Never be lost for words: An employee of ERA Technology displays the new MP200 touchscreen electronic dictionary at the company’s headquarters in Pazundaung township, Yangon.

THE developer of the country’s only electronic dictionary range is set to expand its “Smart” lineup next month with the introduction of a new model that includes Chinese translations.

ERA Technology Co., Ltd, which developed the software used in the Chinese Taipei-manufactured devices, will put the new MP200 model on the market for about K60,000 in the first week of December, said U Soe Tin Win, the company’s managing director.

The device provides definitions of English words in Mandarin, Cantonese and Myanmar.

It also gives definitions of Myanmar, Mandarin and Cantonese words in English, although there are no direct Myanmar-Chinese functions, U Soe Tin Win said.

The company has done away with the keyboard format used in other Smart models and instead employs a touchscreen and built-in “pen” for the MP200, which is about the size of a deck of cards.

Like other models, it pronounces entered words and includes a scientific calculator.

U Soe Tin Win said the company was targeting Myanmar students learning Mandarin or Cantonese and businesspeople dealing with Chinese firms or traders.

“There are many Chinese companies investing in our country and there are many students learning Chinese, that’s how we got the idea to introduce this dictionary,” he said.

ERA Technology will initially put about 4000 of the devices on the market in Yangon, Mandalay, Taunggyi, Lashio and Myitkyina.

The dictionary has a vocabulary of 80,000 English words that can be translated into Chinese, and 60,000 Chinese words that can be converted to English. Some 110,000 English words can be translated into Myanmar while there are 60,000 Myanmar words recognised for translation to English.

Meanwhile, fresh arrivals of the company’s popular existing Smart range are hitting shop shelves this month after a three-month shortage. U Soe Tin Win said the shortage, which was due to flooding at the Taipei
factory producing the dictionaries, came amid growing demand for the devices in Myanmar.

Some 6000 dictionaries arrived earlier in November and another 5000 are expected this week.

The company currently sells four models: the E212, which costs about K35,000, the top-selling E212S for K55,000, and the MP3-capable X71 (60MB) and X72 (130MB) which cost K63,000 and K68,000 respectively.

U Soe Tin Win said sales were up 15pc over 2006 levels, thanks in part to the absence of competitors in the Myanmar electronic dictionary market.

Leading the growth in sales, he said, was the E212S model, which as well as having Myanmar-English, English-Myanmar and English-English dictionary functions also includes definitions of medical terms in English.

“The customers are mostly students and Myanmar people in the 20-30 age group who are going abroad,” said Ma Khin Thuzar, a director at Cybertron Computer Sales Centre in Yangon.

ERA Technology released its first electronic dictionary in 2004 and has since sold about 42,000 dictionaries, U Soe Tin Win said, adding the company hopes to sell a further 20,000 in 2008.