Oxford Beginner’s Japanese Dictionary hits AppStore
By Dusan Belic on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 11:21 AM PST In Applications, iPhone
Paragon Software is on the rage. They’ve released yet another dictionary for the iPhone/iPod Touch, using their proven SlovoEd engine.
This time it’s the Oxford Beginner’s Japanese Dictionary, which uses Oxford University Press’ reliable database and offers users an “entire host of learning tools.” There are 10,000 words included in the Japanese-English dictionary and 14,000 words in English-Japanese. In addition, the dictionary offers 5,000 English audio pronunciations.
This extraordinary dictionary has been created specifically for beginners, offering color headwords and translations while using Japanese script throughout. It includes warning symbols to show potential problem areas and offers thousands of example phrases drawn from real-life situations. The dictionary has been specifically designed to give the language enthusiast a comprehensive introduction to Japanese in a completely new way while covering all the vocabulary learners will need in their first years of study. The dictionary gives unique guidance to the grammar and usage of the language.
Oxford Beginner’s Japanese Dictionary is available for $19.99 (11.99 EUR or 8.99 GBP) from the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s AppStore.
At least you only have to know how to read hiragana or katakana to get use out of this dictionary. The way it’s set up is nearly as useful as having furigana. I think it would be very useful to beginners after they get an app to learn how to read hiragana and katakana. I’ll add this to my list of must-have Japanese apps as soon as I get an iPod Touch. About a half dozen Japanese apps in one iPod Touch puts my old Canon G50 to shame.