Any dictionaries for Pleco that don't suck?

[Manuel]

I look up simple things such as "contact list" and get no matches. Zero. Nada. Often an English word translates to loads of different Chinese words or expressions, and often the translations given are not used in the examples. I know it's because "that's not the way Chinese people would say it", but then why bother to first tell me the translation for "remember" is ABC and then use XYZ in the examples? At least one example should be given for the proposed translation. Etc.

 

I have the following dictionaries:

 

ABC E-C/C-E

NWP E-C

Tuttle Learner's C-E

Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary

Oxford Chinese dictionary

CC-CEDICT

Pleco C-E

Unihan

 

I wonder if some of the other dictionaries I haven't purchased might be better.

 

Also a quick question, is it possible to get the pinyin using the pop-up definition feature for dictionaries that don't have pinyin?

 

Thanks

[imron]

The guifan CC is the dictionary I use the most.

[Manuel]

I'll check it out, thanks

[imron]

I find it to be a very good dictionary, especially for learners, and it often points out subtle differences between similar words.

[mikelove]

Thanks for the honest post :-)

 

You can indeed get Pinyin for dictionaries that lack it via the popup definition feature - honestly in a lot of cases (<cough>Oxford<cough>) the reason there isn't Pinyin somewhere is because we're not allowed to add it.

 

As far as English-to-Chinese in general - we've licensed many of what are considered the best E-C dictionaries on the market (and actually have licenses in negotiation now for a few more), but the fact is that the best of what's available for Chinese just isn't as good as it is for, say, French; the fact that Chinese got popular in the West right around the time we all started replacing paper dictionaries with mobile devices hasn't helped matters.

 

21st Century adds Chinese translations for a lot of words that the others don't, but it's nonetheless far from complete - "contact list" isn't in it either; you can download the demo version of it in Add-ons and browse through the entries in that to see if you can find a lot of the words you want. It's the best E-C dictionary in our catalog that's not on your list, anyway.

 

But long-term we're looking at ways that we might be able to improve on this ourselves - there really ought to be something out there that will answer the "how do I say X in Chinese" question in a way that doesn't leave you sounding like an awkward foreigner.

[roddy]

Thousands of people using these dictionaries every day, and you're the only person I've seen feel a need to complain that they all suck... now either you're a visionary genius, or...

[Manuel]

Employ

雇用 gùyòng

be employed in a bank

在银行服务

zài yínháng fúwù

Roddy, I'm sure the majority of users have noticed this. I've been using Pleco since 2009 and this is the first time I complain about the dictionaries. It's one of those things I can live with, but today it occurred to me it might be a good idea to explore other Pleco add-ons in case I have been missing out.

[li3wei1]

Employ

雇用 gùyòng

be employed in a bank

在银行服务

zài yínháng fúwù

 

I don't see the problem here. In English, both of these expressions use the same word, or different forms of the same word. In Chinese, they don't. An English-speaking user wanting to know how to say "He was employed in a bank" will look here, and find what they need. What would you like to see in a dictionary?

[roddy]

"any dictionaries for Pleco that don't suck?" implies that all the dictionaries you have for Pleco aren't of much use. But you've been using them since 2009... 

 

I'm not sure the Guifan's going to suit you - you seems to be wanting to look up English words, but that's a Chinese-Chinese dictionary. Very valuable for the usage notes and extra examples though. 

[Manuel]

To describe

2 把某人评为 bǎ mǒurén píngwéi

I hesitate to describe him as really clever.

我不愿说他是真正的聪明。 ☕

Wǒ búyuàn shuō tā shì zhēnzhèngde cōngming.

Here I would like to know how to use 把...评为, of course.

[Lanchong]

Are you sure "contact list" is a simple example? It's a newish word, and all dictionaries are slow to update themselves.

The old word is "address book", which many of the Pleco dictionaries include.

[giokve]

 

To describe

2 把某人评为 bǎ mǒurén píngwéi

I hesitate to describe him as really clever.

我不愿说他是真正的聪明。 ☕

Wǒ búyuàn shuō tā shì zhēnzhèngde cōngming.

Here I would like to know how to use 把...评为, of course.

 

No dictionary in the world works like that, and for very good reasons.

 

In a X to Y dictionary, an entry in language X has no obligation to show how to use the words used to define it in language Y. If you want to know how to use a word in language Y, you look it up in a Y to X or Y to Y dictionary.

[Shelley]

Here I would like to know how to use 把...评为, of course.

 

This, I think, comes under grammar or usage which is not included in dictionaries.

[Lu]

No dictionary in the world works like that, and for very good reasons.

 

In a X to Y dictionary, an entry in language X has no obligation to show how to use the words used to define it in language Y. If you want to know how to use a word in language Y, you look it up in a Y to X or Y to Y dictionary.

All good dictionaries in the world work like that. You look up word X1 and hope to find X2 with a sentence using X2. And perhaps a few more sentences using Y2 or Z2, but definitely X2. The problem Manuel encounters with his 'describe' example is that the dictionary he uses is not in fact an E->C dictionary to find Chinese words, but either a C->E dictionary with a search function for English words or an E->C dictionary for Chinese learners of English. Both are very useful in their own area, but only limitedly so for someone who wants to write a Chinese sentences using 'describe'.

 

Pleco is a great resource and I use it a lot, but I also wouldn't use just Pleco for E->C translation. I don't know of any good E->C dictionaries. If I need to write Chinese (and thus look up Chinese words) I usually keep the text simple and my expectations low, throw as many resources at it as I can, and get the result checked by a native speaker.

[tiantian]

Pleco should use these dynamic web-crawl internet dictionaries like cn.bing.com/dict/. I love it, it finds almost anything (even contact list) plus loads of example sentences. Give it a try.

[Manuel]

Yes, a Chinese guy at work recommended Bing two days ago, I need to take a look at it.

[vellocet]

I've been using dict.bing.com for a long while now and it's great.  It will find words, and more importantly variations on words.  You can sometimes guess, from context, the meaning of various alternate words in Chinese.  It works for short phrases as well.  It is stumped easily by anything over 3-4 words, though.  I use it frequently for E-C and only sometimes for C-E.  Don't worry about the Bing contamination, this sub-site is done by a company that MS bought. 

[etm001]

I didn't know about dict.bing.com, so thanks to everyone here for sharing it. It looks helpful, although it seems to lack tools that allow sorting/filtering and display of results by simplified/traditional Chinese.

[Manuel]

I found another one called dict.youdao.com which is very useful too, recommended by a Chinese friend. This works similar to Bing but it seems to come up with more example sentences.