Question for the LRDers

[flemmings]

Or anyone else who knows, but I figure Singapore would have them if anyone did.

As you know, Bob, there are a plethora of Japanese-English electronic dictionaries, some of which are actually made for gaijin-- or at least, can be used by gaijin without pain. (Those Canon Wordtanks with the easy kanji lookup function and the jump function and all like that, that all gaijin swear by.) Yet when I google Chinese hanzi dictionaries, I get nothing but online applications for the computer. Yes, well.

Anyone know if there are electronic Chinese dictionaries for English speakers, that let you look up hanzi by radical and stroke number, or by pinyin, or even by drawing the character? And that preferably do *not* devote much memory to telling you how the things sound? Ever seen one of those around? Or are the electronic dictionaries all geared to Chinese speakers who want to know the English for a word?

Comments

Re: Thanks

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Even 15 years ago (which is when I bought Old Faithful) the Canon Wordtank let you find kanji by radical, stroke number, and on or kun reading, using any or all of the above. Is why gaijin swear by the Wordtank.

Maybe I should cut out the middleman and get a Japanese-Chinese Wordtank, which exists. (Of course.) Somehow I thought there'd be enough Chinese-reading English speakers about to make a C-E hanzi dictionary worthwhile, but maybe they do indeed operate as computer software rather than mini-comps of their own.

Re: Thanks

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Some of the C-E ones let you search by radical, stroke number, or pronunciation.

I haven't done the research in a year or so, but I can do go it again.

Re: Thanks

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

http://www.bestausa.com/dictionary/besta_cd_168/
for example, but it's built for Chinese speakers wanting to learn English, the interface is all in Chinese, but there is an English user's manual

http://www.bbkusa.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AM99
is for English speakers wanting to learn Chinese

http://store.aikotradingstore.com/necawog90ja.html
is a Canon that does all three languages, but lacks a Chinese->English dictionary, which might not matter to you, looks like Casio has one that's similar for similarly painful prices

http://www.pleco.com/hardware.html
is for English speakers wanting to learn Chinese and are willing to buy a handheld machine and buy software to install on it

Pretty much everything cheaper I can find is for Chinese speakers learning English.

Re: Thanks

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Ahh, thanks. Canon products cost a lot here but can be had for about $200 in Japan, esp if you prefer the older models.

I've always wanted a Palm Pilot though. Maybe its time to get one, esp now that everyone is going to Blackberries.

Re: Thanks

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

If you are thinking about the Pleco software, you'll want to read their comments about hardware before committing.

Re: Thanks

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

The little one reminds me that http://blog.nciku.com/ in her opinion is better than mandarintools. I'll have to go play with it and see.

Re: Thanks

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I'd say it's better for learning, but as a hanzi dictionary, as far as I can see it isn't. zhongwen (in the sidebar) is probably more exhaustive, but I've never figured the knack of it. Radical and stroke number is what I'm used to and what mandarintools gives me.

ETA oh wait! Not the blog, the dictionary that lets you draw the hanzi! Yes, indeed. (bookmarks)