MD8300 electronic dictionary or something else?

[Southernjohn]

I am going to buy some sort of electronic dictionary soon. My main requirements are pretty standard; multiple input methods for chinese (wubi,pinyin,stylus), and definitely cantonese pronunciation as well, either romanized or actual voice.

I saw this dictionary somewhere else in the forums:

http://www.ectaco.com/main.jsp?do=products-view_item&item=5180&refid=21350&vTransferId=8729WLD4CQGBDONJDFOGFLEHM

I have scoured the net looking for reviews of this product, but there isn't much out there.

The price seems high for what is essentially a dedicated dictionary, but it does have all the features I am looking for. Has anyone used this dictionary?

Thanks,

southerJohn.

[galaygobi]

I have another model (888) from the same company:

http://www.ectaco.com/YISHEN-888/

Bought it in China so the model number is Insta-dict 8688.

If you require all you stated above, then these are probably the only dictionaries with all those features. It's hard to find ones with cantonese pronunciation, and these dictionaries only supply a vocal pronunciation of the cantonese (no romanization on-screen).

Kind of hard to use the features of this, and after being frustrated with it for a month I decided to grab a Canon Wordtank V80. Indexing of the dictionary is done alot better, although there is no cantonese (which I didn't need anyways).

[Jun Heng Clinic]

Hi Southernjohn

I have used a different ectaco electrionic dictionary for a couple of years; the MD201. I am really disappointed with it.

- It's range of vocabulary is too narrow for me, with lots of bizarre 'gaps' in the dictionaries (where a character is sometimes recognized as existing, so you get all excited, but then you discover that there is no translation available).

- It's handwriting recognition is awful; seldom works (and my hanzi handwriting skills are quite good).

- It's terribly slow at converting between simplified and traditional characters. There is actually NO conversion unless you work your way through several clicks to a different menu option for converting between them. Then you have to remember the two forms and work your way back through the menus to the dictionary part to continue translating.

- The mandarin pronunciations are totally incomprehensible - though I haven't taken the time to work with this feature as this is the lowest priority for me.

- ectaco were very unhelpful at giving me support when I was trying to buy accessories. I was trying to throw my money at them for accessories (hundreds of pounds), but they wouldn't 'give me the time of day'.

Having used it for two years, it is obvious to me that it has been constructed by throwing together lots of different programs with insufficient checking of the databases and insufficient developing of the main interface.

Frankly I felt conned, as it was quite expensive (somewhere between GBP 200 and 300).

That was the MD201. The MD 8300 SOUNDS like a newer version. Maybe they've ironed out some of these issues. But I would be suspicious of any company that dishes out that sort of product and gives that sort of service.

I have a suggestion: Why don't you forget about getting pronunciation from your dictionary? Just take the time to learn the pronunciation of all the Chinese speach sounds. It's not difficult, once you'e sorted out about a dozen unusual sounds and half a dozen really tricky ones. Then all you need is the pinyin. Okay there may be odd variations with some uniqe words, but you can learn that from native speakers as you go on - and that's probably subject to regional variation anyway.

If you do this then you can buy a truly world-class dictionary very cheaply. But a palm and load it with PlecoDict, an amazing package. And you'll get a personal organizer at the same time!

Just a suggestion.

David

[Southernjohn]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, David. Yes, it does sound that it would be better to steer clear of this company.

Actually, perhaps you misunderstood my original post. I don't care so much about mandarin pronunciation...you are right, it was far easier to learn the sounds of Mandarin and I did this some years ago. I am more interested in having a romanization or possibly a pronunciation in Cantonese.

But my understanding with these dictionaries is that they do no provide a romanization, just speech synthesis. And I can't imagine the speech synthesis of Cantonese is of any better quality than that of Mandarin.

I am sorely interested in plecodict. They have hinted that a future update may include Cantonese romanization.