Do you still use an electronic dictionary?

[Daimashin]

I remember back at school, I used to carry an electronic dictionary that does English to Chinese translation and vice versa. It was a very useful tool that everyone in my class had to have one as required by our lecturer. It helped me a lot back then. I know that electronic dictionaries are also available in other languages. Have you ever used one, and if you did, was it useful to you?

[Trellum]

I never had the chance to use one of those electronic dictionaries, but I heard about them when I was little, I think.  I thought they were kinda fancy and cool, but sadly I never got to use one   It'd have been interesting tho, but I never really had contact with that kind of things until I was a teen (my mom bought me my first computer when I was 16). But I never got the chance to use an electronic dictionary.

[Daimashin]

There were pros and cons with electronic dictionaries. One particular problem I had with mine was that the pen that does the touch screen thing didn't always work. Also, the response was really slow sometimes, it took me less time to just look it up in a paper dictionary.

[True2marie]

No, I use the Internet as a tool to look up information. Whether it's dealing with language or a specific topic. My favorite reference spot (in general) is Dictionary.com.

Link to Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/

[sidney]

I also have never used an electronic dictionary, only a book dictionary, so I'm also wondering how they work. Are they expensive or not really?

[gegegeno]

They're absurdly popular in Japan to the point where nearly everyone owns one. The price you pay has a lot to do with the quality of the dictionaries loaded onto it. Mine was top-of-the-line when I got it, and has the Japanese and Japanese<->English dictionaries that are generally considered to be the most accurate and comprehensive. A lot of learners of Japanese who've ever studied in the country get them for themselves (all my classmates had them too when I went on exchange).

Given that the internet's best free dictionary between Japanese and English is quite comprehensive but has a lot of issues, and access to just one of the good ones costs nearly as much as an electronic dictionary filled with all of them, they represent really good value (thanks to deals done between manufacturers and the dictionary makers).

But then outside of Japan and Japanese learners, I don't think they're too popular. I know that there are the ones that have 5-20 European languages loaded on them and are marketed to travellers, but I haven't really heard of ones for language learners like there used to be, since everything is online now.

[PeterPen]

Electronic dictionaries are the best. I remember the old days when I used to have to go through a huge dictionary, trying to find the word I was looking for. It was time-consuming.

I try not to use a dictionary too much, and instead let intuition fill in the blanks. I like to read a lot, even if I don't understand everything, but the fact that I'm exposed to the language helps me remember the words subconsciously.

[LivetoErr]

I use the Merriam Webster Spanish English app I have on my iPhone almost daily.

If fact, you'll often find me looking up a word or two while stopped at a traffic light because I've seen a word on the road I didn't recognize.

I really do find the app invaluable. It has helped get me get my point across many times. I actually feel lost if I don't have that or a translation program at my disposal. Kind of like a back up if I'm failing miserably at expressing what I need, like when I lost my keys in a department store. I knew the word for keys but not lost. One look at my phone and my keys were returned.

[Daimashin]

With the abundance of smartphone apps and the internet making everything so convenient, electronics dictionary is a thing of the past it seems. I looked for mine after starting this thread but it didn't work anymore. It was a very useful tool back at school last time when smartphones didn't exist.

[lizbeth19hph]

I have never used an electronic dictionary before but I have used an actual dictionary, Merriam and Webster's. Most of my Korean students though still use electronic dictionaries but at times they seem to be unreliable.

[Rosa]

I have never used an electronic dictionary. How long ago was that? It does sound useful but a bit of the past. Today everthing can be done from the net so that cool.

[Scurventery]

I've never actually used a stand-alone device, though I remember other people having them when I was young. For the most part I rely on the internet or on smart phone apps to look up single words - no sense in carrying more than one device if you can help it.

[Peninha]

I never had such a software, I use online dictionaries, translators, spell-check programs, everything is available online for free, so there's really no use for those software if they still do exist.

Maybe is someone is working on a specific language or has a very specific need and needs a special program, but that's not my case.

[thomas pendrake]

When I was in college an electronic dictionary would have probably required a truck to transport it since memory was still magnetic core. I suppose you mean when translating do I still need a dictionary? The answer is that I frequently do.