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larryhammerI am finding this even more useful than I expected: a well-used twenty-year-old Sanseido Shougaku Kokugo Jiten ("elementary school national-language dictionary") -- that is, a Japanese language* dictionary for children up to age 12.
Its usefulness is not so much for looking things up as it is learning tool: being a children's dictionary, there's educational sidebars about aspects of the language, and illustrations (names of different types of clouds, planets, paper lanterns, et cet), and even wordplay puzzles in the margin. Even more to the point, I have enough Japanese I'm almost able to pick through entries, given that I can look up the unknown words right there. For loose definitions of "can" -- generally after a couple iterations, I give up and turn to a Japanese-English dictionary for help. So I can't quite completely bootstrap myself yet, but still, it's stretching my vocabulary and reading skillz.
Also, it's adorable.**
Alas, its partner kanji dictionary is not as useful -- to look up what I don't understand, I have to switch books, though the bronze-script etymologies are cool. Still, I don't yet regret picking that up as well -- not for just $4.
* As opposed to a kanji dictionary, which is about the characters used to write the words instead of about the words themselves. Though of course it also covers, with extensive cross-referencing, the kanji learned in the first six years of school.
** A neko is defined as a small kawaii animal kept inside the house, that cries "nyaa(o)." No biases here, nuh-uh. OTOH, the entry for inu has an infographic with breeds of dogs common in Japan.
---L.
Its usefulness is not so much for looking things up as it is learning tool: being a children's dictionary, there's educational sidebars about aspects of the language, and illustrations (names of different types of clouds, planets, paper lanterns, et cet), and even wordplay puzzles in the margin. Even more to the point, I have enough Japanese I'm almost able to pick through entries, given that I can look up the unknown words right there. For loose definitions of "can" -- generally after a couple iterations, I give up and turn to a Japanese-English dictionary for help. So I can't quite completely bootstrap myself yet, but still, it's stretching my vocabulary and reading skillz.
Also, it's adorable.**
Alas, its partner kanji dictionary is not as useful -- to look up what I don't understand, I have to switch books, though the bronze-script etymologies are cool. Still, I don't yet regret picking that up as well -- not for just $4.
* As opposed to a kanji dictionary, which is about the characters used to write the words instead of about the words themselves. Though of course it also covers, with extensive cross-referencing, the kanji learned in the first six years of school.
** A neko is defined as a small kawaii animal kept inside the house, that cries "nyaa(o)." No biases here, nuh-uh. OTOH, the entry for inu has an infographic with breeds of dogs common in Japan.
---L.
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Date: 28 March 2011 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 March 2011 09:51 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 29 March 2011 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 30 March 2011 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 March 2011 05:14 pm (UTC)---L.