinese, business travelers traveling to China, AM101 is an indispensable tool that provides instant English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English bi-directional sentence/phrase/word translations and dictionaries. The BBK AM101 provides clear pronunciation in both Mandarin Chinese and English, with both Pinyin and Phonetic display for the Chinese translations. Besides, AM101 includes English and Chinese Idiom dictionaries; Specialized technical dictionaries for Computers, Business, Law, Military, Western and Chinese Medicine; Common dialogue phrases for daily, telephone conversation and restaurant menu; Information about Chinese History, Geography, Climate, Festival, Culture and Travel; Built-in MP3 player for playing and recording MP3 files; Convenient travel functions: Calendar, World Clock, Alarm, Calculators, and Metric/Currency Converters; Over 240,000 word vocabulary. AM101 English Chinese Translator is specially designed to help travelers to navigate in Chinese. AM101 comes with carrying bag, earphone, user manual, and AAA battery, with one-year parts and labor warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Beginner/Intermediate Chinese-English Translator, September 13, 2007

By	Z.Y. Lane - See all my reviews

I purchased this translator after much research before coming to China to study Chinese. Many other brands were out of my price-range, so I was happy to have a more moderately priced model. I was also pleased that this translator was made for an English speaker learning Chinese, since many translators are made for a Chinese speaker learning English.

Overall, I am very pleased with this translator. It is easy to use, a great size to fit in a purse, comes with an English manual, has a very easy interface, and does a pretty good job at translating. One reason I was particularly interested in this dictionary was for its whole sentence translation (both from Chinese/English and from English/Chinese). The translation is by no means perfect, but when you are trying to get a complex idea across to someone who may or may not even speak the main dialect of China, I have found it quite useful. Unfortunately though, it translates the sentence into characters and it is a little troublesome to find the pinyin.

In other pros, I also appreciate the back light, the medical/business/law dictionaries (though they are not perfect), and the pinyin input. The voice pronunciation is adequate, and after hearing the voices on other dictionaries such as the well regarded Besta brand, I believe the AM101 is as good or better.

The extras in this dictionary are minimal, though it does have a rudimentary Tetris game which brought back memories of my childhood. I was also disappointed to find out that it didn't have an alarm. I have not used the MP3 function, though the voice recorder can be quite useful.
Overall, I am pleased with my AM101 and would purchase it again. I think it is especially beneficial for beginner/intermediate Chinese learners and for people who want a translator while traveling to China. For a helpful video tour of this dictionary, visit the company's website.

One final note: If you are studying abroad in China, I suggest you consider buying a dictionary in China. Many of my peers have purchased a Chinese brand dictionary that has character recognition for a comparable price, and they are all very pleased with it.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice compact unit, seems well made., October 8, 2007

By	Pack Rat "packrat" (Boise, ID USA) - See all my reviews

Nice compact unit, seems well made. Have found some words that do not translate right according to my Chinese friend. Reading through the included Chinese Idioms is very interesting. Backlight is a nice feature and the battery life is exceptional, we use it quite a bit and it still has the original batteries. Never tried the USB connectivity or audio capability.

Drawbacks: Pronunciation clarity is a bit lacking, quite a drawback when trying to use it as a learning tool. No u (with oomlat) key for entering Pinyin spelling. A nuisance "boot time" every time the unit is powered on, maybe 10 seconds.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars English <--> Chinese Translator, February 1, 2009

By	David M. Stelly (College Station, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

AM101 Electronic English Chinese Translator / Dictionary - Translates English Sentence / Phrase / Words to Chinese and Vice Versa (Voice: Mandarin Chinese/English):

Product was new and arrived promptly. It is quite useful and worth the investment. Were the software a bit better organized it would stupendous. But for someone whose mastery of Chinese is less than stellar, I would rate it down a bit (to 4 of 5 stars) because one has to march through extra steps to get the information most useful to the novice.