Basically this is what I want to do: Say I'm reading a physical book or watching a movie and I come across an unknown vocab. I want to use my phone to look up the word, get the English meaning and reading, and create an Anki card out of it so that I can review it in the future (Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana to reading + English meaning).

Is there an app that can do that for me?

I know there are computer applications that can do the same thing (like Epwing2Anki http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5802) and automatically generate Anki cards but I don't like studying on a computer. I do all of my Anki activities via Ankidroid on a phone.

If there isn't an Android app that can do that then I have 3 options:

1) I use my electronic dictionary to bookmark vocabs or hand write the vocab I get from non-computer media, and then I'll use the card-generating program on a PC later.
2) I get new vocab from the computer (EG. online books, websites etc) instead of a physical book, console video game etc...
3) I just continue doing someone else's vocab deck like Core 10,000.

I would much prefer to create my own vocab list automatically and without using a standard PC. Can I do that? At the moment, I'm juggling between option 1 and option 3.

If you're creating your own custom vocab decks, how are you doing it?

I haven't looked for any dictionaries that can do this, but basically if a dictionary has a share button, anki will be able to take over and make it into a card automatically. If the dictionary has a sharing key it should work with anki

An example: If you have swiftkey keyboard installed you can see how easy it is. Just goto your stats and press the share key. A list will pop up. Choose anki and then the card will be created for you.

Thanks for reminding me about the "share button" or in Android, the "complete action using... Ankidroid" function.

I'm still experimenting with it but I think this may be what I'm looking for. I should now be able to create new Anki vocab cards using my phone and my phone's Japanese dictionary without touching my main computer.

Thanks a lot.

I have two Android Japanese dictionaries at the moment: WWWJDIC and Aedict. WWWJDic has no Kanji drawing function and when I use it to make an Ankidroid card, all of the info is automatically entered into a single field. Aedict does have a Kanji drawing function and when a vocab is made into an Ankidroid card, the vocab info is separated into two fields: MEANING and KANJI + FURIGANA. In this case, I'll have to manually further separate the Furigana into its own field.

The cards I want to make are pretty basic:

Front: Kanji/Katakana/Hiragana vocabulary (Kanji has no reading provided)

Back: Japanese reading and English meaning.

If anyone is doing the same thing I am and have any time-saving or effective tips or have your own way of doing such a thing, please share.

[RawToast]

The following two dictionaries can export to Anki:

JED
https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai...ibouzu.jed

WWWDJIC
https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai...ck.wwwjdic

After more experimenting, the WWWJDIC App has a dedicated non-generic Anki Card Creation function that does exactly what I need. It's the clear winner and I have found what I want.

Thank you qwertyytrewq. You gave me a reason to start using Anki again

Hmm... if only there was a dictionary that created anki cards as well as WWWDJIC and would search the japanese dictionaries using romaji (while still showing kanji results). Its a pain to have to switch keyboards every time I search for a word...

I use JED and you can search words using romaji. I haven't tried the anki export function since I only realised afer RawToast mentioned it lol.

Animosophy Wrote:I use JED and you can search words using romaji. I haven't tried the anki export function since I only realised afer RawToast mentioned it lol.

Yeah I was confused when RawToast mentioned it... but after some digging found it too. Unfortunately the anki import function in JED is not very user friendly

Maybe it's just my connection but unfortunately, WWWJDIC is an online only dictionary so the seconds that pass with each search gets annoying.

The other problem that has nothing to do with the app, and this happens on a computer as well is that the servers of the WWWJDIC dictionary itself for some reason is under maintenance all too frequently (or so it feels), slow to load, or just non-responding.

Another alternative to adding Anki cards one by one on the WWWJDIC app is to add vocab to your "favorites" (takes one press after you search and bring it up). After you're done for the day, bulk-add it to your Anki deck with a few finger presses. The card notes will be in their correct positions (front and back) and you can also append the new cards to your old cards in the deck.

I don't believe in God but this app combined with Anki is a godsend.

I fixed my first problem: I downloaded Kanji Recognizer that does offline handwritten Kanji searches, a big time saver.

KR also does "look ahead" where it guesses and shows the Kanji you're looking for while you're in the middle of writing it. These Kanji are also copyable and append copyable so looking up multi-Kanji words is pretty fast and pretty effortless for a phone. There can still be improvements in time though. There should be like a keep a "Kanji aside while you type out more Kanji and once you finish typing the compound Kanji word THEN you copy the whole thing" option. Basically the same thing as a standard computer IME where you type and go.

I still have a few problems though.

Problem 1: The row of lookahead Kanji are at the top of the screen so my thumb has to stretch to the top to copy it. Is there an option to bring it to the bottom?

Problem 2: KR can be used as a backend with WWWjdic which is useful. But the lookahead feature is gone so it takes a few more screen presses to copy, paste and look up multi-Kanji words. Also, the lookahead checkbox at the top right is grayed out. Why is that?

Problem 3: Is it worth upgrading KR to premium when I already have WWWjdic? I don't understand the benefits like Anki export (I can do that with WWWjdic) and Search by reading and meaning (I can do that with WWWjdic). I am willing to pay for premium if helps me be more efficient in terms of effort and time writing and looking up Kanji. For example, lookahead Kanji row at the bottom so that my thumb uses less effort and faster and easier strategies of writing and searching multi-Kanji words.

Anyone using WWWjdic and/or Kanji Recognizer? How did you benefit from upgrading KR to premium?

Just reading a few KR app reviews in Google Play now. Looks like I'm not the only one concerned about the app's (lack of) handling of compound Kanji. If I get annoyed enough, I might consider other Kanji handwriting apps that can help me save more time. I only downloaded KR because WWWjdic officially supports it.

qwertyqwerty, I prefer the Mazec keyboard to Kanji Recognizer because it's not so fussy with stroke order. I think there is a trial so you can try it out. To use after download: you put the cursor in a text input field so a keyboard pops up, drag down your notifications bar, select change input method and choose Mazec. Hope that helps. I'm curious to know if you upgraded KR and how it changed the situation for you.

Edit: I haven't really gotten an offline JDIC to upload into EPWing, might someone know where I can find one?

qwertyytrewq Wrote:Problem 2: KR can be used as a backend with WWWjdic which is useful. But the lookahead feature is gone so it takes a few more screen presses to copy, paste and look up multi-Kanji words. Also, the lookahead checkbox at the top right is grayed out. Why is that?

Kanji Recognizer is an offline tool and uses an older search method and data, so its results are not as good as the version built into WWWJDIC for Android, which uses Ben Bullock's online tool at http://kanji.sljfaq.org/draw-canvas.html which is based on the same data, but refined.

qwertyytrewq Wrote:Problem 3: Is it worth upgrading KR to premium when I already have WWWjdic? I don't understand the benefits like Anki export (I can do that with WWWjdic) and Search by reading and meaning (I can do that with WWWjdic). I am willing to pay for premium if helps me be more efficient in terms of effort and time writing and looking up Kanji. For example, lookahead Kanji row at the bottom so that my thumb uses less effort and faster and easier strategies of writing and searching multi-Kanji words.

The main thing that the premium version gives you is offline search. WWWJDIC is entirely online. If that doesn't bother you, stick with WWWJDIC and you'll benefit from better kanji recognition as well. But if you need an offline version, and want an integrated dictionary as well, buy the premium I guess. Me, I'd just use another offline dictionary like JED, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

*cough* cezaM *cough*

tashippy Wrote:qwertyqwerty, I prefer the Mazec keyboard to Kanji Recognizer because it's not so fussy with stroke order. I think there is a trial so you can try it out. To use after download: you put the cursor in a text input field so a keyboard pops up, drag down your notifications bar, select change input method and choose Mazec. Hope that helps. I'm curious to know if you upgraded KR and how it changed the situation for you.

Since it is not free and because my download limit is being used up from experimenting with all these apps, I can't try the trial, but with Mazec it looks like you get what you pay for with the on the fly Kanji recognition. And it's made by a Japanese company so they probably know how a good Kanji handwriting app should be done.

My final setup will probably be the online WWWjdic app + the Mazec popup keyboard/tool.

I haven't upgraded KR. Which Japanese android dictionary do you use with Mazec?

toshiromiballza: We'll let the future decide whether I'll get annoyed enough with online dictionaries to pay for an offline one but for now I'll stick with WWWjdic + KR. Or maybe upgrade KR if I get annoyed with WWWjdic. In the future, maybe WWWjdic + Mazec if I get annoyed with KR.

I just tried JED. The on the fly translation lookups are good but as someone else in the thread said, the Anki card creation process is harder than it should be and is a deal breaker. WWWjdic offers on the fly ready to use immediately anki cards. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't even think the cards work, the Anki files JED creates are .anki while my Ankidroid cards are .anki2

qwertyytrewq Wrote:

tashippy Wrote:qwertyqwerty, I prefer the Mazec keyboard to Kanji Recognizer because it's not so fussy with stroke order. I think there is a trial so you can try it out. To use after download: you put the cursor in a text input field so a keyboard pops up, drag down your notifications bar, select change input method and choose Mazec. Hope that helps. I'm curious to know if you upgraded KR and how it changed the situation for you.

Since it is not free and because my download limit is being used up from experimenting with all these apps, I can't try the trial, but with Mazec it looks like you get what you pay for with the on the fly Kanji recognition. And it's made by a Japanese company so they probably know how a good Kanji handwriting app should be done.

Mazec is the absolute best Japanese handwriting recognition tool. And I think the English version is the best at English also. If you can get the Japanese version, get it. I'm not sure if for the paid version you still need to have a Japanese google account. The Google Play store has made it harder to buy stuff from it in a another market the past few months. I had to use a VPN along with market enabler and some fiddling with accounts to get it to work recently. Thanks for the recommendations about WWWJDIC. I started to use it in combination with n e-book reader and it works fairly well.

qwertyytrewq Wrote:Which Japanese android dictionary do you use with Mazec?

I just tried JED. The on the fly translation lookups are good but as someone else in the thread said, the Anki card creation process is harder than it should be and is a deal breaker. WWWjdic offers on the fly ready to use immediately anki cards. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't even think the cards work, the Anki files JED creates are .anki while my Ankidroid cards are .anki2

I am also using JED and I am also very curious to know how to make the Anki card create work. I exported to Anki but I don't see where the cards I made went. I changed the file name to /mnt/sdcard/ankidroid as the import cards button told me to do but it already exists. Might one be able to use the example sentences from JED in those same Anki cards once they're up and running?
I might end up exporting to a google doc and creating the deck on EPWING2Anki when I'm at home.

Edit: @Toshiramiballza, and yeah my system ain't rooted, so my options are sometimes limited in that regard to your *cough* suggestions.

Well, as far as my preparation goes, I'm close to perfect, just the usual question marks about whether to upgrade Kanji Recognizer and whether to buy Mazec. But I can make those decisions in the future.

Off-topic but for the entire time, I'm annoyed at the Android's default font for displaying Japanese. As you probably know, it uses a Chinese font so some Kanji looks strange. The problem is that there's no easy way to change it and I'm too scared to mess around rooting with the phone and all that.

tashippy Wrote:I am also using JED and I am also very curious to know how to make the Anki card create work. I exported to Anki but I don't see where the cards I made went. I changed the file name to /mnt/sdcard/ankidroid as the import cards button told me to do but it already exists. Might one be able to use the example sentences from JED in those same Anki cards once they're up and running?
I might end up exporting to a google doc and creating the deck on EPWING2Anki when I'm at home.

Actually, I wasn't able to make it work. Compared to WWWjdic, JED is pretty light on features and configurations. The only way I was able to make Anki cards was first to look up vocab, give those vocab a "tag", then when you browse by tag, JED allows you to select an option to bulk add those vocab to Anki. Only vocab that has a tag can be ported. Then it will say that a .anki file was created somewhere on your phone.

When you select "import cards" from the Ankidroid app, it will say that the cards have to be in a specific folder. So I moved the newly created .anki file to the specified folder (the same folder my main decks are in). The problem is that my decks have the current .anki2 extension. Ankidroid was able to detect my existing .anki2 file but failed to detect the .anki file. At this point, I stopped caring because WWWjdic already does what I need.

Don't know if that helps you or not. I didn't try JED for very long though, maybe 5-10 minutes. So either JED hasn't been updated to support Ankidroid 2 (Ankidroid2 was released earlier this year) or I missed something of vital importance.

My experience with JED and Anki is the same as yours it seems. I have used JED for a while and I want to add cards when I'm offline (i.e. reading on the subway). When I'm in wifi or 4G range, I guess there's no reason for me not to just use WWWJDIC, which I just downloaded today.

I know I could just write down the words and add them to Anki later, but I'm a little lazy on this front. Entering a list of vocab later on feels like busy work. I am more likely to start reading the next chapter without ever making new Anki cards. If I get my act together I can just rely on m'trusty ole Epwing2Anki.

If you decide to download Kanji Recognizer and upgrade it to premium (so that you can search/make Anki cards offline), let me know if you think it's worth it. I also have a few questions.

Time spent making Anki cards is boring and the time could be spent doing something else (like reviewing Anki cards).

Which I why I created this thread in the first place. Until someone proves me wrong, the best method of using a phone to make Anki cards is still WWWjdic (or Premium Kanji Recognizer).

qwertyytrewq Wrote:The problem is that there's no easy way to change it and I'm too scared to mess around rooting with the phone and all that.

Well then:

By the way, which phone do you have? In 99% of all cases, rooting a device is completely safe.

The "warning" is just a formality.

toshiromiballza Wrote:

qwertyytrewq Wrote:The problem is that there's no easy way to change it and I'm too scared to mess around rooting with the phone and all that.

Well then:

By the way, which phone do you have? In 99% of all cases, rooting a device is completely safe.

The "warning" is just a formality.

Besides the JED functionality, is it over-all better for the J-learning experience to have a rooted phone? Sometimes I make phone calls, text and tweet, but mostly I use my phone as a learning tool.

tashippy Wrote:Besides the JED functionality, is it over-all better for the J-learning experience to have a rooted phone? Sometimes I make phone calls, text and tweet, but mostly I use my phone as a learning tool.

Well, besides needing root to install apps "the free way" as per the other thread I linked to, if you don't have a Japanese phone, kanji will be rendered with a Chinese font. Again, you need root to set it to Japanese by default. Some apps also have ads in them, and you need root to install and use AdAway, which removes them.

You also need root to use some battery-saving apps (Greenify, Deep Sleep Battery Saver), lag-reduction apps (Seeder), to install a custom (and smoother/faster) ROM/kernel, etc.

This is a pretty cool idea... I don't suppose anything like it is possible on an iPhone???

Hey guys, how can I add a card from Aedict to Ankidroid?
where's is this option?

toshiromiballza Wrote:

tashippy Wrote:Besides the JED functionality, is it over-all better for the J-learning experience to have a rooted phone? Sometimes I make phone calls, text and tweet, but mostly I use my phone as a learning tool.

Well, besides needing root to install apps "the free way" as per the other thread I linked to, if you don't have a Japanese phone, kanji will be rendered with a Chinese font. Again, you need root to set it to Japanese by default. Some apps also have ads in them, and you need root to install and use AdAway, which removes them.

You also need root to use some battery-saving apps (Greenify, Deep Sleep Battery Saver), lag-reduction apps (Seeder), to install a custom (and smoother/faster) ROM/kernel, etc.

I wanted to bump this thread in case anyone can answer dtcamero or jpkuelho's questions.
I have yet to root my HTC One S, but I'm finally planning to get around to it because I'm almost finished with Core 6k and I'm reading a lot, so I want to start really creating cards from the reading that I'm doing. I'll update here if I succeed with this goal. Maybe before I get to it someone can tell me: If I automatically create Anki notes using JED, can I set up the format of those notes ahead of time, or is there an automatic format that notes created from tagged JED words will be in?

Regarding rooting to set the default language in Japanese, can you switch it back to English somehow? Also, I have an app called MoreLocale2 that changes the phone language to Japanese, is it better/more thorough to do the former?

tashippy Wrote:Regarding rooting to set the default language in Japanese, can you switch it back to English somehow? Also, I have an app called MoreLocale2 that changes the phone language to Japanese, is it better/more thorough to do the former?

You can set the default language to Japanese (and back) without root (unless not all Android versions have this option?). But if you want everything in your native language/English, but kanji to be rendered with the Japanese font and not the Chinese one, you need root to edit a system file which changes the font priority. Use whichever method you're comfortable with.