I found this thread:
http://www.plecoforums.com/threads/whats-what-in-dictionary-land.3600/
And I basically have quite similar questions in terms of how to choose a dictionary. I'm at what I would consider an intermediate to upper-intermediate level in terms of my reading. I can make my way through C-C dictionary entries OK, but struggle with the classical quotes. I'm mostly studying simplified characters but can also read traditional.
I've downloaded all the sample entries from the paid dictionaries, but it's not very helpful to get a big list of characters beginning with 啊 or 阿 and makes it rather time-consuming to compare more common entries across dictionaries. What would really be useful would be comparison across a few carefully chosen words to show the strong / weak points of each dictionary.
For example, words that are missing in the free dictionaries but are actually not too uncommon. Or a word with lots of examples in one dictionary but not in another. Or a note on usage in one word
I am not too interested in the non-dictionary add-ons, and pinyin is not a priority for me except for clarification on difficult and rare readings. Mostly interested in simplified but accurate traditional characters is a bonus. At the moment I will mostly search on the internet for words where I can't get a good definition from Pleco, but if I can save time and get a more comprehensive or authoritative picture of the language then I would definitely consider paying for that.
I haven't used a paper dictionary since I was a beginner, and used to spend a lot of time on nciku after that, so not really sure what to look for in a dictionary or how much benefit it will be over the free dictionaries / online dictionaries I use now. With that said I find Pleco very convenient and well-designed, and would like to use it if I can. It's just a bit difficult at the moment to figure out what is the best thing to buy - both professional and beginner bundles come with the add-ons I'm not too interested in, and the thread I referred to basically said some dictionaries are good for X not for Y, some are good for X not for Y, not sure dictionary Z is better than the free dictionaries, etc.
So I guess what I'm looking for is the Pleco sales pitch - a little more detailed than the headlines you get when you look at the demos in the add-ons store, and a little more focused than the long list of words you get in the demos.
Related threads
http://www.chinese-forums.com/index...rth-paying-for-basicpro-add-on-bundles/page-1
http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/41599-why-is-pleco-so-popular/
http://www.plecoforums.com/threads/whats-what-in-dictionary-land.3600/
And I basically have quite similar questions in terms of how to choose a dictionary. I'm at what I would consider an intermediate to upper-intermediate level in terms of my reading. I can make my way through C-C dictionary entries OK, but struggle with the classical quotes. I'm mostly studying simplified characters but can also read traditional.
I've downloaded all the sample entries from the paid dictionaries, but it's not very helpful to get a big list of characters beginning with 啊 or 阿 and makes it rather time-consuming to compare more common entries across dictionaries. What would really be useful would be comparison across a few carefully chosen words to show the strong / weak points of each dictionary.
For example, words that are missing in the free dictionaries but are actually not too uncommon. Or a word with lots of examples in one dictionary but not in another. Or a note on usage in one word
I am not too interested in the non-dictionary add-ons, and pinyin is not a priority for me except for clarification on difficult and rare readings. Mostly interested in simplified but accurate traditional characters is a bonus. At the moment I will mostly search on the internet for words where I can't get a good definition from Pleco, but if I can save time and get a more comprehensive or authoritative picture of the language then I would definitely consider paying for that.
I haven't used a paper dictionary since I was a beginner, and used to spend a lot of time on nciku after that, so not really sure what to look for in a dictionary or how much benefit it will be over the free dictionaries / online dictionaries I use now. With that said I find Pleco very convenient and well-designed, and would like to use it if I can. It's just a bit difficult at the moment to figure out what is the best thing to buy - both professional and beginner bundles come with the add-ons I'm not too interested in, and the thread I referred to basically said some dictionaries are good for X not for Y, some are good for X not for Y, not sure dictionary Z is better than the free dictionaries, etc.
So I guess what I'm looking for is the Pleco sales pitch - a little more detailed than the headlines you get when you look at the demos in the add-ons store, and a little more focused than the long list of words you get in the demos.
Related threads
http://www.chinese-forums.com/index...rth-paying-for-basicpro-add-on-bundles/page-1
http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/41599-why-is-pleco-so-popular/