New Radical Search

February 1st, 2010

Just updated the radical search. Added new font and fixed some of the bugs associated with the select box.

Slowly I will be adjusting the different pages… sorry once again for this slow pace. I do not have lots of time to update this. However, please give me until the end of February before you start complaining, okay?

What are the different types of hanja?

January 24th, 2010

Pictograms 象形字

These are characters which are based off of the actual image of an object. Naturally these were the first, most early developed symbols to describe common everyday things. e.g. 月 木 日 .

Ideograms 指事字

These are diagrams of concepts that either do not have form or are difficult to describe by a simple picture. The most common example of this are the characters 上 and 下.

Ideogrammic compounds 會意字

This type of character is essentially the combination of two or more pictograms and/or ideograms. The classic example is when you combine two trees (木) you get a forest (林). Read the rest of this entry »

Chinese Calligraphy

December 28th, 2009

Chinese calligraphy, with its artistic as well as utilitarian values, has been treasured for its formal beauty for more than three millennia. This lavishly illustrated book brings to English language readers for the first time a full account of calligraphy in China, including its history, theory, and importance in Chinese culture. Representing an unprecedented collaboration among leading Chinese and Western specialists, the book provides a definitive and up-to-date overview of the visual art form most revered in China.

Read the rest of this entry »

2010 will be a big year

December 15th, 2009

We have planned for big changes after the holiday. Our application will be greatly improved. And, although we will still have the same quality information, my life will be so much easier to update this site.

So, yes. 2010 is going to be a big deal for open okpyon.

Upcoming projects

June 6th, 2009

You may have noticed, but I have added the ability to extend your user profile. Tell our community about yourself, your interests, and you can even rate your Korean and Hanja skills.

Stay tuned for forums. Ask questions, and make comments directly on character and vocabulary pages. Also there will be an open forum where you can ask translation questions, or get homework help, etc.

Because it is so important, entering characters into the database has been left to myself, but I am considering extending that ability to our community on a content approval basis. e.g. Once you submit the content, a reviewer will take a look and make sure everything was entered properly on a weekly basis and then the content will go live.

After a little fine tuning we can resume business as usual. If there are any requests for functionality, you can do that from the report error page for now.