Kanji font size

F

fimble

後輩

11 Aug 2011

8

0

• 11 Aug 2011

• #1

I have good eyesight and usually view text at the minimum size my computer supports without ugly subpixel fonts, 9 point.

I am still an absolute beginner at Japanese but I am curious if experienced readers can discern the difference between such small kanji, especially the complex ones where portions of them end up looking like a single black mass.

 

Glenn

一切皆苦

8 Jan 2004

7,842

200

• 11 Aug 2011

• #2

I don't usually read 9-point fonts in Japanese. I think they're usually 16, actually. I think I might hurt my eyes if I went smaller than 12. But I think I'd still be able to read accurately for the most part because of context. Although, I've never really tried any of this out, so it's all speculation.

 

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Moderator

Fifteen-year veteran

22 Feb 2008

18,266

4,926

• 11 Aug 2011

• #3

Glenn said:

But I think I'd still be able to read accurately for the most part because of context.

Click to expand...

I agree. Here's a good example in this thread. I read 待 as 持 in the thread with no doubt, since the correct kanji should be obviously 持 from the context.

But the similar thing would occur also in English, or maybe many other languages.
Visual Word Recognition

 

F

fimble

後輩

11 Aug 2011

8

0

• 12 Aug 2011

• Thread starter
• #4

That text is pretty big though. I was thinking more like this: 窶慊｡

Given any individual letter in English of that size, I would be able to read it without context.

I'm not complaining about Japanese or anything like that, just curious about this : ).

 

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Moderator

Fifteen-year veteran

22 Feb 2008

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4,926

• 12 Aug 2011

• #5

I would be able to recognize the kanji "fuji" or even 鬱 easily without any context. The problem when reading a kanji individually is not the number of strokes of the kanji but the existence of the similer-looking ones, just like 土[tsuchi] and 士[samurai].

Incidentally, the default letter size of Windows Live Mail Japanese Version is nine point.

 

Glenn

一切皆苦

8 Jan 2004

7,842

200

• 12 Aug 2011

• #6

Ha, I got fuji and utsu, so I guess I could read 9-point fine, although I might end up straining my eyes a bit. Although I can remember times when I've had to pull up to the screen for unfamiliar characters, so it works a lot better if you already know everything in the text you're reading, I would say.