The Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary [Paperback]

I have three Chinese Dictionaries and this Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary is by far my favourite. All the students in my Chinese class, after seeing this dictionary, have bought it too. Why do we love it so much? Because it's fast--easy to read--and very easy to use. All the words are in a bold blue colour. This makes the words stand out and easy to spot and significantly speeds up searching for words. (This dictionary seems very similar to Oxford's Beginner Chinese Dictionary, which has a "Search Inside" link so you can view what the pages look like). In the Chinese section each word is listed in Pinyin (the phonetic Roman alphabet letters of pronunciation for the Chinese) along with the Chinese Characters in the Simplified form. ("Traditional" Chinese characters refer to the older version of script. This old script has been updated-- Simplified--to use less strokes to form the character and is therfore easier to read and write. There are also Traditional Chinese dictionaries available but if learning modern Chinese, you should probably focus on the Simplified script).

In the front half of the dictionary the words are listed in Chinese with English translations and the back half has the English words with the Chinese/English translations.

You can teach yourself a little from the book too because it has sections at the front that explain about the Pinyin and how to make tonal changes when pronouncing the words. Also at the front is a list of the Radical strokes and an Index of the Characters.

All the words are listed showing their grammatical terms, and most words are also used in sentences so you have examples you can take right from the book.

The middle of the book lists Basic Measure Words which are used in sentences to indicate the number of times an action or state occurs. Example sentences are provided as well.

Whole pages of references and information are provided about Length and Weight Measurements, Quantities, Time and the use of the Preposition To.

The book is just right in size too, measuring 5" x 7.5" so it fits nicely in the old knapsack or zipper pocket of a large binder.

Wishing you many red envelopes (good luck) with your Chinese!

I'm very satisfied - I can find every word I need a definition for. The typographic style (colors, bold, etc.)is a pleasure to use. I recommend highly.

A very good English/Mandarin Chinese dictionary. I would give it five stars if it was more complete. The dictionary is missing a lot of words.

PROs
The best layout I have found for Mandarin/English dictionary
Clear Large Type (somewhere around 10 to 12 point font size)
Chinese Characters are easy to read

CONs
Very basic vocabulary, and is missing a number of important words