Have you ever picked up a book, manga or even a photo and came across an ideogram that you don't know how to read, or how to write or type it on the computer? In this article we will help you to discover Kanji, what is the meaning and reading of the mysterious ideogram.
It is very common to find ideograms and not know their writing when we are away from the computer. Whether on a sign on the street, in a youtube video, in a book, light novel or manga. I hope the tips in this article are helpful to you!
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OCR - Google Lens - Live Text and Google Translator
The first idea in the minds of some might be to resort to Google Lens or even to the Google Translate, using the camera to take a photo and scan the lyrics.
If you use macOS or iOS, you can simply copy the ideogram of the image or manga you are reading with Live Text. There are sites that also scan text from images called OCR.
The big problem is that most of the time these ideograms are written in a strange way or in some font that the mentioned programs cannot find out. So we can resort to other ways.
Using Radicals and Pieces of Ideograms
Some websites often allow searching for ideograms by drawn strokes or choice of radicals. For those who don't know, radicals are pieces that form the ideograms.
Sites like jisho.org allow you to select parts of the kanji you want to discover, thus filtering and displaying suggestions for what you are looking for.
On jisho.org, look for the Radical icon, then select the parts of the ideogram you want to discover until it appears among those suggested. Be careful not to choose the wrong radicals or pieces.
Jisho.org is not the only tool that allows you to search for ideograms through radicals, there are many others that use the same API, including mobile applications. I believe most Japanese dictionaries offer this option.