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Basic Japanese Language Course
SKIP Code, a Short Introduction |
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Jack Halpern, in his New Japanese-English Character Dictionary, presents a very useful way to find kanji that you can see, but don't know how to pronounce.
This is a simplistic description of the method.
A SKIP code is composed of three numbers, such as ``2-7-5''. The first number indicates one of the four possible visual styles of the kanji.
For three of them, the remaining two numbers are stroke-count information.
The Visual Style of a Kanji
Look at the kanji in question and decide if it can visually be divided
as (choose the first that applies):
- 1 - into left and right sides, such as:
.
- 2 - into top and bottom parts, such as:
.
- 3 - into an enclosing structure and an internal structure, such as:
;
some of these can be a bit tricky.
- 4 - none of the above, such as:
.
The number that applies is the first number of the SKIP code.
For styles #1, #2, and #3:
For styles #1, #2, and #3, count the strokes in the left/upper/enclosing part, and
then the number of strokes left in the right/lower/internal part.
These two numbers, along with the 1, 2, or 3, form your skip code.
For example,
is a left/right (#1) style, so the code begins ``1-''. The left side has four strokes, and the right half has 5, so the entire SKIP code is ``1-4-5''.
If you search only via this SKIP code, the various characters that match will be displayed, and from the list you can select the one in question.
The SKIP codes for the examples shown above are:
1:
1-3-3,
1-3-1,
1-4-5,
1-4-6,
1-1-1,
1-3-3.
1-3-12,
2:
2-5-3,
2-5-2,
2-2-6,
2-2-2,
2-1-1,
2-3-3,
2-5-4.
3:
3-4-2,
3-3-8,
3-3-2,
3-8-3,
3-3-5,
3-2-2,
3-3-7.
For style #4:
If the SKIP code is of style 4, count all the strokes in the character, and then choose the first from (inserting the stroke-count where the
``#'' is shown):
- 4-#-1 - has a horizontal line at the top (e.g.
4-3-1,
4-6-1).
- 4-#-2 - has a horizontal line at the bottom (e.g.
4-3-2,
4-6-2).
- 4-#-3 - has a vertical line through (e.g.
4-4-3,
4-8-3).
- 4-#-4 - none (e.g.
4-4-4,
4-3-4).