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Product Description
By far the largest and most up-to-date single-volume English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary available and endorsed by academics worldwide, the Oxford Chinese Dictionary has been designed both for English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese and Mandarin Chinese speakers learning English. It has been produced using the latest lexicographic methods and the unique dictionary resources of Oxford University Press in Oxford and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in Beijing, together with an international body of expert advisors. The Oxford Chinese Dictionary contains over 300,000 words and phrases and 370,000 translations, including the latest vocabulary from computing, business, the media, and the arts, and tens of thousands of example phrases illustrating key points of construction and usage. There are over 300 cultural notes giving essential information about many aspects of life and culture in the Chinese- and English-speaking worlds. The dictionary is based throughout on corpus research for both English and Chinese, providing up-to-date evidence on real language. The English is based on the Oxford English Corpus, and the Chinese draws on the LIVAC corpus from the City University of Hong Kong. Extensive supplementary material includes sample letters and emails, guides to telephoning and text messaging in both Chinese and English, chronologies of Chinese history and culture, and features on particularly difficult aspects of the Chinese language, such as kinship terms and measure words. There are also over 50 pages of lexical and usage notes which contain helpful extra information about Chinese and English. The organization and layout have been designed for maximum clarity and accessibility. All Chinese headwords and compounds are shown with Pinyin transcriptions, so that the learner of Chinese can pronounce each one correctly. Chinese headwords are given in Simplified Chinese characters, but Traditional Chinese character versions are also given in brackets after the headwords when they differ from the Simplified form. All the English headwords are also shown with phonetics, so that the learner of English can pronounce each one correctly. The Chinese-English section of the dictionary is organised alphabetically by Pinyin and there is also a radical index which allows you to look up a character without knowing its Pinyin form. 12 months' access to Oxford's online dictionary service - Oxford Language Dictionaries Online* - is included with this book. The site is regularly updated with the latest new words and meanings from Oxford's language research programme, the Oxford Languages Tracker. You can also hear audio pronunciations and improve your language skills with online cultural notes, guides to writing, and much more. This ground-breaking dictionary is an indispensable reference for any serious student of Chinese and English as well as academics, professionals, and translators. *Chinese language only. Based on the Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've been learning Chinese for almost 16 years now and involved in teaching it for 8 of those, so I've seen a lot of Chinese learning and reference materials. I'd been looking forward to this coming out for the few years that I knew it was in progress and I actually passed on a chance to work on the team myself. To be honest, I'm now not sure whether to be relieved my name isn't on the fly sheets or sorry that I didn't have a chance to put my views forward from the inside pre-publication!
First of all, as other reviewers have said, there is no pinyin romanisation in the English-Chinese section. Even advanced learners need and/or appreciate this support from time to time. In fact, to be honest, both the Eng-Ch and the Ch-Eng sections look very much they're not newly worked dictionaries of the usual high standard expected from Oxford, but mere re-prints (or slight revisions) of mainland Chinese publications. Both sections strongly resemble the Beijing Chinese dictionaries I already have on my shelf, all of which were written for and by native Chinese speaking learners of English. There are some features at the front which give needed help with translating tricky things into Chinese, but that doesn't substitute for the use of unsuitable dictionaries. Considering that this publication was (if my memory serves me correctly) put into commission up to 8 years before it came out and that it was expected to be a five year project, I find it amazing that so little original work seems to appear there. I could be wrong, of course, but I recognise the type face and it's thoroughly mainland Chinese in both sections and not at all Oxford style (compare the OUP Chinese Pocket, Beginners'/Starter and Mini dictionaries).
I was really looking forward to something of the top quality of the Oxford Spanish dictionary and even the wonderful Oxford Pocket Chinese dictionary, esp. as there is a real need for a good, full sized English-Chinese dictionary designed for English speakers, but this was a total let-down! No wonder others have felt similarly disappointed.
I've given it 3 stars as there is some excellent information in this dictionary and, if you don't have the mainland versions already, can't get them from China and don't mind looking back up any characters you don't yet know in the Ch-Eng section, it could be worth having (but not for the cover price - so buy on-line), but in order to get 5 stars, it would need to be an *original* Western style publication, totally addressing and meeting the needs of Western learners of Chinese.
Start again Oxford and start from scratch! And yes, if there's to be a substantial revision some day, I'd be delighted to work on it!
UPDATE DECEMBER 2011: I had a look at the dictionary again whilst in the OUP shop itself and found that, although it hasn't been revised (there was nothing saying 2nd edition anywhere), the typeface and appearance of the text has improved exponentially! It looks a great deal more like their other dictionaries now, although I don't think the text has changed in any way. The lady in the shop said it had changed that April. The price had also dropped £5 from £50 to £45. There is still no pinyin in the Eng-Ch section. It *is* a step in the right direction though, but it might not be possible to tell which version you get through Amazon.
First of all, as other reviewers have said, there is no pinyin romanisation in the English-Chinese section. Even advanced learners need and/or appreciate this support from time to time. In fact, to be honest, both the Eng-Ch and the Ch-Eng sections look very much they're not newly worked dictionaries of the usual high standard expected from Oxford, but mere re-prints (or slight revisions) of mainland Chinese publications. Both sections strongly resemble the Beijing Chinese dictionaries I already have on my shelf, all of which were written for and by native Chinese speaking learners of English. There are some features at the front which give needed help with translating tricky things into Chinese, but that doesn't substitute for the use of unsuitable dictionaries. Considering that this publication was (if my memory serves me correctly) put into commission up to 8 years before it came out and that it was expected to be a five year project, I find it amazing that so little original work seems to appear there. I could be wrong, of course, but I recognise the type face and it's thoroughly mainland Chinese in both sections and not at all Oxford style (compare the OUP Chinese Pocket, Beginners'/Starter and Mini dictionaries).
I was really looking forward to something of the top quality of the Oxford Spanish dictionary and even the wonderful Oxford Pocket Chinese dictionary, esp. as there is a real need for a good, full sized English-Chinese dictionary designed for English speakers, but this was a total let-down! No wonder others have felt similarly disappointed.
I've given it 3 stars as there is some excellent information in this dictionary and, if you don't have the mainland versions already, can't get them from China and don't mind looking back up any characters you don't yet know in the Ch-Eng section, it could be worth having (but not for the cover price - so buy on-line), but in order to get 5 stars, it would need to be an *original* Western style publication, totally addressing and meeting the needs of Western learners of Chinese.
Start again Oxford and start from scratch! And yes, if there's to be a substantial revision some day, I'd be delighted to work on it!
UPDATE DECEMBER 2011: I had a look at the dictionary again whilst in the OUP shop itself and found that, although it hasn't been revised (there was nothing saying 2nd edition anywhere), the typeface and appearance of the text has improved exponentially! It looks a great deal more like their other dictionaries now, although I don't think the text has changed in any way. The lady in the shop said it had changed that April. The price had also dropped £5 from £50 to £45. There is still no pinyin in the Eng-Ch section. It *is* a step in the right direction though, but it might not be possible to tell which version you get through Amazon.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I had high hopes for this dictionary but it is missing the English to Pinyin translation. For example, say I wanted to find out what the Chinese pronounciation for the word restaurant is. I would look up the English word and it then gives me the Chinese Hanzi (characters).
If I am not familiar with these characters I will be unable to pronounce them. This book then expects you to go to the Chinese side and by using the characters I have just found (and having to navigate a Chinese Dictionary which isn't as easy as an Alphabet) to find the Pinyin pronounciation for the characters it has just given me from the English side. Whoever wrote this dictionary deserves the sack as it is terrible to use for anyone going from English to Chinese. Do not buy this book if you are learning Chinese.
It deserves one star as it will likely be a useful tool in the future when I have a working understanding of enough Chinese Characters to get around which is approximately 2,000.
If I am not familiar with these characters I will be unable to pronounce them. This book then expects you to go to the Chinese side and by using the characters I have just found (and having to navigate a Chinese Dictionary which isn't as easy as an Alphabet) to find the Pinyin pronounciation for the characters it has just given me from the English side. Whoever wrote this dictionary deserves the sack as it is terrible to use for anyone going from English to Chinese. Do not buy this book if you are learning Chinese.
It deserves one star as it will likely be a useful tool in the future when I have a working understanding of enough Chinese Characters to get around which is approximately 2,000.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This dictionary is excellent in the C->E part. However, the E->C part does not include Pinyin but only Hanzi. This very disappointingly limits the book's value for learners of Chinese. In contrast, the "Oxford Chinese Desk dictionary" includes Pinyin but this has only a fraction of the vocabulary. The one year electronic access apparently is limited to the vocabulary in the "Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary". All in all, a bit disappointing that Oxford is marketing this dictionary for learners of Chinese.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Abandoned
I pre-ordered this book with expectations. I spent 3 months crash learning Chinese and before moving to live in China I wanted a good solid dictionary that I could refer to for... Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. T. Storm
Not for students
If you don't read Chinese well, this dictionary is not for you. For people wanting to translate from English to Chinese, the pinyin pronunciation is not given. Read more
Published 20 months ago by F. Bergers
Best C>E dictionary ever
I've been a full-time professional translator of Chinese to English for 16 years, and I have shelves full of dictionaries. Read more
Published 21 months ago by James Honeychuck
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