(cross-posted to Chinese-Forums.com to get as many readers as possible)
We currently offer two Chinese-to-English dictionaries, the Oxford Concise and the ABC Comprehensive. Each of them has many strong points, but one thing they're both lacking in is detail; the ABC has lots of entries, but because it tries to cram 200,000 of them into a single volume it's short on example sentences and tends to use very abbreviated definitions. So you really don't get an in-depth description of what a particular word means.
So one more thing we're looking to add to our product line is a Chinese-English dictionary with longer / more detailed definitions. Ideally this would still have a good number of entries (80,000-100,000 or more) but would average maybe 2-3x as many words per definition as the ABC. The goal isn't really to replace the ABC (though we'd certainly consider raising it to an equal level, say offering a checkbox option in our online store where you can pick which of the two big C-E dictionaries you want with your Professional-bundle purchase) but rather to offer an alternative for people who prefer detail to brevity.
Any suggestions would be welcome, but a couple of titles in particular we're looking at:
* New Age Chinese-English Dictionary, Commercial Press: easily the hardest of these to license (just getting an e-mail response from CP can be an exercise in frustration), but it's big, detailed, and most online reviews of it seem to be extremely positive.
* A Chinese-English Dictionary, Second Edition, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press: hasn't been updated since 1995, but per FLTRP's website a new version appears to be in development, and it's still of the best-respected C-E dictionaries out there.
* New Century Chinese-English Dictionary, also by FLTRP: definitions seem to be even longer / more detailed than the other two, though I've heard a few complaints about missing words / accuracy. Very big and very recent, though, which are both definite pluses.
Thoughts / reviews on any of these? Any other detailed C-E titles people are fond of?
We currently offer two Chinese-to-English dictionaries, the Oxford Concise and the ABC Comprehensive. Each of them has many strong points, but one thing they're both lacking in is detail; the ABC has lots of entries, but because it tries to cram 200,000 of them into a single volume it's short on example sentences and tends to use very abbreviated definitions. So you really don't get an in-depth description of what a particular word means.
So one more thing we're looking to add to our product line is a Chinese-English dictionary with longer / more detailed definitions. Ideally this would still have a good number of entries (80,000-100,000 or more) but would average maybe 2-3x as many words per definition as the ABC. The goal isn't really to replace the ABC (though we'd certainly consider raising it to an equal level, say offering a checkbox option in our online store where you can pick which of the two big C-E dictionaries you want with your Professional-bundle purchase) but rather to offer an alternative for people who prefer detail to brevity.
Any suggestions would be welcome, but a couple of titles in particular we're looking at:
* New Age Chinese-English Dictionary, Commercial Press: easily the hardest of these to license (just getting an e-mail response from CP can be an exercise in frustration), but it's big, detailed, and most online reviews of it seem to be extremely positive.
* A Chinese-English Dictionary, Second Edition, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press: hasn't been updated since 1995, but per FLTRP's website a new version appears to be in development, and it's still of the best-respected C-E dictionaries out there.
* New Century Chinese-English Dictionary, also by FLTRP: definitions seem to be even longer / more detailed than the other two, though I've heard a few complaints about missing words / accuracy. Very big and very recent, though, which are both definite pluses.
Thoughts / reviews on any of these? Any other detailed C-E titles people are fond of?