Best Electronic Dictionary? (NOT handheld OS / Palm)

[tooironic]

I'm taking the NAATI accreditation test at the end of this year (Chinese professional translating exam in Australia), and I noticed they allow examinees to bring in dictionaries, both electronic and paper.

What would you recommend as the best electronic dictionary which is NOT a Palm / other handheld OS? The reason is they don't allow computers in the examination nor electronic translators.

Cheers.

(BTW, I know there have been many posts like this, but most seem to just recommend Palm processors...)

[daofeishi]

If you are not scared of navigating through simple Chinese menus (and I do mean simple and intuitive menus), I would go for one from http://www.eebbk.com/. I've tried electronic dictionaries from eebbk, Besta and Noah. Besta, I find, has very good dictionaries, but they are comparatively expensive (2000 yuan++), and they also contains a lot of functions you will probably never/very seldom use (like Japanese/Korean dictionaries, animated study aids in special formats etc.) The size of the Besta dictionaries is also a drawback, as I personally like to have one that fits into my pocket. The Noah dictionaries are lumpy and horribly slow. The one I had used up to 3-4 seconds to search through the dictionaries for any given word. I handed it back, got a refund and bought an eebbk dictionary - they are small, incredibly fast, comparatively cheap (I paid 1100 yuan for mine in Beijing), the battery works for a very long time before it needs to be recharged (I've used it constantly for over a week, and the battery still shows over 60%) - and you also get two batteries in the package. If you care about it, they have SD card slots and media player software as well. I haven't investigated these functions very well. The dictionary is comprehensive, and contains example sentences and "notes on usage" for ambiguous words. It also has a 成语 dictionary, and I was told there is a possibility of installing other specialized dictionaries from the software CD. I haven't tried that myself, though. The only problem I've had with it so far is that it has frozen up on me a couple of times, but that has been easily fixed by turning it off and on again. Previously, I've bough a portable DVD-player from the same company, and it's been with me for about 4 years now, so it seems like their products are sturdy and can stand a bit of wear and tear.

(I'm sorry I haven't found links for Besta and Noah for you. You will probably find them through a google/baidu search)

EDIT: The model I have is a 9588 (which is not one of those that folds open)

[youpii]

I have a 快易点 V680, it does the job and you can switch the menus to english.

The newer models (V650, 670, 690) are more sexy.

http://www.hwapu.com.cn/ForeignLg/en/index.asp

[Guest alexkos]

do you happen to know about adding your custom dictionaries?

for example, you can add custom dictionaries to 快易点 V680, but not more than 65,536 entries

do you know anything about besta and Noah?

[tooironic]

Yeah my flat mate as well as a friend of mine have 步步高s and they both say they're pretty good. How would I go about purchasing one in Australia though? Is there an Internet site that I can make orders through?

[youpii]

65,536 entries should be enough for a custom dictionary

[roddy]

The US Site BBKUsa might be easier to get around than the Chinese version. I think it's the same company . . .

[Guest alexkos]

65536 is NOT enough for my custom dictionaries :)

[youpii]

More than 65k... Wow...

You should also check how good is the import software. The one from 快易典 only accepts GB2312. If you data is in Unicode and includes some rare characters, your might have a conversion problem.

[Guest alexkos]

it's not a problem to convert from unicode to GB, for example...

快易典 are expandable, it's more than enough for 80% of users

[eddie9684]

i got a friend with the bbk 9588 series... im thinkin about buyin one from bbk not that expensive, but ive never used and dont know how to use one, like which functions are the most needed..

well what i am lookin for is a simple, not big, functional and fast.. supporting traditional and simplified chinese characters, good/decent database, handwriting, voice pronunciation (mandarin.. but if theres cantonese too it would b awesome), if possible other additional languages other than english, like spanish..... any advices please ?

edit... also i was just lookin into this sitehttp://english.eebbk.com/products/ from eebbk products, whats the difference between language tutor and electronic dictionary and what suits better for beginners to mandarin language.

Edited July 31, 2008 at 01:38 PM by eddie9684
site

[carlo]

The only electronic dictionary I still use (was given to me as a present a couple of years ago) is the Casio English-Chinese-Japanese model (quite expensive, 2000+). The thing I like most about it is the monolingual Chinese dictionary, a huge number of entries and EVERY entry has a sample sentence taken from a referenced work of literature. I haven't seen this anywhere else. What's more the batteries seem to last forever and there's a nice study function that remembers long lists of entries for you to review.

What I really don't like about it is the radical search system (radicals and characters are in random order, can't believe Casio can make such a blunder, also 繁体字 support is incomplete).

[inguringu]

After some research and consultations, I bought BESTA CD-800+ today . They asked 1550 kuai, we negotiated down to 1300 (we bought 4 pieces though).

It has Eng-CH, Ch-ENG, Oxford, also japanese, korean, french, italian, spanish, german, russian, portugese, even tai dictionaries, cross-references, examples with sentences etc. Also some weird stuff as animated dictionary, learning tools etc. Colour screen and handwriting, of course. Plays mp3s, videos.

All in all, I think it is a good deal if you have limited budget.

Of course, I wouldn't mind some fancy smartphone + plecodict (haven't tried it, but everybody here seems to favour it), but that can wait, since it requires at least 5000 kuai or more.

p.s. I am in Tianjin. Store: Bai nao hui (sp?)

[The Elf Piper]

Ooh, those 快易点 ones look so....colorful and all. Makes me want one!

Where are the prices????

Oops, never mind. I more or less found the prices. I think I'd better wait for one of those!!!

Edited September 16, 2008 at 05:03 PM by The Elf Piper

[eddie9684]

how come ? did you buy it in Zhonguancun?

because CD 900 costs 1200 lol....

last hour edit..

http://dealer.zol.com.cn/d_66866/market_995575.html

[dukeofdeer]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here could tell me if any of the non-PDA electronic dictionaries are able to read text files out loud. I've done a few searches here and on google on electronic dictionaries and text to speech, but I haven't been able to find exactly what I'm looking for. However, this does seem like the best place to pose the question, so here I am. Please forgive me for my ignorance, as I am new to these forums.

My goal is to be able to put text files with Chinese classical texts or poetry or whatnot onto a SD card, open the file with the electronic dictionary, and have the dictionary read the text file to me in Cantonese and Mandarin (obviously not at the same time!). It doesn't have to be perfectly natural, but it shouldn't be terrible either. The basic functions that come with the ability to read are also important, i.e. to be able to stop/pause, start from a midpoint or at least from the current sentence, the ability to search the dictionary for words in the text file, etc.

I've looked at Besta, Instant-Dict/Golddic, and more recently Koridy. It looks like some of the Koridy models have this feature, but it doesn't exactly say. I'm a little cautious because all of the Besta and Instant-Dict models I've demoed in-store indicated they had such a feature in the manual and official material, but really only had the ability to read user-input and translated sentences at best. Also, I'm not sure if the Koridy models have Cantonese. If they did, I'd be all over them, but everything says "Chinese" which makes me think Putonghua/Mandarin.

The ability to do the same for other dialects of Chinese and other languages, especially Japanese and Korean are a plus, as is a mp3 player with the ability to show synchronized lyrics.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

D.

[imron]

Although not specifically talking about electronic dictionaries, this thread has some suggestions for text-to-speech programs, including one that runs on smartphones.

[Gaogao]

I would like to get a multilanguage handheld dict (not palm), but just as with humans, it´s so hard to find the Right One.... Here are some questions:

Any experience with the 快易典 V690 (Eng-Chin-Kor-Jap)??

http://www.kudict.com/goods.php?id=26

Learning all these languages I would want one that has all the four, but still has very good Chinese dictionaries. I´m a bit concerned about the V690 (though it seems to be a very fine one), because its Korean and Japanese dictionaries are big enough for me, there is Chengyu, Classical etc., which is cool but when it comes to Chinese-English, it only has a no-name 汉英词典 and 现代汉语词典 汉英版. How big is Koridy´s random Chin-Eng dictionary? Actually, how huge is 现代汉语词典 (Chin-Eng edition)? On the homepage says it has about 50.000 words. The Koridy V699 (http://www.kudict.com/goods.php?id=28) has a a HUGE Chin-Eng, 汉英大词典 by 上海交通大学出版社 which is said to have about 200.000 words- but no Korean, only Japanese. And I don´t care about the Eng-Chin dictionaries, I want a very decent Chin-Eng one +Jap+Kor.

Another one I checked out is the 步步高　Ｅ９００ (http://www.tina168.com/xiangxi.asp?id=5326)　and it has both 汉英大词典, 现代汉语词典, Japanese and Korean, as well as others and handwriting. It´s a bit pricy, about 1700+ yuan , but if it´s worth it, I may invest into one. But if the Koridy V690´s Chin-Eng dictionary is big enough, it´s a bit cheaper than BBG and I would go for that.

The third one I´ve checked is the Besta 800+ and 810, which also seem to have 现代汉语词典 and Kor+Jap, but I don´t know how big those dictionaries are and it does not have 汉英大词典. How about Besta?

Another option would be to buy a Koridy V 699 (Chin-Eng-Jap, good C-E dict) and then look for a simple and cheap Korean-English (no handwriting needed here) e-dict in Beijing, for instance, Nurian　努力安, but I don´t know how accessible those are in Beijing shops. Or, are the Koridy ones expandable with a Kor-Chin or Kor-Eng dictionary?? And where to get such memory cards?

Sorry for the long post, but I´ve been browsing the net for quite many days now, to check what to look for and for how much and it´s so hard to find the right one. I know they are made for the Chinese, but it´s still so hard to find one with a decent Chin-Eng dictionary..... I don´t have any extra needs except for the dictionary size and languages, I´m OK if it has handwriting and finds the words I want. My main aim was to get a nice Chin-Eng dictionary, so maybe I should stick to that and later order a K-E one from Korea?

Any advice, suggestion, sharing of experience much appreciated!!!! :D

[Don_Horhe]

步步高 have a model called E-900, it seems quite nice, and prices are around 2200 RMB.

[Gaogao]

Yes, if it´s 2200 yuan, then I´ll probably won´t buy it. I was thinking very much, I think I´ll go for the Koridy V699, it has very good CHinese dictionaries, seems nice, price acceptable. It´s around 1000 rmb, but I guess I can negotiate it down to 7-800 if I´m good at it.. :S Then I´ll see what I can get for Korean, maybe a Bubugao A5, it´s not pricy and has good dictionaries. And handwriting is not needed to Korean, there´s keyboard. It would be also good as a supplementary dictionary, if anything should happen to the other dictionary I buy.