iPhone app for drawing kanji?

[Jacob Dunlap]

Hi all,

I'm having to handle PDF files more frequently these days, and looking
up kanji I haven't seen before can be a pain. I'm sure an app like
this exists, but do any of you yakkers know of an iPhone app that
works like the Windows IME pad, where you can draw the kanji with your
finger and have the reading/meaning looked up for you? I'd really
appreciate any recommendations.

Jacob Dunlap

[Jocelyne Allen]

I've been using an app called simply "Japanese" for a while now and I really love it. It should pop up if you search the app store. (The icon is 本 in white on a burgundy background.) It's based on Jim Breen's dictionary, and it keeps a history of your searches, plus allows you to make lists of vocabulary for whatever reason. You can also quiz yourself on your lists and makes notes on dictionary entries. It's been my favourite resource since I got it. You can draw kanji by setting the Chinese manual input keyboard on your iPhone, and as long as you're reasonably close with the stroke order, the dictionary will recognize it and find it for you. You can also do searches by radical if your drawing powers fail you. I can't remember how much it cost, but it was worth it. I also have Kotoba, but for some reason, I just don't like it very much. But it's free and does a lot of the same things. 

HTH,  

Jocelyne Allen

jocelyne.allen (at) gmail.com

[Jacob Dunlap]

Cheers for that response -- so the Chinese manual input would seem to
be the key rather than the dictionary itself. didn't even think of
that. I'll give it a go!

Thanks again,

Jacob Dunlap

[BJ Beauchamp]

   Another free app is "Kotoba!" which also uses Jim Breen's dictionary.

-- BJ



--
--
BJ Beauchamp
University at Buffalo
Bachelors of Arts, Applied Linguistics
---
I'm a soldier and that means
I am both defendant and judge
I stand at both ends of the fire

I'm a soldier つまり私は
被告人であり裁判官
火の両端に私は立つ
---

[roy.b...@gmail.com]

I use the Traditional Chinese handwriting input "keyboard" with the
Kotoba app to look up readings of obscure characters. While it does
not support simplified Japanese versions of kanji, this is almost
never a problem, since a Japanese kanji that I can't find more easily
is 99.99% of the time identical to the traditional Chinese version.

[Jon LeFlore]

I do the same thing, but I also use the simplified Chinese handwriting
input for those rare occasions that the traditional Chinese doesn't
cut it. Might as well use both!

Jon LeFlore

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[Jacob Dunlap]

Thank you all very much for the replies. I have been using Kotoba! for
a while now, but I had completely forgotten about the handwritten
Chinese input. It can't possibly be any more frustrating than drawing
kanji through Microsoft's IME pad using the mouse, so I'll give it a
try. Thanks again!

Jacob Dunlap