Electronic English-Japanese Dictionary

[Spyder93090]

After 2.5 years of using a normal paper-back dictionary, I think it's time for me to upgrade to a nice little 窶彭ﾅｽqﾅｽﾂｫﾂ鞘? Denshi Jisho aka Electronic Dictionary. I'm only 16 and work at Pac-Sun makin $8/hour so I can't afford nor need those colored, voice-recognition, backlit, bulletproof, MP3-playing $500+ ones. I'm looking to spend around $150~ on a good one. All I really need is English-窶愿ｺ窶怒ﾅ津ｪ translation. I speak pretty fluent Japanese so I don't really need those "canned phrases" but if it's there, i'll take it. Don't need those expansion slots nor pronunciation features either. I only know around 250ﾅ?ﾂｿﾅｽﾅ｡ right now, so if it had 窶｢ﾂｽ窶ｰﾂｼ窶督ｼ, that would be great.ﾂ

Which one do you guys have that you could recommend ?ﾂ THANX

Oh, I don't really like those small ones, I want one that looks like a mini-laptop, haha.

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Purchase anything other than a Canon Wordtank and you'll need at least 1000 kanji to use it effectively. The Wordtank series offers a 'jump' feature that allows you to look up the 'reading' of any individual kanji or kanji phrase.

You input the word in English, it offers a translation in Japanese, your scroll down to, for example, the first definition and highlight the kanji you want the reading for. Then it 'jumps' you to the Japanese-English dictionary where of course the furigana reading is included. To the best of my knowledge no other series of electronic dictionaries offers this feature. Wordtanks have optional English menus - also unique.

I've used about five Wordtanks over the years. I think one of the best at the moment is the G55. It's about the size of a Japanese postcard.

The best prices for Wordtanks are of course here in Japan. If you PM me we might be able to arrange a trade/sale. I've supplied electronic items to other forum members so if you post a request I'm sure a couple of members will vouch for me.

 

[nice gaijin]

Everyone raves about the wordtank, but I really like my Seiko. Mine is the M4000, I think; there are more expensive models packed with even more dictionaries.

It has the jump feature (as do most halfway-decent dictionaries), amongst many others, and can run around $180 or so (I bought mine at Kinokuniya in SF for just a little more than that). It's about the size of a laptop hard drive, a bit more compact than other models, which may be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences, but the screen is easy to view and has multiple text size settings, and the unit itself is very comfortable to use. It doesn't have English menus, but it does have a manual translated into several languages; I prefer using it in Japanese anyways, the same as my cell phone--just using the devices in Japanese exposes me to new and useful words.

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Everyone raves about the wordtank, but I really like my Seiko. Mine is the M4000, I think; there are more expensive models packed with even more dictionaries.
It has the jump feature (as do most halfway-decent dictionaries),

Can you clarify the exact function of the Seiko M4000 'jump' function. Does it allow you to highlight individual kanji or a kanji phrase and then 'jump' to the Japanese-English dictionary section where the furigana readings are displayed?
I need to go out this morning to change my wife's car tyres (every year - AFTER the first snowfall!!!!) so I'll pop into the Eiden superstore and check out all the Seiko models.
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[nice gaijin]

Can you clarify the exact function of the Seiko M4000 'jump' function. Does it allow you to highlight individual kanji or a kanji phrase and then 'jump' to the Japanese-English dictionary section where the furigana readings are displayed?

That's just how it works, and it also lets me select which dictionary to check the kanji or jukugo with, listing only the dictionaries for which there is an entry. It's quite handy, and probably the feature I use the most.

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Yep - 100% correct! I just checked out several Seiko models and they all do that. I guess it's a simple toss up between the Wordtank or Seiko models then. The Wordtanks have English menus and English manuals (you have to order them). The Seiko models also have the kanji reading look-up feature and in fact it works a little better than the Wordtank method. I think it's honors even.

 

[Spyder93090]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll check em out. And yeah, Nice Gaijin, I'm looking for a small one, but not to small. Maybe one the size of a 6" x 4" Photo would be good or maybe a 3" x 5" index card would work too. But not those ones under $100 with the screens the size of a USB drive.

And thanx for the offer Sumo , once I "recover" from my Christmas shopping (HP Laptop + Canon Digital Camera + Mountain Bike= Empty Wallet, haha), i'll definitely hit you up.

 

[Kirirao]

Sorry to barge in, but whats the current retail price for those in the store? more then 15,000 yen im guessing. If anyone know the store price I'd really apprecieate it. Hope to budget some money for it after i buy my 1gb ram in akihabara next week. I wonder if theres a 2nd hand denshi jisho sold around here? or at least cheaper then the normal one... *wonders*

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Seiko SR-M4000
Amazon product ASIN B0000DBPEC
Canon Wordtank
Amazon.co.jp : Canon Wordtank

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Sorry to barge in, but whats the current retail price for those in the store? more then 15,000 yen im guessing. If anyone know the store price I'd really apprecieate it. Hope to budget some money for it after i buy my 1gb ram in akihabara next week. I wonder if theres a 2nd hand denshi jisho sold around here? or at least cheaper then the normal one... *wonders*

The cheapest I can find the SR-M4000 model is 14500 yen plus 500 yen postage. Plus the 600 yen furikomi fee - unless you use Shinseibank in which case it's free. SII SR-M4000 価格比較
No used SR-M4000s on Yahoo Auctions - anyway, would you really trust a used electronic dictionary? The screens on these sort of devices are quite delicate - considering that they will spend some considerable time being knocked about in students' book bags - and a warranty is recommended.
--

 

[JimmySeal]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll check em out. And yeah, Nice Gaijin, I'm looking for a small one, but not to small. Maybe one the size of a 6" x 4" Photo would be good or maybe a 3" x 5" index card would work too. But not those ones under $100 with the screens the size of a USB drive.

Would you be willing to settle for one that's the size of a 3"x5" photo or a 6"x4" index card? How about one that's the size of a 4"x6" floor tile?


In my experience, Wordtanks are overrated and overpriced. I hate how some of them make you wait 5 seconds while they boot up and the lookup in the J->E dictionary doesn't list compound words (for example, 窶ｰﾃ??凖ｫ窶ｹﾂｳﾅｽt) as guidewords.

I'm currently on my third 窶彭ﾅｽqﾅｽﾂｫﾂ鞘? (my Canon and Seiko both broke pretty quickly) and it's a Sharp. From what I've seen, you can find a Sharp model with equal or better features than a more expensive Canon or Seiko (and yes the jump feature is just as good). The only thing Sharps don't have is an option for English menus, but if you can read a little bit, it shouldn't be too hard to learn how to use all the different options.

I would highly recommend this model. It's probably the best buy on the market right now.: PW-A8410. Here are the stats: stats. I'm drooling just looking at it (mine's a bit older). It's currently the #1 窶彭ﾅｽqﾅｽﾂｫﾂ鞘? on that kakaku.com site that mr. sumo posted. #29 is a very similar model, the PW-A8400, that costs about 2000 yen less.

 

[kemplang]

My sister got a cool dictionary from her friend in Tokyo, it's orange and looks more like an extra tiny laptop than common alfalink kinda dictionary. Dunno how much it's worth though..