So I saw a term in a show: 騒動

I have no idea what the first kanji is so I draw in IME Pad and put it into Google. But I recognize the second kanji from 動く, "to move". So I type "ugoku" and delete the ku. But if I didn't know 騒動 = soudou, how could I input the kanji 動 without any extra words?

Is there a standard, such as On readings in Japanese IME get you the corresponding kanji?

It's kind of awkward in longer sentences with repeated instances of, for example ”通” or "売" or "連" and I have to keep writing 通牒 tsuuchou, 売って utte，and　連れて　tsurete, because those are the only compounds with those kanji that easily come to mind.

Is there a particular reading for kanji that's the standard for getting those kanji by themselves in Windows XP Japanese IME?　

You can generally use on'yomi, but it's a waste of time. Much faster to simply writing a word you know and delete the rest (of course, the ultimate solution is to actually know what you're writing)

Why do you want to type just a single kanji?

通, 連, and 売 are easy to find if you input the onyomi like tobberoth says. If you don't know the onyomi you can do a look up by radical. I usually use this site

http://tangorin.com/mr-kanji

There is also the option of using a component based IME. I forget what it's called, but each kanji is given a certain input combination.

ありがとうございます　Tobberothさん， ropstaさん.
Ok On'yomi ftw.

So in the future I'll draw what I don't know and hopefully remember an On'yomi for those kanji that I do.

Draw 騒 + type "dou + the matching number in the drop-down menu" + spacebar for 動

Have you tried Wakan? http://wakan.manga.cz/ I find that to be very useful for looking up kanji.

どうもありがとうbandwidthjunkieさん

Hmm it has a great amount of information about each 漢字, but does it have a drawing recognition pad like IME?

Either way it's just a treasure trove of info. If only I could "Matrix" it all into my brain...

TheTrueBlue Wrote:どうもありがとうbandwidthjunkieさん

Hmm it has a great amount of information about each 漢字, but does it have a drawing recognition pad like IME?

Either way it's just a treasure trove of info. If only I could "Matrix" it all into my brain...

いいえ。漢字が探したい時、漢字が書けないと思う。画数や部首を知らなければならない。

No problem. I don't think so, it is kind of basic (it doesn't even like kana), so you need to know (or have a decent stab at) the stroke count and then you need to work out what the radical(s) is/are. But is a great app and perfect for Heisig 漢字オタク. See how long it is before you are showing off that you can write 麒麟 and 鸞?

If you are really keen on writing them in have you thought about getting one of those USB kanji tablets?

lol... actually when I went to mainland China I got a super-light working laptop with a pen that could write directly onto the monitor ala Palm for only 125 USD.

Unfortunately the strain of installing an English version of Windows XP once I got back to the States killed it.

I'll look into those tablets, but I'm not sure how much handwriting of 漢字 I, or anyone would ever have to do anymore... unless it's a JLPT requirement or something...

The IME Pad seems to work ok... as long you don't mess up the stroke order, which thank the Gods for my Chinese background, I still mostly remember. It's strange though when you draw a perfect 漢字 in the pad and it has no idea what to give you because you used the wrong stroke order or the wrong number of strokes.

TheTrueBlue Wrote:I'm not sure how much handwriting of 漢字 I, or anyone would ever have to do anymore... unless it's a JLPT requirement or something...

It's true, I don't bother doing any writing practice because it isn't massively useful and it takes ages. I've heard the ipod touch has an excellent kanji recognition app on it, though I haven't tried it and I'm not sure if it is free. However I can tell you that the ipod touch has a brilliant free J-E (+french and german) dictionary on it that uses the edict data, I wish I had had it while I was in Japan.

Edit: Ive looked and the kanji app isnt free (http://shinkanji.bcerrina.com/) however, if it weren't for the fact that I've not payed for a piece of digital media since 2003 I would give it a go.

If you can afford it, get a DS and 漢字そのまま楽引辞典 (kanji no sonomama rakubiki). In fact, don't study without it. You can draw kanji directly into it and it has both very extensive J-J and J-E Dictionaries (the J-E has tonnes of example sentences). I can't express just how useful this is and how FAST it is to look up unknown words. As for using the IME I just type in the entire word im after and it comes up??

bandwidthjunkie Wrote:

TheTrueBlue Wrote:I'm not sure how much handwriting of 漢字 I, or anyone would ever have to do anymore... unless it's a JLPT requirement or something...

It's true, I don't bother doing any writing practice because it isn't massively useful and it takes ages. I've heard the ipod touch has an excellent kanji recognition app on it, though I haven't tried it and I'm not sure if it is free. However I can tell you that the ipod touch has a brilliant free J-E (+french and german) dictionary on it that uses the edict data, I wish I had had it while I was in Japan.

Edit: Ive looked and the kanji app isnt free (http://shinkanji.bcerrina.com/) however, if it weren't for the fact that I've not payed for a piece of digital media since 2003 I would give it a go.

don t want to undermine other people s work but if it s based on EDICT data then it s not brilliant..... edict is very useful , I use it on a daily basis , but it s far from perfect....
-no sentence exemple
-quite confusing on kanji : when you input an expression in hiragana it just gets all the different calligraphy and it s up to you to choose the good one.... even when this expression is usually not written in kanji or some of the calligraphy are barely used ... there is no frequency/priority , you just have to figure out by yourself.

as far as I m concerned the best free dictionnary available out there is yahoo dic : japanese definition , presentation of various meaning with a frequency ranking , sentence exemple and no error whatsoever at least up now.

mezbup Wrote:If you can afford it, get a DS and 漢字そのまま楽引辞典 (kanji no sonomama rakubiki). In fact, don't study without it. You can draw kanji directly into it and it has both very extensive J-J and J-E Dictionaries (the J-E has tonnes of example sentences). I can't express just how useful this is and how FAST it is to look up unknown words. As for using the IME I just type in the entire word im after and it comes up??

I cant remember where I found it .... but I m pretty sure that the dictionnary used by 漢字そのまま楽引辞典 is available for free somewhere....or maybe I saw it on a genuine electronic dictionnary

EDIT : on a side note I remind you guys that for those who have a r3 or any other kind of DS memory card , there is a homebrew dictionnary available called NewDictS and based on open source StarDicts . From there you can download every dictionnary (chinese ,french , english ....)on stardicts webpage : which includes edict , longman etc....
I think I ll made a topic for this as there is a lot to say.

ghinzdra Wrote:don t want to undermine other people s work but if it s based on EDICT data then it s not brilliant..... edict is very useful , I use it on a daily basis , but it s far from perfect....
-no sentence exemple
-quite confusing on kanji : when you input an expression in hiragana it just gets all the different calligraphy and it s up to you to choose the good one.... even when this expression is usually not written in kanji or some of the calligraphy are barely used ... there is no frequency/priority , you just have to figure out by yourself.

as far as I m concerned the best free dictionnary available out there is yahoo dic : japanese definition , presentation of various meaning with a frequency ranking , sentence exemple and no error whatsoever at least up now.

But it's online, so you can't use it when you are out and about unless you have an itnternet phone, in which case it is going to be a bit slow. Having something fairly comprehensive in your pocket is very useful; what is really excellent about kotoba, which is the dictionary, is that it has a great interface.

ghinzdra Wrote:

mezbup Wrote:If you can afford it, get a DS and 漢字そのまま楽引辞典 (kanji no sonomama rakubiki). In fact, don't study without it. You can draw kanji directly into it and it has both very extensive J-J and J-E Dictionaries (the J-E has tonnes of example sentences). I can't express just how useful this is and how FAST it is to look up unknown words. As for using the IME I just type in the entire word im after and it comes up??

I cant remember where I found it .... but I m pretty sure that the dictionnary used by 漢字そのまま楽引辞典 is available for free somewhere....or maybe I saw it on a genuine electronic dictionnary

EDIT : on a side note I remind you guys that for those who have a r3 or any other kind of DS memory card , there is a homebrew dictionnary available called NewDictS and based on open source StarDicts . From there you can download every dictionnary (chinese ,french , english ....)on stardicts webpage : which includes edict , longman etc....
I think I ll made a topic for this as there is a lot to say.

it's less about getting it for free and more about how good and useful it actually is to be able to write kanji in with the stylus in order to look words up. Saves a HUGE amount of time. I don't really think it's of crucial importance which dictionary is used, so long as it's been made by Japanese people, for Japanese people. My main point is, I would cringe at the thought of having to look stuff up any other way. I've had this since day 1.