When I see a _kanji_ or a word consisting of multiple _kanji_ somewhere, I
want to enter them into a computer so that I can search for it and translate
it.

Are there any methods or "systems" that allow faster input and search of a
_kanji_? I'm asking about methodology, not any specific tool.

Some sort of auto-complete search, that allows searching for _kanji_ by
splitting them into parts or radicals, or something like the SKIP system,
which I am currently learning how to use.
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writing-identification
What methods/systems for finding kanji or entering them on a PC tend to be faster than others?
The easiest way is for you as a non-native to learn how to use SKIP codes and
then use a dictionary that is sorted by SKIP code. <http://www.basic-
japanese.com/Hilfsdateien/skipCode.html>

Even when I went to university in Japan, this was the method they taught non-
natives to use. I do not know if that's how the Japanese learn (I don't think
so), but that's definitely how they taught us non-Japanese.
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There are a few methods you could try, but none with universally perfect
results. I'm also not fully sure what you are looking for, so i'll sort my
answer to try make it easy to find something that suits you.

**Improving accuracy of selection using existing IMEs**

For regular Japanese IMEs, quite a few allow you to sort by radical, which are
in turn sorted by number of strokes. Mac's IME offers this, as do a few
others, though I don't remember if Windows' does (?). This is perhaps the
fastest way to _search_ for 漢字 individually. Quite often, though, for finding
individual kanji, there is usually a 訓読み{くんよみ} reading that is unique (or
mostly unique). Even if it's not correct for the sentence, i sometimes find
myself doing this.

Take the example reading "I was thinking of going to Guangzhou":

> 広州{こうしゅう}へ行こうと思っている

こうしゅう has quite a lot of readings, so you could instead write as 広{ひろ}い州{しゅう}
then delete the い. It's a lot faster to type that needing to scour the entire
list of kanji compounds read as こうしゅう. It's just a suggestion, but albeit not
necessarily the best.

**Better keyboards and IMEs**

I'm not sure if your complaint applies only to kanji, or to Japanese typing
being slow generally. If you're upset about speed of type overall, you could
change keyboard altogether. Romaji input works OK, and has a lot of users, but
you end up needing to type at least 2 keystrokes for every one Japanese kana,
and quite a few more for 漢字, too. The input method I use is the JIS (Japanese
Industrial Standard), which assigns each keyboard key to a different kana. It
means that the strokes you need to input generally will about _halve_.

Kanji prediction may not be a whole lot better, but you'll be typing less, and
even with the time spent dishing out Kanji, you can still always list by
radical as stated in the above section, and cut down your time quite a lot.

**Separate Kanji input by Shape**

Probably the least popular of all of these methods. Chinese has a few methods
of inputting Hanzi (kanji for Chinese) by shape, some of which, including
Cangjie and Wubi, will produce virtually no overlap, so that any one key combo
applies to only one character. Usually they're not designed for Japanese, but
in the case of Cangjie and wubi, they both still store Japanese Shinjitai, so
it's possible to use it for Japanese too. These are also the closest thing to
the SKIP system, except designed for real input by real users of Chinese
characters, so work quite a bit better on the whole.

I sometimes use this, too, because I know Chinese, and took the time to learn
Cangjie, and later Wubi too, to input that. For Japanese, they work equally as
well, with the only major disappointments being that

  1. You have to switch keyboards everytime to use this (usually only one keystroke, but nonetheless a pain if typing a long paragraph)
  2. Wubi maps every hanzi / kanji to (at most) 4 keystrokes and never anymore, and Cangjie does with 5 keystrokes. It's faster than typing romaji like "maboroshi", but not faster when you consider that you could be doing this in 4 keystrokes anyway when you type in kana (まぼろし). Plus you need 0.1s to adapt to using a new keyboard.
  3. They all have relatively steep learning curves, so if you're not using it everyday, it's unlikely to pay-off

It's probably not overall worth using either of these, and the Japanese
predictions may be faster just to flip through if you were considering this.

**Handwriting**

Not the fastest method, but certainly an accurate one. On the mac, the
trackpad is the perfect environment to use this type of method for because the
trackpad is generally excellent for this type of thing. Windows needs you to
use your mouse, and click to put the pen down. A lot less natural, slower, and
gives you worse handwriting, but still a possibility. If you're using a mac
specifically, I'd recommend this one quite a lot, but otherwise I'd ignore it
as a possibility (especially with a mouse, it's a struggle to input characters
properly).

**Which is fastest?**

My experience is that the fastest is using kana input (JIS) if you don't
already, and stick it out trying to interpret lists by radical. It cuts down
typing time dramatically even for hiragana / katakana, and you can use this as
well as kanji lists by radical to try cut down your typing time even more.

If you can't stand switching from romaji, or really just don't like reading
lists, you can try download an IME online with better prediction software so
that you're less likely to need to scroll through lists in the first place. I
sadly haven't found any for Japanese so far, but if you do, please tell me.
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