A few more days from now I will be posting a topic on Countdown to BLCU since my travel to Beijing is getting really really close. For now though, I will be talking about my recent purchase, the Comet Chinese to English Talking Dictionary model 602.
Basically, ALL my friends who have been to BLCU, did not finish a semester without acquiring for themselves a Translator dictionary. For those of you haven't thought of buying one yet, then I am telling you that you are going to need it, especially when you know less than a hundred Chinese words. You'll never know when an emergency arises and you have to relay a very important message.
There are 2 types of translator dictionary. The first one, which you might be more familiar with, is the traditional dictionary where you scan its pages and search for the word you are looking for. The best part of choosing this dictionary is it's convenience and availability. You can simply buy this at any bookstore or department stores or you may even bought one years ago without you noticing. They are also sold at a much cheaper price. These dictionaries are widespread and they also come in handy since they don't need batteries or electric supply.
The second type of translator dictionary is the Electronic Dictionary. This is the one I decided to have for myself since I am quite a techie person, I love gadgets and I would rather search for words by typing than find myself manually searching for pages in a traditional dictionary. The only hassle is on acquiring the item itself. Unless you live in China or Hongkong or Taiwan, you may try looking at all the bookstores around you and you still won't find an Electronic English to Chinese Translator Dictionary. Also, if you don't like to buy batteries once in a while when it depletes and would like to save on your electric bill, then you shouldn't get one.
After a pretty long wait, I finally have my Comet English to Chinese Electronic Dictionary. I bought it from a really cool Ebay seller named Zhidong zhou. If he permits, I would want to feature his ebay account on this blog. You may also comment if you want to learn more about this item.
So this dictionary, for it's tiny size, is jam-packed with lots of fun and amazing features. It has the New Oxford American Dictionary, English-Chinese Dictionary, Chinese to English Dictionary, Chinese Idiom Dictionary, Specialized Dictionary, Ancient Chinese Dictionary, Practical English for Sports Games, Sports Dictionary and a Chinese Speaking bible. Plus, it has study, memo, calendar, calculator, games and even an alarm clock! To top it all off, this dictionary is a TALKING dictionary. So while you're reading the words in pinyin, you just press the yellow button to hear how the word is correctly pronounced. It also comes with a set of earphones, but don't expect them to be really high quality. The earphone I received was only in mono. You can replace this with your own earphones instead and it will work just fine. So for all it's useful features and very minor flaws how much would you price this item?
Made a guess? I bought this dictionary for only $43.95 (without box) inclusive of worldwide shipping, so for me, it was all worth it. If you want it to come with a box, then you just need to add $10. I had it shipped without the box to save on a few dollars. Anyway, the sender protects the item by using a bubble wrap so your item doesn't get damaged during the shipping process. I sent my payment through paypal. The courier is Worldwide EMS or Worldwide Express Mail Service which sends packages throughout the world. You can track the items online through their main website.
It's actually just my Fourth hour of owning this electronic dictionary so I haven't explored all the features yet. Even so, I find it very user friendly, as long as you read the manual (it's written in English). It's also very light and handy. But you're gonna need 2 triple a batteries for it to work.
To sum it all up, both types of dictionaries are useful for travelling or studying in China. The option whether to go for a traditional or electronic translator dictionary will always depend on you, how you learn and how you choose to learn.
P.S. I was not paid or asked to endorse the item but since I liked it a lot, I decided to post it here. If you own a dictionary like this or you want to recommend another type of electronic dictionary please do so by commenting below. You could be of great help to someone who's going for a trip to China. Your comments and feedback are highly appreciated!
