Author of dictionary	# of characters listed	# of compounds listed	Indexing system used	Other indexes provided	Compound look-up by:	Stroke order provided?	Handwritten characters provided?	Frequency of use of character	Other Features (see below)
Nelson	5446	70,000	Radical Priority System	on-kun	first character only	no	no	not noted	2,3
Haig	7107	70,000	Universal Radical System	on-kun	first character only	no	no	�gJoyo�h and �gGeneral Use�h noted	3,6,7
Spahn/ Hadamitzky	7062	48,000	79 Radical System	on-kun	any known character	no	no	not noted	1,2,3,7
Halpern-	3587	42,200	SKIP (by shape patterns)	on-kun   radical	any known character	yes, for every character	yes,two for every character	noted for 2135 characters	2,3,4,5,6,7

Summary of Features of Japanese-English Character Dictionaries

 

 

Other features:

1-     Compound listings include place names (prefectures, large cities, etc.).

2-     Characters frequently looked-up incorrectly are cross-referenced.

3-     Variant forms of characters are cross-referenced.        

4-     Standard Chinese form and reading are given for each character.

5-     Homophones and synonyms are listed for characters.

6-     Japanese Standard Index (JIS) numbers are provided for each character.

7-     Abridged version available.

 

                     

 

Abstract

 

For JSL learners who seek to attain literacy in the written Japanese language, a comprehensive Japanese-English character dictionary is an indispensable tool for mastering new kanji and vocabulary. There are currently four such dictionaries in print, and they differ in a number of important aspects. Each has a unique indexing system which seeks to be more user-friendly to JSL learners than the traditional radical-based indexing system used in Japanese character dictionaries. One of the four takes a unique approach to dealing with the meanings of characters. There are differences in the number of character and compound word entries provided in each dictionary, as well as in a variety of other features. This paper provides an in-depth comparison of the four dictionaries, and discusses how each is appropriate to different types of kanji learners.

 

 

 

Biographical Information

 

Mary Sisk Noguchi is an associate professor at Meijo University in Nagoya. She

researches innovative approaches to kanji pedagogy and has presented at JALT

conferences and chapter meetings on this topic. She writes a regular column for

the Japan Times, �gKanji Clinic.�h