Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary
In case you are going to learn Chinese (Standard/Mandarin Chinese), here is one recommendation for you: get the Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary.
I needed a small dictionary containing most of the words that I needed to know, preferably with pinyin and many examples, and then I found the Starter Chinese Dictionary on Amazon.com. It had many good reviews and I got it as soon as I saw it in a Hong Kong book store.
Actually, even if you don’t intend to fully start learning Chinese, you could use it as a small introduction to the language (through its explanatory sections). China is becoming more and more important nowadays, and a little more understanding of their language could prove useful.
January 19th, 2007 at 7:54 pm UTC
This dictionary is excellent. I started learning Mandarin (mostly self taught) three years ago, I cherish this book. Lots of simple sentences and examples, rewrite them and commit them to memory. Its strength is that it confines you to a certain number of characters, otherwise the list would be endless. Add a few Tang poems once you are 100/200 characters in, then mysteriously the web of connection to another thousand may not be as impossible as when you first approached the language. Whoever or whatever team produced this dictionary have my gratitude and praise.