Japanese w/ Integrated Dictionary Support

cuavsfan · 05-22-2010, 05:05 PM

I've spent a lot of time searching through threads here (as well as around the internet) and haven't been able to find what I want, so I'm hoping somebody here can help.

The main reason I'm looking for an electronic reader is to make it easier on myself when reading Japanese (in which I am not fluent). When I read Japanese books now I spend a decent amount of time looking up words (in an electronic dictionary), and I'm hoping that I can find something that can all but eliminate that time and allow me to read faster / more. Assuming I find such a device being able to do a lot of my English reading on there would be a nice bonus, but that's not really my motivating factor.

Features I want:
1) Native support for Japanese text. (Not just pdfs w/ embedded fonts, but I'd like to be able to easily transfer ebook formats, plain text, etc.)
2) Built in dictionary support. I want to be able to click on a (Japanese) word and have a popup dictionary of some kind. Ideally I could set it so the dictionary would go either Japanese to English -OR- Japanese to Japanese, but at the minimum I'd need the J-->E option.

Does something like this exist? Cost isn't necessarily a big issue, though I plan on using this pretty much as a reader and don't really need extra things like internet, music, etc. that would bring it up. I think I'd prefer a dedicated reader, but if I could only get this functionality out of something like an iPad I'd probably end up going with that. I'd be perfectly willing to import something as long as I'd be able to use it to do what I want.

Thanks in advance!

godelsproof · 05-28-2010, 07:32 AM

in Japan We hack kindle2.
But now we are waiting 2.5update with unhacked kindle.
We convert dictionary format to kindle replacable.

cuavsfan · 05-29-2010, 12:22 AM

Thanks for your reply :-)

The other day I tried out a Kindle and I really like the way the (English) dictionary works. I've seen a link for using Eijiro on a Kindle (http://www.ytsuboi.org/wp/archives/1387), but I haven't seen anything for going FROM Japanese (国語辞典、または和英辞典). Do you know of a dictionary that can start from Japanese words for the Kindle? If there were a decent way to make that work I'd go ahead and buy one.
Ｋｉｎｄｌｅの国語辞典や和英辞典が知りませんか？それがあれば、たぶん買います。

For anybody else who's looking for something similar to what I'm looking for, I recently found an iPhone app that sort of does it. If you purchase SkyBooks ($2) and Daijin ($22) you can read Japanese ebooks with a semi-integrated dictionary. SkyBooks can download books from Aozora (the Japanese equivalent of Project Guttenburg), and you can copy your own files onto it. (I've only tried it with plain text, but that's worked great.) The reader is nice, and you can select a word and immediately search for it in Daijirin, then when you are done you hit return and it reloads SkyBooks and returns you to where you were. It takes a few extra seconds of loading, but it is still a way to look up words with only a couple of taps. It's only Japanese --> Japanese (no English), but if you don't need the English then Daijirin is a great dictionary. The (Japanese) websites for the two apps are below:
http://sb.aill.org/
http://www.monokakido.jp/iphone/daijirin.html

05-22-2010, 05:05 PM	#1
cuavsfan Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: none	Japanese w/ Integrated Dictionary Support I've spent a lot of time searching through threads here (as well as around the internet) and haven't been able to find what I want, so I'm hoping somebody here can help. The main reason I'm looking for an electronic reader is to make it easier on myself when reading Japanese (in which I am not fluent). When I read Japanese books now I spend a decent amount of time looking up words (in an electronic dictionary), and I'm hoping that I can find something that can all but eliminate that time and allow me to read faster / more. Assuming I find such a device being able to do a lot of my English reading on there would be a nice bonus, but that's not really my motivating factor. Features I want: 1) Native support for Japanese text. (Not just pdfs w/ embedded fonts, but I'd like to be able to easily transfer ebook formats, plain text, etc.) 2) Built in dictionary support. I want to be able to click on a (Japanese) word and have a popup dictionary of some kind. Ideally I could set it so the dictionary would go either Japanese to English -OR- Japanese to Japanese, but at the minimum I'd need the J-->E option. Does something like this exist? Cost isn't necessarily a big issue, though I plan on using this pretty much as a reader and don't really need extra things like internet, music, etc. that would bring it up. I think I'd prefer a dedicated reader, but if I could only get this functionality out of something like an iPad I'd probably end up going with that. I'd be perfectly willing to import something as long as I'd be able to use it to do what I want. Thanks in advance!

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05-28-2010, 07:32 AM	#2
godelsproof Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Location: JAPAN Device: kindle2 sonyerricson X10(android1.6)	in Japan We hack kindle2. But now we are waiting 2.5update with unhacked kindle. We convert dictionary format to kindle replacable.

05-29-2010, 12:22 AM	#3
cuavsfan Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: none	Thanks for your reply :-) The other day I tried out a Kindle and I really like the way the (English) dictionary works. I've seen a link for using Eijiro on a Kindle (http://www.ytsuboi.org/wp/archives/1387), but I haven't seen anything for going FROM Japanese (国語辞典、または和英辞典). Do you know of a dictionary that can start from Japanese words for the Kindle? If there were a decent way to make that work I'd go ahead and buy one. Ｋｉｎｄｌｅの国語辞典や和英辞典が知りませんか？それがあれば、たぶん買います。 For anybody else who's looking for something similar to what I'm looking for, I recently found an iPhone app that sort of does it. If you purchase SkyBooks ($2) and Daijin ($22) you can read Japanese ebooks with a semi-integrated dictionary. SkyBooks can download books from Aozora (the Japanese equivalent of Project Guttenburg), and you can copy your own files onto it. (I've only tried it with plain text, but that's worked great.) The reader is nice, and you can select a word and immediately search for it in Daijirin, then when you are done you hit return and it reloads SkyBooks and returns you to where you were. It takes a few extra seconds of loading, but it is still a way to look up words with only a couple of taps. It's only Japanese --> Japanese (no English), but if you don't need the English then Daijirin is a great dictionary. The (Japanese) websites for the two apps are below: http://sb.aill.org/ http://www.monokakido.jp/iphone/daijirin.html

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