Is there such program that..

[helu]

When we try to write kanji with mouse/computer tablet, the program will recognize what we write and enter it in textfield?

Such a program will be best for me, some mangas and novels do not have furigana attached to kanjis and I don't know how to find them in dictionary. Also, is there other way to search kanji without knowing its furigana?

[untmdsprt]

If you have the Kanji Learner's Dictionary (ISBN 4-7700-2855-5), then on the side of the page you can find the radical. You can then look up the kanji in question by this.

Example: 語 - the 4 lines, and box on the left side is the radical in many other kanji. Like 話す、言う、言論

Or if your computer has a character palette, you can also search for the kanji you want. Only problem is, you'll have to know how many strokes are in the radical. My example has 7 strokes.

You may find such a handwriting software if you own a PDA, or the Nintendo DS. I've seen some kanji games for the DS that could do this. You may also want to do a search for an electronic dictionary.

[Tom]

If you use Windows and have Japanese input support installed, then you already have handwriting recognition software (for tablet or mouse!).

Switch to Japanese input (hiragana input). The Language Bar should appear. It has several buttons on it. One of the buttons opens a menu with the item "Handwriting". Click that, and a handwriting input window will appear.

Draw hiragana, katakana, or kanji into that box and click one of the characters that appear on the right side. The character will be typed into the current application for you.

You can also purchase standalone electronic dictionaries with handwriting recognition. There are also Nintendo DS games which recognize written kanji characters, as utmdsprt said.

[helu]

Thanks, I've experimented on Japanese IME and it works! I didn't know such feature existed! The radical method is interesting but will it be able to find all kanji characters? Not all characters have radicals, right?

May I know the title of DS game with such feature? A Japanese learning DS game with lessons, flash cards and mini games will really rock.

[Tom]

The dictionary I have, I think is only a dictionary. It is Japanese<->English with handwriting support for both languages. It's says on the cartridge:

らくびきじてん
漢字そのまま
楽引辞典
ジーニアス

I can't say I know what most of that means, but I do see a "kanji" and a "genius" in there.

I have a paper-based dictionary that is indexed by radical: about 8% of the characters are in the no-radical section.

[helu]

I see. Really thanks for the support!