Two versions of Chinese-English 現代漢語詞典

[in_lab]

I noticed that there are two Chinese-English Xiandai Hanyu Cidian. One comes with a CD and is 1391 pages. HK$55 2003 version

http://www.cp1897.com.hk/BookInfo?BookId=7806606394&SectionId=10

The other has no CD, but it it about twice as many pages. (2698 pp. acording to chinasprout.com) HK$99.90 2002 version

http://www.cp1897.com.hk/BookInfo?BookId=7560031951&SectionId=10

Is the 1391 page version abridged, or smaller type and bigger pages? For those who have seen the second one, do you think they could cram that all into 1391 pages?

[gato]

Couldn't find anything substantive about the thinner dictionary, though I did learn that Nanfang Press is based in Hainan.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=gen&lr=&q=%E5%8D%97%E6%96%B9%E5%87%BA%E7%89%88%E7%A4%BE%22%E6%BC%A2%E8%8B%B1%E5%B0%8D%E7%85%A7%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3%E6%BC%A2%E8%AA%9E%E8%A9%9E%E5%85%B8%22&btnG=Search

The thicker one published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press is probably the one to buy. See this overview:

http://learning.sohu.com/2004/04/26/08/article219960890.shtml

And from the publisher's site:

http://www.fltrp.com/scrp/bookdetail.cfm?iBookNo=3249&sYc=1-1

[in_lab]

Thanks! The bottom link you gave has pictures of the pages. There's also a link to see a page from the 現代漢語規範詞典 but my browser died before I could paste it. It looks like the 規範 has a slightly higher word count, but the new 現代漢語詞典 has a higher page count. Just by browsing, it looks like the 規範 has more examples.

[gato]

Roddy did a review of the dictionary you're thinking about a little while ago.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/2-favourite-chinese-musician787&page=1&pp=20&highlight=dictionary

现代汉语词典(英汉双语版)

And carlo seems to like the 现代汉语规范词典 for its grammatical markings, though this is a Chinese-Chinese dictionary.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/5-how-many-characters-do-you-know478&highlight=Xiandai+Hanyu+Cidian

- A problem with both Xiandai Hanyu and Zhongwen Cidian is that there are no part-of-speech markings, which can be unconvenient for learners, if the example sentences are poor. I suggest you have a look at 现代汉语规范词典 (外语教学与研究出版社) - 68,000 headwords:

现代汉语规范词典 I think this would be a good mainland-based alternative to Xiandai Hanyu.

Here's a sample page of the latter:

http://gfcd.fltrp.com/zwyz.asp

[gato]

Have you considered the "New Century Chinese-English Dictionary," also published by FLTRP?

http://www.fltrp.com/scrp/bookdetail.cfm?iBookNo=3900&sYc=1-1

According to this review, it does a better job of translating Chinese phrases into idiomatic English, in contrast to the bilingual edition of Modern Chinese Dictionary, which, more often than not, is an almost literal translation of the original Chinese-Chinese dictionary.

Some representative pages:

http://www.fltrp.com/jingcai/jpg/2594/414.gif

http://www.fltrp.com/jingcai/jpg/2594/1168.gif

Here're two example given in the review:

例如“压蔓”一词，笔者手头的两本词典，一本的“解释”是“cover the vines of plants (e.g. melon, gourd, etc.) with earth at intervals to protect them from strong wind and animals”，而另一本的则为 “keep down the vines of a creeping plant by covering them with earth at regular intervals (for protection against animals or the wind and for facilitating the growth of adventitious roots)”。

我们可以看出，这两本词典所给出的纯粹是对汉语单语词典释义的“翻译”，使用者在实际中根本无法使用，因为他们查阅汉英词典的目的并不是不知道“压蔓”的含义，而是想知道其英文对应词，但这样的对应词（组）这两本汉英词典却没有提供。《新世纪》在这方面却下了不少功夫。例如，它给“压蔓” 的对应词组是“press the vine”，既准确地道，又简洁实用。

请看《新世纪》对“补助”一词的处理，读者自会辨别出个优劣：

“补助” 1.〈动〉 subsidize: ～困难学生 subsidize needy students 2.〈名〉 subsidy; allowance; benefit: 一笔～ a sum of allowance 接受～ receive subsidy 申请～ apply for a grant of money困难～ hardship grant 取暖～ heating subsidy 失业～ unemployment benefit 实物～ subsidy in kind 现金～ cash grant 学生～ student aid/assistance; scholarship 医疗～ medical benefit

[doezeedoats]

All the example definitions I looked at suggests to me that they were written by non-native-English-speaking drudges. Example: 多元化: become pluralistic (no mention of "diversify"). Still, the layout's good - better than my preferred dictionary, 21 世紀和英大辭典 (簡明本) with 180,000 headwords. Drawback (for some) of 21 世紀 is that it's 繁體字.