My first great japanese dictionary
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Ok, let me start by saying this little gem has helped me out so many times when trying to think of a word. It's not just a dictionary but there is a whole middle section on grammar which is great for brushing up on you wa's and ga's.
I can also see some people have been disappointed with the fact that it's all written in hiragana/katakana, this is actually more beneficial to those wanting to get proficient with reading and writing in real japanese script, and i think it serves as more of an encouragement to go and learn the first two basic scripts. Believe me, anyone thats learned them will tell you once you have them down pat, (within about a month and half i learned mine)
you will find reading japanese so much more rewarding, and also your a lot less likely to make pronunciation mistakes.
Sometimes i still have to pinch myself to realise that holy Sh*t im reading japanese. Trust me, go and learn them, you'll love it.
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Not great for begginers
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This book is useless to a begginer. It should have romaji to make the words your looking for easier to locate. I would like to reccomend the "Berlitz Japanese Concise Dictionary" Which i found much more user friendly.
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Not for beginners
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This book is certainly not for beginners.
It has NO romanised/phonetic translations of Japanese words or phrases and requires you to read Japanese script, yet does not provide any form of phonetic alphabet for learning the script.
All the so-called helpful grammatically correct examples are written fully in Japanese script, along with all other advertised features.
Great if you're Japanese, and know the Roman and native alphabet, but for a western beginner: absolutely useless.
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A warning if you've got Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary
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I was recommended this book, the Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary, by Amazon as I bought the Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary. The press release for this book says it's a 'New and fresh approach for first-time learners'. However, when I received the book, it's not new at all, page for page in every way it's the same book as the old one. so, if you have that book already, don't get this or you'll be disappointed. If you don't, then it is still a brilliant, user friendly dictionary that is indespensible for the beginning learner.
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