So it’s still too early for being able to use a monolingual Japanese dictionary, but at a Half Price Books near where I live they have used, but great condition copies of a 4th and 5th Kōjien dictionary for $10 and $15 respectively. I know there was just recently a 7th ed. that came out with 10,000+ extra entries over these older editions, but considering a 7th ed. is gonna cost around $100+shipping from Amazon is it worth saving up and just buying the newer edition for when I would be ready to use it? Or would the older editions still be more than usable enough as a learner and then maybe buy a more modern edition later down the line?
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If you get the 7th edition you get to enjoy controversies such as these:
However, the definition of LGBT in the edition was written as “individuals whose sexual orientation differs from the majority.” Some netizens criticized that the definition only describes the “LGB” portion of the acronym which refers to sexual orientation, while the “T” refers to sexual identity.[5] In addition, Taiwanese government objected the change of definition of Taiwan as ‘the 26th province of People’s Republic of China’.[6]
Seriously though, the newly added words probably include a lot of new loan words and new technology stuff. The 5th edition did come out in 1998 after all. But for $15, I’d say just go for the 5th edition for now. Or use the internet.
Yeah, but you can’t show off an Internet dictionary. But a Kōjien dictionary looks impressive on your bookshelf. 
Okay, well maybe I’ll just pull the trigger on the used one and then just stick the 7th ed. in my Amazon wishlist along with the other Japanese learner books I want to buy some day once I finish all the others I’ve already purchased. 
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I received the 7th edition from my girlfriend as a gift (yes, she knows me well), but I would say that you’re not really going to be missing much if you have an earlier one. The new words are not ones that learners are typically going to be needing that often.
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Ok, thanks. I can always pick up the newer version when I get closer to your level. 
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