Where do I buy an electronic translator in Taipei?

[greenterreno]

Hello, I am in Taipei and would like to purchase a handheld electronic translator, English-Chinese, Chinese-English, Japanese-English, English-Japanese. I want to be able to draw characters on a screen. I also would like the characters to show pinyin and hiragana/katakana. Where might I look for such a translator? Thanks.

[Koxinga]

I've never used the electronic translators so I don't know what they are like, but have you considered Pleco? It's just for Chinese, and the free version works very well.

[greenterreno]

thanks, but I've no iphone or android phone

[OneEye]

I don't know if you'll find anything that will have pinyin, because anything you find like that will be for the local market, and Taiwanese people use bopomofo, not pinyin. But if you can read bopomofo (or are willing to put in the little bit of time it takes to learn), then you could probably find something at any 燦坤 location. Or most stores with 3C on the sign (全國電字 is another common one). For whatever reason, 3C means electronics here (computer, communication, and consumer electronics).

Edit: I have to agree with the others though, your money is better spent on an Android or iThing. A secondhand phone won't be any more expensive than an electronic translator, and if it is, it's still worth it for all the other functionality you get.

[roddy]

I've no iphone or android phone

You've no electronic translator either. Buying one in Taipei means you'll get something designed for Chinese learners of English. Get a (cheap, second hand, if necessary) android or iOS device, and get Pleco, if at all possible. Have a read of this.

[drencrom]

The handheld translators are yesterday's technology. Get a secondhand Android phone. All the new development effort has been spent there for the last few years.

[greenterreno]

Wow. I guess you all are right. I am old, retired, and have a 4-yr-old 2G nokia phone. I guess you are talking about a "smart phone." I've heard of the nokia and samsung smart phones, and Iphone. I will get info about them here in Taipei and buy one. Thanks very much!

[roddy]

An iPod Touch might be a good option if you're sure you don't want a new phone.

[Lu]

If you're comfortable learning new technology, do look into getting a smartphone. There are lots of other useful things you can do on them. If you really want to keep your old phone, an iPod also works.

[imron]

I will get info about them here in Taipei and buy one. Thanks very much!

Note that Pleco is only available on iOS and Android, so that rules out Nokia phones.

[greenterreno]

Thanks for the note!

[Kobo-Daishi]

Note also that Pleco doesn't do Japanese.

According to this thread.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/39680-a-pleco-for-japanese

And there doesn't seem to be an equivalent judging from the lack of replies to the thread.

Probably need a Japanese forum for answer to Japanese apps.

[mikelove]

FWIW, the Japanese app situation in general seems to be markedly better on iOS - with Chinese your biggest loss by opting for Android is Skritter, but there are a bunch of other nifty Japanese apps for iOS with no Android equivalent.

Device-wise, though, iPod Touches are tricky because the second newest model ("4th generation," the first one with a Retina display) is very creaky - shipped with too little RAM, theoretically supported by iOS 6 but it crashes all the time and a sure bet not to be supported by iOS 7. So for a good entry-level iOS device you need either the newest iPod Touch (which starts at US$230) or an iPad Mini (starts at US$330), or you could look at an iPhone 4 (assuming they don't drop support for them in iOS 7 - they've got as much RAM as the iPhone 4S or the iPad Mini, so it seems likely that they'll keep supporting them, but we'll know that for sure next week).

[greenterreno]

Again, thanks everyone for all the help. I am in Taiwan and will next spend some months in China. I will return to Japan in 2 years and could buy another smartphone then for Japanese. Mikelove, I didn't understand the comment "...with Chinese your biggest loss by opting for Android is Skritter". So if I concentrate now on Chinese, either iOS or Android is ok. I found Skritter, costing $14.99/month. Pleco has one-time purchase pricing. Do you use both?

[Lu]

I will return to Japan in 2 years and could buy another smartphone then for Japanese.

As long as the smartphone you have is still in good working order, you can simply download another app on it for Japanese. That's the nice thing about smartphones :-) They are also useful for cheap communication with friends and family far away, among other things.

[daofeishi]

An iPod Touch might be a good option if you're sure you don't want a new phone.

Getting an iPad (mini) or an android tablet might be better for those who are older than the average learner of Chinese. The on-screen keyboard is bigger and easier to handle, there is much more space for drawing characters by hand, and the fonts are larger.

Greenterreno, this is an iPad mini if you have not kept up with the tablet market. It is, as you can see, slightly bigger than a smartphone, but not too big to carry around. You will be able to install the dictionaries you need on it, like Pleco, and it comes with applications you can use for taking notes and browsing the internet. That is what I am using myself, and I find the user experience much more pleasant than with a small smart phone. There are other tablets out there as well, but the iPad mini runs iOS and mikelove has pointed out why that could be beneficial. If you go to an Apple Store, you should be able to try it out for yourself, and if you decide to buy one I am sure they will be more than happy to assist you with installing the dictionaries and other applications you need. .