Electronic Chinese-Chinese Dictionary?

[Strawberries513]

I am currently in Beijing and while I am here I really want to pick up an electronic Chinese-Chinese dictionary with the following:

- Easy/simple interface

- LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of example sentences (this is VITAL)

- One that gives pinyin would be nice

- not too expensive

- The simpler the dictionary/definitions are, the better

- and no I cannot buy a PDA/Palm and then add dictionaries to that.

- Must mainly be Chinese-Chinese, but if it has Chinese-English too that would be cool.

Can anyone recommend anything for me to look into? A description of it would be nice, and the exact model name.

Thank you!!

[madizi]

Besta is (as name says) the best, but I don't know if they sell it in China. My friend bought it to me in TW and it is TW brand.

[youpii]

I have the V680

http://www.hwapu.com.cn/products/V680/pro680.asp

I'm very happy with it

There's also a new one with a smaller screen V650:

http://www.hwapu.com.cn/products/ProDetail.asp?machineid=69

[ipsi()]

PlecoDict will apparently have a C-C dictionary in the next version, but when that will arrive is totally unknown (beyond a statement of "before the end of the year"...).

I'm not sure what the dictionary is supposed to contain, but I suspect it's beyond your price range (as you'd need a PDA first, and then Pleco on top of that).

[imron]

Their webpage says v2 will use the Standard Dictionary of Modern Chinese (现代汉语规范词典).

In the meantime, I hacked up my own custom Chinese-Chinese dict for plecodict from the 现代汉语词典 available for download as part of the stardict project. It's not perfect, but it'll hold me over until the v2 release

[madizi]

Besta is (as name says) the best, but I don't know if they sell it in China. My friend bought it to me in TW and it is TW brand.

Here are also details: Besta CD-816 pro, color display. It has C-C dict (国语辞典). But it also has many other dicts and functions.

[youpii]

IMRON: stardict has a corrected version of the 现代汉语词典 since last week.

[imron]

Thanks, but there are also issues with the types of chinese punctuation marks that plecodict can display and it takes a bit of messing around to reformat everything to work with the makepleco tool provided on pleco's website, so I'll probably just keep what I've got until v2 comes out.

[Xiaoma71]

I just got a Besta CD-800 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang for about 1200 RMB (approx 160 USD). Since I see "made in China" on the back I think it should be easy to find it everywhere in China.

After using it for a day, I find it very easy to use. The best feature is the chinese handwriting, to recognize an unknown word I can find in the street, giving me the pinyin and chinese definition (in the C-C dict) or the english translation (in the C-E dict).

As somebody already wrote somewhere in the forum, it is extremely easy to jump from a dictionary to another, just selecting a word and tapping on it. So I find useful to lookup a character on the chinese dictionary by writing it on the screen, to know the pinyin, and then jumping to the english dictionary to see the translation.

The only problem of this model is the display, which is not color and a little difficult to read in the night. The color display is available on the CD-900 wich is almost 2000 RMB, which is a bit too much for a translator.

[Phanatic]

Good morning Xiaoma71,

I have just bought a Besta CD-800 (Chinese-English electronic dictionary ...) in Beijing to learn Chinese, but I only have the manual in chinese.

Have you got a booklet "directions of use" in English (to download) because I can't read chinese characters ?

Do you think english User's manual of other Besta models (Ectaco Partner PW800, CD xxx, ...) available for me ?

Thank you for your help.

Best Regards

[adrianlondon]

Have you heard of google? Or just sticking www..com in your browser? Simple tricks to make me look smart ;)

www.besta.com and click on "English".

[Xiaoma71]

As if I didn't already try that...

Both Google and Besta.com report absolutely no english manual for the CD-800. Mr Adrian your post is not as useful as you may think. Or maybe you are cryptically suggesting the CD-800 has exactly the same software as another model, without specifying what one.

I checked every manual, but no model is similar to the one I have. So I think no english manual exists for the CD-800.

[adrianlondon]

My response was to the post before mine; ie the one from Phanatic. Primarily ...

Do you think english User's manual of other Besta models (Ectaco Partner PW800, CD xxx, ...) available for me ?

[Xiaoma71]

I see... sorry for the sarcasm... ;)

Anyway I'm still trying to understand how to use some functions of the translator without the manual. There are still some unknown buttons... Maybe I'll find the time to write a small english reference for all the sad laowai like me with this infernal machine.

[deezy]

Both Google and Besta.com report absolutely no english manual for the CD-800. Mr Adrian your post is not as useful as you may think. Or maybe you are cryptically suggesting the CD-800 has exactly the same software as another model, without specifying what one.

I checked every manual, but no model is similar to the one I have. So I think no english manual exists for the CD-800.

I doubt that.

Thing is, Besta often numbers their models differently based upon the sales region. Like the 900 in China is called an 829 everywhere else. Therefore, the English e-manual for your 800 (which I assume you bought in China?) probably exists...but may be labelled for the international model #.

I would email them and ask specifically.

[adrianlondon]

sorry for the sarcasm

No problem! If the situation was reversed I would have been equally sarcastic ;)

I have a Besta dictionary - forget the model number, but it was the most expensive black and white one at the time. Bought in Singapore so came with english instructions.

It's a great dictionary except when everything else nowadays has nice bright colour screens it feels like you're going back in time using this thing. Plus, look-up sometimes gets quite complex as the device is primarily intended for people learning English. So you need to scribble the character, get it recognised, highlight it then dump it into the dictionary.

I gave it to my boyfriend (whose English is very good, but everyone needs a dictionary, right?) and bought myself a Palm TX and Pleco. Pleco is great value. It's the Palm that's expensive.

[Xiaoma71]

To be clear... I have checked all english manuals from Besta site, and none is even remotely similar to the CD-800. Seems like I'm out of luck.

Anyway... I'll try to use these manuals as "inspiration" to write a small reference, and publish it for all you people. ;)

Oh.. and I actually have a Palm T3, but the Besta cost much less than the Pleco dictionary only, and was easier to get in China. Not speaking about configuring chinese support and handwriting recognition... I have CJKOS on the Palm and already create me some problems.

Maybe in the future I'll get a chinese TX ready with CJKOS and handwriting support (and wireless too...) but at the moment I just need the simplest thing.

[madizi]

Besta dictionary has English menu option. Try to find it with a help of online English manuals. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my Besta to China (stupid, stupid,....), so I cannot help you any further.

[pakua]

Hello!

I'm having a similar problem with a Besta CD-800 dictionary. I bought it in Shanghai last november, and the attendand at Best Buy had configured it to display messages in English. The printed manual is all in Chinese, but he told me there was an English manual within the dictionary.

I started using the dictionary only a few weeks ago. Last week I had to remove the batteries and now I can only use it with all menus and messages in Chinese. I've only had the time to explore a few functions, so I can use the basic ones, but I'm sure it came from Shanghai with most messages and menus in English.

Does anybody have an idea of how to configure Besta CD-800 so the menus and messages appear in English and how to access the English manual inside it?

Thank you very much. Regards!

Jose.

巴西里亚

Brasilia - Brasil

[Xiaoma71]

The option to change menu to english is easy to find:

F5 bring you to the System menu

7 will open the language choice

2 for english menu

About the english manual... I didn't find it.