Dictionary usage in Japan
I couldn’t do this web site without Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC close at hand to help me out whenever I get stuck. I can’t remember the last time I actually picked up a paper dictionary, although my Canon Wordtank portable electronic dictionary also sees a lot of action. I’ve got a translation tool at the office, but it’s so hefty it’s impractical to use for single word look up. To find out what the average Japanese person does, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into portable electronic dictionaries.
Demographics
On the 14th of November 2007 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor pool employed in either public or private enterprises successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 82.7% of the sample was male, 8.2% in their twenties, 38.8% in their thirties, 39.1% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 3.0% in their sixties.
Talking of dictionaries, perhaps one of the best Japanese-English ones (especially if you already have a DS) is the Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten DS pictured above, as you get full pen input for a start, a feature found in none bar the most expensive specialised portable electronic dictionaries.
Research results
Q1: What kinds of dictionaries do you use? (Sample size=330, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Paper dictionary 196 59.4% Online dictionary site 187 56.7% Portable electronic dictionary (to SQs) 100 30.3% Mobile phone dictionary feature 81 24.5% Dictionary software 69 20.9% PDA 11 3.3% Other 2 0.6% Don’t use a dictionary 18 5.5% I wonder what category the DS would fall under, assuming anyone in the sample had one.
Q1SQ1: Who are the makers of the portable electronic dictionaries that you use? (Sample size=100, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Casio 56 56.0% Sharp 34 34.0% Seiko 19 19.0% Sony 13 13.0% Canon 8 8.0% Other 0 0.0% Q1SQ2: What type of dictionary lookups do you often perform on your portable elctronic dictionary? (Sample size=100, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage English to Japanese 87 87.0% Japanese to English 61 61.0% Japanese 56 56.0% Kanji 18 18.0% Other foreign language 13 13.0% Other 10 10.0%
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PeterD said,
November 22, 2007 @ 01:57
I don’t know what I would do without something based on Jim Breen’s dictionary. The dictionary on my computer and on my PDA are both using that database.
drew said,
November 22, 2007 @ 03:33
Have you tried jisho.org? It’s a great, modern (perhaps web2.0) take on an online JapaneseEnglish dictionary. It has many features that make it a pleasure to use. I too used Jim Breen’s dictionary until I found jisho.org (I believe they both use the same dictionary database, Edict). And I’m not affiliated with jisho.org, by the way.
shazzb0t said,
November 22, 2007 @ 13:23
Thanks for the tip Drew. Got a handy new tool to use.
Thanks!
Ken Y-N said,
November 22, 2007 @ 22:25
Drew, that http://jisho.org is great! I especially like the interactive look-up by radical mode; really nicely done.
However, I am a minimalist, so I do prefer Jim’s shorter and to the point single line output!
Lex said,
November 23, 2007 @ 09:44
I’ve not been able to find a small portable scanner dictionary which would be handy for Japanese to English use when the original text is on paper but not in electronic form. There is a device like this, but not for Japanese to English.
There are also a few good Firefox plugins like rikaichan which make online lookup pretty swift.
Ken Y-N said,
November 23, 2007 @ 15:13
Lex, a scanner would be nice! I’ve seen an English to Japanese pen, and mobile phones can do OCR on a single line of text with a very high error rate, but not seen a Japanese to English one. It would be a nice thing to have.
Words Words Words said,
November 25, 2007 @ 06:01
[…] What Japan Thinks reports on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into portable electronic dictionaries used by the average Japanese. Since only 8% of the sample was even in their 20s, the survey mainly reflects the habits of those who aren’t formal students. […]
Alex said,
March 1, 2008 @ 06:12
for PeterD Jim Bren is not a dictionary is just a list of japanese words with a meaning in english.
No grammar no examples no accurancy no usage of words.
for a quick search it’s ok but not for study for translations.
The same for mobile phone
A Casio, Sharp or Seiko is another thing with 20 to 100, serius and written by real Sensei, dictionaries are real fantastic
expecially the new casio that you can write with hand and also talk also in japanese