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Nihongo: The Kanji Update
Understand the elements that make up every kanji
It's a common misconception that each element of a kanji contributes a meaning to the overall character. Not true! In truth, elements each contribute in different ways. This update uses the true history of kanji to help users learn and remember them.
Top comment
I've been working on this update for over 8 months, and I'm super proud of how it turned out. Most Japanese dictionaries present kanji as a compilation of individual elements with their own specific meanings. This is actually a common misunderstanding of how kanji work. The truth is, each element can contribute a different thing to the kanji — a specific meaning, a broad category, or a pronunciation. Understanding the true contribution of each element can unlock a richer understanding of every character, helping learners to remember them easier, learn new characters faster, and even guess at rough meaning and pronunciations for characters they’ve never seen before. This information has always been available, but until now it required the use of an etymological dictionary and knowledge of a verbose and esoteric set of terminology like “ideogram” and “phonosemantic compound”. As far as I know, Nihongo is the first Japanese dictionary to compile this information into a user-friendly, learner-focused presentation that unlocks the learning potential of this content (without requiring a degree in linguistics). The data for this release mostly comes from Wiktionary, but I used other sources as well when Wiktionary was lacking, and used a good amount of my own judgment to choose between multiple etymologies when there were multiple possibilities out there. The truth is, nobody knows the true history of these characters for sure, so I chose to err on the side of etymologies that provide the most useful and memorable story for learners. Happy to answer any questions!
About Nihongo: The Kanji Update on Product Hunt
“Understand the elements that make up every kanji”
Nihongo: The Kanji Update launched on Product Hunt on July 10th, 2024 and earned 125 upvotes and 21 comments, placing #19 on the daily leaderboard. It's a common misconception that each element of a kanji contributes a meaning to the overall character. Not true! In truth, elements each contribute in different ways. This update uses the true history of kanji to help users learn and remember them.
On the analytics side, Nihongo: The Kanji Update competes within iOS, Education and Languages — topics that collectively have 202.9k followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how Nihongo: The Kanji Update performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted Nihongo: The Kanji Update?
Nihongo: The Kanji Update was hunted by Chris Vasselli. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Reviews
Nihongo: The Kanji Update has received 1 review on Product Hunt with an average rating of 5.00/5. Read all reviews on Product Hunt.
For a complete overview of Nihongo: The Kanji Update including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.