The Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Japanese

This just arrived and I am sooo happy! Dont pay too much attention to reviewers here who claim this isnt useful for English speakers learning Japanese. I'm a rank beginner --- studied for 2 months so far and know only 175 kanji and very basic sentence structures --- yet I find this extremely useful. The kanji is easy to read and the illustrations are attractive. You could easily spend hours poring over this without getting bored. I can see myself referring to this handy dictionary for many years to come. Recommend this to all Nihongo students. It's worth far more than $16 IMHO. Do yourself a favor and buy this NOW!!!

I bought this book thinking it would b user friendly for English speakers learning Japanese, but it looks to be intended for Japanese learning English. Unless you have a good working knowledge of written Japanese, especially kanji, this may not be the book for you. I rated it at 4 stars because it is a very good book for it's intended auience.

I purchased this book since I have a fairly decent comprehension of basic Japanese but needed to expand my vocabulary. If you are learning Japanese you need to know that the book is designed for English learners. This means that the Japanese word is given in Kanji without the furigana readings. Basically, you are expected to be able to read Japanese. This book is, however, a great learning tool, in spite of this. The pictures are clear, and the phrases/words are very relevant and split up into sections. For example: Under "job safety" there are things like ear muffs, hard hats, etc. Under "plants" there are things like magnolia, birchwood, etc. overall, this book is great for the learner of Japanese so long as you have a kanji dictionary handy and have a decent grasp of basic written Japanese.

A must have for all those teachers who are teaching basic vocabulary words at any level.

This book has over 800 pages full of of pictures. Some of the words in here I don't even know in English. But if you want to know the Japanese words for the human anatomy, electrician's tools, musical instruments, etc., it's in this book. The book conveniently groups words together into sensible categories like plants, mammals, supermarkets, and airports. It has an index in the back in both English and Japanese for quick reference. The only drawback to this dictionary is that it doesn't Romanize the pronounciation of Japanese words, so for a Westerner unfamiliar with the Japanese alphabet, reading these words is very difficult, if not impossible. However, I highly recommend this book to anyone who comes to visit Japan. This is the easiest, most comprehensive dictionary I've seen to date.