Japanese belongs to the Japonic family, with more than 120 million native speakers (according to CIA 2004). It is the official language of Japan, and Palau. Japanese has three writing methods, which are Chinese characters (kanji), Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji and Hiragana are used for Japan and China-originated words, whereas Katakana is for vocabularies that are borrowed from other countries like English, French, German, and so on.

 

     There are 2 major dialects (-ben) in Japanese, which are Tokyo style (the standard form of spoken Japanese), and Keihan style. There are some differences between these two dialects in terms of vocabularies and grammar used for the same meaning.

 

Reference: Wikipedia. Retrieved from August 8, 2006 from www.wikipedia.org.

 

There are six dictionary themes in this page, including

1.  Bilingual dictionary
     These dictionaries provide conversion between Dutch, and English and Japanese. Translation of words and sometimes definition in both languages are provided.

2.  Japanese pronunciation dictionary
     These dictionaries help users to pronounce Kanji words from Hiragana and sometimes Katakana.

3.  Multi-purposes dictionary
     These dictionaries usually link with other famous dictionaries providing monolingual and bilingual definitions, pronunciations, usage example, and so on. It is very handy for Japanese language learners to consult words and phrases in these dictionaries.

4.  Proverb dictionary
     These dictionaries offer the same or similar proverbs in Japanese, English and Korean.

5.  Idiom dictionary
     Idioms that are invented in Japan and copied from China are available in these dictionaries. All idioms are formed in 4 Kanji letters.

6.  Subject dictionary
     Includes medical and political terms used in Japan. Some terms are used in Chinese and the Korean language too.

 

Bilingual Dictionary

 

Name:	Babylon translation@ a click
Link:	http://www.babylon.com/define/110/Online-English-Japanese-Dictionary.html
Description:	These Japanese to English and English to Japanese dictionaries are an exciting searchable database of over 3 million words includes recognition of all possible inflections and derivatives, regardless of what form they are in or what auxiliary word is attached to them. In addition, the Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana forms of writing are all recognized and displayed.

 

 

 

Name:	Deutsch-Japanisches Worterbuch
Link:	http://www5.mediagalaxy.co.jp/sanshushadj/
Description:	Search for the Japanese definitions of German words. List of related words and usage examples are also given.

 

 

 

Name:	Japanese to English, English to Japanese online dictionary
Link:	http://dictionary.pspinc.com/indexj.htm
Description:	A bidirectional dictionary that can find both Japanese and English terms with explanations.

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Japanese Pronunciation Dictionary

Name:	Japanese pronunciation dictionary
Link:	http://www2.tokai.or.jp/hiramatu/onyak/onyindx.htm
Description:	Provides different links to websites providing Kanji Japanese with pronunciation.

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Multi-purposes Dictionary

Name:	DION online dictionary
Link:	http://dion.excite.co.jp/dictionary/japanese/
Description:	A concise tri-directional dictionary powered by Kenkyusha's new college English-Japanese dictionary, 6th ed., Kenkyusha's new college Japanese-English dictionary, 4th ed., and 大辞林. English-Japanese, Japanese-English, and Kanji are searchable with pronunciation, definition, and usage examples.

 

 

Name:	Goo dictionary
Link:	http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/
Description:	A multi-purpose dictionary provided by Sanseido. It includes an English-Japanese dictionary, Japanese-English dictionary, Japanese dictionary, as well as Japanese daily-use dictionary. Words can be linked to Wikipedia, IT-related websites, and search result websites.

 

 

Name:	Infoseek dictionary
Link:	http://dictionary.www.infoseek.co.jp/
Description:	A multi-purpose dictionary provided by Sanseido, which provides English-Japanese dictionary, Japanese-English dictionary, Japanese dictionary, Katakana dictionary (Japanese character system for foreign vocabularies), as well as Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japan). See also “Translation” for English, Korean, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese translation.

 

 

Name:	Sanseido web dictionary
Link:	http://www.sanseido.net/
Description:	A concise 3-in-one dictionary with English-Japanese, Japanese-English, and Japanese dictionaries. English and Japanese pronunciation, definition, and usage examples. Login required for other dictionaries like subject and idiom dictionaries.

 

 

Name:	Space ALC English-Japanese dictionaries
Link:	http://dion.excite.co.jp/dictionary/japanese/
Description:	Collection of various dictionaries: English-Japanese articles, English-Japanese business terms, English prefix and suffix finder, daily used Japanese terms, and idioms.

 

 

Name:	Yahoo Japan dictionary
Link:	http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/
Description:	A multi-purpose dictionary covers 854,000 entries with English-Japanese dictionary, Japanese-English dictionary, Japanese synonym dictionary, as well as Kanji dictionary. Definition, pronunciation, usage examples, and acronyms can be found in each entry.

              

 

      

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Proverb Dictionary

Name:	English-Japanese proverb dictionary
Link:	http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7288/kotowaza.htm
Description:	Provides English proverbs with Japanese translations, and similar Japanese proverbs. Categorized by English alphabetical order.

 

 

Name:	Japanese-English proverb dictionary, by languagerealm.com
Link:	http://www.languagerealm.com/japanese/japaneseidioms.php
Description:	Provides Japanese proverbs with English explanations. Arranged in Japanese alphabetical order. Japanese and French idioms, slang, technical terms, as well as names of universities, associations, and journals can also be found in the same website.

 

 

Name:	Japanese-Korean proverb dictionary
Link:	http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~keongook/kotowazajiten.htm
Description:	Provides Japanese and Korean proverbs that bear the same or similar meaning. Japanese definitions are also given for those entries that have similar meaning in Japanese and Korean.

      

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Idiom Dictionary

Name:	4-letters idiom dictionary
Link:	http://yoji-go.jp/juku.html
Description:	Offers Japanese idiom expressions with Japanese explanations. All idioms are formed in 4 Kanji (Chinese character) letters.

  

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Subject Dictionary

Name:	Medical dictionary
Link:	http://mmh.banyu.co.jp/mmhe2j/index.html
Description:	Covers major illnesses with definition, symptoms, treatment and related information. It is searchable by subjects browsing, Hiragana browsing, and keyword searching. Japanese language only.

 

 

Name:	Pol-Words net
Link:	http://pol.cside4.jp/
Description:	Political terms used in China, North and South Korea, as well as Japan are searchable by keywords, or by subject. Definition of the term, related websites and books are provided in each entry.

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