The handwriting keyboard is very convenient for Wanikani use, as it can also be used for English texts, so it can be used for answering both ‘reading’ and ‘meaning’ questions.
But when I enter a Japanese text in Handwriting mode, there are no IME functions to convert hiragana to kanji. You are supposed to draw the kanji directly. The problem is that for most of the more complicated kanji my drawing speed is too slow. The slightest pause leads to a ‘splitted kanji’ like 糸分 instead of 紛 without an option to ‘merge’ the two into one. If this weren’t the case it would be a very nice means to look up unknown kanji (and practice their writing, too).
Do electronic dictionaries (as a handheld device) have this issue, too?
I’ve only ever tried handwriting on a device with the Google Translate app on my iPad, and that has a “select the right character” IME thingy pop up. So maybe it’s an app-based function?
It can write Kanji in addition too, but the pad is small compared to Gboard, which has fullscreen writing mode. So, complex Kanji’s might not accurately detected.
IME doesn’t transform, simply suggest the next characters.
Well, if you’ve got enough of a pause that it’s committing the first half before you start the second half, that’s not gonna work. I’d say the trick is don’t pause.
If you need time to think about what the second half of a kanji is, don’t lift your finger after drawing the previous stroke. At least on my iPad, it doesn’t commit so long as I’m still touching the screen.
Yep. I use a standalone electronic dictionary and when I write a character for its handwriting recognition I start by making sure I have the whole character in mind before putting stylus to tablet (eg for 紛 I would think “thread radical plus ‘part’”); then I can write the parts in order without pausing between them.
Mazec doesn’t have the speed limit, and there are two separate suggestions – what the character is and what the tail could be. In addition, multiple characters can be in the same pad (which can aggravate the mis-recognition).
I can even hide the keyboard or switch to another app, before continue writing later.
However, the writing pad is relatively small, and I can’t enlarge the pad much.
Also, it doesn’t have the converter from Kana input to Kanji. I need Gboard for that.
)