KingKanji Help

Contents

Description
Changes
Installation
Registration
Awards
Lesson overview
Screen layout
Opening a lesson
Opening multiple lessons
Restarting a lesson
Changing the presentation order
Changing the lesson mode
Tracking missed items
Included lessons
Creating lessons
Copyright


Description

KingKanji is an award winning Japanese character/word flashcard system for reading and writing Japanese. It runs on the Palm OS 2.0 and above which means it is compatible with all Pilots except the Pilot 1000 and 5000. It should work with the Handspring Visor but has not been tested on this device.

Lessons can easily be created using Microsoft Word 2000 or a Japanese word processor and have the same format as Jim Breen's Edict file, a free Japanese/English dictionary data file. KingKanji is highly customizable and tests users in Japanese or English. Lesson items can be composed of a single character, multi-character phrases, and sentences. KingKanji distinguishes itself from other flashcard programs by enabling users to practice writing by utilizing Palm Pilot's touch-screen and stylus.

KingKanji is completely self-contained and does not require any other programs or files such as Hack Master or Japanese fonts to be installed on the Pilot.


Changes
Installation

To load KingKanji, simply install the database files KingKanji.prc, Kfnt.pdb, and Kcrd.pdb on the Pilot.


Registration

The shareware version expires after 30 days from time of installation. After this evaluation period, the program will not function without a registration code.

Please vist the Gakusoft Website at http://www.gakusoft.com for information on how to purchase a registration code via the Web ($24.95). After obtaining a personal registration code, select Help-Register... from the application menu and enter your code in the dialog box. KingKanji will immediately be fully functional.

Upgrades are free for registered users. Simply install the new version and it will automatically detect your registration information.


Awards

KingKanji won 1st Place in the Education/Science category of the ACM's Quest for Windows CE programming contest. The Pilot version is based on this program.


Lesson overview

After a lesson is loaded, the first flashcard's English meaning is shown (unless you have changed the the initially displayed items in KingKanji's preferences). Perform the following steps to work through the lesson:

  1. Write the Japanese in the drawing area with the stylus.
  2. Press the "Show" button to view the reading and kanji.
  3. Press the "Right" or "Wrong" button based on whether or not the drawn characters are correct. The status will be updated and the next flashcard will be shown.
  4. Repeat the preceeding steps until the lesson is completed.

In the default lesson mode, all flashcards are presented once then the missed items are repeated until all cards are correct.


Screen layout

The display is composed of the following elements:


Opening a lesson

To open a lesson:

  1. Select File-Open from the menu.
  2. Choose the file for the lesson to be loaded from the dialog box.

Opening multiple lessons

To open several lessons at once:

  1. Select File-Multi-Open from the menu.
  2. Choose the lessons to open from the dialog box's Available Lessons list. The names will then appear in the Selected Lessons list.
  3. Press the OK button to open the lessons in the Selected Lessons list.
To remove a lesson from the lower list, simply select it in the lower list.


Restarting a lesson

To restart a lesson:

  1. Select Options-Restart from the menu.

If in Quiz 25 or Quiz 50 mode, a new random.set of lesson items will be used.


Changing the presentation order

By default, the current flashcard's English meaning and Japanese reading (hiragana/katakana) are initially shown. The kanji reading is shown after the Show button is pressed. To change the order:

  1. Select Options-Preferences... from the menu.
  2. Select the elements to be initially displayed (i.e., before the Show button is pressed). Unselected elements will be shown after the Show button is pressed.

Changing the lesson mode

There are four different lesson modes:

To change the lesson mode:

  1. Select Options-Preferences from the menu.
  2. Choose the desired mode from the Lesson Mode selection box in the Preferences dialog.

Tracking missed items

When Track Missed is selected in the Preferences dialog, information about difficult lesson items is saved periodically. This data is used to determine the frequency in which items are displayed in Review mode.

To change the Track Missed setting:

  1. Select Options-Preferences from the menu.
  2. Select or unselect the Track Missed check box in the Preferences dialog.
  3. Press the OK button.

Included lessons

The included lessons are from the text book Japanese the Written Language and some short stories. The lessons are stored in the Kcrd.pdb database. If you no longer want to use the included lessons:

  1. Delete the KingKanji application from the Pilot.
  2. Re-install the KingKanji application and font files kingkanji.prc and kfnt.pdb.
  3. Install your user flashcard database Kusr.pdb.
Note: you do not need to delete Kcrd.pdb to use your own lessons. Follow the above steps if the included lessons are too basic and you do not wish to use them.


Creating lessons

To create flashcard lessons you need a Japanese word processor capable of saving files in the EUC encoding format or Microsoft Word 2000 and Global IME. Save the files in EUC format with the extension ".kf". You can enter an unlimited number of lesson items but I recommend 25 items or the lessons become too lengthy and learning may be hindered. All lessons should be placed in the Pilot database named Kusr.pdb. Use the included PC program lessons2pdb to create the Palm database of lessons. Enter the command:

lessons2pdb -n Kusr -t Kusr -c Knji kusr.pdb lessonFile(s)
Ex.
lessons2pdb -n Kusr -t Kusr -c Knji Kusr.pdb myless01.kf myless02.kf myless05.kf
A lesson file consists of a list of lesson items with one item per line. The format for an entry in a lesson is:

kanji [reading1/reading2/.../readingN] /meaning/meaning2/.../meaningN/

The kanji can be a single term composed of multiple characters including hiragana and katakana. The reading should be the hiragana or katakana reading of the character(s) with multiple readings separated by a single ASCII '/' character. The meaning is the english translation and should be simple ASCII characters with multiple meanings separated by a '/' character. The spaces, brackets, slashes, and new lines in the file should all be ASCII. Also, do not leave any of the fields blank. It may help to open the included lesson files with a Japanese word processor and examine the structure. You can download a free Windows Japanese word processor titled JWP from the Monash Nihongo ftp Archive at ftp://ftp.cc.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo or the US mirror site at ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/japanese/monash/00INDEX.html. Microsoft Word 2000 can also be used if you have installed the Global Input Method Editor for Japanese available from Microsoft's Web site. Be sure to save the file as encoded text and select Japanese (EUC) for the encoding. Word will append the extension ".txt" to the end of the file name so be sure to rename the file by changing the extension to ".kf" after saving.


Copyright

KingKanji is copyright of Marshall Ramsey and may not sold without his expressed, writted permission. This software may not be reverse engineered or disassembled. The unmodified kkpilot.zip file may be redistributed freely.