It's a common misconception that each element of a kanji contributes a meaning to the overall character. Not true! In truth, elements each contribute in different ways. This update uses the true history of kanji to help users learn and remember them.
I've been working on this update for over 8 months, and I'm super proud of how it turned out.
Most Japanese dictionaries present kanji as a compilation of individual elements with their own specific meanings. This is actually a common misunderstanding of how kanji work. The truth is, each element can contribute a different thing to the kanji — a specific meaning, a broad category, or a pronunciation. Understanding the true contribution of each element can unlock a richer understanding of every character, helping learners to remember them easier, learn new characters faster, and even guess at rough meaning and pronunciations for characters they’ve never seen before.
This information has always been available, but until now it required the use of an etymological dictionary and knowledge of a verbose and esoteric set of terminology like “ideogram” and “phonosemantic compound”. As far as I know, Nihongo is the first Japanese dictionary to compile this information into a user-friendly, learner-focused presentation that unlocks the learning potential of this content (without requiring a degree in linguistics).
The data for this release mostly comes from Wiktionary, but I used other sources as well when Wiktionary was lacking, and used a good amount of my own judgment to choose between multiple etymologies when there were multiple possibilities out there. The truth is, nobody knows the true history of these characters for sure, so I chose to err on the side of etymologies that provide the most useful and memorable story for learners.
Happy to answer any questions!
@jo_jo26 Thanks! Yeah, I've spent the last 9 months deep into learning the history of the Chinese characters, since that's the origin of all the Japanese characters. Different dynasties, writing mediums, forks in the language (there was one path that the language started but didn't go down!). Different periods of transfer from Chinese to Japanese.
I tried to take all that knowledge, boil it down to the things that I think will be most helpful for learners, and reorganize it in a way that made more sense to my brain (category, sound, and meaning elements). I ripped out unnecessary information, slimmed down the character histories, and organized them chronologically.
The data itself comes from Wiktionary, but I don't think I've seen it presented like this before. Thanks for checking it out!
Congrats on the launch! The story and meaning behind the elements, and combined meanings are what make Chinese characters so fascinating. Love how you incorporate that into the dictionary, thanks!
@kehui_guo Thanks, and agreed! Theirs a fascinating history behind so many of these characters, and I think that's actually underutilized as a tool for remembering them by learners!
Congrats on the launch! It is an amazing app for learning Chinese and Japanese, similar to the method of learning English roots. I think this will be very helpful for language learners! BTW, does the app have a testing feature?
@josie_oy thanks!! It has built in flashcards with a spaced repetition system for learning. This is mostly for vocabulary learning and learning to write the kanji. The app automatically creates flashcards for you from the words you look up (through search or with your camera), so you can study words you have real context for, rather than premade flashcard decks. 🙂
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