Abstract

Learning kanji seems to be the main difficulty for students of the Japanese language. Traditionally, kanji are identified and classified by their number of brush strokes, relationship to a root character or individual pronunciation. These classification methods are currently used in most reference documents. It soon becomes apparent that in order to consult a dictionary, students must have prior knowledge of the Japanese writing system. My hypothesis is that utilization of a search and retrieval method that is based on detailed description of the structure of Kanji may lead to improved recall of the Kanji under study. Such a method should promote better organized and more elaborated knowledge of the characters, based on underlying visual structure. A new on-line tool based on these visual and structural approaches was developed and compared with a traditional paper dictionary in a study involving 21 volunteers. Significant results in favour of the new search method were found.