Best Chinese Dicts

[shawky.nasr]

4 hours ago, Insectosaurus said:

what unicode symbols

tài•dù

tóu∥dà

[Insectosaurus]

Which one of Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian and Xiandai Hanyu Cidian are generally most "up to date" on readings? I know readings vary, but I presume there is still some sort of established (though still evolving) Putonghua standard. 温暾/温吞 has a neutral last tone in Xiandai Hanyu Cidian but not in Guifan, and I have seen many similar examples. The same question goes for writings. Some entry writings in Xiandai Hanyu Cidian are no longer advised according to Guifan.

[shawky.nasr]

3 hours ago, Insectosaurus said:

most "up to date" on readings

Both are ok, similar. Entires: 74-75K

 

3 hours ago, Insectosaurus said:

温暾/温吞

That have a reason, author Mr li has other dictionary describe why don't include 温暾，according to 词频统计word frequency：温吞5 温暾0

 

[shawky.nasr]

汉语大词典
Comprehensive Chinese Word Dictionary
Hanyu Da Cidian

 

汉语大词典-官方网站

[Insectosaurus]

Are there any Chinese dictionaries like Vocabulary.com or, if not, Oxford's Learner's Dictionary? Vocabulary.com offer much simpler and elaborate definitions than standard dictionaries. See bucolic and compare it to a normal dictionary: 1. relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life 2. a pastoral poem.

 

Note that these dictionaries have definitions for more uncommon words as well, which is what I'm after (in Chinese), since my vocabulary is already quite large.

[shawky.nasr]

On 11/29/2021 at 1:48 AM, Insectosaurus said:

like Vocabulary.com

You are so optimistic, Chinese dictionaries industry lag behind English and others languages dictionaries.

They didn't use corpus yet, that part Usage Examples depends on corpus sentences.

 

I hope one day will be something similar to Vocabulary.com.

But be sure, will be not for free ?, making money important than making good dictionary.

[Insectosaurus]

@shawky.nasrI must admit this was the answer I expected, but one can always dream! ? One day, perhaps!

[shawky.nasr]

Recently, i found this app, quite interesting

 Hanbook Chinese dictionary

You can check it

 

BTW, Zero to hero dictionary doing good job, they can be next Vocabulary.

[Insectosaurus]

I would argue the Chinese equivalent of Vocabulary would need to be monolingual. Explaining Chinese terms in simple Chinese, and helping the user understand why something is called what it's called.

[Insectosaurus]

Does anyone know if there is a way to input pinyin in the New Century iPhone app? It does not work for me and I have not found a solution. There is a possibility to browse by pinyin but that's a much slower alternative.

[Luxi]

On 4/24/2022 at 6:48 PM, Insectosaurus said:

input pinyin in the New Century iPhone app?

 

Have you found an answer @Insectosaurus? 

 

If I understand your question right, you want to enter pinyin on the dictionary search box? I assume you're running iOS 15, I can't remember the older versions but they may be similar.

 

Open the App, tap on the search box and leave cursor there, then tap the little globe on the bottom left of the screen (I assume the screen changed for you when you tapped the search box) and select 简体拼音on the list that opens on the bottom left. Now you can type pinyin on the search box and select the characters you want from the band just above the keyboard or the compounds listed along the right hand side.

 

Incidentally, above the keyboard there are other useful options: you have a pen (to draw the character), a microphone (to search by sound), and a camera (for OCR, I guess)

 

Sorry if I didn't understand your question right. 

[Insectosaurus]

Thank you for your reply @Luxi , this is the best solution I have found as well but requires more steps than what I would prefer. Let's say I hear someone saying buzhi—let's ignore tones for the moment—and I don't know how it's spelled or the characters are uncommon (and therefore would take time to find in the list). In a monolingual dictionary like Xiandai Hanyu Cidian, I can write buzhi and get what is seen in Screenshot #1.

 

In New Century I get what is seen in Screenshot #2.

 

 

I think this is explained by it being a bilingual dictionary, but such a function exists both in Pleco and in the iOS dictionary app (Screenshot #3).

[Luxi]

On 4/27/2022 at 1:03 PM, Insectosaurus said:

I think this is explained by it being a

 a quirk?

 

I see that function in my iPhone, but it is weird because it's a "now you see it now you don't" situation.

I don't know how to get a screenshot from my phone screen to my Windows laptop, so I'll try to explain how I get to your screenshot 3 from the NC App on my iPhone. 

 

First to make sure we're looking at the same thing: my iPhone is an XS max, running iOS 15.4. The NC dictionary app has the latest update. I have no idea how these compare to any other iPhone or NC App version. Now check your iPhone: start the search from the Home screen,

- tap the search box

- tap the globe and select pinyin on the list

- without touching the screen, look at the keyboard beneath the Screenshot2 : on top of the keyboard above the 1st row of letters there is a row of characters for buzhi, and if that's not enougn there is an inverted V on the right of that. Press and you get more buzhis, plus separate bus and zhis.

 

What I think happens is: that extended list may come from the iOS dictionary and the NC app is making use of it but not too well. Touching the screen sends you back to the App minus extended character list. To retrieve it, just type buzhi again on the dictionary search box making sure you still have the pinyin selected.

 

头疼？

 

 

[Insectosaurus]

@Luxi Yes, I know about that function and use it daily since I have several keyboards installed. But that is not an app function, it's an iOS function that is a usable workaround, it's not what I'm after. Sadly, I think the answer is that the app does not offer pinyin as a search method.

[Insectosaurus]

I noticed that the bilingual Xinhua dictionary has been released (some time ago, actually). However, I have not been able to register. It just tells me to try again later. Has anyone else had more success? See link:

 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xinhua-dictionary/id1570086935

[shawky.nasr]

On 7/8/2022 at 6:45 PM, Insectosaurus said:

bilingual Xinhua dictionary has been released

Long time ago, it was other app for Haidi company, but later the press established own new tech company.

 

App is working, no issue.

 

You can sign up with email, maybe phone only for Chinese phone numbers.

 

 

 

[Insectosaurus]

Payment has gone through, but registering (which is also demanded to use the app) is not working for me. See screenshot. I have no problem with trying again later, as is suggested, but I also realise the risk of encountering the same message for weeks. If no one else experiences the same problem, I'll have to send them an e-mail.

 

[Luxi]

On 7/8/2022 at 12:28 PM, Insectosaurus said:

Payment has gone through

 

How were you able to pay without registering? Were you already registered to the same developer from earlier?

 

Here's what I did. I had some problems because I ignored the small print and tried to register using my UK phone nr, which didn't work but it all went through once I got the process right, I'm now a member for life.

 

First, did you use your Apple app store? I used the UK store and registered through my Ipad, it's working OK but things may be different in your app store. I'll describe the process in case others have problems with the registration - it's not immediately intuitive.

 

On the form I had to first register as a new user (I hadn't got a user name from earlier), I clicked on the microscopic link on the right hand below the form. The microscopic link on the left is for existing users to log in.

 

When you filled in the registration form, did you try registering using your email? the option to use email ONLY appears if you click on the phone icon on the form (this took me a while to figure out, doh!) 

 

next: I had to create a password 

 

then, had to click on the little box to say I'd read/agree with the rules

 

next: click on the upper red box to get a validation code sent by email (it comes immediately...I ended up with about 6 of them)

 

fill in validation code 

 

finally: click the red box at the bottom 

 

Now you're registered - a subliminal message appeared to say I'd succeeded. At this point the dictionary opened again and  I got an invitation to pay via Apple. That went through straight away.

 

Not sure this will help in your case. If it doesn't, you'll have to go through Apple Support, they'll sort it out for you

 

 

 

 

[Insectosaurus]

@Luxi Thank you, but unfortunately that is exactly what I do. Note that the message does not tell me anything has been filled in wrong, it just tells me their servers are busy. I have sent them en e-mail. Hopefully they will solve this quickly.

[shawky.nasr]

On 7/8/2022 at 7:28 PM, Insectosaurus said:

but registering (which is also demanded to use the app) is not working for me.

Just try email not phone, you can try any VPN app or proxy for China. 

 

or better send email to customer services.

Quote

• 客服电话: +86-10-85306761
• 客服邮箱: customer@vdict.com.cn
• 服务时间（北京）: 
      周一 至 周五  9:00-12:00  13:30-17:30