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Rating: 
Summary: a valuable resource for beginner/intermediate students
Review: (This reviews refers to the 1998 edition.) It took me a while to find a Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary that I'd be comfortable recommending to beginner and intermediate Japanese language students, but the Langenschedit is the one. With more than 50,000 entries, it has all the common words, and more than enough uncommon ones. Like most Japanese dictionaries, words are listed alphabetically in Romanji, which is fine by me because it makes looking up entries a speedy affair. However, unlike other dictionaries, the Langenschedit also displays Hiragana/Kanji next to each entry. This is something all Japanese dictionaries should do, but strangely, they don't. Many are just Romanji, and that's far from helpful. Also, no other dictionary I've found differentiates foreign loan words, but the Langenschedit does, by neatly illustrating the Katakana characters. I also like this dictionary's soft cover with rounded corners, so I'm comfortable throwing it into my backpack without fear that it will become all bent and torn. It still looks brand new despite the heavy use. One complaint: I wish there was an appendix of verb conjugations, particularly of the irregulars. One recommendation: The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary makes an excellent companion. Get it!
Rating:
Summary: Compact & Useful Everyday Dictionary
Review: I am a self-study student of Japanese and this pocket dictionary was the first Japanese dictionary I bought to aid me in my studies. The compact size of this dictionary makes it very easy and convenient to carry around, and it’s perfect for people on the go. (That is, no more suffering under the weight of a full dictionary!) ^^
The English-Japanese, Japanese-English dictionary format makes it handy to look up and translate words both ways. And the dictionary also comes with a pronunciation guide, hiragana and katakana table, which is also handy for beginners. I absolutely love the Jouyou Kanji table where you can look up the Kanji characters and pronunciation, but you’ll need to have a little bit of knowledge in Chinese characters as you’ll need to count the number of strokes a character has to be able to look for it, since the table sorts the Kanji characters by strokes.
Also, this dictionary is arranged according to romanization, making it easy for beginners to lookup a word by “pronunciation”. The inclusion of Hiragana, Katakana & even Kanji (depending on the word itself), alongside the romanji and meaning of the word is another major plus since you can check how to write a particular word in Japanese.
It’s also easy to look for phrasal verbs and vocabulary with the same “words” you’re looking for. For example, you can find under “watch” the noun and verb form (and explanation), as well as “watch for”, “watch out”, “watch out for” and so forth. This is extremely useful and convenient especially when looking out for common, everyday words. There’re also some informal words like exclamations (e.g, oh! ah!) and Internet or technical references such as website, email address and so forth.
Although I wouldn’t say this is a perfect dictionary for fluent Japanese speakers as it doesn’t provide as much words and extensive information as a complete dictionary do, it is, nevertheless, an excellent dictionary and guide for everyday use and people on the move as it covers useful and commonly used words. If you're tired of browsing through “thick” dictionaries just to find that simple, everyday word you want, give this a try. :)
Rating:
Summary: The most well-thought-out language dictionary
Review: I cannot praise this fine compact dictionary enough. I've owned or used a number of Japanese-English-Japanese dictionaries and have not been satisfied with any of them - all failed in some area: lack of vocabulary, romaji only(no kanji), few phrases, lack of sub-definitions, too large, too small, poor printing or binding, or they were outdated This dictionary has no failings. It's compact but has a wealth of vocabulary (even some "naughty" words)- forty thousand references; listings are in romaji with kanji or kana; each entry is further defined and clarified if needed (so you know exactly which word you are using or need); the 1945 jouyou kanji are arranged in a stroke count table at the front of the dictionary for easy reference (there is also the usual kana page); there is a numbers & dates page at the back; the book is bound with a sturdy plastic & paper cover; the pages are easy to turn and the text is crisp & pleasing with a nice contrast. The dictionary uses American English. The vocabulary is up-to-date: page 615, surf 2 v/t:~the Net "netto safin o suru"...junk mail... There are many idioms and example phrases. This compact dictionary is a great success and will surely be helpful to all students & users of Japanese. And unlike other compact dictionaries, it is both portable and helpful in its breadth of detail. I'd buy one for myself again, and for others, too.
Rating:
Summary: Remember it's only a pocket dictionary!
Review: I got this dictionary about 2 weeks ago after checking out every japanese-english english-japanese dictionary there is available at Amazon.[com.] Since I'm only starting out I was wishing it would be the only one I'd use as reference. However, I am strongly considering buying a more thorough and complete one. Some of the words I've looked for have sometimes limited definitions or miss out on some alternative uses. For example, when looking for "ippon" (meaning "one slender object", "one bottle", etc.) which I came across at Pimsleur's Japanese I, it is only referred as "strand, length", which lacks other possible meanings and senses. I was a bit disappointed when noticing this since this dictionary is indeed very well organized, easy to use and has a very useful Joyo Kanji List which normal dictionaries wouldn't have. If you are looking for a pocket (40,000 references on 672 pages) dictionary you can carry everywhere or a quick reference dictionary this is the one for you. However if you were thinking on buying only one japanese-english dictionary or a very complete and thorough one I would strongly suggest getting a Kanji dictionary which will be very useful even if you are just a beginner like me.
Rating: 
Summary: The only J-E dictionary I would have...
Review: Sometime back, I picked up the "want" to learn about the Japanese culture and language. So to get myself started, I bought this handle little dictionary. Now, while it is not precisely pocket size (or mayhaps my pockets are too small), it's size is still convenient, especially when you consider all of the content. It has a complete listing of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Each word is spelled out in romanji as well as the characters. A rather in depth Japanese - English dictionary as well as vice-versa. Now, while not a complete source for all words, it is more then you can expect from a dictionary this size. 5 Stars.
Rating:
Summary: The only J-E dictionary I would have...
Review: Sometime back, I picked up the "want" to learn about the Japanese culture and language. So to get myself started, I bought this handle little dictionary. Now, while it is not precisely pocket size (or mayhaps my pockets are too small), it's size is still convenient, especially when you consider all of the content. It has a complete listing of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Each word is spelled out in romanji as well as the characters. A rather in depth Japanese - English dictionary as well as vice-versa. Now, while not a complete source for all words, it is more then you can expect from a dictionary this size. 5 Stars.
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