Mm, yeah. The paper dictionary is much better. The only reason I have a electronic dictionary was because it was light and easy to carry around in Japan. And that wasn't really for looking up kanji, but words that I overheard.

I tried to be nice and type them up, but I got bored halfway through.

５：外、古、号、左、市、四、写、出、生、台、田、冬 、白、半、平、母、北、本、目、右
６：安、会、気、休、好、行、西、字、寺、耳、自、州 、成、先、多、地、同、肉、年、百、毎、名、有
７：何、花、近、見、私、社、車、住、図、赤、村、体 、町、男、売、来

You are a Kanji Saint. I hope you get the proper thanks.

No, they're not clear/easy to read. In fact some of them simply look like blobs! Yes :) that's the problem, I don't know all of the kanji in that list. If I did know them I'd recognise them with much more success I'm sure, but I need to know what they are to learn them efficiently without going through all 2042 Heisig kanji! Are you familiar with the Heisig method? I've done the first 400 from there (well, just under 400), no more. That doesn't mean I know the 400 most frequently used.

Fantastic, thank you so very, very much for those, that's so much help :) . I'm going to post this thread on another forum too to see if I can get help there.

Thank you very much too ^_^ , yours and Natty's generosity is much appreciated!

I did discover a cool feature on my home computer where I can draw with my mouse the rough shape of a kanji and it brings up a list of options of ones it could be :D ! I'm going to have a try with it when I get home tonight.

I can offer maths help if anyone would like that in exchange for the rest of the kanji? I'm teaching calculus 5, and statistics 1/2 to seniors in high school this year, so I'm more than happy to help out with those.

You might need to get your computer checked. They don't look like blobs on this end.

Well take for example as an extreme the 18 strokes one. I recognise the 'sun'/'day' primitive bit on the left, but the bit on the right looks like nothing more than a homogenous blob of black ink.

Using the device I mentioned in my last post, I think that the character is: 曜

But there is no way of me being sure. It looks sort of similar :) .

That's what it looks like to me.

I don`t believe I`m familiar with this "Heisig" method... I`ve never actually studied Japanese. However, I must say that I have serious doubts on the effectiveness of a program which not only doesn`t teach in order of frequency, but leaves 曜, something you`ll encounter pretty much everyday (literally) - particularly in a classroom situation - out of the first 500 or so.

No, wait. I just checked up on the Heisig method. I AM familiar with it. I don`t know a single person who actually used it and was able to apply it to real life Japanese. It removes the kanji from common sense order and from context, so you`re left with these little floating characters that are connected with meanings that do not apply in real Japanese. And with images associated with the kanji that actually impair correct deduction of the meaning in unfamiliar words.
Seriously, it is an example of how NOT to create a natural textbook among linguistics scholars. Not to mention it uses supposed histories of characters that besides being incorrect, are downright racist in some cases. (I do hope they`ve taken some of those out in newer editions... Like the references to cannibalism, etc)

In other words - The Heisig method is not a good method. Unless, of course, your only aim is to somehow remember these characters - void of proper meaning and context.

same here.. I can see them clearly and in fact I donT have a 20-20 vision so.. oh well.. :rolleyes:

Really? So how do you suggest I learn the kanji? I find it difficult enough with Heisig - my memory isn't great and remembering 2000+ characters of an average of perhaps 10 strokes without any help from something like Heisig each seems like a very, very difficult task. Do you know of any things that teach them in frequency order? That would be great! Thanks!