WordTank help?

I just got a Canon WordTank (v90) but am having some trouble finding words I would think would be obvious. I must be doing something wrong!

The v90 has the "Genius Eng/Jpn" and "Genius Jpn/Eng" dictionaries, as well as the Kanjigen and Super Daijirin J/J dictionaries in it. Other models probably have the same dictionaries.

Okay, I see how their kana input scheme works, so that's not the problem. I figured out that I must look up verbs by their roots, which makes sense. I found "wakaru" when I wanted to see if I could find "wakarimasu," and "ganbaru" as the root for "ganbatte yo!"

But I can't find the seemingly-common word "daijoubu." It always appears as one word when I look elsewhere, but I find nothing like it here. Is it really missing from this dictionary? Is there really a root for this word I should obviously know? How about "itadakimasu"? Can't find it.

Yoroshiku onegai...

いただく is where you'll find いただきます. There should be some explanation about the use of いただきます as well under that heading.

大丈夫 is one word, and it should be in there. Are you sure you didn't input it incorrectly or something? I find it very strange that it wouldn't be in the dictionary.

Glenn, thanks for your reply.

I looked again. Typing the kana for i ta da, my word list narrows to a series of words with this kanji: 頂.

いただき『頂』 top, summit, peak

いただき『頂き』 ... "This game [match] is mine."

いただきもの『頂き物』 gift, present

いただく『頂く,戴く』 ... "The mountaintop was lightly covered with snow." ... " 'May I have this pen?' 'Sure [Certainly].' " / ... "She got a token from her English teacher."

... and so on. Since NONE of the English sentence examples nor core meaning words had ANYTHING to do with food, and only barely to do with receiving something, I wasn't even sure if the kanji was on the right track until I looked it up elsewhere.

I suppose the problem is that you can't just assume a J-E/E-J dictionary will serve the needs for both languages. That is, what a Japanese-speaker wants from an J-E dictionary is an English word and Japanese definition, and what a Japanese-speaker wants from an E-J dictionary is a Japanese definition. Neither one really helps the non-literate student of Nihongo, because reading the Japanese definitions is an endless tree of nested kanji interpretation.

What an English speaker wants out of a J-E dictionary is a quick kanji/furigana pair, the english core meaning, and a simple sentence in Japanese that uses it (perhaps with English following it). What an English speaker wants out of an E-J dictionary is also a quick kanji/furigana pair and English confirmation to ensure the sense is compatible with the intended thought. And furigana on just about anything else you tap.

I was hoping this unit would have a bit more of a blend of resources for helping either speaker out. It might help a Nihongo speaker in America, but will it really help me identify the meaning of signs and whatnot if I visit Japan? As it is, I'm quite worried I won't get my money's worth from it since it depends on Japanese fluency or at least self-resourcefulness, the exact thing I thought it might assist me in attaining.

I'm always open to suggestions on something I've missed.

I have a V80. "daijoubu" comes up as the first entry using Genius and Supa.

Here, try this definition: いただく

Unfortunately, though, the dictionary doesn't have much on usage. It doesn't say anything about it being a humble form of もらう and 食べる, or that it's what's said before eating.

I'm not familiar with your dictionary, but I have heard that the Genius dictionaries aren't very good. The 大辞林 (daijirin) is good, but it's all in Japanese. Are there no other J-E/E-J dictionaries in it?

The Genius is the only J-E or E-J in the V90. I thought I did enough comparison shopping, but after receiving this unit, I'm coming to the conclusion I should have gone for the G70.

I was hoping the pen-kanji recognizer would be useful in identifying kanji in the field but it's very touchy and I can't even seem to draw a 子 that it will recognize 10% of the time. I would be better off with a Kodansha Kanji Learner's in paper format at this rate.

The V90's strength appears to be the Chinese support, though that's not what attracted me to it. It's unfortunately not an item that is easy to try hands-on before ordering.

Hmm, I'm sorry I can't help you out more. I guess just give it a try for a while, and see if you start getting more comfortable with it. Maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know.