American and British business people who speak English fluently can’t comprehend the difficulty in conversation between them and business people from other countries where English is a second language. Since English is the predominant global language, the Americans and Brits do not have to learn a second language to conduct business; however, in countries where English is not a common language or is not spoken at all exists a problem for these business people. They must learn the language to compete in a global business.

Most Asian people, especially in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, spend a lot of time and money to learn English. This has created a market niche for students and business people overseas who want to learn. One product developed is the electronic dictionary.

In Japan, sales of electronic dictionaries are greater than sales of paper dictionaries. A newspaper in Japan reported that more than 3.3 million electronic dictionaries were sold in Japan last year, and an estimated 10 million were sold throughout Asia. Prices range from the 300 – 600 dollars, making it an expensive item for people who want to learn English. One advantage the electronic dictionary has over a paper dictionary is a larger vocabulary or word bank.

A new trend for high-end models includes talking capabilities. The new electronic dictionary provides exact English pronunciations of native speakers. These models not only speak words, but also full sentences in English, making it a valuable teaching resource for Japanese business people. If they input Japanese words, the electronic dictionary translates and speaks the same meaning in English. The electronics manufacturers are developing other language versions such as Chinese and Korean. The latest electronic dictionaries have a large touch screen with color displays.

Accordingly, the electronic dictionaries consume more devices with larger memories and high-density, multilayer PCBs and flexible circuits for the wiring of the display and high quality speakers in the thin body. The total shipments of these products is much smaller than cellular phones, but it is not negligible for the specific manufacturers.

When the electronic dictionaries learn to listen to speech they could substitute as an interpreter. Manufacturers say this could take more years to develop for commercial use.