Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent value, a must have, 14 April 2007
You don't need a book for learning Japanese, you need a library! Well, at least reserve a bookshelf, and this book should be there. It is my most valued and dog-eared reference book.
The definitions are clear and distinct, with an authority only Oxford can provide. (It is claimed the definitions are in American English, but it is far from "Yo, Blair!" So for those of us in .co.uk land there is not a problem.)
The layout is equally clear and you won't strain your eyes to find what you want.
The examples and usage notes are extremely helpful - knowing equivalent Japanese words does not get you far as sentence structure is very different. Words are often modified according to sense and tense - eg. some nouns can be turned into adjectives and/or verbs, and in particular verbs seem to have countless forms indicated by their endings. You need to master a lot of grammar to be familiar with the possibilities and be able to figure out how to get to, and from, the 'dictionary' form (yes, used by dictionaries, but not so much in real life).
Besides, it is a mistake to think each language has equivalent words, certainly not in Japanese<>English. Also many Japanese words have multiple meanings which can only be determined in context - again the examples take care of it.
Yes, this dictionary has no English>Japanese section, and it has limited entries (~3000). But for a book this size you will find the most common words (and their most common usages), with both romanji and kanji. It suitable for a beginner and well into intermediate level.
If you want a pure reference book, there are larger offerings, but beware - many Japanese words have a list of usages and shades of meanings, more than enough to confuse any learner! Important words are well covered here though - 5 whole pages devoted to a word like mo, for eg.
The major Japanese dictionaries are based on kanji characters - which have no alphabetical order making it extremely difficult to find what you are looking for!! The characters are organized by key components and the number of strokes - which are not obvious until you learn to draw them!
The Collins-Shubun English>Japanese dictionary is a small but poor companion - it claims over 27,000 references, but few examples, and overall less convincing.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
japanese to english ONLY, 27 April 2004
This is useful dictionary, although the first thing i would like to pointout is that it is Japanese to English only, and does not function theother way around. Because of this, it is only really best for checking theoccasional word you come across which you don'trecongise.
Unfortunately, it is only a basic dictionary and so manywords have been missed completely.
On the positive side, each word is illustrated with atleast two differentexample of the context it is used in, in both Romanji andKana/Kanji.
In all, useful but not as much as it could be.
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