Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: When was the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary first published?
The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary or ABC Dictionary (1996), compiled under the chief editorship of John DeFrancis, is the first Chinese dictionary to collate entries in single-sort alphabetical order of pinyin romanization, and a landmark in the history of Chinese lexicography. It was also the first publication in the University of Hawai'i Press's "ABC" (Alphabetically Based Computerized) series of Chinese dictionaries. They republished the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary in a pocket edition (1999) and desktop reference edition (2000), as well as the expanded ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003) and dual ABC Chinese–English/English-Chinese Dictionary (2010). Furthermore, the ABC Dictionary databases have been developed into computer applications such as Wenlin Software for learning Chinese (1997).
Several evaluations of the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary mention cases in which using the alphabetically-arranged headword entries is more efficient than using a conventionally arranged dictionary with character head entries that list words written with that character as the first. Robert S. Bauer, a linguist of Cantonese at Hong Kong Polytechnic University says the dictionary works best when users hear a word pronounced but do not know how to write it in characters, they can very quickly look it up in pinyin order and find the correct characters and meanings. However, to look up an unknown character's pronunciation and meaning, then one needs to use a radical-indexed dictionary. Bauer says "I have generally succeeded in finding almost all the words and expressions I have tried to look up; this I regard as quite remarkable since I cannot say the same about other dictionaries I have been consulting over my more than 25 years of working on Chinese." (1997: 308). Sean Jensen says alphabetical collation is "truly iconoclastic" in the tradition-rich world of Chinese lexicography and describes experimenting with using the dictionary.
Yanfang Tang, professor of Chinese at the College of William and Mary, says the ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary "stands above its peers as one of the most comprehensive, informative, and useful tools in the study of and dealing with the Chinese language" (2005: 145). This dictionary is a valuable asset for several types of users. Native speakers will particularly benefit from the "authentic and accurate English translations" of Chinese words and phrases, which are an improvement over sometimes "stiff and awkward" translations in previous Chinese–English dictionaries, which were edited predominantly by Anglophone native speakers of Chinese. Chinese–English translators, students of Chinese as a foreign language, and compilers of Chinese language textbooks will find this dictionary indispensable for providing comprehensive linguistic information. Nonnative speakers of Chinese will find the dictionary handy to use, and those who are accustomed to alphabets will find locating a Chinese word in this alphabetically arranged dictionary "almost an act of second nature". Advanced learners of Chinese who have a firm command of pinyin will also benefit, especially in cases when they know how to pronounce a word but do not remember how to write it, and will be able to quickly find the character (2005: 145).
I am used to the "old style" dictionaries based on radicals, and I was disposed to approach the ABC Dictionary with some skepticism. But having used it for two months I have so(sic) say that it is nothing short of wonderful! It is a pleasure to be able to use a Chinese dictionary in the same way that one uses a French or German dictionary. The typography is exceptionally clear, and the sheer quantity of words per page, arranged alphabetically, has the effect of bringing the melodies of spoken Chinese alive. (1998: 144)
Yuen Ren Chao and Lien-sheng Yang divided the lexicographical work. Yang compiled the preliminary list of entries, partially drafted the definitions, served both as informant and as grammarian on Beijing dialect, and wrote the characters. Chao wrote most of the definitions, added pronunciations from regional varieties of Chinese, and wrote the front matter and the appendices (1947: vii). Chao and Yang finished compiling their "Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese" in 1945, the same year when the War Department published the anonymous "Dictionary of Spoken Chinese: Chinese-English, English-Chinese". Although the 847-page "Dictionary of Spoken Chinese" is large, it contains relatively few lexical items, approximately 2,500 English-Chinese head entries in 500 pages and 5,000 Chinese-English ones in 300 pages (1945: 1).
The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary comprises three main sections: an 18-page front matter, the 833-page body matter of alphabetically arranged entries, and 64-page back matter with nine appendices.
ABC Dictionary (half title page 1996: i) The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized—with the last three words encircling Chinese calligraphic 电脑拼音编码 [diànnǎo pīnyīn biānmǎ "computer pinyin encoding"] (title page 1996: iii) ABC (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Chinese–English Dictionary (colophon 1996: iv), ABC Chinese–English Dictionary 漢英詞典‧按羅馬字母順序排列 [Hàn-Yīng cídiǎn ‧ àn luómǎ zìmǔ shùnxù páiliè "Chinese–English Dictionary: according to alphabetically sorted romanization"] (front cover).
Michael Sawer, who also reviewed the original ABC Dictionary, calls this comprehensive dictionary an "outstanding contribution to the field, in many ways better than other comparable dictionaries" (2004: 313). He makes comparisons between the ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (called "ABC") and two bilingual dictionaries aimed more at native speakers of Chinese who are learning English: the Han-Ying Da Cidian (Wu 1993, "CED" Chinese–English Dictionary) and Xiandai Hanyu Cidian: Han-Ying Shuangyu (CASSIL 2002, "CCD" Contemporary Chinese Dictionary).
Computers (namely, the C in ABC Dictionary) were purposefully involved in almost every stage of dictionary compilation and publication in order to facilitate further advances in electronic lexicography and software development. In 1997, the Wenlin Institute published Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese with about 14,000 head entries (version 1.0) and entered into a licensing agreement with the University of Hawaiʻi to utilize the ABC Dictionary database in Wenlin software. The first edition ABC Chinese–English Dictionary (1996) was incorporated into Wenlin 2.0 with over 74,000 entries (1998); the second ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003) went into Wenlin 3.0 with over 196,000 entries (2002); and the third edition ABC English-Chinese/Chinese–English Dictionary (2010) was incorporated into Wenlin 4.0 (2011), which includes 300,000 Chinese–English entries, 73,000 Chinese character entries, and 62,000 English-Chinese entries.
The revised American edition Fenn's Chinese-English Pocket-Dictionary was published by Harvard University Press in 1942. At the beginning of World War II, the shortage of Chinese and Japanese dictionaries became an urgent matter for English-speaking Allies. The Harvard–Yenching Institute said the need for Chinese dictionaries in America had "grown from chronic to acute", and selected Fenn's "The Five Thousand Dictionary" (fifth ed., 1940) and "" (1931) as two "practical dictionaries" to revise and reprint—without the authors' permission—for "the immediate demands of American students" (Mathews 1943: v). Both photolithographic reproductions were retitled: "The Five Thousand Dictionary" became "Fenn's Chinese-English Pocket-Dictionary" (1942) and "A Chinese-English Dictionary: Compiled for the China Inland Mission by R. H. Mathews" became "Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary" (1943). 
Along with Prof. DeFrancis overseeing the general planning and supervision of the project as well as its detailed operations, a volunteer team of some 50 contributors – including academics, Chinese language teachers, students, lexicographers, and computer consultants – were involved in the myriad tasks of processing dictionary entries, such as defining, inputting, checking, and proofreading. The University of Hawai'i Press published the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary in September 1996. UHP republished the original paperback ABC Chinese–English Dictionary, which had a total 916 pages and was 23cm. high, into the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Pocket Edition (1999, 16cm.) and hardback ABC Chinese–English Dictionary: Desk Reference Edition (2000, 23cm.).
Up through the 1970s, English-speaking students of Chinese relied chiefly on Mathews' "Chinese-English Dictionary" (Norman 1988: 173). Scholars published several companion pieces for "Mathews". Tse-tsung Chow (周策縱) of the University of Wisconsin compiled (1972) "A New Index to Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Based on the "Chung" system for Arranging Chinese Characters", referring to the obsolescent "zhōng" 衷 indexing system based on character strokes. Olov Bertil Anderson of Lund University published (1972) "A companion volume to R. H. Mathews' Chinese-English dictionary", which went into a 335-page third revision in 1988. Harry M. Branch developed a Five Willows system and published (1973) "Mathews' and Fenn re-indexed" (Yang 1985: 290). Raymond Huang (1981) wrote a descriptive "Mandarin Pronunciation Explained with Diagrams: A Companion to R. H. Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary".
The history of "Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage" began in late 1965, when Lin and Li Choh-ming, the founding Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, made plans for compiling a new Chinese-English dictionary as a "lasting contribution to knowledge" (1972: xvi). When the dictionary was published, Lin acknowledged that Li's "vision and enthusiastic support" made the compilation project possible. Lin started working on the dictionary in Taipei, and in the spring of 1967, he accepted the position of Research Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Qian 2011: 251). After completing the manuscript in the spring of 1971, Lin moved to Hong Kong, where his former student Francis Pan and a team of young Chinese University graduates assisted him with copyediting, research, and final preparations (Durdin 1972: 37).
Prior to the alphabetically arranged ABC Chinese–English Dictionary, virtually every Chinese dictionary was based upon character head entries, arranged either by character shape or pronunciation, that subsume words and phrases written with that head character as the first syllable. While pronunciation determines the placement of words within the unconventional ABC Dictionary, Chinese characters still determine the position of words within a standard dictionary. Comparing a Chinese character-based dictionary with the pinyin-based ABC Dictionary illustrates the difference. The Chinese–English Dictionary (Wu 1979: 431) locates the head character entry lín 林 "① forest; woods; grove ② circles …" as one of 14 characters pronounced lín, and alphabetically lists 17 words with lín as the first syllable, for instance, línchǎnpǐn 林产品 "forest products", línhǎi 林海 "immense forest", and línyè 林業 "forestry". The ABC Dictionary includes lín 林 "① forest; woods; grove ② forestry…" as one of 6 characters pronounced lín, followed by alphabetically listed lin-initial headwords from línbā 淋巴 "lymph" to línfēng 臨風 "facing against the wind", but then ling-initial words begin to appear with líng 〇 "zero", and only after another three pages will one find lìngzūn 令尊 "(courteous) your father" followed by línhǎi "immense forest" (McGinnis 1997: 568). DeFrancis' ABC Chinese–English Dictionary is aptly described as having "defied the tyranny of Chinese characters" (Clark 2001: 387).
Mathews' Chinese-English dictionary has been reprinted time and again—but without his authorization—and became so prominent that it is often simply called "Mathews" (Huck 1986). The English diplomat and sinologist Endymion Wilkinson says Mathews' continues in use, especially by students of Classical Chinese, but for other purposes it has been outdated by excellent dictionaries such as John DeFrancis' (1996) "ABC Chinese-English Dictionary" (2000: 93).
The dictionary contains an electronic version of the ABC Chinese–English Dictionary by John DeFrancis and the Shuowen Jiezi seal character dictionary. The current version (4.3.2) contains more than 300,000 Chinese-English entries and over 60,000 English-Chinese entries.. It allows users to search for Chinese characters or words by inputting either Chinese characters or pinyin using a variety of input options, including handwriting recognition. Users can update existing entries add new definitions to the dictionary. The program can also be extended with additional data modules, such as the ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese.
Reviews of DeFrancis' ABC Chinese–English Dictionary were published by major academic journals in linguistics (e.g., The Modern Language Journal), Asian studies (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society), and sinology (China Review International). Most reviewers criticized certain aspects, such as the difficulty of looking up a traditional Chinese character, but also highly evaluated the innovative dictionary.
In Shanghai, DeFrancis' dictionary was published under the title Han-Ying Cidian: ABC Chinese–English Dictionary (Hanyu Dacidian Chubanshe, 1997). For reasons of political correctness, the Shanghai edition amended the entry for Lin Biao (Sawer 2001: 225). It altered the original American edition's "veteran Communist military leader and Mao Zedong's designated successor until mysterious death" to "veteran Communist military leader; ringleader of counterrevolutionary group (during Cultural Revolution)".
Bauer, Robert S. (1997), "", Cahiers de linguistique – Asie orientale 26.2 307–311. CASSIL (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Linguistics) (2002), Xiandai Hanyu Cidian: Han-Ying Shuangyu 现代汉语词典: 汉英双语 [Contemporary Chinese Dictionary: Chinese–English edition], Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu Chubanshe. Chung, Karen Steffen (1998), "[Review of] ABC (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Chinese–English dictionary", Language 74.3: 660–661. Clark, Paul (2001), "[Review of] Han-Ying shuangjie Xinhua zidian 汉英双解新华字典 = Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation", China Review International 8.2: 387–388. DeFrancis, John, genl. ed. (1996), ABC Chinese–English Dictionary, pocket edition 1999, desk reference edition 2000, University of Hawaiʻi Press. DeFrancis, John, genl. ed. (2003), ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary, University of Hawaiʻi Press. DeFrancis, John, genl. ed. (2010), ABC Chinese–English/English-Chinese Dictionary, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Jensen, Sean (1998), "[Review of] ABC Chinese–English Dictionary by John DeFrancis", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 8.1: 143–144. Mair, Victor H. (1986), "", Sino-Platonic Papers 1. McGinnis, Scott (1997), "[Review of] ABC (Alphabetically Based Computerized) Chinese–English Dictionary by John Defrancis", The Modern Language Journal 81.4: 568–569. Sawer, Michael (2001), "[Review of] ABC Chinese–English Dictionary by John DeFrancis", The China Journal 45: 224–226. Sawer, Michael (2004), "[Review of] ABC Chinese—English Comprehensive Dictionary by John DeFrancis", China Review International 11.2: 309–314. Tang, Yanfang (2005), "[Review of] ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary by John Defrancis", The Modern Language Journal 89.1: 145–146. Walls, Jan W. (1998), "[Review of] ABC Chinese–English Dictionary by John DeFrancis", China Review International 5.1: 112–114. Wu Guanghua 吴光华, chief ed. (1993) Han-Ying Da Cidian 汉英大詞典 [Chinese–English Dictionary], 2 vols., Jiaotong Daxue Chubanshe. Wu Jingrong 吴景荣, genl. ed. (1979), The Chinese–English Dictionary 汉英詞典, Commercial Press.
Although the War Department dictionary was never widely distributed or used, it affected Chao's and Yang's "Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese", and served as the model for two well-known dictionaries. Yale University's Institute of Far Eastern Languages published a revised edition "Dictionary of Spoken Chinese" (1966), and Fred Fangyu Wang published a two-volume "Mandarin Chinese dictionary", Chinese-English (1967) and English-Chinese (1971). With these dictionaries, "American efforts in Chinese lexicography effectively ceased" (Norman 1988: 176)—until the "ABC Chinese-English Dictionary" (1996).
The Chinese and English Dictionary: Containing All the Words in the Chinese Imperial Dictionary, Arranged According to the Radicals (1842), compiled by the English Congregationalist missionary Walter Henry Medhurst (1796-1857), is the second major Chinese-English dictionary after Robert Morrison's pioneering (1815-1823) "A Dictionary of the Chinese Language". Medhurst's intention was to publish an abridged and cheaper dictionary that still contained all the 47,035 head characters from the (1716) "Kangxi Dictionary", which Morrison's huge dictionary included. Medhurst reversed and revised into his Chinese-English dictionary in compiling the (1847-1848) English and Chinese Dictionary in Two Volumes.
It is a version of "Oxford Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary" published by The Commercial Press. Publication deal between Oxford University Press and The Commercial Press was approved in 1983.English-German dictionaries are two-way dictionaries published in association with Duden.It is an electronic version of Concise Oxford-Duden German Dictionary.
It is a two-way dictionary.
DeFrancis' ABC Chinese–English Dictionary claims six lexicographical distinctions.
The expanded 2003 ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary had fewer academic reviews than the 1996 ABC Chinese–English Dictionary.
A common area of complaint involves the ABC Dictionary's treatment of traditional and simplified Chinese characters. Dictionary entries give simplified characters for headwords, and only give the traditional form upon the first appearance of each character, and in the appendices. For instance, critics say, "looking up characters in traditional form is a bit more trouble than it might be, you must use a special index" (Chung 1998: 660); and the dictionary is "clearly not designed to be used by anyone who does serious work with nonsimplified characters" (Jensen 1998: 144).