Denshi Jisho is a free online Japanese dictionary run by Kim Ahlström of MyGengo and iKnow. Underneath it all, Denshi Jisho uses the same database as Jim Breen’s tried-and-true online Japanese dictionary (WWWJDIC). But on the surface is a dictionary that’s better in a lot of ways than Jim Breen’s dictionary. Denshi Jisho not only looks great, but has cool features like a dictionary that uses radicals to look up kanji.
Pros
- Free!
- Mobile interfaces for on-the-go studying.
- Lots of different ways to look things up.
- Look up words via radicals.
- Uses Jim Breens JMdict data.
- Allows you to look up “common” words rather than “all” words.
Cons
- Too awesome to handle.
- Like all dictionaries, it helps if you’ve studied Japanese little before using it.
- Example sentences aren’t always 100% correct (not jisho’s fault, necessarily, but incorrect sentences are out there).
Final Word?
If you studying Japanese, you should use Denshi Jisho. It’s a great tool, it’s free, and it’s very well designed. It’s also probably one of the best (overall) Japanese dictionaries on the web.
I have to give big props to Kim Ahlström for putting together such a fantastic site in his spare time, free of charge. So what are you waiting for? Go check out Denshi Jisho!
Pictures
Denshi Jisho’s very cool kanji by radical lookup feature.
The iOS interface.