Abstract
We have developed a method that makes it easier for language beginners to look up Japanese kanji characters. Instead of using the arbitrary conventions of kanjis, this method is based on three simple prototypes: horizontal, vertical, and other strokes. For example, the code for the kanji \(\boxplus\) (ta, meaning rice field) is ‘3-3-0’, indicating the kanji consists of three horizontal strokes and three vertical strokes. Such codes allow a beginner to look up kanjis even with no knowledge of the ideographic conventions used by native speakers. To make the search easier, a complex kanji can be looked up via the components making up the kanji. We conducted a user evaluation of this system and found that non-native speakers could look up kanjis more quickly and reliably, and with fewer failures, with our system than with conventional methods.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Breen, J.: Jim Breen’s WWWDic Site (2005), available at: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi
Halpern, J.: Kanji Learner’s Dictionary, Kodansha (1999)
Slaven, B., Baldwin, T., Tanaka, H.: Bringing the dictionary to the user: the foks system. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Computational Linguistics, pp. 84–91 (2002)
Tanaka-Ishii, K., Godon, J.: Kansuke: Japanese kanji lookup site (2006), available at: http://www.ish.ci.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp/kansuke.html
Wikipedia. Chinese character entry on keygoard and its evaluation and test technology (2005), available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-Chinese_input_method
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Tanaka-Ishii, K., Godon, J. (2006). Kansuke: A Kanji Look-Up System Based on a Few Stroke Prototypes. In: Matsumoto, Y., Sproat, R.W., Wong, KF., Zhang, M. (eds) Computer Processing of Oriental Languages. Beyond the Orient: The Research Challenges Ahead. ICCPOL 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4285. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11940098_32
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11940098_32
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-49667-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49668-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)