This paper was published in "The Language Teacher" (Japanese Association for Language Teaching) Volume 25, Number 9, September, 2001.
Mary Sisk Noguchi
Associate Professor, Meijo University
漢英字典は新たな漢字や語彙の習得において極めて包括的な有用性を持ち、JSL学習者が日本語能力を身に付ける上で不可欠なものである。漢字を学ぶ者も教える者も漢英字典などみな同じであろうと思うかもしれないが、実はそれらの間には根本的な違いがある。漢和辞典は検索法として一般的に部首検索法を用いるが、漢英字典は独自の検索方法を持ち、それはJSL学習者にとって部首検索法より使いやすいものとなっている。そして、この漢英字典独自の検索法は字典によって異なる。さらに、全体的な目的や文字数、漢英字典によって違っている。本論文は現在出版物として出回っている、四種類の漢英字典について、様々な点での徹底的比較を行い、それぞれの字典が漢字学習上の個々の必要性にどの様に対応しているかを詳細に検討する。
For Japanese As a Second Language (JSL) learners, a Japanese-English character dictionary is much more than a reference tool: It is also the most comprehensive self-instructional tool available for learning new kanji and vocabulary. JSL learners in the 1960's, 70's and 80's relied on the "grandfather" of modern Japanese-English character dictionaries, Andrew Nelson's The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary, (1962). Owing to the appearance during the 1990's of three new Japanese-English character dictionaries, however, JSL learners today can tailor their choice of a dictionary to their own particular learning needs. The three new dictionaries are: Jack Halpern's New Japanese-English Character Dictionary, (1990), Mark Spahn and Wolfgang Hadamitzky's, The Kanji Dictionary,(1996), and John Haig's, The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary, (1997).
JSL learners can save themselves both time and money by being well-informed
when choosing among these four dictionaries. Not only are they relatively
expensive, but a considerable investment of the user's time is also required
in order to become proficient at using the unique indexing system of each.
At first glance, the four-- all thick, heavy tomes-- may appear similar,
but in fact they differ in a number of important aspects. The purpose of
this paper is to detail differences in the following features of Japanese-English
character dictionaries: indexing system, treatment of compound words (jukugo), number of entries, as well as a variety of other minor features. All
of these differences are summarized in a chart for easy reference at the end of the paper.
What is a "Japanese-English Character Dictionary"?
The four dictionaries to be examined in this paper are the only Japanese-English
character dictionaries currently in print which provide:(1) exhaustive
lists of compound words, and (2) kanji entries extending well beyond the
1,945 general-use characters. Other portable kanji learning materials which
use the words "dictionary," "handbook," or "guide"
in their titles include: Sakade's A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese (1959), Hadamitzky and Spahn's Kanji and Kana, a Handbook and Dictionary of the Japanese Writing System(1981), and Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide(1991). Books like these are used as kanji reference tools by many JSL learners, particularly at the beginning level, but their entries are generally confined to the general-use characters, their common pronunciations, and a few example compound words for each character.
Four Unique Indexing Systems
The indexing system of a character dictionary is of critical importance because, assuming the pronunciation of the character is unknown, it determines the speed at which desired characters and compound words can be located. Each of the four Japanese-English character dictionary designers, in seeking to create a user-friendly dictionary for foreigners, has devised his own alternative to the traditional radical indexing system used to organize character dictionaries designed for native speakers of Japanese. In Japanese, radicals are called 部首 (bushu, "section heads").
These radicals were introduced in 100 A.D. in a 42-volume Chinese dictionary, called the 説文解字 (setsumonkaiji), that listed 42,000 characters. In 1713, a character dictionary called the 康煕字典 (koukijiten) was published in China, in which the number of radicals was reduced to 214. These 214 radicals and approximately 150 variants (
and 
are variants of 人, for example) are still in use today, nearly 300 years later, for the purpose of organizing characters in dictionaries.
The "correct" organization of a character dictionary has always
been a subject of debate among Japanese kanji scholars. Even native-speaking
Japanese may have difficulty locating their desired kanji in a Japanese
character dictionary (kanwajiten) on the first try. The difficulty lies in the fact that most kanji contain from two to eight radicals and the dictionary user does not know under which of these radicals the character will be listed. For example, the character 副 (fuku, secondary) is composed of the following four elements, all of which are radicals: 一 , 口 , 田, and 
. Most Japanese character dictionaries consider the radical to be the part of the character which is most closely associated with its meaning, putting the user in the paradoxical predicament of having to know the meaning of a character in order to look up its meaning in the dictionary.
(i) Nelson
Andrew Nelson's trailblazing work, The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary, first appeared in 1962. It replaced Rose-Innes' Dictionary of Chinese-Japanese
Characters, which had first been published nearly fifty years earlier,
at the turn of the century, as the most widely used character dictionary
for foreigners. Nelson managed to compile the most comprehensive list of
characters and compound words available to non-Japanese at the time: approximately
5,500 characters and 70,000 compounds. The compilation of the Nelson dictionary,
produced before the age of computer lexicography, was a notable achievement,
and it received numerous awards and accolades.
In designing his indexing system, Nelson retained use of the traditional
214 radicals and their 150 variants, but he created arbitrary rules, called
the "Radical Priority System," for determining under which radical
a character would be listed, thus eliminating the time-consuming trial
and error process of guessing. To determine the radical for the desired
character, Nelson users progress through his 12 Steps and stop at the first
question which can be answered affirmatively: ("Step 1: 'Is the character
I am looking for itself a radical?' Yes? Then that is the radical it is
listed under. No? Then move on to Step 2: 'Does it have a completely exterior
enclosure radical?' Yes? Then that is the radical it is listed under. No?
Then move on to Step 3: 'Is there a clearly defined left radical?'"
and so on). After identifying the radical under which it is listed, Nelson
users then count the number of strokes in the rest of the character (the
"residual stroke count") in order to find the character in the
body of the dictionary.
(ii) Haig
Nelson's dictionary was well over a quarter of a century old before John Haig updated it in 1997. In compiling The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary, Haig revised the entries to make the definitions more up-to-date, and added a number of new compound words. As opposed to the 5,500 of the original Nelson's, the new version contains over 7,000 main-entry characters. Any character which can be generated by JIS levels 1 and 2 on a word processor can be found in the Haig dictionary. Haig, like Nelson, based his indexing system on the traditional radicals. He added three "radical-like" elements, (マ, ク, and 
) to the traditional 214, for a total of 217. Haig abandoned Nelson's Radical Priority System and replaced it with the Universal Radical Index (URI), which cross-indexes each character entry by every radical in it. This allows for efficient look-up based upon any known radical within the desired character. Each character is thus referenced one-eight times in the URI (depending on how many radicals it contains) to the place it occurs in the dictionary. The URI alone comprises over 2,000 pages, substantially increasing the bulk of the original Nelson's.
(iii) Spahn and Hadamitzky
Mark Spahn and Wolfgang Hadamitzky's The Kanji Dictionary appeared in 1997. Like Haig's dictionary, it includes over 7,000 kanji, but contains a smaller number of compounds (48,000, as opposed to Haig's 70,000). The Kanji Dictionary has a unique look-up feature: every kanji compound is listed under the entries for all of its component characters instead of only its first. For example, 誕生日 (tanjoobi, birthday) can be found under the entries for 誕, 生, and 日 in Spahn and Hadamitzky, but only under its first character, 誕, in Nelson and Haig. Thus, knowing any character in the compound allows the user to locate it quickly in Spahn/Hadamitzky. The second innovative feature of Spahn and Hadamitzky's look-up system is that it utilizes a streamlined 79 radicals, as opposed to the traditional 214 retained by both Haig and Nelson. Spahn and Hadamitzky have eliminated, for example, all radicals with only one stroke, and have reduced the number of radicals with 9-15 strokes from the traditional 39 to only 6. In reducing the number of radicals, these lexicographers have also compiled a group of approximately 275 characters which they consider to have no radical at all. Like the original Nelson's, The Kanji Dictionary uses a set of arbitrary rules for determining the radical-- a concise seven rules, as opposed to Nelson's twelve.
(iv) Halpern
As detailed above, Nelson, Haig and Spahn/Hadamitzky have each modified, in three unique ways, the traditional indexing system found in Japanese character dictionaries. Jack Halpern, in his New Japanese-English Character Dictionary (1990) takes a more revolutionary approach: he uses a look-up system totally unrelated to knowledge of radicals. Halpern's scheme, called the "System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns" (SKIP), is based instead upon the direct identification of geometrical patterns of characters. Each of the approximately 3,500 characters compiled in his New Japanese-English Character Dictionary is classified under one of four patterns, as detailed here:
SKIP Pattern Examples
left-right 相、代、情
up-down 示、二、響
enclosure 進、可、問
solid 自、子、重
Halpern explains his reasons for choosing these four patterns: they are
in harmony with the way the characters are intuitively perceived; they
often coincide with etymologically meaningful parts; and the distribution
of characters among the four patterns, in terms of occurrences in newspapers,
is fairly uniform (1990, p.111a). His system eliminates the need for knowledge
of traditional radicals, but SKIP users must still be able to count the
number of strokes in the desired character. For kanji dictionary users
who are not interested in learning SKIP, Halpern also provides a Radical
Index. Like Nelson, Haig, and Spahn/Hadamitzky, Halpern includes a pronunciation
index. This lists the characters alphabetically, by both their on and kun
pronunciations, alongside the page number where they may be found in the
body of the dictionary. Utilizing these pronunciation indexes, dictionary
users who happen to know any pronunciation of the desired character can
avoid entirely the task of looking it up based upon its radical or shape.
Halpern's Listing of Compounds: Focus on Meaning
The principal function of the Nelson, Haig, and Spahn/Hadamitzky dictionaries
is to enable the user to look up unknown characters and compounds as quickly
and efficiently as possible. To expedite the search for a compound, both
Nelson and Haig systematically list compounds in the following manner:
compounds beginning with the entry character are listed based on the number
of strokes in the second character, in ascending numerical order. Using
the same ordering system, the Spahn/Hadamitzky dictionary first lists all
compounds beginning with the entry character, and then goes on, in separate
lists, to provide compounds that contain the character in secondary and
tertiary positions.
While Halpern's dictionary also functions as an effective look-up tool,
its primary aim is to address the intricate meanings of characters. For
this reason, instead of simply listing compounds in the most systematic
order, Halpern illustrates each of the various meanings (and shades of
meaning) of the character entry with compounds that provide maximally useful
examples of that particular meaning. Halpern's scheme for arranging compounds
allows JSL learners to grasp how each sense of the character, often subtle
in difference but dramatic in importance, serves as a unique building block
for producing compounds. Each of the kanji used in written Japanese can
have several distinct meanings, as well as a variety of shades of meaning;
Halpern provides an in-depth exploration of the interrelationships between
these meanings. Here, for example, is a sampling of the compounds he selects
to illustrate each meaning of the character 野 (YA, no "field"):
(1) uncultivated field, open country, wilderness
野外 (yagai,field),平野 (heiya, plains), 野菜 (yasai, vegetables)
(2) sphere of action
分野 (bunya, field/sphere), 視野 (shiya, field of vision)
(3) baseball field
野球 (yakyuu, baseball), 内野 (naiya, infield)
(4) wild, undomesticated, savage, vulgar (growing or occurring in the field)
野生 (yasei, wild nature), 野蛮 (yaban, savage/uncouthness)
(5) non-governmental, outside the government
野党 (yatoo, opposition)
(6) audacious, inordinate
野望 (yaboo, ambition/treason)
Following the compound listings in each character entry, Halpern provides
various examples of how the character can function independently. Beyond
a simple listing of the character's kun readings, the other three dictionaries
deal only with compounds. Two additional features in Halpern help JSL learners
confront the myriad meanings of characters. First, Halpern provides one
core meaning (or two, in cases where a character has two widely divergent
meanings) for each character entry. This core meaning can be useful as
a learning tool because it conveys the essence of the character in one
concise thought and is easy to memorize. Halpern's core meaning for the
character 野, for example, is "field."
Second, this dictionary provides a list of synonyms (characters which have
the same or nearly the same meaning) for each of the individual meanings
of each character. For example, the following are synonym lists provided
for two of the meanings of 野, "range," and "vulgar/unrefined":
range
界 field
場 field
圏sphere
域 area
範 range
程 extent
vulgar/unrefined
粗 coarse
里 rural
俗 vulgar
蛮 barbaric
卑 mean
An appendix at the back of the dictionary gathers together all the synonym
groups appearing in individual entries. By browsing through this synonym
appendix, which serves as a simple thesaurus, JSL learners can gain insight
into the semantic relations between characters.
Selecting the Character Dictionary Most Appropriate for Your Learning Needs
To summarize, in terms of scope, the number of characters and compound
words presented in Halpern is the lowest of the four dictionaries. (See
chart for detailed comparisons). According to Halpern, his compounds were
selected on the basis of their ability to illustrate the entry character's
meaning as well as on frequency statistics, and in principle, all high-frequency
compounds in contemporary usage have been included. (1990, 40a). Kanji
learners who are reading everyday, non-technical material may find that
the value of Halpern as a tool for learning the meaning of characters makes
up for its relatively limited number of compound word listings. On the
other hand, translators, or anyone who is reading technical or otherwise
high-level material, may at times be unable to find the character or compound
they are looking for in Halpern, (or in Spahn/Hadamitzky). The exhaustive
range of entries in both Nelson and Haig virtually guarantees that their
users will find the desired compound without having to consult another
reference.
With regard to indexing systems, the 214 radical system can be especially
frustrating for beginning learners with no knowledge of kanji etymology.
Nonetheless, as one becomes increasingly familiar with it, the radical
system provides great insight into how the meanings of characters are intimately
associated with their construction. Relatively advanced kanji learners
who can easily recognize parts of characters as being radicals may find
Haig's Universal Radical Index, which allows character look-up based on
any known radical, easier to use than the Radical Priority System of the
original Nelson's. Dictionary users who, while recognizing the value of
learning radicals, prefer a streamlined (79 radicals) version of the traditional
214 radicals system, or who appreciate being able to look up an unknown
compound based upon knowledge of any of its characters, may find Spahn/
Hadamitzky best-suited to their needs. Those who have no particular interest
in learning radicals have a savior in Halpern's SKIP indexing system, which
is based instead upon geometrical patterns.
A number of JSL kanji learners today supplement their printed Japanese-English
character dictionaries with portable electronic ones. One of the dictionaries
discussed above, Halpern, is already available in electronic book form.
Free character dictionaries are also accessible on the Internet. These
modern resources, as well as the advanced computer lexicography which made
the three new printed dictionaries possible, are all good news for today's
JSL kanji learners. As they select the reference tools which will best
serve their own particular kanji learning needs, they have more choices
than ever before.
View a chart detailing differences in the four dictionaries.
Back to the Kanji Clinic homepage
References
Hadamitzky, W. and Spahn, M. (1981). Kanji and kana: a handbook and dictionary of the
Japanese writing system. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
Haig, J.H. (1997). The new Nelson Japanese-English character dictionary. Singapore: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
Halpern, J. (1990). New Japanese-English character dictionary. Tokyo: Kenkyusha.
Nelson, A.N. (1962). The modern reader's Japanese-English character dictionary. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
Rose-Innes, A. (1959). Dictionary of Chinese-Japanese characters, 4th edition. Tokyo: Meiseisha.
Sakade, F. (1959). A guide to reading and writing Japanese. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
Spahn, M. and Hadamitzky, W. (1996). The kanji dictionary. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
----------- (1991). Kodansha's compact kanji guide. Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd.