Dictionary review

[Mr.Paper]

Where I bought it: Barnes & Noble
Name of book: Random House Japanese -English English-Japanese
Pages: 666
Author: Seigo Nakao


More than 50,000 entries!

This dictionary is very useful to me and is good. It solves my vocab problems 90% of the time and has a neat cover of a painting by Kotondo Torii. Its $12.95 and is worth it. Inside it has helpful pages on Japanese language, and has the kana charts for you to study which is great! I give this dictionary a 3.8/5.

[phreadom]

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Random ... 0679780014

You can click on the "See Inside" button below the cover preview and have a look through some of the inside of the book as well.

[leonl]

I think we need more threads like this. There's not alot of review threads here at least not recently. Keep it up

[Hyperworm]

Long post incoming.

When I get my hands on a dictionary (electronic or regular) and want to test how comprehensive it is, I find it hard to think of any difficult words >_> So I think I need to build up a list to use in these situations.
Here are some words that stumped me while reading 涼宮ハルヒの陰謀 today, and what the other Japanese-English dictionaries available to me were able to tell me about them, in short. (J-J dictionaries excluded to prevent this from getting too long >_>)
If you could check what the Random House dictionary has to say, that might provide further insight into its strengths/weaknesses

麓（ふもと）
Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary: foot (of a mountain) +1 example sentence
デイリーコンサイス和英辞典【第5版】: (at) the foot ((of a hill))
プログレッシブ和英中辞典第【第3版】@yahoo: the foot ((of a mountain)) +1ex
ニューセンチュリー和英辞典【第2版】@yahoo: the foot; a bottom; a base. +1ex
新和英中辞典【第4版】@excite: the foot; the base +1ex
EDICT: the foot; the bottom; the base (of a mountain) +1ex

庵（いおり）
Ko: ---
デ: a hermit's cell
プ: a hermitage +1ex
ニ: ---
新: a hermitage
ED: hermitage; retreat

加虐（かぎゃく）and 加虐趣味（かぎゃくしゅみ）
Ko: ---
デ: ---
プ: ---
ニ: ---
新: ---
ED: (加虐) causing pain
　
獣道（けものみち）
Ko: ---
デ: ---
プ: ---
ニ: ---
新: an animal [a game] trail
ED: animal trail
　
円墳（えんぷん）
Ko: ---
デ: ---
プ: ---
ニ: ---
新: ---
ED: round burial mound +1ex

余裕（よゆう）
in the sense of "calmness"/"composure", not the sense of "room"/"leeway"/"spare [time/money]".
in the part I was reading, this manifested as 「ようやく状況に慣れてきたのか、～Ｖ余裕が出てきたようだ」
Ko: (entry, but no mention)
デ: (余裕綽々としている: "be calm and composed", but no indication that 余裕 can mean "composure" on its own)
プ: (similar to above)
ニ: calmness; composure +3ex (余裕を失う lose one's composure [presence of mind].)
新: composure; scope
ED: surplus; composure; margin; room; time; allowance; [+3 more] (buried amongst quasi-synonyms, no example)
　
人恋しい（ひとこいしい）
Ko: (doesn't have 恋しい even)
デ: (恋しい definition is irrelevant, but it does list 恋しがる as: long ((for)); yearn ((after)), which helps)
プ: (1ex) "miss human companionship"
ニ: (nothing useful in the definition, but one of the example sentences for 恋しい is revealing)
新: feel lonely; feel in need of company
ED: longing for others

I must use EDICT more ._.; I generally stay away from it because the example sentences are a bit lacking compared to some other J-E dictionaries, but it at least had something to offer on every entry I tried here. My general pattern is Yahoo J-E dictionaries →(if not found) J-J, but I think EDICT deserves a place in the middle ^^;
And Kodansha's furigana dictionary is apparently not very useful for reading actual literature. Which I should have expected since it says "basic vocabulary" and "most commonly used words" on the back. I should have thought further ahead before buying it (was a while ago but.)

How does Random House fare?
(also if anyone else has any other dictionaries to add?)
(is there a comparison like this anywhere else?)

[coco]

(also if anyone else has any other dictionaries to add?)

これ、おもしろいですね。
デイリーコンサイス（三省堂）は「現代日常語70,000項目を収録。」
プログレッシブ（小学館）は「収録項目数9万に増補。 日本語に精通した英米人の専門化が徹底校閲した用例11万を収録。」
ニューセンチュリー（三省堂）は「学習や生活に必要十分な41,000項目を収録。」
新和英 （研究社）は「 総収録項目数：約135,000　 （見出し語・複合語など約70,000, 句例・文例が約65,000）」
だそうです。

手元にある『エッセンシャル和英辞典（旺文社）中判型』（６万語収録。私の持っているのは1990年発行）を加えますね。
*この辞書は日本語がabc..順に並んでいておそろしく使い勝手が悪いので、入手してからほとんど使っていません。
（未だにabcdefgと歌いながらでないとabc..xyzの順番がわからないのです。 ）

麓（ふもと）

Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary: foot (of a mountain) +1 example sentence
デイリーコンサイス和英辞典【第5版】: (at) the foot ((of a hill))
プログレッシブ和英中辞典第【第3版】@yahoo: the foot ((of a mountain)) +1ex
ニューセンチュリー和英辞典【第2版】@yahoo: the foot; a bottom; a base. +1ex
新和英中辞典【第4版】@excite: the foot; the base +1ex
EDICT: the foot; the bottom; the base (of a mountain) +1ex

エッセンシャル和英辞典中型版: fumoto(麓) the foot, the base +1ex

庵（いおり）

Ko: ---
デ: a hermit's cell
プ: a hermitage +1ex
ニ: ---
新: a hermitage
ED: hermitage; retreat

エ:　iori(庵)　a hermitage, a hut

加虐（かぎゃく）and 加虐趣味（かぎゃくしゅみ）
獣道（けものみち）
円墳（えんぷん）
３つともエッセンシャルに記載なし。

余裕（よゆう）

デ: (余裕綽々としている: "be calm and composed", but no indication that 余裕 can mean "composure" on its own)
プ: (similar to above)
ニ: calmness; composure +3ex (余裕を失う lose one's composure [presence of mind].)
新: composure; scope
ED: surplus; composure; margin; room; time; allowance; [+3 more] (buried amongst quasi-synonyms, no example)

エ: yoyu（余裕）②　【落ち着き】composure, placidity　 【余裕しゃくしゃくとしている】have much in reserve; have a great reserve(of energy); be calm and broad-minded
　
人恋しい（ひとこいしい）

Ko: (doesn't have 恋しい even)
デ: (恋しい definition is irrelevant, but it does list 恋しがる as: long ((for)); yearn ((after)), which helps)
プ: (1ex) "miss human companionship"
ニ: (nothing useful in the definition, but one of the example sentences for 恋しい is revealing)
新: feel lonely; feel in need of company
ED: longing for others

エ:　「人恋しい」の掲載なし。Koishii(恋しい)－（略）－【恋しく思う】long (or sigh, pine) for ( a person)

[becki_kanou]

My electronic dictionary (Casio Ex-word XD-ST8100) has ジーニアス和英辞典第２版

ジー:麓 foot, base, root
ジー:庵 hermitage, humble cottage
ジー:加虐 not listed
ジー:獣道 (animal) trail
ジー:円墳 not listed
ジー:余裕 time, margin, room,be calm and composed,afford etc.
ジー:人恋しい has 人恋しくなる want someone to talk with