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Product Description
Product Description
A comprehensive, communicative, and practical guide to using Japanese, Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary is an invaluable tool for anyone with an interest in the Japanese language. It has been edited with the needs of English-speaking users in mind, whether students, teachers, business people, or casual linguists, and special care has been taken at each stage of its compilation including the selection of entry words and their equivalents, the wording of the detailed explanations of Japanese words, the choice of example sentences, and even its functional page design to maximize its usefulness.
What is furigana and why is it so important?
Furigana refers to the small kana that are printed above or alongside kanji to show their pronunciation. With furigana superscripts, the beginner who is familiar with hiragana and katakana is able to read even the most difficult and obscure kanji at a glance. Other dictionaries either provide little or no guide to kanji readings or romanize some or all of the Japanese words and sentences. In the past, romanized dictionaries were of some value to students using textbooks that contained no Japanese script. Now, however, an increasing number of influential curricula around the world are based on a rationale and methodology that demands the introduction of hiragana and katakana from the earliest stages. Learners and their teachers using such curricula will inevitably feel more comfortable with a dictionary such as Kodansha s Furigana Japanese Dictionary, one that shows the pronunciation of kanji with a familiar and authentic kana script.
Combining Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary (1995) and Kodansha's Furigana English-Japanese Dictionary (1996) in one portable. affordable, and user-friendly volume, this dictionary has the following unique features:
o A basic vocabulary of 30,000 entries covers the most frequently used English and Japanese words
o Special treatment has been given to hundreds of words, names, and phrases of special relevance to English-speaking students of Japanese
o Semantic and usage differences between Japanese words and expressions are explained in clear English
o Thousands of example sentences and phrases illustrate how Japanese words are used in context
o Special information is provided on verb conjugations, formality, and other aspects of Japanese grammar and usage
What is furigana and why is it so important?
Furigana refers to the small kana that are printed above or alongside kanji to show their pronunciation. With furigana superscripts, the beginner who is familiar with hiragana and katakana is able to read even the most difficult and obscure kanji at a glance. Other dictionaries either provide little or no guide to kanji readings or romanize some or all of the Japanese words and sentences. In the past, romanized dictionaries were of some value to students using textbooks that contained no Japanese script. Now, however, an increasing number of influential curricula around the world are based on a rationale and methodology that demands the introduction of hiragana and katakana from the earliest stages. Learners and their teachers using such curricula will inevitably feel more comfortable with a dictionary such as Kodansha s Furigana Japanese Dictionary, one that shows the pronunciation of kanji with a familiar and authentic kana script.
Combining Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary (1995) and Kodansha's Furigana English-Japanese Dictionary (1996) in one portable. affordable, and user-friendly volume, this dictionary has the following unique features:
o A basic vocabulary of 30,000 entries covers the most frequently used English and Japanese words
o Special treatment has been given to hundreds of words, names, and phrases of special relevance to English-speaking students of Japanese
o Semantic and usage differences between Japanese words and expressions are explained in clear English
o Thousands of example sentences and phrases illustrate how Japanese words are used in context
o Special information is provided on verb conjugations, formality, and other aspects of Japanese grammar and usage
Inside This Book
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am an English university student studying Japanese, and I find this a really thorough dictionary which I am very happy with. It has lots of kanji and gives example sentences to help out if you don't know the context of the word. The sample sentences are in plain form though, so beware of using them directly in an essay which should be in polite form. If you are English speaking and cannot read Japanese (i.e. you are only learning to speak it) then don't get it, as all Japanese words are in kana.
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is big! I expected it to be big, but its bigger than that :)
Not very portable at all, this is really a leave at home book.
Size:50mm x 140mm x 190mm Weight: 1.1Kg
Not very portable at all, this is really a leave at home book.
Size:50mm x 140mm x 190mm Weight: 1.1Kg
It contains just what you think it does. Its invaluable as “the ultimate” dictionary for someone studying Japanese. The only close alternative to this, might be to buy the J->E and E->J dictionaries separately. Be careful of the smaller dictionaries, as the kanji can be unreadable. This has nice big text, and you can see the kanji pretty well. Maybe even bigger would have been nice, but then the English would have looked like a childrens book :)
The only problem I have found so far is that there are mistakes :\
My Japanese teacher took a look through it and found mistakes in the kanji right away…
That said, there really is no alternative. If you want something better than your pocket dictionary, this is the one to buy
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having already got the Oxford beginners japanese dictionary, I needed one with a few more words and phrases. This uses furigana (small hiragana above the kanji) rather than repeating the japanenes in hiragana and then kanji. Certainly there are lots of new enries and many more phrases, but I tend to have to use a magnifying glass to read the kanji or hiragana, the former because they are complex and the latter because they are now small (to fit above the kanji). Ok, I am now 52 and need reading glasses anyway - but I tend to rely on the Oxford first simply because of this. The book uses no colour, which I liked about the Oxford. Its chunky, not a really large book, only 14x19x5 cm, certainly not pcket size. There is a small appendix, but very sketchy indeed. Unlike the Oxford, it only shows the "dictionary form" of the verbs, i.e. if soemthing is in the "~mas" or "~te" form, it will not redirect you to the dictionary form.
All in all it is a good dictionary, not quite for the beginner, and does not try to solve the "tiny character" problem, indeed it makes it worse, if you rely on hiragana.
All in all it is a good dictionary, not quite for the beginner, and does not try to solve the "tiny character" problem, indeed it makes it worse, if you rely on hiragana.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not for the weak of sight!
This is potentially a great dictionary, and I think it is unique in it's comprehensive coverage of Kanji with Furigana... but... Read more
Published 9 months ago by P. Smy
Must buy for people learning Japanese
Although, electronic dictionaries are on the rise and are much quicker but if you seriously want to learn Japanese this is a must buy. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ron
Magnificent
Our friend who is a lawyer in Japan recommended this. We have been using for 2 years, our ability to handle Japanese sky-rocketed. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Adlerinternational
Good beginner dictionary
I've used this dictionary for many years now, and it served me pretty well until post 2nd level JLPT, at which point its deficiencies will become obvious - it often lacks common... Read more
Published 20 months ago by namako
Excellent.
I just got this book and I love it. Its for someone who just started learning Japanese and also the Kanji helps when you are at the point where you start reading and writing. Read more
Published on 16 April 2010 by E. Angel
excellent book
the book is excellent as it gives several examples and cases for the words. It would have been better if there was romaji as well.... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2000
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