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I’ve seen that some users like to refer to a dictionary called bkrs (or: 大 БКРС) in their comments. I’ve been on the website (https://bkrs.info), but since I don’t know Russian, I don’t understand it.

The dictionary is very user-friendly: when the page is loaded, the cursor is placed in the search field automatically, and when a Chinese term is entered, you get definitions in Russian and Chinese as well as a plethora of example sentences (with Russian translations).

So, what is the source for all this information? Is it reliable? Is it worth the navigational effort for people who don’t read or speak Russian? Is there a print edition and who is the publisher / maintainer / editor?

Also, could someone who is familiar with bkrs and knows Russian add the dictionary to »Resources for learning Mandarin Chinese«?

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  • definitions and examples are in C,Ru,E, almost as much E as Ru, apparently most detailed online C-E dictionary，forum on translation requiring really expert translators (unlike this site, not just looking up dictionaries, like this site) – user6065 Jun 29 '18 at 13:40
  • @user6065 You haven't really answered the question about how reliable BKRS is. "Expert translators" doesn't mean much unless BKRS has an active form of quality control, and content is regulated by information from peer-reviewed sources. – droooze Jun 29 '18 at 13:42
  • replace "expert translators" by "professional translators" required for highly technical language not covered by dictionaries – user6065 Jun 29 '18 at 13:50
  • any examples of unreliable online dictionaries ?, to get an idea of reliability may examine forums of bkrs, trying to find complaints by users – user6065 Jun 29 '18 at 16:00
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That dictionary is entirely a community effort - Wikipedia model. Anyone can add and edit any definition, but there are many moderators and reviewers. A community is at least in thousands, as this is the main source any Russian speaker learning Chinese goes for definitions to.

Again, BKRS is entirely as reliable a source of information as Wikipedia is, nor more nor less. Obviously there is no print edition for the same reason.

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  • bkrs has a large stock of entries agreeing with authoritative C dictionaries, e.g. users will invariably find entries agreeing with 现代汉语词典 – user6065 Jul 2 '18 at 12:17
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    Moreover, given there's zero copyright adhered to or checked anywhere in that dictionary (no opinion, just stating the fact), several dictionaries appear to have been lifted wholesale. – Vitaly Osipov Jul 3 '18 at 4:03
  • ABC dictionary, which is one of my favourites, seems to be one of the dictionaries lifted wholesale. However, bkrs does not give the very useful categorisation of parts of speech ABC makes, which includes things like "B.F. (bound form / 黏着语素)", "V.O. (verb object)". – goPlayerJuggler Jul 3 '18 at 9:45
  • instead of B.F. bkrs has тк. в соч. (only in compounds) – user6065 Jul 3 '18 at 11:05
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    @goPlayerJuggler Yes, no "part of speech" markings and my pet peeve - no registers (口气?) either. Some, especially single character, articles are a jumble of meanings from 文言文 to modern slang :/ OTOH it's a dictionary from Chinese, not to. – Vitaly Osipov Jul 5 '18 at 9:29

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