Hello,

I've just started with RtK3, the Kanji are proving more complex than the ones in the first book. What's worse, the resources I've so far used to learn the stroke orders for the characters are insufficient. I bought the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary (recommended ;-)) but it only contains some 2230 characters. I've been using Wakan since day one, but I've noticed long ago that the stroke orders for less common kanji are simply missing. I guess I can expect this from most of the available dictionaries, since what's covered in RtK3 is considered to be beyond what an average student of Japanese will ever need.
So is there a more comprehensive resource? One that would contain stroke orders for all the RtK3 Kanji?

The Kanji Stroke Order Font includes stroke orders for all the kanji in RTK3 (or at least for all I checked). I'm not sure how reliable it is, though..

You can get it here:
http://sites.google.com/site/nihilistorguk/

This is golden. The fact that it's a font makes it so easy to use, especially in computer applications. I'll inquire about relevance of the sources used to create this, I'll contact the author if I have to. Then maybe we could make a suggestion to ファブリス to integrate this into the site. Imagine a review page, or study page, where you could view the stroke order of a character (not to mention view it in a font that's based on handwriting) with a click of a button. And implementation-wise all it takes is to switch a font. Ingenious.
Thank you very much.

When you get to RtK3, you really shouldn't have to look strokeorder up anymore. It's all based on the same system and when you know how to write a primitive, you know how to write it in all kanji using it. The exceptions are few and far inbetween.

If you use Firefox, you can already use that font on this site. There's a Greasemonkey script that allows you to pick whatever font you want. Once you install the "change kanji font" script, go to your profile on the main site (not your forum profile) and choose the font you want to use.

Greasemonkey: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
Change kanji font: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6896

Tobberoth Wrote:When you get to RtK3, you really shouldn't have to look strokeorder up anymore. It's all based on the same system and when you know how to write a primitive, you know how to write it in all kanji using it. The exceptions are few and far inbetween.

the problem is in the word "shouldn't". Heisig's 'system' never really worked for me, when it came to proper stroke order, or more often stroke direction, to be precise. Of course most of the Kanji were simple enough to figure out, since they adhered to the basic rules and followed the simple element placement patterns. But there were too many 'irregular' Kanji (using rare, obscure shapes, elements mixed together, deformed, etc.) which left me puzzled. In the book's introduction Heisig promises to teach the correct stroke order. This was not the case with me, at least not with all the characters. I realize that mistake has probably been made on my side. I did not understand exactly how Heisig was going to deliver on this claim, and I was too impatient in the beginning to try and figure it out.
I will probably use the font with this site for reviewing. But the idea is still valid, I don't want to see the stroke orders all the time, only when I'm not sure about them.

Why not use Anki?

I've always used the 漢字の正しい書き順 website.

They currently only have about 3,700 characters, but they are still actively adding to their database.

I'm at frame 2,547 and have had to consult outside sources for stroke order as well. For stroke order questions I always go to the super reliable

http://www.archchinese.com/arch_animation.html

It has gorgeous diagrams that write the kanji out for you.

And to Remember the Kanji I use the amazing Anki.

http://www.ichi2.net/anki

oh snap. I was just about to install the kanji stroke order font on my work computer, when I found out that the company proxy won't allow me to access the site. I don't suppose anyone could send me the font? Just the font file is enough, doesn't have to be the whole archive.

crystalcastlecreature Wrote:For stroke order questions I always go to the super reliable

http://www.archchinese.com/arch_animation.html

...presumably it's super reliable for Chinese stroke order and very occasionally wrong for Japanese stroke order, though :-)

Green_Airplane Wrote:oh snap. I was just about to install the kanji stroke order font on my work computer, when I found out that the company proxy won't allow me to access the site. I don't suppose anyone could send me the font? Just the font file is enough, doesn't have to be the whole archive.

You've not supplied an email address.

AFAICT, one can't attach files to emails sent through this forum.

I'm sorry, I forgot to update this thread. I only asked for the file because t the time I was at work, looking to a whole day without proper unrestricted access to the internet, and was hoping someone would send me the file that day. As I've been home and back several times since I made the request, I was able to bring the file from home.
I would like to thank Katsuo for sending me the file.

I personally find this to be a wonderful online Kanji-Finder/Dictionary

http://pyrosphere.net/japanese/

It's got 6355 kanji, and I haven't found any so far that it doesn't have the stroke order for.
Also, meanings/readings/compounds.

Lookup is simple too: by kanji, by reading, by number of strokes...Just check it out and perhaps you'll fall in love with it too.

that's very nice. And it seems to be using the Kanji stroke order font for stroke orders, or the same source as the font.

Asriel Wrote:I personally find this to be a wonderful online Kanji-Finder/Dictionary

http://pyrosphere.net/japanese/

It's got 6355 kanji, and I haven't found any so far that it doesn't have the stroke order for.
Also, meanings/readings/compounds.

Lookup is simple too: by kanji, by reading, by number of strokes...Just check it out and perhaps you'll fall in love with it too.

Neat.

Every resource seems to be missing the stroke order for various Kanji. Knowing the stroke order for the old 1945 or the current 2136 is sufficient. Any resource that gives the stroke sequence for those Kanji would be enough, even for the first 1006 Kanji might be sufficient. Once you understand the correct way of writing Kanji, you should be able to write any Kanji correctly. 鼈（すっぽん）