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[lovelife]

I'd advice you to take a completely different route- if you have a smartphone install Pleco on it. This is the best chinese dictionary the world has come up with yet. have that in your pocket and you wont think about using any other dictionary ever again. guaranteed.

[skylee]

if you have a smartphone install Pleco on it. This is the best chinese dictionary the world has come up with yet.

Really?

[lovelife]

Really?

Yep, it really is the best (i'm assuming your exclamation was genuine and not a sarcastic one ) It really revolutionized my chinese learning. It costs a bit, but its worth every penny...I mean, to be precise, Pleco is not a dictionary, its an app that comprises of 7 or eight different dictionaries. thats 7 or 8 different angles on the same word you are searching. Also includes a bunch of other useful stuff.

http://pleco.com/

[lovelife]

Man, i sound like i work for them. I dont, honestly

[mikelove]

Heh, I do work for them and I'm not even this positive... thank you! Very glad to hear you're finding it useful. (though it's actually 12 dictionaries now, with even more coming)

[lovelife]

Ha, well, yea, may be i should get a job with you guys. promotion and marketing. hehe. Thanks for the great product.

[abcdefg]

Hi! I want to buy a new chinese dictionary, and I'm trying to choose between Collins Chinese Dictionary and Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary.

Though I have a couple old ones on my bookshelf, I wouldn't dream of investing in a paper Chinese to English and English to Chinese dictionary today. Guess I might buy a Chinese to Chinese one, though even that has been rendered almost unnecessary by the internet.

I have a very small one I used to travel with when I was a beginning learner. Had to buy a little magnifying glass to take along with it so I could read the tiny type font. Obsolete with a capital "O."

[Meng Lelan]

Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary

OMG! This is the same dictionary I always kept stuffed in my pocket when I was studying in China in the 1990s!

[mikelove]

Same thing here - I still remember vividly the day a few months into my first Chinese class when the teacher handed each of us a copy of POCD (then called the Oxford Concise English-Chinese Dictionary) and taught us how to use it - really felt like a whole new world had opened up for me. For almost anyone studying Chinese in the '90s this was pretty much The Dictionary - thick but narrow, with a bright red cover that led to it often being referred to as the "little red book."

[johnk]

Hi, Miko869,

about 4 years ago, I was making the exact same choice. The local bookstore had copies of both the Collins Chinese Dictionary and Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary in stock. I chose the Collins Chinese Dictionary. I found it easier to read, but I am older and my eyes need all the help they can get. Also the Collins Chinese Dictionary is a set book for the Open University's Beginning Chinese course. I didn't do the course, but I was considering it at the time.

Right now, I have 5 Chinese dictionaries on my bookshelves. But, I can't remember the last time I opened a paper dictionary. About 3 years ago, I installed Pleco on my phone and now I use pleco exclusively. So I also suggest that you use Pleco if at all possible.

Sorry I can't post any photos.

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[Meng Lelan]

POCD (then called the Oxford Concise English-Chinese Dictionary) and taught us how to use it - really felt like a whole new world had opened up for me.

Oh, the old days, that was all we had. Just thinking about that was all we had when WE were young whippersnappers, is making me dizzy right now.

[renzhe]

I'll out myself as an owner of an Oxford Concise too, seems like everyone has a copy

It's a fine dictionary, really. I still use mine occasionally when hauling the big one is impractical.

[Lu]

I also have the Little Red Book! In the early 2000s at BLCU every nationality seemed to have their own version, there was a Japanese one, Russian, French, what have you, all in their own colours. I used to use it for a class in philosophical translations, it's really surprisingly good for its size, so if you want a paper dictionary, I can recommend that one. I never used the Collins though, so can't compare the two.

But yeah, Pleco is very useful. I got a free version (I forgot how, was it a promotion?) with two dictionaries, example sentences etc. To find all the words I need, I need the entire internet, but Pleco already knows most words. It comes with a flashcard program, but for that I personally prefer Anki and my own flashcards.

Another good online dictionary is Nciku, they have an app too but unfortunately the free version is so crappy that I don't want to pay for the paid version.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Lovelife wrote:

This is the best chinese dictionary the world has come up with yet.

Hyperbole aside, the general consensus is that the Hanyu Da Cidian is the best Chinese dictionary in the world.

That according to Endymion Wilkinson in his Chinese History: A Manual at any rate.

Of course, no dictionary is perfect and you could probably find words not included in any dictionary if you try hard enough.

Kobo.