Where to buy electronic dictionaries in Beijing

[teachinator]

I have to admit that after a while of just about screaming in frustration, I did get better at writing the characters within the allotted time (and also at spacing myself, since the timeout comes between strokes; I try to be sure I'm ready with an "easy" stroke while I was looking for the next one). I don't know if I'm getting better at drawing characters in general, though, or just at exaggerating features so that the dictionary will recognize them. I'm trying to write like I think a Chinese person would (like when all else fails, make very sure you have the stroke order right!) Still, especially when I'm tired, it misrecognizes in the oddest ways. In my two trials, Pleco was much more likely to recognize the characters I drew.

One of the "charms" of the 9288s is that all the menus are in Chinese and there is no

English alternative. I looked through them all once with the help of a Chinese person, and I am pretty convinced, let's say 75% convinced since it may still be hidden somewhere, that there is no way to turn off the timed writing feature. We found the timeout-adjustment and I have it set to the maximum, but that's less than a second.

Anyway, if I get the Palm and Pleco as planned, I won't have this issue to deal with any more.

[billiardsmike]

Another thread mentioned that Palm only requires the serial number for warranty work, provided you register it. I won't swear by this. It's only been a few days, but I'm tickled with my Palm and Pleco! Also, cc purchases at Zhongguancun can be hard to swing, even at some of the larger outfits. I was lucky I had a BOC card with me, because intl. cards were not accepted at the places I've used.

[marts_8]

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy electronic stuff in Beijing or Shanghai? I'll be there this friday and would like to buy a Palm PDA, digital camera and memory cards. a store with good price and authentic merchandise? i have no problem with bargaining but it would be difficult for me to determine if the goods are authentic or not. a friend bought a 1GB SD but only 1MB fit in the card.

Hope you could help. Thanks!

[Gaogao]

I´ve read about several huge electro markets in Zhongguancun, which one is the best to get dictionaries? Should I be brave and bargain as much as I can or when you buy electronic stuff it is not that accepted?

[roddy]

Do some price checking on the likes of taobao.com; amazon.cn, before going to buy (to be honest you might just buy it online, save yourself an afternoon) and then you'll know how much bargaining you need to do. Some places might give you a reasonable price immediately, negotiate a little, and maybe throw something for free - a small SD card, case, whatever. Some will ask for silly money on the off-chance you will pay it.

[tooironic]

Where can I buy a Casio electronic dictionary in Beijing? I'm talking about one of these. Cheers.

[imron]

That site has a list of 销售网点 in Beijing, along with contact numbers and so on. I'd try calling some of them to see if they have what you want in stock.

[greenarcher]

Zhongguancun has a lot of them. Hailong and Top City (Ding Hao).

Besta is the best brand for me.

[mikeygow]

If I was you, I'd not waste your money on one of those.

The main problem is that they are designed for Chinese students who are learning English. Sometimes, they do not even have Pinyin, so be careful.

A much better option is to get an iPod touch and download Pleco Dictionary software.

an iPod touch costs around 1300-1500RMB. Then the Pleco dictionary ranges from free (for the basic programme) to 600RMB for the full package including all updates.

I have the full package and it is by a long way the best Chinese language tool ever invented. Its brilliant.

Not only does it have multiple dictionaries, it also shows you how to write each character; looks up individual characters, compound words and chengyu; displays characters in color-coded format according to tone; allows you to search by english, pinyin and handwriting; has male/female voice pronunciations of all words.

Best of all is the flashcard system which, once you get to grips with it, is brilliant. You simply create flashcard lists (i.e. for each lesson) or download other lists people have made from books, HSK etc (plecoforums.com) for free. Then you can test your character knowledge. You can test recognizing the chinese character, recognizing pinyin/translation, multiple choice. Loads of different ways to test yourself. Its brilliant.

Finally, Pleco also has an OCR function. the new iPod tocuh 4th gen has a camera. You can take pictures of signs etc and then look it up in the pleco dictionary.

Trust me, its the best system.

And you also get an ipod touch to check emails, surf the net, listen to language mp3's etc etc. And the whole package costs around the same as aCasio dictionary.

(it can be downlaoded for iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, with a Google Android version for Android phones on the way).

Please. Don't waste your money on anything else. (if you lose your iPod touch you can re-download Pleco for free, so you really only have to pay the £60 for the full Pleco package once).

Mike G