Far East Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary (English and Chinese Edition)

by Teh-ming Yeh

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 957612462X
• ISBN13: 9789576124624
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: The Far East Book Co., Ltd.
• Length: 890 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Fantastic Reference

This dictionary is probably the best pocket-sized dictionary for Chinese language students who are familiar with pinyin. It's been extremely useful to me, from my days as a beginner looking up simple definitions and pronunciation, through learning reading and writing, and even now I refer to it during my current project of studying literary Chinese (wen2yan2wen2). For a detailed review, you can refer to Kent's posted here, with which I find myself agreeing almost completely. The two standout things in this dictionary that I would emphasize for Chinese learners of all levels are: - The breadth of definitions for each character: I'm constantly surprised at how complete the definitions are for the characters. Most entries include definitions derived from literary Chinese, as well as Old/Middle Chinese vernacular usage. In this respect, this dictionary outdoes most Chinese-English dictionaries, as well as a few of the smaller Chinese-Chinese dictionaries I've purchased in Taiwan and Hong Kong. - The amount of compound words and expressions: This feature alone is well worth the price of admission. The comprehensive nature of compound words and expressions included is so valuable for language learners of all levels. Included are many commonly used (and some not-so-commonly used) multi-character idioms or cheng2yu3, and the given definitions are well-done and nuanced. Also worth noting is the layout: each compound word or expression is printed on a separate line, which makes searching for a particular item extremely easy and efficient. Chinese language students of all levels will find this dictionary a useful and nuanced reference. I came to this page looking for a second copy after basically trashing mine through about 9 years of constant use and travel. That I've yet to find a better pocket dictionary in said time should tell you something!

Most useful traditional Chinese dictionary I've found, hands down

If you are learning traditional Chinese, then this dictionary is essential. There are two useful ways to use it: 1. Pinyin 2. Radical lookup You can also look-up characters by the total number of strokes, but using the radical index becomes MUCH more effective once you learn some of the radicals. Use the pinyin lookup for words where you either know or can guess (e.g. you heard the word somewhere) the pinyin. If you are reading and have no idea, the radical index is a very effective and quick way to lookup characters. Since no dictionary is complete, you should also take advantage of the many free online Chinese dictionaries. Also, if you are new to learning Chinese, definitely go with a Pinyin dictionary. It saves a lot of time for many lookups.

Long overdue

I've waited a long time to see a Far-East dictionary with pinyin order to the main entries, and this is it! A good, portable dictionary for those reading traditional characters. Now you don't need to look pinyin up in an index, so it's much faster. PROs: *pinyin order, enabling rapid lookup of any character you're reading if you know the pronunciation.*properly splits apart different traditional characters which would share the same simplified character in a bad mainland dictionary like Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary published by Pau. *includes some important components of characters like zhui1 (short-tailed bird), even though obsolescent on their own. This is useful for understanding character composition and etymology. Learner's lacks these.*Within one pronunciation, characters appear to be ordered by number of strokes, helping you find characters quickly in such common pronunciations as ji and yi. Some dictionaries like Learner's lack this.*Main entries in red, followed by components beginning with that character. This kind of list (not found in the ABC) is useful for learning more about how a character is used.*Lists more surnames than some other dictionaries like Learner's.*Includes alternate forms of characters, e.g., for tai2 as in Tai2wan1, but apparently only when both are considered standard in Taiwan.*has good definitions and compound lists; vastly superior to Learner's. E.g., for lao3 (old), Learner's has 6 definitions and 21 compounds, versus Far East's 10 definitions and about 87 compounds. Claims almost 3x as many compounds as Learner's.*includes countries and capitals in an index (unfortunately, in pinyin only), and the major ones are also listed in the main body where appropriate. *has some updated slang and technical entries like la4mei4 (hot babe) and wang3lu4 (internet), but needs more.*Includes pronunciations from both the PRC and Taiwan, but it's not immediately apparent which is which: e.g., the pronunciation at the main entry qi1 (period of time) says "also" qi2, which apparently implies qi1 is the PRC standard, and qi2 is for Taiwan; conversely, at qi2, the annotation is "refer to" qi1, with no further entry provided at qi2, implying this is an alternate, i.e., Taiwanese, pronunciation. It would be better if they added a small symbol like "PRC" or "TWN" or the characters "guo2" for guo2yu3 (Taiwan) and "pu3" for pu3tong1hua4 (PRC).*Includes usage from both the PRC and Taiwan, e.g., chu1zu1che1 and ji4cheng2che1 for taxi, respectively, but it fails to tell you which usage is for which country. CONs: *Fails to cross-index by alternate pronunciation, e.g., although you'll find chuan2 (transfer) and zhuan4 (biography), there is no note at either helping you find the other, or helping you learn that this is a "po4yin1zi4", a character with multiple pronunciations. This is a MAJOR omission, and should be rectified.*Simplified characters are not provided parenthetically after main entries, with a few exceptions.*Ne