漢 （ かん ） refers to China, so this is the name given to dictionaries that explain kanji and kango 漢語 （ かんご ）, Sino-Japanese words. Surprise, it's the opposite of 英和! Headwords in Japanese with English explanations. Hence, eiwa 英和 （ えいわ ） is "English-Japanese." In these dictionaries the headwords are in English and the explanations are in Japanese.
A kokugojiten 国語辞典 （ こくごじてん ） is a dictionary of Japanese words explained in Japanese.Įikoku 英国 （ えいこく ） is a common way to refer to England in Japanese. Kokugo 国語 （ こくご ） generally means "national language" but is often used to refer to the Japanese language. Even different dictionaries of the same type can give you multiple perspectives.īefore we get into the list of dictionaries below, let's make sure you understand the most common types of dictionaries. 国語辞典（こくごじてん） Japanese-language dictionaryįor example, using both a kokugo 国語 （ こくご ） (Japanese-Japanese) dictionary and a waei 和英 （ わえい ） (Japanese-English) dictionary can provide more context on how a word is used. This allows me to get a more complete picture of a word's meaning and usage. However, even though I made Jisho, I will use types of dictionaries as well. Minnade Kokugojiten Koremo Nihongo みんなで国語辞典 これも日本語 （ こくごじてん にほんご ）Ĭan you guess what my first stop is when looking up words?.By the end I hope you're inspired to dive into the wonderful world of Japanese dictionaries yourself. I should say, this is by no means an exhaustive list of the best Japanese dictionaries ever, but rather these are the ones I find myself reaching for most often (or simply ones that are the most fun). You need to know which ones are best for what uses. But you don't want to just add random Japanese dictionaries to your Amazon cart. You can also use this method, even if you only have a few dictionaries on-hand to compare and contrast your amassed vocabulary list. Then I look up each word in different dictionaries to get a wider sense of the meanings. I read and listen to things that interest me, writing down words and grammar I want to study later. This makes dictionaries a fun way to gaze into the Japanese language from different perspectives.ĭictionaries are also an important part of my study routine. Each one has its own personality, built by different editorial processes and individual writers. I like to see how different dictionaries approach different things: design, words included, explanations, and target audience, to name a few. Take it away, Kim!Ĭollecting Japanese dictionaries has become, in my wife's words, an obsession. We wanted to know about the best Japanese dictionaries for study, and Kim Ahlstrom did not disappoint (I did say Kim was a Japanese dictionary maniac, right?). Through maintaining Jisho, Kim has naturally become a Japanese dictionary nerd, and thus one of the best people to talk to about the subject. Kim Ahlstrom is a good friend of Tofugu and the creator of the esteemed online Japanese dictionary.
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