Replies to This Discussion | 이 토론에 대한 답글들

Permalink Reply by Cory Olson on November 22, 2011 at 9:04am

Well I was personally looking into these devices as well before I gave up on them when I got an Android phone and began using that for it's full functionality. Here are the impressions I got during my search:

1. These devices are primarily for Korean users for other languages and they aren't nearly as worthwhile for other languages into Korean. Especially that little information is given to context and common usage of the Korean words.

2. With smartphones and other portable devices coming on so strong in Korea, these devices have transformed from electronic dictionaries to cheapish, but not very functional, small netbooks for playing music and watching movies, but little has been done to improve dictionary use in a while.

3. Troubleshooting and A/S might be very difficult for non-Korean users.

 

So that said, if you really want one, I would try to find a late model for cheap given that the dictionary functionality hasn't really changed much in a while, just more bells and whistles to make them better PMP's.

As for GMarket, it's still (to my knowledge) the only Korean site to have any English functionality for search and payment systems, even if they are a bit wonky. I've managed to navigate it many times for successful purchases, though, so where exactly are you having issues?

Sorry if I'm not actually much help, but hope it all works out.

-Cory

Permalink Reply by Philipp Grunwald on November 22, 2011 at 9:35am

Hey Cory,

 

thanks for your opinion, that was exactly what I was looking for, even if it confirms my fears.
For Android, I am curious what app(s) do you use? For me I dislike the high dependency on Naver / Daum dictionaries that take a lot of clicks to use, because they both don't offer dedicated dictionary apps.

 

I already bought the expensive but horrible "DioDict" (3) app (kor-en-kor) for iPhone several months ago, which is "even" advertised in subway stations in Seoul. Once more I cannot see how such an app should be better in regards to the 'one-way road' you and me mentioned?! :-/ The problem is the mentality behind the app developers, even if they have expert linguists! After all, that is what I see, Koreans and even those companies are unwilling (and sadly probably unable...) to build a (work-intensive) system that actually works for foreigners from a foreigner perspective. Instead it is all about the quantity of words, while e.g. the DioDict app still lacks a lot of words (compared to Naver and the language reality) and is highly chaotic and not representing usage % of words, but rather treats rarely used words equal, while their sample sentences are highly obscure to say the least...

 

So my bad "app" experience is actually the major reason to look towards Nurian etc.!
For Android, if you let me know which other apps you use, I might try it on my Android tablet...

 

Cheers, Phil

Permalink Reply by Cory Olson on November 22, 2011 at 9:47am

Actually, I quite honestly find the Google Translate app to be the most useful. Still waiting for Google Goggles to recognize Korean text, but once that happens just snapping a picture of a word I don't know and getting translation will be cool.

Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on November 22, 2011 at 9:56am

I'll tell you what's really causing me a lot of hardship... Google Translate is fine, but they shut down Google Dictionary a couple months ago and I loved it; that was the best one out there! I have no idea why they did that since it seemed self-running as-is without them needing to do much upkeep, but I guess they had their reasons....

Permalink Reply by Philipp Grunwald on November 22, 2011 at 10:35am

Wow, I didn't even know that both apps exist, thanks Mr. Bammel and esp. Mr. Olsen!

About Google discontinuing products, well unfortunately they do this a lot. Google Notes was much much faster than Google Docs, but they still discontinued the former in favor of the latter. -.-