Job Discussion Forums

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

I'm after both a basic English Pinyin Dictionary and advanced large English Pinyin Dictionary any particulars would be very helpful.

I'm in a small city so I need enough infomation to be able to order the books. Thanks.

Sinobear · Joined: 24 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269 Location: Purgatory

Online I use: http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

The only book dictionary I've ever used (or needed) is the Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary
ISBN 7-100-02558-3

It has the pinyin under both look-ups.

Cheers![/url]

ispeakgoodenglish · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:28 am Post subject:

I agree with Sinobear. Been using a Concise since 1999.

Another thing to use would be a Berlitz or Lonely Planet Phrasebook. Many Chinese have wanted mine, they said its better than their textbooks.

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

Thanks I wasn't having much luck on a straight search on the internet and couldn't find anything at the local bookshops of any value.

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

Berlitz Pocket Dictionary Chinese-English English-Chinese was enough for everyday use for me. It's available from Amazon for $6.99 and they even have some used copies when I checked today.

eslstudies · Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 1061 Location: East of Aden

Ditto on the Concise. Got mine in a foreign languages bookstore [Guilin] in 1997. Red cover, could pass as a small bible [which it is in a way].

ChineseChris · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 45 Location: Brrrrr in the North

If you want a good Pinyin dictionary, try find a copy of the English-Chinese Pinyin Dictionary - published by NEW WORLD PRESS - Its not Cheap - mine cost me RMB86 some yrs ago but its the best I've seen (1700 + pages) ISBN 7-80005-383-0

Lorean · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 476 Location: Beijing

I use the Pocket Oxford Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary, which I bought in my home country.

The only problem is that it lacks proper nouns.

Nowadays I rely more and more on my Nokia cell phone's dictionary. I payed 1250 RMB for my cellphone. I believe you can buy one with a dictionary for under 1000RMB.

Jordean · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 238

There are a couple of New Worlds available on Amazon.com for $19.95 new: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/7800053830/ref=dp_olp_2/102-3447799-7355310?ie=UTF8&qid=1192363485&sr=11-1

That's a lot of RMB, but less than the list price of $42.00.

For Russian and German I loved the Oxfords, but I am not sure about their Chinese-language products.

As an old geezer I find the print on many of these approaches squashed-bug clarity, both in terms of size and contrast with the page. I like the elementary-school level stuff for legibility, but the vocabulary is pretty limited... Laughing