Can anyone help identify these kanji?

Question

i am trying to translate a chinese item i found, but so far i've hit quite a few kanji that i can't seem to find. a few of them seem painfully simple, too. it's just that no matter what kanji identification software i use, they don't show up. i've tried my best to draw 4 of them and uploaded the image here:

http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mysterykanjiqo0.gif

is anyone out there in yahoo-land able to identify them, and if so, could you please post the text version for me to copy?

also, i have plenty more i can't find, so if you could also tell me if you used a website or program to find them, and which one. or if you just happen to know chinese, could i please borrow your brain? i kid, i kid.

anyway, thanks if anyone can help.

Answer 1

The one that Kelly did not know is 卡 (Mandarin ka3).  It's not very common and is usually used to represent the sound of a foreign word; much as katakana is used in Japanese for foreign words.

Ex. 卡片 Ka3 pian4 = card

卡通 ka3 tong1 = cartoon

Answer 2

Just so you know, Chinese characters are called "characters." Japanese characters are called "kanji." Considering it's four characters in a row, I'm guessing it's Chinese and not Japanese.

装 (zhuāng) = to adorn / dress / install

组 (zǔ) = to group together / compose

员 (yuán) = person / employee

I can't find anything for the third character (either in Chinese or Japanese). But a few useful sites for further research:

http://www.nciku.com/ (You can draw Chinese characters. It's awesome.)

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cg... (Put in the radicals you see and the number of strokes in that kanji, and bam! you find your kanji.)

http://jisho.org (A great Japanese dictionary.)

Edit: Thank you, wyoscot! :)