Hi all,
I have potentially landed a job here in Japan that involves a lot of translation work from Japanese into English. I use Jisho and other apps on my phone, but feel sometimes they’re not totally accurate. I’ve been debating getting an electronic dictionary for a while, but now that I’m probably going to get this job I think it’s time to buy one.. I’m also really buckling down on my studies and aim to pass N1 this December, and feel like it’d just be generally helpful to have one.
But are they totally necessary?
If so, what models do you recommend?
If not, what should I use instead?
Thanks!
10 comments
What OS do you use on your phone?
iOS has two major dictionaries built in, Wisdom J -> E and Super Daijirin J -> J
These are also built in to MacOS
Beyond that an app will give you the same dictionaries as a dedicacated electronic dictionary but cheaper (as you have a device) and more convenient.
I found a stand alone electronic too cumbersome to look up really and in the end hardly used it.
Monokakido is a major publisher:
https://www.monokakido.jp/en/dictionaries/app/
I presume there are offerings from other publishers and similar products on Android.
Probably too easy for you at N1 but as a first J to J dictionary I really like
例解学習国語辞典 第九版 A Childrens Dictionary also from 物書堂
https://apps.apple.com/app/id615900736
Ace Crown is a reasonable E -> J dictionary.
On the web there’s ALC and weblio, although weblio also uses some of the same data as Jisho.org.
Edit: final thoughts.
By N1 (or even sooner) the first dictionary to check should be a monolingual dictionary.
Most dictionary apps are using the same data from the EDRDG. It’s ok but sometimes lacks nuance, and has no usage notes. The next step is something more curated.
For beginners preferably with usage notes. Oxford has a print edition but I can no longer find it as an app.
Then you’re starting into dictionaries from dictionary publishers, and monolingual dictionaries.
As far as I can tell there are one 2 or 3 standard works and the data used on standalone electronic dictionaries is the same as a print edition or an app edition.
Congratulations on the potential job!
As for your question, are they totally necessary? No, I think you can get by without one, especially with the right online resources. But I do feel it’s a quality of life item and I wouldn’t be without one. Some fellow translator friends have them for the same reason.
Digital resources (apps, websites, etc.) are great tools, but personally my denshi jisho has been absolutely invaluable. It was/is a great study tool and much more accurate than my phone app. I bought mine when I was a student in 2014, Casio Ex-Word Dataplus 7 XD-N10000, professional/translation model. Above my ability at the time but I was working towards translation. It’s still going strong so I don’t have any current model recommendations, but I do like Ex-Words over Sharps.
When I’m working on my laptop, I tend to use online resources for quick look ups. However, to double-check something or for clearer examples I use the denshi jisho. Need to draw out a kanji if I don’t know the reading? Faster and more accurate (for me). It’s also the first thing that goes in my bag when I’m not at home and need to get work done on the fly.
Sure, I always have my phone on hand, but to me it’s just easier to use the denshi jisho and it has very specific dictionaries in it that make things faster (in my case, the science and archaic ones are my go-to but there are so many good resources available on it). And honestly, I also use the English options to get ideas when translating a word and on the fence about what nuance to use.
One other surprising plus lately, since I have meetings only online it’s been faster to look up something on a physical device when my PC screens are filled with Zoom and half a dozen other documents and software.
I’ve been getting by with the app “imiwa?”
I am not a translator, but I am a researcher of Japanese prewar history. I found an electronic dictionary to be an invaluable help while learning, as it had good dictionaries (E->J and J->J at a later stage), and I could easily input many kanji I did not yet know by writing them. These days, I don’t use it as much, but when it is useful, it is very useful indeed. The ability to quickly write very obscure kanji with a pen and look up words that way feels more efficient to me than any combination of apps on my phone.
I often have to read texts from late Meiji-era and early Taishô-era materials. For this, it can really help to have the dictionary on-hand. Mine also contains a dictionary on classical Japanese, as well as multiple dictionaries that help to look up obscure kanji, and even their cursive forms. These things suit my needs.
It is just one tool amongst many I have open while doing my reading. I make use of a variety of websites, I have dictionaries on my phone and a local one on my desktop as well. However, it can sometimes be very useful to have the electronic dictionary on hand when more obscure words or characters appear. In Japan, these dictionaries are not very expensive, in my experience, so if you’re on the fence I think it cannot hurt to have one. It might improve your workflow by a couple of percent, and that can make all the difference across a workweek.
That said: there is nothing this dictionary will give you in terms of functionality that cannot be achieved by a combination of a good phone dictionary, and various specialized websites (or, well, a good google search). It’s just that the electronic dictionary brings many of these elements together in a fairly elegant way, and the writing recognition being good and intuitive can alleviate much frustration.
This has to be the best dictionary for translators because it gives you context & it’s great for obscure terms. Has multiple dictionaries to choose from. http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?1C
I find my electronic dictionary invaluable, but I am a researcher and translator. I believe it might be helpful, but it’s a pricey investment. I would suggest a model which has dictionaries related to your field of work. Mine has classical japanese and italian too, since I use those dictionaries a lot. You can also buy one and get additional sd cards with dictionaries later. I would recommend casio, with space to write with a pen near the keyboard
Whether you end up getting a denshi jisho or not, my go-to recommended online dictionary is Alc Eijiro.
[https://eow.alc.co.jp/](https://eow.alc.co.jp/)
Lots of example sentences which are really useful. It’s intended for higher-level stuff because when searching in Japanese you do have to be specific about characters. (For example, searching かわいい will NOT return results for 可愛い and vice versa)
As a fun aside, Eijiro is also known for including some truly wacky slang translations that can be pretty hilarious in the “wtf who actually *says* that” kind of way haha.
[Kanshudo](https://www.kanshudo.com/dashboard).
Single best resource I have found to study the Japanese language in an accurate manner (e.g., actual kanji for the stems and not just kana, pronunciation and intonational emphasis, how common certain words and phrases and colloquialisms are, and a wide variety of usages by kanji…including archaic).
Has made following a kanji workbook through several hundred kanji quite fun. Is this kanji actually a root, counter? Which of its pronunciations should I use? Is it used elsewhere in anything? How commonly?
If you have an apple device I highly recommend Nihongo on the Apple Store. It’s so incredibly underrated.
bro trust me just use takobot app. i have been in japan for 5 years trust me it’s so useful. u only need takobot and google translate.