Picture Dictionary

[Socks]

Does anyone know of a picture dictionary for foreigners trying to learn Chinese? It would have to include the (simplified) Chinese and pinyin.

What I am thinking of is something similar to the German Duden "Das Bildwoerterbuch", which basically shows vocab words totally in pictures. For example, on one page, the theme might be "circus" and it will have pictures of clowns, trapeze artists, unicycles, lion-tamers, etc..

I think a book like this would be helpful for me (not because I want to learn about the circus), because right now, I seem to be mixing up words in English that can be both verbs and nouns, for example, I use the word "to brake" for the word "bicycle brakes" and it doesn't always translate right. Plus, I could review the right picture when I wanted to talk about a certain situation...

Thanks for the help!

[stephanhodges]

I've got a couple picture dictionaries. None of them have pinyin, unfortunately (for me and you!) But, they sure do have better detailed vocabulary on a subject. For example, there's a couple of pages of pictures for baseball vocabulary, showing different positions, equipment names, etc. That's hard to find in a regular dictionary!

First is "Longman Chinese-English Visual Dictionary of Chinese Culture". ISBN 7-81046-662-3

What I do is use Plecodict to write the characters, and then look them up that way. One can also use the radical chart to do lookups, but I haven't taken the time to really learn the radicals yet.

Another useful one (not visual but some pictures) is the "Oxford Learner's Wordfinder English-Chinese Dictionary". In that one, you look up an English subject, and it gives many related words (English) and their Chinese equivalents. ISBN 7-100-04302-6/H.1075

Another one is "Beijing Pointers", which is daily phrases for use around beijing. It's aimed at the tourist, and has a lot of pictures, sentences in Chinese and English. It has a pinyin glossary in the back, which was obviously an afterthought. The only thing that makes the book worthwhile, in my opinion, is that it has quite a few pages devoted to Olympic vocabulary. Not the best, but the best I've found. ISBN 7-119-04504-0

Perhaps you can search on "Chinese Visual Dictionary" to find more.

The first time I was in Dalian, I saw a really good one, but I didn't buy it then, and have regreted it since.

If you find a good one, don't let lack of pinyin stop you.

[magores]

There aren't comprehensive dictionaries, but they are things that I have picked up in Beijing, that sort fit what you are asking for...

All are designed for children.

"er tong ying han shuang yu 600"

-ISBN: 7-5362-2253-X

-A to Z dictionary, w/ English/PY/Chinese

-123 pages + index

-----

All of the following have "stylized fonts" on the cover that I can't read. And, all have the same ISBN. But, maybe this will help anyway ...

ISBN: 7-80145-137-6

-Description: Pinyin alphabet, PY/Pictures/Simplified, No English

ISBN: 7-80145-137-6

-Description: Vehicles, PY/Pictures/Simplified, No English

-Sample entry: ao4 di2 jiao4 che1

ISBN: 7-80145-137-6

-Description: Miscellaneous single character words, PY/Pictures/Simplified, English

-mountain, sky, river, big, lake, sea, etc

---

There are tons more little books like this in every bookstore, supermarket, etc in BJ.

I can't recall seeing a "good", big picture dictionary though. (Something along the lines of the Eyewitness books by DK, with English, Chinese, and PY would be GREAT!)

Basically, in Beijing, there are tons of these little books that are designed for children. I have to assume they are available in other Chinese cities as well.

Before coming to Beijing, I lived in SF, CA. Chinatown in SF has just as many titles available as does BJ. And, the titles available in SF were more likely to have the English translation. Main difference was in the version of the characters.

Does your city have a Chinatown? Go there. Ask around for a bookstore. If you like bookstores half as much as I do, you'll walk out with more than you expected. And, it should be enough to keep you busy for a little while

Magores

[Gaolisi]

Usborne are producing one - First Thousand Words in Chinese

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0746077629/usbornepublishin

but it's not due out until the 24th November

[skylee]

This may also be helpful -> http://www.languageguide.org/mandarin/ (personally I think there could be some improvement to the pronunciation and pinyin marking, and sometimes the recording is completely different from the marking , but hey it is free ... )

[Guest Da Xiong Mao]

When I came to China fo the first time, my friends presented me with "Longman English-Chinese Photo Dictionary" and at that time it helped me a lot. But now I think that this dictionary is good only for beginners as you won't find much information concerning chinese culture there.

I recommend you "Longman Chinese-English Visual Dictionary of Chinese Culture", it's the best.

[youpii]

my "Longman Chinese-English Visual Dictionary of Chinese Culture". ISBN 7-81046-662-3 has pinyin