Heisig IME
Motivation
One possible downside of Heisigs method is the inability to type Kanji on a computer. Even if one knows the set of Kanji of an unknown word, it's not a trivial task to look up vocabulary despite knowing the characters meanings. However, Heisig called his keywords an “English reading” for the Kanji. Setting up an Input Method Editor is a convenient way to handle input while not yet knowing any readings.
Usage
In general, you type a keyword in roman characters, and use an IME to convert it to a Kanji. Details are specific to the input method
Windows IME
- Import the Heisig IME dictionary file
- Switch to Full-Width Alphanumeric mode.
- Enter the keyword
- Press Shift-Space to convert
Google IME
Same as Windows IME. This textfile can be imported. Alternatively this textfile can be imported which is a modification of the previous textfile with the first character capitalized and spaces removed. Due to Google IME treating words starting with a capital letter as an English word, this may make the process of typing in the keyword easier and faster.
Mac IME
- Import the Heisig IME dictionary file into Kotoeri
- Enter the keyword in Hiragana
- Press Control+; and then Spacebar to convert
Keywords
- all keywords are lower case
- trailing “-” are removed (”inter-” becomes “inter”)
- inner “-” are replaced with spaces (”mother-in-law” becomes “mother in law”)
- “.” are removed (”dr.” becomes “dr”)
- spaces are removed in the Mac version
Notes
It would be nice if you contributed a solution to other input methods (Namely SCIM and the OSX IME)
