Kanji look-up recommendations?

[Agorna]

Hello all!

Um... I've been living in Japan for about four months, but my language ability is maybe low-intermediate? About the N4 level.
I'm finding the amount of daily kanji a bit overwhelming.

I was thinking I should buy a portable e-dictionary/program of some kind. Preferably one that lets you write the kanji with a stylus.
I've heard there are programs for the DS and the iPhone as well. I don't have either, but I might get one if they're better.

Anyone have experience with those? A comparison would be awesome. 3nodding

Um...price is a factor, too...I don't need a $700 dictionary... talk2hand

 

[Coda Highland]

Me? I just use the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary, in print. Once you learn its SKIP indexing method it's really quite nice.  

[Agorna]

Coda Highland

Me? I just use the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary, in print. Once you learn its SKIP indexing method it's really quite nice.

Thanks for the reply! smile
Is it travel-size? I was thinking an electronic something would be more portable for the information.  

[Coda Highland]

It's fairly small, but it's not pocket-sized.  

[IdiotbyDefault]

Once you know how to look up kanji (there are several different methods), it really comes down to two things:

1) How much you want to spend.

2) What system you want to use.

When I first started learning Japanese back in high school, I started learning kanji for the Japan Bowl (called something else now), and I studied how to break down characters in radicals. I used a Nelson dictionary in the beginning, but Nelson dictionaries are in the upper-end of Kanji dictionaries (at least back in the day).

Nelson: http://www.amazon.com/New-Nelson-Japanese-English-Character-Dictionary/dp/0804820368/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296619680&sr=1-6

However, I ended up buying a Kodansha's Essential Kanji Dictionary (which I still have to this day) to help with my later Japanese classes.

KEJD: http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Essential-Dictionary-Japanese-People/dp/4770028911/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296619769&sr=1-1 (don't pay attention to the "Japanese for Busy People" part, I think that was search trolling by the sellers).

When I studied abroad in Japan, I bought a DS and Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten, which when combined with the touch stylus of the DS, it allowed me to search for Kanji really fast even if I didn't know how to search by radical. However the definitions would sometimes be sparse.

KSRJ: http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Dictionary-Sonomama-Rakubiki-Nintendo-DS/dp/B000O2S9VQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1296620095&sr=8-1-catcorr

I eventually bought an electronic dictionary when I was in Japan because I needed a faster way of searching for words and I wanted something that was more 'native' and I could search more in Japanese.

I actually found a website selling/shipping the item outside of Japan.

Casio Ex-Word-P600: http://hovanfue.com/products/CASIO-Japanese-Business-Compact-Dictionary-XD%2dP600.html

There are also electronic dictionaries with different dictionaries and specialties. Mine dealt with business situations because of the business classes I took when I was in Japan. Some have touch screens that basically can do the same thing the Japanese Kanji DS cart can do, but expect to pay 300 or more outside of Japan (in Japan, the cheapest usually run aroun 160~180 dollars believe it or not. Blame taxes and tariffs)

In all, it depends really on what you want to spend, and what system (book, electronic, touch-screen) you want to use. I personally find my electronic dictionary more useful because it is slightly more compact, I can pull it out and begin to search immediately with which the DS and cart I cannot do so quickly.  

[Agorna]

`E c h e v e r i a

(Probably necroing the thread at this point but I found this post really useful.)
Edited a couple things in it to save it for later, changed out the link addresses for actual links and changed one of them to one that didn't make my antivirus have a fit.

Wow, hi! biggrin I don't come on this account all that often.

If you're curious, I ended up going with a DS and Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten - but this had a lot to do with cost (I was too broke back then to afford a bed or futon and was sleeping on a large pillow) and because I kind of needed something I could pull out in the supermarket and find out what I might be buying. You can also look up print media kanji a lot faster with it.
There are other options for the PC, etc, depending, like IdiotbyDefault said, on the media you're using.

I understand there's an app for the iPhone/new iPods that lets you take a picture of the kanji - I'm not sure how that compares.