From LibraryWiki

One of the things that a novice must stay aware of is who a given dictionary is designed to help. Some dictionaries are designed for native speakers or people with langauge skills comparable to a native speaker's. For a novice, these aren't immediately helpful.

In the beginning, a Japanese language student typically depends on glossaries found in the backs of textbooks. Such a student will soon want more comprehensive Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionaries. At some point a student of Japanese language may find the sort of dictionaries made for use by Japanese school children to be extremely useful, e.g. Shōgaku kotoba no tsukaikata jiten. Ultimately, a scholar working in the Japanese language will want to use the same sources that Japanese scholars of the same field use.

Learner's dictionaries

(Also look under Grammar and usage in Dictionaries for language and linguistics: Japanese.)

• Shōgaku kotoba no tsukaikata jiten. Hayashi Chikafumi ... [et al.] (hen). [Higashimurayama-shi] : Kyōikusha ; Tōkyō : Hanbai Kyōikusha Shuppan Sābisu, 1984

小学ことばのつかいかた辞典. 林史典 ... [et al.] (編). [東村山市] : 教育社 ; 東京 : 販売 教育社出版サービス, 1984.

PL675 .S583 1984

• Dictionary of basic Japanese usage for foreigners. Bunkachō, 1975. (Shōwa 50). (1981 (Shōwa 56) printing).

外国人のための基本語用例辞典. 東京 : 文化庁, 1975]. (昭和50). (1981 (昭和 56) printing).

PL675 .G24 1975

• Nihongo gakushūsha no tame no fukushi yōrei jiten. Shimamoto Moto (hen) Tōkyō: Bonjinsha, 1989.

日本語学習者のための副詞用例辞典. 島本基(編). 東京: 凡人社, 1989.

PL577 .S5 1990

• Nihongo o migaku shōjiten: Dōshi hen. Morita Yoshiyuki. Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1988. (Shōwa 63).

日本語をみがく小辞典・動詞篇. 森田良行. 東京: 講談社, 1987. (昭和 62).

PL585 .M67 1988

• Nihongo o migaku shōjiten: Keiyōshi, fukushi hen. Morita Yoshiyuki. Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1989.

日本語をみがく小辞典・形容詞, 副詞篇. 森田良行. 東京: 講談社, 1989.

PL577 .M67 1989

• Nihongo o migaku shōjiten: Meishi hen. Morita Yoshiyuki. Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1987. (Shōwa 62).

日本語をみがく小辞典・名詞篇. 森田良行. 東京: 講談社, 1987. (昭和62).

PL685 .M64 1987

• Nihongo o manabu hito no jiten: Eigo, Chūgokugo yaku tsuki. (Informative Japanese dictionary = I tung jih yü tzu tien). Sakata Yukiko (kanshū); Endō Orie (henshū shukan); Nihongo no Kai (henshū). Tōkyō: Shinchōsha, 1995.

日本語を学ぶ人の辞典 : 英語。中国語訳つき. 阪田雪子(監修); 遠藤織枝(編集主幹); にほんごの会. 東京: 新潮社, 1995.

PL678 .N53 1995

Kanji/Kana Conversion

• Kenkyusha's furigana English-Japanese dictionary. Kenkyūsha Jisho Henshūbu (hen). Publish info Tōkyō : Kenkyūsha, 1990.

ふりがな英和辞典. 研究社辞書編集部(編). 東京 : 研究社, 1990.

PL679 .F78 1990

Online

When reading a Japanese language website, if you want to have instant access to readings of unfamiliar kanji or the definitions of unfamiliar words, you can type the URL of the website in question into this:

• POPjisyo

Open the website within this environment. This will allow you to place your cursor over the problematic section of text and get a pop-up gloss.

Here's another website that provides the same sort of service:

• Rikai

Enter a web-address (or paste some text) in the box on the Rikai homepage. Press "Go." Your selected page will open in the Rikai environment. Move the cursor over any Japanese word on your page (or text) and Rikai provides a "pop-up" giving you the reading and definition.

Alternatively, paste individual words and phrases into the search window in this:

• Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Japanese-English Dictionary Server

For particularly difficult words, a specialized site like this might help:

• 読み方辞典