I just found out that I am allowed from now on to take a Chinese-English and/or English-Chinese dictionary into my exam.

So far I have always used the web, on my phone or computer for a dictionary.

This seems to be the time to buy a good dictionary now. I was thinking of both a pocket/beginners dictionary as well as a more advanced one.

Any tips? What dictionaries do you use and where did you buy them?

Other things that come to mind is pinyin on both sides (Chinese to English and English to Chinese) and measure words with nouns.

Before there was nciku, I used the “The Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary” by Beijing Foreign Language Institute, but not anymore. It seems that the “Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary” in nciku is based on this dictionary, which itself is based on the dictionary by the Taiwan MOE.

I very much like "Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary". Its typefaces are large compared to most dictionaries which makes it easier to make out HanZi. The main ordering of the dictionary is pinyin, but also includes a radical index and a stroke count index. Though not an English-Chinese dictionary. it has an English-Chinese word finder. The level of the dictionary is that of first and second year college level Chinese courses. It is available from Amazon.com where it is very highly reviewed.

All through my study of Chinese I have used the Oxford Concise English- Chinese/Chinese English Dictionary. That is also the one that is recommended on most high school booklists in Australia. I think it is really because it is small, but still has heaps of words in it. In Australia it can be found at most educational bookstores. However, I have found the English to Chinese part of that dictionary to give some rather strange translations on at times, so I probably wouldn't recommend it. As this is my main English to Chinese dictionary, I often check English translations both ways (i.e. find the Chinese word, then check the translation back to English).

At one stage, I bought the Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English/English- Chinese). It is a little bigger, but I have found it really handy for measure words (they have their own section in the middle)and some details or common problems of word usage. I would recommend this dictionary as a beginner dictionary. I just had a look on amazon.com and found this dictionary is now "Oxford Beginner's Chinese Dictionary".

Both dictionaries allow you to look up Chinese characters by pinyin or strokes.

Hope that's helps a little.

Thanks for all the advice!