There are extant discussions of Chinese <–> English dictionaries in the Learning Chinese forum, so I’m moving this there and may merge it with one of them shortly.
– DB, WCIF Mod
I’m looking for a good English-Chinese dictionary with the following attributes:
Traditional Chinese Characters
Hanyu Pinyin or Zhuyin Fuhao (bopomofo) for the Chinese definitions
Comprehensive (i.e. 40k words or so)
So far the best I’ve found is the Far East English-Chinese Pinyin Dictionary which meets all the requirements except the last. It’s a rather slim volume and I often find things missing. Meanwhile there’s dozens of fat English-Chinese dictionaries on the shelves here but the Chinese definitions don’t contain any pinyin or zhuyin, so in most cases it is not usable by me. I found a few children’s dictionaries that include zhuyin but they are even more limited than the Far East Pinyin dictionary with typically just 1000-2000 words but lots of pretty pictures. I’ve found some other pinyin dictionaries but only small “traveler’s dictionaries” or only simplified Chinese characters.
Any suggestions?
The set you download to a PDA includes Oxford and two others. It’s great and allows you to switch from simplified to traditional with a click. Also, pinyin and the excellent character recognition. You just write out a character on the pda and the software gives you matches. I can’t tell you how cool this is when you are reading or out somewhere and don’t know a character. I’ve sat and translated many a menu, many a notice in my elevator, and discovered what many stores are selling using this.
Yeah, Time and Longman put out small ones too – I have two Longmans on my shelf (hardcover, for sale cheap) that are bigger than pocket size (about 1 inch x 20 centimeters x 0.5 cubits, good for a daypack or briefcase) with 10,000 entries and pinyin not just for the definitions but also for every example sentence; but I’m afraid they are in simplified characters. On the other hand, if you’re not reading the characters but are reading the pinyin then why would simplified be a problem? 
Also, basically the ones with pinyin def’s are targeted at kids and beginning foreigners, so you’re out of luck AFAIK (hopefully someone will prove me wrong), unless you go with an electronic format. I don’t know that even the electronic ones will simply give the whole definition in pinyin, but you might be able to click on a character within the def it gives, to then get the pinyin and meaning for that character.
Basically I hit the same need about 10 years ago, and found the lack of such dictionaries frustrating – I also realized that the solution was to learn to read the bloody characters! So on that note, jia1you2! 
[quote=“Dragonbones”]I don’t know that even the electronic ones will simply give the whole definition in Pinyin, but you might be able to click on a character within the def it gives, to then get the Pinyin and meaning for that character.[/quote]No need. In PlecoDict, enter the English word, and the trad characters and Pinyin come straight up.
Jlick, you’ve got a Windows Mobile PDA phone anyway, haven’t you? Even if you haven’t, PlecoDict is one of several good reasons to get one (Though if you’re really keen on iPhones, there’ll probably be a version out for them too at some point).
Thanks for the suggestions on electronic dictionaries and computer dictionaries. I already have a couple of really useful computer dictionaries but I’m looking for a dead tree variety. I like to turn off the computer when studying to prevent the myriad distractions to be found online from interrupting me.
Because the end game is to be able to read the characters. If I just go English to Pinyin then that’s only halfway. I want to be able to read the characters, but without a pronunciation guide I’m lost.
Which is what I’m trying to do. Currently I can go from Chinese to English quite easily with a few fat dictionaries with either pinyin or zhuyin for the Chinese characters. But my options are very limited going in the other direction. I am learning characters slowly but surely, but I’ve found the best way to really learn them is to learn things that are relevant to something I’m doing and not just some random character that happens to be the next one on the list.
It’s very puzzling to me how many good C-E pinyin or zhuyin dictionaries there are on the shelves while there are so few and so limited E-C pinyin or zhuyin dictionaries. The C-E dictionaries are very obviously geared towards native speakers, so why do so many of them have zhuyin but the E-C dictionaries for native speakers do not?
Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary (Third Edition)
I have the first version of this dictionary and I think it’s great esp when I don’t feel like opening up one of the heavy fat dictionaries. Many moons ago when I was still a young pup in university, I saw those enrolled in Chinese 101 carrying around this little pocket sized dictionary. Eventually, I picked one up for myself as well. Given the cover, one would think that it’s a simplified Chinese dictionary, but traditional is included in parenthesis behind all the simplified characters so you can’t help but learn both versions. Pinyin is included after all Chinese entries including example sentences.
The downside is that as this is a pocket dictionary, its entries are limited to a bit more than 20,000 each half.
BTW, there is a large print version of this dictionary as the pocket sized version is a bit hard on the eyes.
===================================
Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary (Paperback)
Much like the above, but with many more entries – more than 88,000 according to the publisher although I think that’s for both halves of the dictionary. The downside is that the example phrases don’t have Pinyin, unlike the smaller dictionary above, but it has everything else you’re looking for: traditional characters, >40k entries, Pinyin.
Do what DB does, get’em all!
Because the native speakers can read the E-C entries without the zhuyin?
[quote=“sjcma”]traditional is included in parenthesis behind all the simplified characters so you can’t help but learn both versions. Pinyin is included after all Chinese entries including example sentences. The downside is that as this is a pocket dictionary, its entries are limited to a bit more than 20,000 each half.
BTW, there is a large print version of this dictionary as the pocket sized version is a bit hard on the eyes…
Do what DB does, get’em all![/quote]
Oh, right, and guess what? I have that one too! 
I had forgotten, but it does indeed have traditionals parenthetically and full pinyin for examples. It should also be sold ONLY with a magnifying glass attached! :fume: HELL, for $30 US on Amazon (who are they kidding? – that’s before shipping too!) the magnifying glass should be tossed in for free. This is a small paperback, about 3"x6" and a whopping 1.75"thick. :loco:
Hey jlick, wanna buy a dictionary cheap? 
This is the one I have on my desk, locally published with pinyin and bopomofo:
A practical English-Chinese, Chinese English Dictionary
Wang Ren Publishing
ISBN 957-8991-83-5
The rest I manage from the web.
And if you think it is hard to find English, try Spanish-Chinese with bopomofo…
[quote=“Icon”]This is the one I have on my desk, locally published with Pinyin and bopomofo:
A practical English-Chinese, Chinese English Dictionary
Wang Ren Publishing
ISBN 957-8991-83-5
[/quote]
Hey Icon, how many entries does that have? And could you give us any more info on where to buy one? What are the characters for Wang Ren? Thanks!
[quote=“Dragonbones”][quote=“Icon”]This is the one I have on my desk, locally published with Pinyin and bopomofo:
A practical English-Chinese, Chinese English Dictionary
Wang Ren Publishing
ISBN 957-8991-83-5
[/quote]
Hey Icon, how many entries does that have? And could you give us any more info on where to buy one? What are the characters for Wang Ren? Thanks![/quote]
書 名 活用英漢.漢英辭典
作 者 顏元叔
出 版 商 萬人
出版日期 1996[民85]
稽 核 項 781面; 19公分.
標 題 英國語言
標 題 中國語言
書 目 註 含索引.
國際標準書號(ISBN) 957-8991-83-5 平裝. 新臺幣500元
That answers some of your questions, at least. 
Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for that one. If anyone sees it on a bookstore shelf, please let us know! 
Excellent! Thanks for all the suggestions. I now have three possibilities to look into!
I’ve seen it in Zhongxin Nan Lu. Should not be hard to find.
[quote=“Taffy”][quote=“Icon”]A practical English-Chinese, Chinese English Dictionary
Wang Ren Publishing
ISBN 957-8991-83-5
[/quote]
書 名 活用英漢.漢英辭典
[/quote]
Regular Version: bookschina.com.tw/1647401.htm
Large Print Version: bookschina.com.tw/book_detai … id=1108329
[quote=“Icon”]This is the one I have on my desk, locally published with Pinyin and bopomofo:
A practical English-Chinese, Chinese English Dictionary
Wang Ren Publishing
ISBN 957-8991-83-5[/quote]
This does not fit the requirements in the original post. This dictionary has two parts. The English-Chinese part does not have any pronunciation guide for the Chinese characters at all. That was the whole point of this topic, so this doesn’t fit the bill at all.
The Chinese-English section is organized by radical and then starting character. The starting character has pronunciation guides in zhuyin and some mutant romanization system (*) I’ve never seen before without tone marks (it isn’t hanyu pinyin, tongyong pinyin or wade-giles). The additional words under each starting character have no pronunciation guide at all. So this section is only marginally useful as long as you use zhuyin.
I would recommend against this dictionary.
(*) Some examples: 七 chi 下 shiah 不 buh 世 shyh 兩 leang. Anyone have any idea what this mutant is?
The system you describe is Gwoyeu Romatzyh. It has tonal spelling instead of tone marks. A pretty ingenious invention, even if it is a pain to learn and a bit unwieldy for everyday use. It was actually the official system of the Republic of China for a few decades and you still see it in some places in Taiwan - whenever you see “horng” or “cherng” it’s a sure sign that someone still has a GR dictionary hanging around.
[quote=“sjcma”]Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary (Third Edition)
Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary (Paperback)
Much like the above, but with many more entries – more than 88,000 according to the publisher although I think that’s for both halves of the dictionary.[/quote]
Actually as it turns out, these are the same dictionary. I got the third edition of both of these, the large print version of “Concise EC/CE Dictionary”. Despite different copyright dates and some minor differences in the preface, the rest of the dictionaries are identical. Even the pagination is exactly the same. Previous differences noted in the thread were probably due to comparing different editions.
The “Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary” is by far the superior of the two. Even with the “large print” version of the “Concise EC/CE Dictionary”, it is hard to read. “Pocket” is about 1/2 inch wider and taller, and about 50% thicker. “Concise” is printed on off-white thin paper both of which makes it harder to read, while “Pocket” is printed on thicker white paper. Even with the larger size, “Pocket” can still be a bit challenging to read, but it is much better than “Concise.” “Pocket” is also cheaper if you buy through amazon.com.
Pinyin is used consistently for all words in both the CE and EC parts. The EC parts have some example usages for the words. Most of these have pinyin, but not all. Traditional characters are given in parentheses where needed in most cases. However some common characters do not show the traditional form and some examples do not show the traditional form. For example, 们 and 门 when used in examples do not show the traditional forms.
I would definitely recommend the “Pocket” version of this dictionary.
There’s a dictionary set up by the MOE or something, my mandarin teacher forwarded it to me:
dict.concised.moe.edu.tw/main/cover/main.htm
I use this to find out usage and meaning of words, often enough have to use pera-kun for some of the examples though.
They also have a chengyu dictionary: