Friday, June 17, 2011

Japanese on Android again

I've already discussed the superb aedict before, (twice in fact) and my frustration at its stroke-order-dependent kanji recognition. In my second post I also talked about AnkiDroid and  a new Japanese/Chinese handwriting IME.

I had great hopes for that IME, but after trying out several versions of it as it is released, support for Japanese still seems weak.



In the meantime, I came across WWWJDIC and Kanji Recogniser for the Android by Nikolay Elenkov. At first I wasn't impressed, since the dictionary requires connection to the internet, unlike aedict. However, I've gotten good use out of its slightly less picky kanji recognition, and I often switch between WWWJDIC and aedict while reading through a book when I come across a particularly mysterious or easier-to-draw-than-decompose-into-radicals type of kanji.

It isn't perfect, but its another option when I come across a particularly difficult character, and I don't have to bookmark so many words to wait until I can ask my wife!

Ankidroid has come into its own too, with sync fully supported, and even the ability to add cards. I would finally consider ankidroid to be a useable app, and it was very useful today, as I was left waiting for nigh on an hour at a blood donation centre. Now I can redeem at least some of my wasted time with Japanese knowledge!