Dictionary

I'm having trouble with my dictionary. Usually when I look up a word to use when writing/chatting in Japanese, it comes up as too advanced. My dictionary doesn't tell me whether the word is ancient, current, or appropriate for a situation.

Is there a way to know whether a word is too advanced or not? Maybe by looking at the kanji?

This would really help me when I write my thesis. Once I looked up the word for "role" (as in "women play the role of the protagonist") and the word came up as too advanced. Another time I wanted to know how to say "without knowing" and got そぞろに (chatting with a friend).

If anyone knows it would help me a lot.

What do you mean by too advanced? Too difficult? Too formal?

It's either too formal or too ancient that when a native reads it, they don't even know the definition.

If you don't like the definitions you are getting from your dictionary, why not try another dictionary? Or several. I recommend using an online dictionary and reading the usage examples. This will give you a good idea of how the word is actually used so you can hone in on the context you are looking for.

I use Jim Breen's WWWJDIC as a starting point and sometimes follow the links to other sources if I want more examples. I really like ALC (Eijiro) as it tends to have a lot of good, practical examples.

Obviously, this sort of exercise takes time, but short of asking a native speaker, I don't know a better alternative. (In fact, sometimes native speakers will give you a bum steer. The best thing is to generalize from many usage examples. The online dictionaries keep getting better and better for this purpose.)

Here's a link to WWWJDIC:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C

Another time I wanted to know how to say "without knowing" and got
そぞろに (chatting with a friend).

I'm afraid you may be picking up an inappropriate word. "Without
knowing" will be usually translated into 知らずに. そぞろに is usually
used as 気もそぞろに (literally, "with one's mind fidgety"; i.e.
restlessly, uneasily).

That's the exact dictionary that I have already installed on my computer. I also bought the 漢字そのまま楽辞書 for DS while I was in Japan.

Jim Breen's dictionary is good... but I wish it had more context in it. The DS dictionary is good too and has a lot of what other Japanese electronic dictionaries already have... but I can't make out if the word is an advanced word or not.

I guess I'll just have to develop a feel for it?