Japanese Dictionary - Audio Dictionary: EDICT Japanese Dictionary Now with Audio for Every Clip
Monday, April 20th, 2009Top Secret Project with the Legendary Jim Breen Finished!
Well, it’s done, and it’s alive!
Mr. Jim Breen, Innovative Language Learning, and JapanesePod101.com, are happy to announce that EDICT, Jim Breen’s legendary Japanese to English dictionary, now has…
So what exactly am I going on about?
First, let me back up a second.
If you’re studying Japanese, you’ve encountered Jim Breen’s EDICT Japanese to English dictionary, whether directly at WWWJDIC or through another Japanese language learning tool. (Many popular Japanese language learning tools use EDICT.)
Having used the dictionary at WWWJDIC countless times during my Japanese studies, I’m a huge fan of the site. Last November, I contacted Mr. Breen about the possibility of working with him to provide Japanese audio clips of native Japanese speakers for the entire EDICT dictionary! Mr. Breen not only welcomed the project, but he also joined us in the trenches! (More on that in a bit.)
The Mission: Provide Audio Clips for EVERY entry in the ENTIRE EDICT dictionary!
To put the task into perspective, we’ve been teaching Japanese for 3 years and amassed an audio library of only 20,000 words. Mr. Breen’s Dictionary was 120,000+ at the time we undertook the project. Furthermore there were technological issues, coordination issues and the holiday season standing in our way, but last November we started.
And here’s what it took to get it done:
- 8 voice actors (taking shifts) going at it 5+ hours a day
- 3 audio engineers editing 10 hours a day on 2 continents
- The technology team working in the US, Japan, and Germany
- Mr. Breen himself joining us in the trenches from Australia, as he rolled up his sleeves to code.
- The support of the entire JapanesePod101.com team
- And probably a lot more people working behind the scenes
This project was a beast! But, 5 months later EVERY entry in EDICT has an audio clip!
Well, almost…
The snag: EDICT, the Japanese Dictionary, keeps growing!
Just when the celebrating began, we got a nice and nasty reality check. You see, EDICT is constantly getting bigger, thanks to all the contributors out there. So when we started the project, the list was 123,000 words, the number of recordings we made!
EDICT is now 140,000 words! Thanks, contributors. :) So, unfortunately for our voice actors, it’s back to the studio. You can help by reporting missing words, so that we can record them.
Enough already with the behind the scenes stuff! How does it work?
Okay, okay. Yep, you want to test it out. Here is what you do:
- Head over to WWWJDIC
- Search for any word
- Where there is a clip available for an entry, a play button will appear at the start of the entry. Click this button to play the clip.
- Click the link to a lesson about the word (if available) on the JapanesePod101 site.
We would like to thank Mr. Breen, who has been supportive or our site since its inception, for giving us this opportunity. We hope that adding audio to EDICT will be a valuable tool for your Japanese studies.
Thank you to every one who contributed to the project. There were so many of you, and we know that it was very intense, especially with such a short deadline. We truly appreciate it.
Our main goal here at JapanesePod101.com is to provide Japanese students around the world with great learning tools. We hope that this enhancement will be a well-received addition.
We’re looking forward to your feedback!
Note: Premium members, you have access to all of this audio in the premium section of JapanesePod101.com.
Posted by JapanesePod101.com in General Announcements, Learn Japanese, Japanese Words, Japanese Dictionary |
April 21st, 2009 at 5:39 am
This is fantastic! Well done!!! よくできました。
April 21st, 2009 at 5:55 am
Congratulations! I was stunned to notice this last week while using Breen’s site! What a great idea!
April 21st, 2009 at 9:06 am
Great job Japanesepod101.com - what a way to give back to the community!
April 21st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Where do we find the audio files? Another nice feature that I’m glad I’m a premium subscriber!
Yeah, yet another resource to continue my Japanese studies.
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:05 am
Wow! すごい!! I just tried it out. Such a labor of love and a great resource.
どうもありがとうございます
またね
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:07 am
Wow!!! This is wonderful!!! I can’t imagine learning Japanese without Mr. Breen’s EDICT and JapanesePod101. You all continue to amaze with your wonderful work. Thanks to everyone involved for all of your tireless efforts!
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:02 am
*applauds*
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:31 am
素晴らしい！最高です。That is just terrific! Not only did you add all the audio files but also a lesson where the word is used. So now I have access to the lesson to provide me with either a nice explanation of the word or at least a sample sentence with audio! I am very happy.
どうもありがとうございました
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:07 am
I love the tool, but I couldn’t get to a “lesson using this word”. The link goes to a page telling me to sign up, but it doesn’t remember my login or allow me to login as a member. Still, great job getting the audio for all those words. お疲れ様です！
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
どうもありがとうございます！！！ You guys are amazing!
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Omodetto, gozaimasu.
Yeah, I’m that “newbie” again.
Japanesepod101 + Jim Breen’s dictionary = “a match made in heaven”.
Hmmm…gotta go figure out how to say that in Japanese.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:56 am
Japanesepod101 最高！ 感謝しています！ ご苦労さまでした！
Long live Japanesepod101! 万歳！
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:49 am
失礼ですが、テストポストをしなくてはならぬという状況になちゃって。。
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:58 am
やったな！
I just wanted to say that I encountered the same problems as described by Ben concerning the use of the “lesson using this word” link in WWWJDIC.
Other than that, thank you for a great job!
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Was I the only one who’s been envious of the Japanese with all their cool electronic dictionaries that pronounce English?
Well, I’m not anymore!
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
どうもありあがとございあます！
A great resource, cheers.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:34 am
すごい！JDICよく使うから、こりゃすごいなぁ！
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Massive!
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I use Mr. Breen’s site all the time! This is really fantastic! Well done Jpod crew!!!!!!
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Incredible! Fantastic! This is soooooo helpful!! Thank you!
April 27th, 2009 at 2:57 am
amazing.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
thank you very much… voice actors and actresses and engineers for making this a reality… お疲れ様でした。
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Thank you Peter-san!
I also use Edict every day.
I myself translated 3000 Edict words to french some years ago in the fjdic team.
I also translated the Kanjidic joyoukanjis in french, and now I’m working on the other 4300 JIS X 0208 kanjis.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:49 am
JP10
Congratulations! It seem very interesting but I have never used it so even do I read the blog I don’t understand how is used can someone help me out please. Thanks!
S_R_C
June 4th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
visit the page…very usefull and informative…but some of the word i look for a meaning does not come out
zannen… but really this is a great merge 