Quote:
Originally Posted by sushidushi
If you're reading something in Japanese and there is a kanji you don't know the meaning of, how would you go about finding its meaning? Is there some way of putting them in order to make it easier to look them up?
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Umm, my best guess would be to get a kanji dictionary. I haven't run across any 'regular' dictionaries that also list things by kanji. In the kanji dictionary, it should sort by A) stroke number, and/or B) grade level in which the kanji is taught. The kanji dictionary should have both the on and kun readings, so you would get the pronounciation of the kanji, then get the 'regular' dictionary and search for the correct entry. DX Inconvenient!
EG) say you didn't know the word 中間, for example. You would get the kanji dictionary and search for the character 中 (4 strokes). The reading is chuu/naka. Then search for 間 (12 strokes), whose reading is kan/ken/aida/ma. I still haven't figured out how you're supposed to tell if you read it as on or kun reading (maybe it's based on the actual word the kanji is used in?), but most likely the word 中間 is pronounced with the on reading. Now that you know the reading of 中間, you would go to your 'regular' dictionary and search for the word chuukan, with the correct kanji listed next to the romaji. =]