Is the Mathews'Chinese-English Dictionary good for learning Literary Chinese?

[Xi'Er Dun]

I just want an expert opinion...

Is the Mathews Chinese-English Dictionary a good source for learning Literary Chinese?

I just bought a copy (1963 edition) at an antique bookstore.

I've noticed that it uses the a later version of the Wade-Giles Romanisation system for Chinese. It also has references in Zhuyin.

This dictionary I would only recommend for an advanced Chinese learner.

By the way, it has entries on these two Hanzi:

伲 ni3, ni4

It says that this Hanzi （汉字）is used used as the personal pronoun in the Kiangsu (Jiangsu) 江苏省 province. It doesn't give much description in detail about it's usage.

Can someone tell me in greater detail about this Hanzi and it's usage please?

儂 （侬）nong2

I already know that this Hanzi is used in the Shanghai Dialect （上海话）as a second person pronoun. In the Mathews' Dictionary it says that was used as a pronoun in Ancient Chinese at some point in time.

However, the Hanzi [イ那 na?] is not found in the Mathews' Dictionary, (or any Chinese IME font for that matter) but has an entry in the book "Chinese Characters" by Dr. Wieger, stating it's meaning as a "Buddhist Sound".

I have seen this Hanzi used in the Shanghai Dialect as some sort of pronoun. Can someone explain is usage to me please?

I can't find that Hanzi in any Chinese Character Dictionary, except it may have an entry in the Kangxi Dictionary （康熙字典）.

Cheers

Xi'Er Dun 希尔顿 from 澳洲 （阿德雷得）

[zhwj]

I am not an expert, but I'll venture that that Mathews doesn't have the references that make other dictionaries better for language study - it presents you with a context-free list of definitions that lead to questions like you've raised here.

This thread may answer your dictionary question, and if you're looking to study literary Chinese, this thread lists some non-dictionary resources.

[gato]

One more useful thread:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/13600-which-books-to-use-to-learn-classical-chinese&highlight=classical

Which books do Chinese use to learn Classical Chinese?

[ChouDoufu]

I can't answer any of your character questions. I can say that from a history of my brief use of Mathews, I'd say it would be tough going to really understand literary Chinese.

I'd recommend a dictionary more specifically for literary Chinese. I've used 《古汉语常用字字典》by 商务印书馆 to quite good effect. It was originally started by 王力 from 北大.It's unusually small (you won't mind taking this dictionary to the park to use) but also quite good; though not comprehensive. It's in Chinese, of course, but it is more likely to give you a good definition than Mathews.

I can't make any suggestion for English-Literary Chinese Dictionaries.

[trevelyan]

Out of curiosity, where did you find the dictionary? I was looking for an edition in Beijing earlier this year and no-one seemed to have anything earlier than the late 1970s.

Mathews was the best Western dictionary for advanced Chinese studies through the 1980s. Its entries can be dated (i.e. 打茶馆), and it can sometimes be wrong with duoyinci, but it is a good reference tool and has a lovely font. I find it a better reference tool for reading historical literature/news than most contemporary dictionaries, mostly because modern dictionaries focus overwhelming on contemporary usage. That being said, as ChouDoufu says, a good native-native dictionary will always trounce a native-foreign dictionary.

[Lu]

I find the Mathews a fine dictionary, but I would use it as a reference, to look up words, not as a learning tool. I don't think dictionaries are generally good for that.

[Mugi]

Wu dialects aren't my forte, but a quick check in a couple of dictionaries turned up the following:

伲 (ɲi113) = first person plural in Shanghainese (although I think this has essentially been surplanted by 阿拉)

㑚 [イ那] (Mand. nuó; Shang. na113) = second person plural in Shanghainese

儂 - My pocket version of the 漢語大字典 lists it as a first person pronoun (singular) and gives an example from 紅樓夢. It also gives an example of usage as a second person pronoun (singular) from the painter 楊維楨.

[Mark Yong]

To answer the original question of this thread:

I own a copy of Mathews that I bought via Amazon a few months back. While it is certainly not perfect (you will find some threads in this forum that berate Mathews for not being systematic in classifying the Literary Chinese entries by period), my personal opinion is that as far as Chinese-English dictionaries with a rich source of Literary Chinese entries are concerned, it is about as good as it gets. For starters, it has the largest number of characters in any Chinese-English dictionary that I have ever come across - and, as you know, Literary Chinese is largely dependent on single character words.