Messages

1

General Discussion / Student Of Japanese

« on: November 25, 2004, 01:23:07 am »

Vice, I seem to be having the same problem as you.  I'm going to be living in Tokyo starting in September (at Waseda Daigaku).  I'm also looking at electronic dictionaries and the Zaurus.

It seems there are two main Japanese-English (J-E) and English-Japanese dictionaries (E-J).  The Genius and Kenkyusha
Dictionary Guide seem to be the most respected.  There is no electronic dictionary that contains a both Kenkyusha and Genius (J-E) and (E-J).  Although lots seem to carry both (E-J) and only one (E-J).  The Kenkyusha is supposed to have easier sample sentences and thus a better choice until you become more fluent in Japanese.

Anyway the new Sharp comes with the Genius (J-E) and (E-J) and the standard (J-J), but this is what you can find in a bottom of the line $200 Japanese Electronic Dictionary.  Couple that with the fact that the Sharp C-3000 is $750, really makes you wonder if the Kanji handwriting recognition is worth that extra 550 dollars.  

A good option might be to buy a 100 dollar older sharp (for Kanji handwriting recognition) and keep your Canon Wordtank (hopefully a G50).  You will have to carry around two devices, but you will save lots of money.  At first you might have to look up lots of Kanji but hopefully by the end of the year you will know Kanji well enough that you won't have to consult the Sharp often.  Think of it as added motivation.

You do have to consider that the Sharp has lots of functionality besides dictionaries.  I would say this is a big advantage if not for the rapid advancement of Japanese Keitai (cellphones).  I'm assuming you will own one because they are pretty much manditory for living in Japan nowadays.  The money spent on a subscription plan would be far better spent then on any PDA or dictionary.  It's impossible to have a social life (and thus learn Japanese) without one.  Anyways Japanese Keitai should be able to do all the PIM and contact functionality of a Zaurus.  They are now starting to be able to play movies and music as well.  The only thing you may lose out on is notetaking ability but the older Zaurus would suffice in that regard.

So I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy a new Zaurus.  In fact if the prices drop enough and I make good enough money teaching private English lessons in Japan I plan to buy one.  

An additonal note while Edict is a good dictionary, I do not view it as suffienct for a serious student of Japanese.  It is technically only a (J-E) dictionary and trying to translate the other way around is a nightmare.  Furthermore it does not have enough entries and has no example sentences and thus is not up to the level of a Genius or Kenkyusha.  But regardless it is more than adequete to look up Kanji with handwriting recognition.

2

C1000/3x00 General discussions / SL-3000 First Impressions - GREAT!

« on: November 19, 2004, 11:22:13 am »

Thank you very much for the explanation.  I'm going to be studying abroad at Waseda next year and need some kind of electronic dictonary.   It sounds like a C-3000 Zaurus loaded with Zdict and sljisho is a better value than buying a seperate $350 denshi jisho.  Plus it has Kanji handwriting input.

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C1000/3x00 General discussions / SL-3000 First Impressions - GREAT!

« on: November 18, 2004, 11:03:36 am »

Does someone who has one of these things want to comment on the new Japanese dictionaries?  They are of great intrest to a student of Japanese like myself.  Thank you.

4

C1000/3x00 General discussions / Zaurus SL-C3000

« on: October 15, 2004, 04:01:52 pm »

I think everyone is looking at this from the wrong perspective.  As an American or European and not as a Japanese.  I mean Sharp doesn't bring these devices to the US for a reason.  And when they design them they are not trying to satify that market.  What they are trying to do is a build a device for Japanese salary man with fat wallets.  Bluetooth is still almost non-existent in Japan, only a few models support it.  People who don't want to browse the web from their cell phone buy special wireless cards from the cell phone providers that they can stick in their laptop or zaurus.  Thus wifi support in the device isn't that essential.  Sharp figures if people want wifi they'll buy a wifi card, if they want cell phone internet they'll buy one of those cards.  

In terms of processor speed and ram, Sharp probably figures that with 400mhz they can get everything the average Japanese salary man needs.  In terms of the screen, while larger would have been nicer it also would have changed the aspect ratio or forced the device to be even larger in width.  Plus since the Japanese are used to their 2 inch cellphone screens, 3.7 inches is probably plenty.  This device may or may not have USB host, so I'll save judgement on that till later.

Finally in terms of storage, Sharp is not stupid.  They know that you can buy a 4GB hard drive for 200 bucks and stick it in your CF slot.  But they would rather have that CF slot for Wifi.  But why not just put in Wifi and leave the CF slot for storage you might ask?  Well alot of people on this forum refer to the Zaurus as a mini laptop.  I mean if someone said you could either have the hard drive or the wifi, I think most of you would choose the hard drive.  

Plus if you look at Sharp's website note that they are toting the fact that it has a built in dictonaries.  Now American's will go great a built in dictionary...  But notice this is more like an encyclopedia then a dictionary.  It has pictures and sound and everything.  Sharp calls this a multimedia dictionary. It appears that it takes up 600+ megabytes of space on the hard drive.   Now this will be a big selling point in Japan and Sharp could not have included it without the built in hard drive.  Keep in mind that Japanese is a hard language and the Japanese often have to consult dictonaries when they forget a Kanji.  Because of this Japanese electronic dictonaries are extremely popular in Japan.  I mean there eaiser then carrying around books with thousands of pages.  The value of these dictionaries is at least $250.  If you bought a standalone device with these dictionaries you'd be spending $350.  The Zaurus has this capability built in and it can link to the e-mails there working on.

So while this might not be a great upgrade for American users, it is for Japanese users, which is after all their target users.

5

General Discussion / Latest rumour on next model

« on: October 14, 2004, 01:18:16 pm »

http://www.mogya.com/zaurus/index.php?2004...%ce%be%f0%ca%f3

From this link, I obtained a bit more information about the new device. (This is the same place that brought us the first pictures.)

This is a rough translation with my limited Japanese skills,

Other than the previously mentioned stuff, the site says that it will include the Koujien, japans most famous and complete dictionary.  It also will include the Genius English to Japanese and Japanese to English dictionary.  While this is good news for us Japanese students maybe not for those of you who don't want to pay for very expensive dictionaries you probably won't use.  Considering these are huge dictionaries it might explain why this thing has got the built in hard drive.  

It doesn't say anything about USB host but it does use the PXA 270 which unlike the PXA 255 enables this from what I understand.  

Also of note is that it mentions 3 hard drive sizes.

It says 4GB hard drive, but user area 3.  (Maybe to make up for those dictionaries)  
It also says 6GB hard drive and then something like shipment #2, but I don't know how to translate this exactly so don't trust me.
Then it says 9GB hard drive and something about it being empty?  I'm not sure on this one at all and I don't really know how to translate it.

Maybe someone can help with my translations?