Want To Hone Your Japanese Skills?

[Brad Adrian]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=142488' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/brainstore/...roductId=142488</a><br /><br /></div>If you're planning a visit to Japan or are a student of the language, you can probably use a good English-Japanese dictionary. Here's one from Declan Software that looks VERY complete.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/declan_japanese.gif" /> <br /><br />"<i>Declan's Japanese Dictionary uses Jim Breen's EDICT Japanese-English dictionary database. The version of the database used by this program includes around 20,000 words each with it's kana/romaji pronunciation. Pronunciations can be viewed as kana or romaji (English script). And, searches of pronunciations can also be made using romaji.</i>"<br /><br />I don't know about you, but 20,000 words sounds like a lot to me. Heck, I doubt that I even know 20,000 words in English! This dictionary is also priced much more reasonably than others I've seen; you can get the full version for only $15.95 from the <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=142488">Handango site</a>. There's also a free demo to try.

[Jorlin]

This is a great piece of software...

I would only wish that 'Declan Software' would also release a PPC2003 version of

Read/Write Hiragana and Read/Write Katakana...

But they said they have no plans to do so... :'( :'( :'(

Anybody else who would like to see those apps for the PPC?

[Jason Lee]

This is a great piece of software...

I would only wish that 'Declan Software' would also release a PPC2003 version of

Read/Write Hiragana and Read/Write Katakana...

But they said they have no plans to do so... :'( :'( :'(

Anybody else who would like to see those apps for the PPC?

Boy that would have been nice 3 years ago. :lol:

For dictionary software I use MDict (http://www.octopus-studio.com/product.en.htm). It's nice and free. It supports multiple dictionary files that can be converted from multiple formats. I just use websters and the japanese &lt;--> english dictionary JMDict, which is the updated/extended version of EDict, that you can download from the same site. You can even leave the dictionary running in the background and an icon floats over the win flag on the start menu. Highlighting any word and tapping on that icon will look up that word in what ever dictionary file you currently have loaded! Great stuff!

This software looks nice and clean. And the price is _alot_ better than anyother software like this I have tried.

ジェソン・リイ

[outdoor]

Jason,

last update for mdict was jan 22 2004... do you think it would support win2003SE?

[kamikun]

Declan currently is not planning to support VGA resolutions but these programs should work fine on SE.

As for the content, I have purchased all three of their Japanese PPC apps (including the dictionary even though a number of freeware options exist) and have been more than pleased with their stuff. The developer runs a user forum and responds pretty readily to questions and problems.

Also this guy is a polyglot app makin' fool... he's got flash cards and tutorial programs for Chinese, French, German, Korean... among others. The programs pay special attention to the needs of western learners of Asian languages teaching the ground rules of phonetic and ideographic characters.

I hope this guy makes money off these because they are quality programs that don't sacrifice a bit of usefulness for polish... and they're pretty polished.

Speaking of freeware dictionaries... I use EBPocket. You can download the PPC and Windows versions here (http://www31.ocn.ne.jp/~h_ishida/EBPocket.html). There is an English dll file for the PPC version that you can also install so that will convert the menus and dialog boxes. The page is only in Japanese but you can find support on installing it fairly easily. The instructions are pretty intuitive so it's possible (hey, if I can do it...).

Jim Breen (ftp://ftp.cc.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/) offers EBWing (EBPocket is a freeware compatible version) configured versions of kanjidic, edict AND the massive Tanaka corpus of Japanese / English example sentences!!!

[Jason Lee]

Jason,

last update for mdict was jan 22 2004... do you think it would support win2003SE?

I don't think it "supports" 2003SE but it should run ok. It is a pretty strait forward and simple program it may actually run well with SE. I don't have access to an SE device to test it out on though.. :(

[Jason Lee]

Speaking of freeware dictionaries... I use EBPocket.

Cool! more free software to try! Thanks.. man i need a bigger SD card... :lol:

[lkawamot]

The one thing I found that I don't like about this program is that it doesn't seem to allow for a lookup by entering Japanese text into the search box. I've been using MJDict for a few months now, and haven't had too many problems with it... and it's FREE.

http://www.mikejohnson.dsl.pipex.com/CEStuff/index.htm

Installation is a little more complicated than a simple double-click, but it allows for kanji, hiragana, and katakana entry. Also, it supports multiple dictionary files. The program also comes with a japanese pen input pad which works fairly well.

By the way Jason, you're using a non-standard way of spelling your name -- you're free to spell it out however you want, obviously, but you might consider ジェーソン　リー

FYI, I am Japanese :)

[Jason Lee]

The one thing I found that I don't like about this program is that it doesn't seem to allow for a lookup by entering Japanese text into the search box. I've been using MJDict for a few months now, and haven't had too many problems with it... and it's FREE.

http://www.mikejohnson.dsl.pipex.com/CEStuff/index.htm

Installation is a little more complicated than a simple double-click, but it allows for kanji, hiragana, and katakana entry. Also, it supports multiple dictionary files. The program also comes with a japanese pen input pad which works fairly well.

By the way Jason, you're using a non-standard way of spelling your name -- you're free to spell it out however you want, obviously, but you might consider ジェーソン　リー

FYI, I am Japanese :)

I first used MDict until I found MJDict. It was much nicer and easier to use. But now that MDict has been updated to 2.0 it is much nice than MJDict. You might want to give it a look.

You know that way of spelling it almost makes more sence. Especially the last name. I did my first name but my 先生 wrote out our last names all those years ago for us. Never really made sence to me to have an extra イ　on there when you could just use the ー. Thanks for the tip. ;)

edit: I also use the free input method from Mike's site. The best free one i've ever found!

[Sydney Bristow]

Hmm...how does this and MDic compare to JWPce?

[kamikun]

My 2円....

JWPce and JFC are excellent applications and are FREE. JWPce was designed as a word processor and it works well enough for that task. In fact it's the only Japanese compatible word processor I know of that will run on English PPCs. There are plenty of text editors that support Unicode and Shift-JIS (Tillanosoft and UKNote are two freeware examples) but I can only create formated documents (and flashcards for JFC) with JWPce.

JWPce was not designed as a dictionary app although it has that ability and that's what people used it for most of the time anyway. It's a three step process to get any word looked up. But Jim Breen's support of JWPce (providing ready-made dictionary files and indicies) made it the PPC dictionary of choice for cheapskates like me.

Declan's dictionary is just a basic, no hassle application. It doesn't offer a lot of frills but it is easy to work with.

I have MDict as well but have not been nearly as impressed with it as with EBPocket. Try it out. The searches through the 26Meg example file are instantaneous. It runs on VGA screens. The font sizes are completely customizable. And it supports all kind of freeware and for-purchase data files... including files with picture and voice data (although I haven't had a chance to try that yet).

Ikawamot - Hey! You're Japanese! Go to the EBPocket page and give us a better heads-up than I can. I've lived in your country for 8 years and I still read and speak like a four year old who has suffered major blunt force trauma.

If you're fully bilingual you might want to offer a translation of the page even. This app is really too good of a tool to keep hidden. And it's use doesn't have to be restricted to Japanese data.... that thing is like Tome Raider on steriods.
It can rip through multiple data bases with several different search filters in a second regardless of size - とてもすごいと思います。。。

Just wondering... what do you use for Japanese input on your PPC? (Assuming you're using an English PPC.) I'm a big fan of Decuma but it has some problems working in VGA and on English machines.

[kamikun]

Again - Declan's strength is in their language tutorial software (ReadWrite and their Audio Flashcards)... the dictionary is nice but not much better than the freeware alternatives out there. The one thing that it does offer is simple, one-package, installation. But if you're willing to climb the learning curve it seems the offerings are getting pretty numerous.

I just found this posted at Jim Breen's site. It's another freeware dictionary client that reads simple text files (no conversions or special configurations required). It's designed for PDA use but runs on JAVA. (Isn't there a JAVA runtime package for PocketPCs?) It can search multiple dictionaries (databases) and can be used with any Unicode text. That's promising if you were in the mind of creating your own base of 文型 or something.

Haven't tried it yet but if'n you're interested, here's the link (http://www.babbletower.net/). It's called Babbletower and looks neat.