Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha Dictionaries)

Really nice overall but some of the furigana is typed over itself. Probably would make it really difficult to read if not familiar with hiragana yet when paired with the very small font.

I’m currently studying the Japanese textbook Minna No Nihongo (chapter 7) and branching out to graded readers, etc. I’ve been relying on Jisho.org and Googling vocab I didn’t know, but I am so glad I finally bought this dictionary. For one, the entries are listed in kana first, followed by the kanji. This makes it easier for a second language learner to look up and spot the word we’re looking for. Second, the example sentences are simpler and easier than the ones I’ve come across on Jisho.org so I actually take the time to read the example sentences in this Kodansha’s dictionary. I’m really glad I picked up this dictionary and would recommend it to anyone beginning to learn Japanese!

Unless you're reading material targeted for Japanese children, you will always need to face kanji in printed Japanese. If you want to read anywhere away from you computer (where you can easily use an electronic dic), you need a printed kanji dic, either one with kana readings (Kodansha's essential kanji dic) or one with romanji readings (Kodansha's Kanji learner's dic)Kanji dictionaries contain only words written in kanji, so, anyway, you'll also need a dic that covers kana-only words and that is ordered by kana alphabetic order, and this dictionary here is a good one. By the way, this one is kana/kanji only. First learn the kana. If you don't feel that you need the kana because you're only going to stay in Japan for a short time and want to concentrate in the spoken language, look for a romanized dic, instead.So, you will always need at least:-two dictionaries for reading or-one for listening comprehension.If you're serious about learning Japanese (not just a short time tourist) and want to develop writing abilities, avoid romanji (Japanese written in English letters) at all costs. Learn the kana.This dictionary is not complete. Then, if you can't afford (or find... in fact, I couldn't find any) a more complete dictionary, get yourself a free electronic one to complement this one. Jim Breen's EDICT database together with a dictionary search program like Kanjibrowze will be just fine. This combination is a powerful one: When you're reading on the Net, you can use the electronic dic only. However, it does not provide any hint in word usage, so use Kodansha's furigana dic when writing in Japanese or for further understanding.No dictionary can substitute a language course, unless you're an absolute genius and have the ability to decipher completely unknown grammar patterns and verb/adjective inflections. Also take into account that unlike european languages, Japanese usually has no space between words, so you really need to know at least the basics of grammar in order to be able to use any dictionary.

This dictionary is ideal for beginners of Japanese language as well as for students who have already passed level 1 of 能力試験, like me. Instead of using it as an aid to solve all your word problems encountered during reading, i use it as a book to increase my Japanese word power, to memorize the words systemically.The dictionary is divided into 2 parts. The first part is Japanese to English and the second English to Japanese. I guess the stated 30,000 words will inevitably include some repetitions in the 2 parts. The edge of this dictionary, as branded on its cover, is that all Kanji have furigana. It save u a lot of time to decipher if u r not familiar with them. This is not found even in my 75,000 words Jap to Jap dictionary. Besides, majority of the words have practical examples to illustrate the applications of the words. It is even more prominent in the Eng to Jap section, as all synonymous meanings in Jap are listed with good examples (can be confusing for foreign learners). By memorizing the examples, it helps u to build up vocabulary and grammar patterns, which is very important as learning Jap, unlike English, u have to memorize a lot of unique sentence forms in order to master the language. Highly recommend this book to all Japanese learners.

Let me start this review by saying that i'm a begginer in the studies of the japanese language. With that in mind i have to say that this dictionary it's just perferct for me.Pros:- The materials used to make this are top quality: the paper, the cover ... well, everything.- It's very organized and the instructions in the beggining are very informative.- Every word has at least one sentence. I can't emphasize this enough, especially when translating from english to japanese. It's really crucial to place the word in a context so there are no confusions.- All kanjis come with furigana, this is just great to begginers that are also trying to learn kanji.- It is a very complete dictionary FOR IT'S SIZECons:- Well ... i must say that i have only one con to this book. Due to it's size it may not be sufficient to more advanced students. As i said i'm a begginer so it's just perfect to me. Even if you are an advanced student you may want to buy this one just for it's size.I would recommend this book to everyone, even if you are an advanced student. This dictionary is way more pratical than some HUGE BOOK. You may want to carry this arround and look for your bigger one only when this one fails to help you.EDIT:Just read a review saying that writing sentences is a waste of space. It's far from that. When you are translating a text from japanese to english you already have a context so a sentece in this case is less important. When you don't know how to spell/say a word in japanese you NEED a context. The same word in english can have SEVERAL distincs meanings in japanese. If the book don't lay a context to you it may lead you to erros.

Ainda usei pouco mas parece ser demais. Bem completo, legível. Ótimo dicionário de furigana! Vai ser muito útil.

The dictionary suits perfectly what I was looking for: providing Japanese hiraganas, katakanas and their kanjis if existing. Easy to read, it can be so useful to enrich your vocabulary!

The best way to learn Japanese is to avoid romaji, that means learning hirigana and katakana first. I would recommend 2 dictionaries that do not use romaji, Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary & Kodansha Furigana English-Japanese Dictionary. Using non-romaji dictionaries forces the learner to break free from relying on English structure to learn Japanese, and to learn the language as how a native would.

Overall, a good dictionary for Japanese language learners. But I would only recommend it once you have a strong foundation in Hiragana and Katagana. There is no Hiragana and Katagana key to look up.It's appendixes are also lacking. The publishers have an opportunity here to go into more detail about language structure, grammar and syntax.

Although I paid extra for the quick delivery, they still delivered on time and very efficient. This is my first time experiencing this kinda high-quality service, love it!