How to learn to read from photos of kanji

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Reply #1 - 2013 March 13, 1:48 am
scarby dancer Member
From: Perth Australia Registered: 2009-11-09 Posts: 52

I have dozens of photos of kanji taken during a week's visit to Tokyo before I did RTK.  Now I'd like to learn to read them...

I can recognise many of the keywords, but putting them together doesn't necessarily help me figure out the meaning of a word / compound / sign.  And since I don't know the reading, I can't type it into an online dictionary.  Do I have to count the number of strokes of each kanji to look it up in a hardcopy dictionary to try and find the reading? And will that lead to eventually figuring out the meaning of a sign / notice, for instance?  It seems like a painstaking way to go about reading - or is that what learning to read offline is like and I just have to face it?

Is there an online dictionary where I draw the kanji and it recognises it and brings up the reading and definition? 

Or is there something like Rikaichan that can used over photos on a hard drive?

(I have a laptop with Windows 7 & Firefox,  and a Galaxy Tab2 10.1)

I would appreciate any help you can offer.  Many thanks.

Reply #2 - 2013 March 13, 2:10 am
DevvaR Member
From: Australia Registered: 2011-04-28 Posts: 128 Website

jisho.org
Online Kanji Dictionary.

Reply #3 - 2013 March 13, 2:41 am
jmignot Member
From: France Registered: 2006-03-03 Posts: 205

tagainijisho (http://www.tagaini.net)
+ some patience …

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Reply #4 - 2013 March 13, 3:05 am
scarby dancer Member
From: Perth Australia Registered: 2009-11-09 Posts: 52

DevvaR wrote:

jisho.org
Online Kanji Dictionary.

Thank you!...  Obviously, I could tell from the accompanying red prohibition circle over a phone what this meant:  バスの中で電話携帯のご使用はご遠慮下さい. But now I can add 携帯電話、 ご使用　and　ご遠慮　to my vocabulary and kanji study.smile   I searched using the radicals.  Does that seem the way to go?  I'm not missing this on the site, am I?

scarbydancer wrote:

Is there an online dictionary where I draw the kanji and it recognises it and brings up the reading and definition?

@Hyperborea and @jmignot
Wow, I will check both of these out, thank you so much!

Reply #5 - 2013 March 13, 3:08 am
DevvaR Member
From: Australia Registered: 2011-04-28 Posts: 128 Website

Be careful, that sentence is written in keigo.

Reply #6 - 2013 March 13, 3:12 am
scarby dancer Member
From: Perth Australia Registered: 2009-11-09 Posts: 52

DevvaR wrote:

Be careful, that sentence is written in keigo.

Meaning, ご使用　and ご遠慮　don't begin with ご　?

Reply #7 - 2013 March 13, 5:06 pm
Inny Jan Member
From: Cichy Kącik Registered: 2010-03-09 Posts: 720

scarby dancer wrote:

Is there an online dictionary where I draw the kanji and it recognises it and brings up the reading and definition?

Not an online dictionary but standard Microsoft Japanese IME has "IME Pad" where you can draw a character and it will try to recognise it. For example, I've written the phrase below entirely (including the 。) in IME Pad.

漢字の書き方を教えて下さい。

HTH

Last edited by Inny Jan (2013 March 13, 5:06 pm)

Reply #8 - 2013 March 15, 5:17 am
scarby dancer Member
From: Perth Australia Registered: 2009-11-09 Posts: 52

Inny Jan wrote:

Not an online dictionary but standard Microsoft Japanese IME has "IME Pad" where you can draw a character and it will try to recognise it....
HTH

Thanks, Inny Jan!  It's exactly what I need. And combined with the Denshi Jisho Bookmarklet, I'm having fun now working out the readings of the kanji in my photos. smile

Reply #9 - 2013 March 15, 5:37 am
anritsi Member
Registered: 2010-07-06 Posts: 50 Website

Capture2Text + a dictionary might be useful. Of course, sometimes the OCR makes mistakes, but it'd be better than mouse?-drawing all the kanji.

Reply #10 - 2013 March 16, 4:50 am
NightSky Member
From: Japan Registered: 2008-04-13 Posts: 302

scarby dancer wrote:

DevvaR wrote:

Be careful, that sentence is written in keigo.

Meaning, ご使用　and ご遠慮　don't begin with ご　?

Right, they are 使用 and 遠慮, the "go" prefix is making it more polite.

Reply #11 - 2013 March 16, 6:59 am
Hashiriya Member
From: Georgia Registered: 2008-04-14 Posts: 1072

go here: http://tangorin.com/kanji/ and click multi-radical search. It is super easy to look up kanji from photos that way. Go here to look up vocab the same way: http://tangorin.com/general/

Reply #12 - 2013 March 16, 7:27 am
undead_saif Member
From: Mother Earth Registered: 2009-01-28 Posts: 635

jmignot wrote:

tagainijisho (http://www.tagaini.net)
+ some patience …

え！　これはすごいですね！　ありがとうございます＾＿＾

Reply #13 - 2013 March 16, 7:58 am
Hashiriya Member
From: Georgia Registered: 2008-04-14 Posts: 1072

i don't see the point in drawing out a kanji when you can just select a few radicals and it pops up.

Reply #14 - 2013 March 16, 8:59 am
Zgarbas Watchman
From: 名古屋 Registered: 2011-10-09 Posts: 1210 Website

Alternatively, you can just draw them up in the IME pad. Unless it's some crazy stroke order (usually it's not) it'll find it quickly smile

Reply #15 - 2013 March 16, 11:29 am
howtwosavealif3 Member
From: USA Registered: 2008-02-09 Posts: 889 Website

if for some reason you need to ask a japanese person, you can ask on chiebukuro. signing up for an acocunt is easy. you just write 何と読みますか for the question.

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