Returning to Denshi Jisho: The Ongoing Benefits of Electronic Dictionaries

In 2021, I wrote a short piece for the Digital Orientalist entitled “Denshi Jisho: Are they still worth your time?” Therein I asked whether electronic dictionaries (J. Denshi jisho 電子辞書) are still worth our time given the rise of smartphone technology and the increasing accessibility of the internet. I argued that they may be useful at times when and in locations where we can’t use other devices or even as a way to streamline access to multiple dictionaries. When I wrote the piece I was still using an ‘severely outdated Casio Ex-Word Dataplus 3 XD-SW6400 (from 2007),’ but I recently purchased a new device  — the 2019 model of the Casio Ex-Word XD-SR9800 — and saw this as an opportunity to return to the topic.

The XD-SR9800 is a medium-budget device (priced at 28,499 JPY at the time of writing) and is advertised primarily for those interested in studying English though this is hardly representative of its wide range of features. Although the device includes numerous resources for TOEIC and TOEFL tests, English textbooks, English learning regimens and activities, exam preparation etc., here I will explore the features that I have found particularly useful as someone engaged in Japanese studies. I assume that many of the features are shared by other contemporary electronic dictionaries and therefore don’t mean for this piece to be considered as a review of a single device, but of modern electronic dictionaries more generally.

Unlike older electronic dictionaries the XD-SR9800 allows users to customize their home screen by making different contents instantly accessible via a single touch of the screen. This does not limit the users’ capabilities to use the entirety of the device’s resources, but it does allows users to select the contents that they think they may use most regularly. The home screen also includes a search bar allowing users to search all of the device’s dictionary contents by keyword searches in Japanese (including through handwritten input) or the Latin alphabet, or through example sentence and idiom searches.

The device and its home screen.

I designed my home screen in a specific way tailored towards my own needs. I tend to use electronic dictionaries primarily when I am working on historical transcriptions, and although I may also use them to look up the meaning of words in other situations in most of these cases a simple keyword search will usually suffice. I have included shortcuts to all of the device’s contents, and its Japanese-language contents in order to facilitate navigation to contents that are not included amongst my shortcuts. I also chose to include the Nihon bungaku 2000 sakuhin 日本文学2000作品 from Aozora bunko 青空文庫. This is a collection of 2000 classical literary works that can be read on the device and although it isn’t useful to my research it provides a means to fill time on long journeys.

I included six individual dictionaries on my home screen. The first two of these are directly related to the task of transcribing historical documents. The first is Taishūkan’s 大修館 Zenyaku kogo jiten 全訳古語辞典 which is useful for searching for pre-modern Japanese vocabulary. Entries on verbs include information on conjugation and conjugated forms, which means it is potentially useful for beginners or those who are a little rusty. Nevertheless, researchers may find the size of the dictionary (20,000 words) limited. Examples from literary forms such as sōrōbun 候文 are also highly limited. The Taishūkan’s 大修館 Kaigyōsō hitsujun jiten 楷行草 筆順字典 is another useful resource to have at one’s immediate disposal. It is a simple dictionary featuring 2,997 characters each written in non-cursive (kaisho 楷書), semi-cursive (gyōsho 行書), and cursive (sōsho 草書) styles. Each entry for a character contains one “typical” example from each of these styles alongside the number of strokes used to write it. The user can also click on the Kaisetsu hyōji 解説表示 (“Display Explanation”) button which will display information on the character form the Shinkangorin 新漢語林. This is a great resource if the user has some idea about what the character may be and doesn’t have time to return to a physical or online dictionary. The handwritten input search function (this is separate from the handwritten input function used throughout the device and is located below the search bar) works well. It provides multiple options based on the user’s input and I have found that these options often include the correct answer. The main limitation is the small number of example forms for each character. Indeed, if one is completely lost, it may be better to use a resource with more examples.

An entry in the Kaigyōsō hitsujun jiten.

The next contents accessible on my home screen are dictionaries and encyclopaedias that I find helpful. These are the Daijisen 大辞泉, the Nihonshi shojiten 日本史小辞典, and the Nippon daihyakka zensho 日本大百科全書. I may use these for extra searches if I want to learn more about something in a text I am reading. It is one thing transcribing a word and being able to translate it into modern Japanese, but there may be need for additional preliminary research into the wider meaning, context, and history of a term or the thing it is describing. The Nihonshi shōjiten and Nippon daihyakka zensho are particularly useful for this. Nevertheless, I often find that I bypass these shortcuts by conducting wider searches using the home screen’s main search function. I also include the Oxford Dictionary of English on my home screen for help during writing.

Though I have yet to use them the XD-SR9800 has some other useful features. It is powered with two AAA batteries with 130 hour battery life during use. There is also scope to download additional contents or to read .txt files (up to 200 can be stored) on the device’s text viewer this might include additional texts from Aozora bunko. The device can be connected to a computer or projector via USB, and also includes note taking software, a calendar, and a calculator.

Of course, there may be dictionaries better suited to your individual needs than the XD-SR9800, but one thing has become clear to me after using this device for several months: electronic dictionaries are still worth our time. In fact, as a portable, pocket-sized bookshelf featuring numerous dictionaries and encyclopaedias that can even be accessed offline, they continue to constitute a potentially highly useful resource for students and researchers (particularly during periods of travel or when visiting the archives). For those who have abandoned electronic dictionaries for their phones, I really recommend looking at what is on the market, like me you may be surprised at what you can find.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge my current KAKENHI grant (Grant Number: 23K12032) which made the purchase of the device explored in this article possible.