I have a job where I frequently find myself without access to a computer/the internet, but am allowed to bring in a book.
Lately I feel like I’ve reached the point where my grammar and vocab are good enough to try reading some untranslated light novels. Following some advice from this sub, I’ve bought a couple of Japanese-translated versions of YA novels I’m already familiar with, and I’m looking for a novel-sized dictionary I can keep for reference whenever I encounter unfamiliar words.
I’m looking for something I can quickly look up unfamiliar words—but I don’t really need definitions, and my kanji comprehension is pretty decent. My main preference is just for size, and smaller is probably more useful!
Does anyone have any recommendations?
2 comments
Maybe a electronic dictionary? (If that is permitted)
Best an older high end model for Japanese English learners, those are often relatively cheap I got mine for about 30$ a few years (back then it was a bit older than 10 years) ago. I bought that from surugaya.
For actual physical dictionaries I can not really help as except for a Japanese grammar dictionary I have never felt like I needed one and the sheer weight of it would be too much for me quickly (because of being disabled). Also the more words one knows the less likely one is to find it in a dictionary, smaller ones even more so.
I also have one of those OCR dictionaries from sharp because it was 10$ and wanted to give it a try, but so far can say that while it is small enough it does not work well for me at all (like many reviews say).
There’s not really a good genuinely pocket-sized paper dictionary out there. I could recommend a dictionary, but even the smallest good ones are [pretty darn chunky](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%83%8B%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC-%E4%B8%AD%E5%AD%A6-%E8%8B%B1%E5%92%8C%E3%83%BB%E5%92%8C%E8%8B%B1%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8-%E7%AC%AC7%E7%89%88-%E4%B8%AD%E5%AD%A6%E7%94%9F%E5%90%91%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8/dp/4053049776/ref=zg_bs_g_898662_sccl_1/355-0274270-4811862?psc=1). I would just use a dictionary app on my phone – is there a reason that’s not a good solution for you?
>I’m looking for something I can quickly look up unfamiliar words—but I don’t really need definitions
So do you just need the reading? (Not trying to be difficult – genuinely trying to figure out what I might recommend for your use case).