Last fall, I reported the results of my search for kanji-learning gold in cyberspace. Today, in this second report, I am happy to inform you that the panning has never been better.
My bookshelf sags from the weight of kanji dictionaries and textbooks, and I do not wish to part with these old friends. But as Web sites offering free kanji-learning tools become increasingly numerous and sophisticated, I often use my computer to head straight for the gold.
Rikai.com (www.rikai.com) is an online character translator that allows you to enjoy Japanese Web pages. Simply enter the URL of a Japanese home page and Rikai will open it for you. Run your cursor over any kanji in the text and -- Eureka! -- the kanji's pronunciation (along with a definition in English) will appear. You can also paste text -- such as e-mail from Japanese colleagues and friends -- into Rikai and it will do the same job of kanji translation.