anyone have any good methods for looking up kanjis you dont know?

[Gerbonium]

like any programs for windows where you can "draw" the kanji with your mouse and have it tell you its pronunciations and meamings?

i can get a nintendo ds and get a "game" here where i use the stylus and it does all this, and also there are pda programs i have heard about but don't know too much about.

i have a kanji dictionary but the problem is, it only has so many examples of the compounds and most the times no the ones i need. so then i have to go through a whole process useing my e-jisho and typing in every single possible combinations of the pronunciations and what not to hope to figure out what it means. this can take a HUGE amount of time.

basically i want this bc i want to get a couple japanese RPG's for my psp before i go home to continue/force myself into practicing.

if no programs for windows what pda's would you suggest and programs for them. thanks a lot in advance.

[Charles]

basically i want this bc i want to get a couple japanese RPG's for my psp before i go home to continue/force myself into practicing.

Practicing what? RPGs or Japanese?

[Ketou]

[FG Lurker]

As Ketou wrote, the IME build into Win2K/XP (even non-Japanese versions of the OS) has a function where you can draw kanji on the screen. Once you have found the one you want, you can then paste it into whatever program you are using -- Word/email/Notepad/browser, etc.

Jim Breen's excellent WWWJDIC is a great place to go online to check for further readings and samples:
http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

Good luck!

[Gerbonium]

for some reason when i click ime pad there is no drop down menu. all the others work fine, just not that

[Ketou]

Do you have Japanese characters installed and the language set to Japanese?

[Gerbonium]

yup

[Gerbonium]

i got it. did some more research on the net about it and found ppl having the same problem i was. the solution? uninstall the support for east asian files then reinstall it. (ull have to restart a few times). then it should work

[Ketou]

That's great!

[Gerbonium]

awesome! this works great. thanks all.

Charles: to practice japanese

[Charles]

Charles: to practice japanese

You can't practice Japanese by playing RPGs. It just doesn't work. If it DID work, then the dozens of otaku I saw flunk out of Japanese classes due to wasting all their time playing RPGs and not studying, they'd all be PhDs.

[Ketou]

You can't practice Japanese by playing RPGs. It just doesn't work. If it DID work, then the dozens of otaku I saw flunk out of Japanese classes due to wasting all their time playing RPGs and not studying, they'd all be PhDs.

Reading comprehension Charles??
"basically i want this bc i want to get a couple japanese RPG's for my psp before i go home to continue/force myself into practicing."

[Charles]

Reading comprehension Charles??
"basically i want this bc i want to get a couple japanese RPG's for my psp before i go home to continue/force myself into practicing."

Yes, he says he wants to use his Japanese RPGs to practice kanji reading. It doesn't work. If you want to play Japanese RPGs, fine, just don't delude yourself into believing it is useful in maintaining or increasing your Japanese skills.

[jingai]

Whatever you do to reinforce your knowledge of Japanese is good. Newspaper articles, manga, anime, RPGs, restaurant menus, movies, whatever. Even writing kanji and sticking them on your walls will help you retain what you've learned. Personally, I recommend translating newspaper articles and watching comedy shows for listening, but do what you like.