And now for something not completely different: Chinese and middleproxy.
Chinese dictionaries are arranged by several methods, none of which work well for beginners:
Most characters are divisible into a 'radical', which is one of 245 recognizable character pieces, and a 'phonetic', which might rhyme with with the word. E.g. 茶, tea, 蒜, garlic, and 菜, dish/vegetable share the grass radical 艹; but also 获, to capture.
Compounds are also important: e.g. 白菜, literally "white vegetable", means "bok choy" (in the south) or "napa cabbage" (in the north).