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Subject: Wubi for Japanese Kanji
Wubi is an input method for Kanji characters that is based on the strokes or the composition of the Kanji character. It was invented for Chinese and is well known amongst Chinese computer users. Now there is the same method available for Japanese Kanji. I found out about the Japanese version at: http://www.chimozhai.com/kana5/English/English_default.html
It has two benefits. You enter Kanji characters based on what they look like instead of sound. This will help you with retaining the shape of the character in your mind. The other benefit is that it requires a limited number of keystrokes to input any character.
The drawbacks are that with some characters, they will have the same code, so you will need an additional distinction code or perhaps you would select from a pop-up list. Also, with some Kanji characters, you will not be entering the full "information" of the character, so you might forget the details of that character which you don't need for input. And those characters would be the more complex ones too!
I think it is important to remember every single stroke in a character. With Wubi, you leave out some strokes when there are too many and it also has too many different types of strokes using the same code. It has the benefit of making input quicker, but for a learner I think it is more import to recall the full character rather than worrying about the speed of input.
I don't know exactly how complex the system is or how long it would take to learn. It looks pretty complex to me. And since it doesn't completely address the problem of the remembering the entire Kanji character, I would not try it. Also, I do not see any mention about entering kana.
It is an input method or system designed to address the problems of keyboard input for Chinese characters from a land where not everybody pronounces them the same way. It is not an input method designed for foreign learners of Chinese characters. It was not designed to address the issues of forgetting how to write Kanji characters. Chinese people have less of a problem with that than Japanese people do. Why? Well for one thing, in Japanese you can just write kana when you don't know which Kanji to use or can't remember it.
That is why I created my own Kanji input method which is now in testing.
It has two benefits. You enter Kanji characters based on what they look like instead of sound. This will help you with retaining the shape of the character in your mind. The other benefit is that it requires a limited number of keystrokes to input any character.
The drawbacks are that with some characters, they will have the same code, so you will need an additional distinction code or perhaps you would select from a pop-up list. Also, with some Kanji characters, you will not be entering the full "information" of the character, so you might forget the details of that character which you don't need for input. And those characters would be the more complex ones too!
I think it is important to remember every single stroke in a character. With Wubi, you leave out some strokes when there are too many and it also has too many different types of strokes using the same code. It has the benefit of making input quicker, but for a learner I think it is more import to recall the full character rather than worrying about the speed of input.
I don't know exactly how complex the system is or how long it would take to learn. It looks pretty complex to me. And since it doesn't completely address the problem of the remembering the entire Kanji character, I would not try it. Also, I do not see any mention about entering kana.
It is an input method or system designed to address the problems of keyboard input for Chinese characters from a land where not everybody pronounces them the same way. It is not an input method designed for foreign learners of Chinese characters. It was not designed to address the issues of forgetting how to write Kanji characters. Chinese people have less of a problem with that than Japanese people do. Why? Well for one thing, in Japanese you can just write kana when you don't know which Kanji to use or can't remember it.
That is why I created my own Kanji input method which is now in testing.