Far East 3000 Chinese Character Dictionary (Chinese Edition)
THE best character dictionary that I kept within an arm’s reach at all times. Organized in alphabetical order with pinyin, this is an excellent tool if you want to write TRADITIONAL Chinese characters. A stroke by stroke tutorial is given for each character, as well as the character’s most frequent combinations with other words. If you are using the Taiwan romanization system (bopomofo), you can find characters using this method in addition to pinyin. This is a must have for writing traditional characters.
Far East Chinese-English Dictionary
For the more advanced learner, this Chinese-English (no English-Chinese) dictionary is fantastic. Words can be found through pinyin, bopomofo, radicals, stroke count, etc., and the definitions are clear and concise. This dictionary uses TRADITIONAL Chinese characters, and some character recognition and/or cross-referencing is required.
Far East English-Chinese Pinyin Dictionary
A nice, portable English-pinyin and traditional character dictionary that has clear definitions and is well-organized. Since it contains only English to Chinese, it may be best used with its counterpart, the Far East Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary.
Far East Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary
A nice, portable pinyin and traditional character dictionary that has clear definitions and is well-organized. Since it contains only Chinese to English, it may be best used with its counterpart, the Far East Pinyin English-Chinese Dictionary.
NEW BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Oxford Beginner’s Chinese Dictionary
This is the dictionary I started with many years ago. It contains Chinese-English and English-Chinese, as well as a list of the most important measure words and the basic rules for writing Chinese characters.
Pocket Mandarin Chinese Dictionary
You can’t find a better price for a basic Chinese-English, English-Chinese dictionary. It’s very thin and contains clear definitions of most of the basic words a beginner learning Mandarin will need.
Mandarin Chinese-English Bilingual Visual Dictionary (Visual Dictionaries)
This is a nice picture dictionary to increase vocabulary. It is organized by theme and not too expensive.
Do you have a recommendation for a book that you use? Please e-mail any book recommendations to mike@chinesewithmike.com for my review, and I may add them to the list. Thanks!
