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QUICKSCHOLAR SOFTWARE KANJI READER, SHAREWARE VERSION QUICK START GUIDE AND USER'S REFERENCE MANUAL Version 2.0 (In this electronic version of the manual, page breaks are denoted by a dashed line such as the one below. Please use your favorite editor to arrange the manual in a format you prefer. It is possible to copy this file (MANUAL.DOC) directly to your printer because the only embedded control characters are TABs and those which mark the end of a line.) Please be sure to read this manual. You will get much more out of your study time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE: Copyright 1991-1993 by QuickScholar Software. All rights reserved. Credits for speech software used in these programs: Covox software, copyright of Covox, Inc. Sound Blaster software, copyright of Creative Labs, Inc. Trademark notices: IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. QuickScholar is a trademark of QuickScholar Software. Sound Blaster is a trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. Sound Master, Voice Master, and Speech Thing are trademarks of Covox, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Quick Start Guide Hardware and software requirements Installing the programs Running the programs Reference Manual Introduction Learning Options Kanji Lessons General Review Pronunciation Review Kanji Writing Rules-Of-Thumb Quick Reference Program Kanji Concentration Game Appendixes Glossary Frequently Asked Questions If There Is A Problem Incompatibilities ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUICK START GUIDE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS IBM PC or compatible 640K memory DOS 3.0 or later EGA or higher graphics, color monitor High density floppy disk drive (5.25" or 3.5") Mouse (Microsoft compatible) Hard disk drive with 2.5 megabytes of available space Musical feedback can be heard using the internal speaker of many brands of PCs. Quality varies with the speaker. The following optional sound enhancement devices are also supported: Creative Labs Sound Blaster, Covox Speech Thing, Covox Sound Master Internal Card, Covox Sound Master Key II, Covox Voice Master INSTALLING THE PROGRAMS Installation instructions are given in the README file. RUNNING THE PROGRAMS To run the programs, type KREADER and tap the ENTER key. A menu will be displayed from which you can run all programs in KANJI READER. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION The shareware version of KANJI READER provides you with an opportunity to successfully read 348 Japanese words, phrases, and sentences and 116 Japanese proper names while learning 50 of the most frequently used kanjis. With the registered version (Volume 1 of Kanji Reader), you will read over 1500 Japanese words, phrases, and sentences and over 500 Japanese names while learning 100 more of the most frequently used kanjis. KANJI READER creates systematic, thorough lessons which are tailored to your specific achievement level. To provide flexibility in how you learn the kanjis, two modes of operation are provided: QUICK STUDY MODE This mode teaches you how to read the kanjis for meaning and shows you the stroke order for writing each of the kanjis, but it does not teach you how to pronounce the kanjis. It is possible to read the kanjis for meaning without ever learning to speak a word of Japanese. Learning the kanjis in this mode proceeds quite rapidly since there is less to learn. This mode is useful for many travelers and gives beginning students a quick boost in the number of kanjis they recognize. INTENSIVE STUDY MODE This mode teaches reading, writing, and pronunciation. Some students may want to begin with the QUICK STUDY MODE and later change to the INTENSIVE STUDY MODE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- KANJI READER consists of a menu program which allows you to choose from a variety of activities. The structure of the menu is shown below. MAIN MENU items are numbered. Their sub-menus are shown beneath them. The STUDY programs are described in parenthesis. 1. NEW USERS READ ME FIRST INTRODUCE THE KANJIS INTRODUCE THE KANJI READER PROGRAMS 2. SETUP AND UTILITIES SELECT LEARNING OPTIONS (new users) MODIFY LEARNING OPTIONS SELECT OUTPUT DEVICE FOR SOUND 3. KANJI STUDY PROGRAMS KANJI LESSONS (Teaches the kanjis.) GENERAL REVIEW *** (Reviews meaning, pronunciation and writing.) PRONUNCIATION REVIEW *** (Reviews the various readings of each of the kanjis and gives you an opportunity to develop your speed-reading skills.) KANJI WRITING RULES-OF-THUMB (Teaches you some rules-of-thumb which will save you time as you learn to write the kanjis.) QUICK REFERENCE PROGRAM (Provides instant look-up of kanji definitions and kanji writing charts.) 4. KANJI CONCENTRATION GAME _____________________ *** GENERAL REVIEW and PRONUNCIATION REVIEW appear on the menu after you have learned at least six kanjis. (Until then, there isn't much to review.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEARNING OPTIONS When you run KANJI READER for the first time, you MUST tell the program your name and make selections from three LEARNING OPTIONS. This is required so that KANJI READER can keep track of which kanjis you know and create lessons tailored to your specific achievement level. KANJI READER uses the LEARNING OPTIONS you have selected in presenting the lessons to you. The LEARNING OPTIONS include: * QUICK STUDY MODE or INTENSIVE STUDY MODE * HIRAGANA, KATAKANA, or both * ROMAJI - whether and when to use romaji If you are very new to Japanese, terms like hiragana, katakana and romaji may be new to you. If so, please see the GLOSSARY towards the end of this document. If making a decision about LEARNING OPTIONS seems to be a challenge, read the HINT BOXES throughout this section and use those which seem most applicable to you. As you use KANJI READER, you will eventually develop your own preference for how you study best and you'll probably change your preference as you become more advanced. You may change your LEARNING OPTIONS at any time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO SELECT YOUR LEARNING OPTIONS THE FIRST TIME: At the main menu, select SETUP AND UTILITIES. Then choose the menu item SELECT LEARNING OPTIONS. You will then be asked to enter your name and answer a series of questions. After you have answered all the questions, the program will summarize the LEARNING OPTIONS you have selected. ANSWERING LEARNING OPTION QUESTIONS When you are first establishing your LEARNING OPTIONS, the program asks if you already know any of the kanjis. If you are familiar with some of the kanjis, this allows you to save time. Though you will avoid the early introductory exercises on kanjis that you already know, plenty of practice is given on all of the kanjis as they form words in compounds with new kanjis you are learning. Your progress is tracked as you work through the lessons and the list of kanjis you have studied is updated every time you study a new kanji. Throughout the lesson and review programs, you may flag any kanji which is troublesome for you and KANJI READER will remove it from the list of kanjis you know and give you a review lesson on it at a later time. You may also flag troublesome kanjis in the Quick Reference module. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are three questions you will need to ask yourself as you select your LEARNING OPTIONS: 1. Do I want to learn the kanjis for meaning alone, or do I want to learn the kanjis for meaning and pronunciation? For some people, there is a distinct advantage in learning the kanjis for meaning alone. The advantage is that you learn the kanjis MUCH faster. New students might enjoy the quick boost which comes from recognizing many kanjis even though they won't know how the kanjis are pronounced. People who are traveling to Japan soon may benefit from knowing many kanjis by sight because it will help them read signs and other materials written primarily in kanji. Serious students of the language will want to learn pronunciation too, but perhaps not right away. ============================================================================= || HINT FOR SETTING YOUR LEARNING OPTIONS || || || || If you are new to Japanese, but know a little hiragana or katakana and || || want to learn pronunciation right away, then feel free to select the || || INTENSIVE STUDY MODE. Since your kana reading ability isn't as strong || || as you'd prefer, request the use of romaji. Romaji will help you || || remember what sound each kana makes. In fact, using KANJI READER will || || strengthen your kana reading ability while it teaches you the kanjis. || || || ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Do I want the Japanese pronunciations written in hiragana or katakana or both? To teach you how each kanji and kanji compound is pronounced, the program uses your choice of hiragana and/or katakana to phonetically spell the words out for you. The new student may want to select the most familiar kana (hiragana or katakana) and study using only one the one syllabary at first. Later, the other kana syllabary may be added. For the very serious student, the ideal answer is BOTH hiragana and katakana. In that case, the program shows the KUN YOMI (native Japanese readings) in hiragana and the ON YOMI (readings borrowed from the Chinese) in katakana. ============================================================================= || || || HINT FOR SELECTING YOUR LEARNING OPTIONS || || || || If you don't know either hiragana or katakana but you want to study || || pronunciation of the kanjis, you will need to select a syllabary to || || study first. Which syllabary you choose is really a matter of || || personal preference. In making your choice, here are some thoughts: || || || || || || * HIRAGANA is a more cursive style of writing and many consider it || || to be the more attractive syllabary. || || || || * KATAKANA is the more angular style of writing and many consider it || || easier to learn. || || || ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Do I want to see romaji next to the kana readings and, if so, when? Romaji is a way of writing Japanese words using the roman alphabet. Examples of romaji are given in the GLOSSARY definitions of "hiragana" and "katakana". If you request romaji, the KANJI LESSONS and the REVIEW programs will write romaji to the right of the kana readings. If hiragana or katakana is new for you, you may want to see romaji every time kana is written. If you select EVERY TIME KANA IS DISPLAYED as your choice for romaji, romaji will appear in the HELP window and next to every answer of the LESSONS program and the PRONUNCIATION REVIEW program. As you become more familiar with reading kana, you can change your LEARNING OPTIONS so that you see romaji less often. For example, you can have it appear in the HELP window and next to the correct answer after you have selected an answer. Many students consider the use of romaji to be a crutch, so eventually you may want to set the LEARNING OPTIONS so that romaji never appears in any of the programs. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO MODIFY YOUR LEARNING OPTIONS: At the main menu, select SETUP AND UTILITIES. Then select MODIFY LEARNING OPTIONS. Enter your name and answer the questions using your new choice of options. ============================================================================== || HINT FOR MODIFYING LEARNING OPTIONS: || || || || KANJI READER does not track whether you learned the kanjis with or || || without pronunciation. Therefore, if you start learning the kanjis || || without pronunciation and you switch to learning the kanjis with || || pronunciation, you should probably use a new name and select your || || LEARNING OPTIONS as if you were a new user. Under your new name, you || || can tell KANJI READER which kanjis you know how to pronounce (if any). || || KANJI READER will then set up drills for all the other kanjis so that || || you have a chance to learn their pronunciations too. || ============================================================================== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO STOP THE PROGRAM: After you answer all the questions, the program which sets or modifies your LEARNING OPTIONS will stop automatically and your selections will be saved in a file on your hard disk. If you want to stop the program before you have answered all the questions, you may choose the option RETURN TO MAIN MENU which appears throughout the program or you may tap the ESC key. If you return to the main menu before you have specified all the options, your LEARNING OPTIONS will not be set if you are specifying them for the first time, or will not be modified if you are modifying a set of existing LEARNING OPTIONS. SPECIAL NOTE: The name of the file which contains the list of kanjis that you know and your LEARNING OPTIONS has the following format: The first 1 to 8 characters are letters and/or numbers of your choosing. They are followed by the suffix .SCR. Therefore, if you entered your name as MIKE, the list of kanjis you know and your LEARNING OPTIONS would be saved in a file called MIKE.SCR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KANJI LESSONS The KANJI LESSONS program is the heart of the KANJI READER set of study programs. Utilizing the list of kanjis you know and the LEARNING OPTIONS that you have selected, the KANJI LESSONS program introduces new kanjis to you one at a time in a manner designed to guarantee your success. For more details, please read HOW THIS PROGRAM TEACHES on the next page. Because the lessons keep building on what you already know, you will quickly be reading the words and phrases with a high rate of reading them correctly the first time you see them. As you progress through the vocabulary list, you will also be delighted to recognize that the underlying logic of the Japanese language makes learning Japanese much easier than many people anticipate. The kanjis are like logical building blocks. Care has been taken to select a large number of vocabulary items which demonstrate this point. (The printed manual shows some examples of this too.) The lessons are given as multiple choice drills. This enables you to breeze through the lessons quickly. To assure that you really have absorbed the information, challenging review programs are provided. To support you as you go through the lessons, instant kanji definition lookup is available and you may request review and re-drill on any of the kanjis. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW THIS PROGRAM TEACHES: If, for example, you already know four kanjis, the KANJI LESSONS program will teach you a fifth kanji by: * first teaching the translations (and optionally the readings) of the fifth kanji by itself. * and then teaching compounds which are formed exclusively by that fifth kanji combined with any of the four kanjis you already know. Every question in every exercise will include only one kanji which is new for you. All other kanjis will be those which you already know. If you forget a kanji which you had previously learned, you can request instant look-up of its definition and pronunciation. If you are having real difficulty with the kanji, you can inform the program. The list of kanjis you know will be modified and the troublesome kanji will be retaught at a later time. When you make a mistake on one of the quiz items, the item is repeated throughout the remainder of the lesson until you have answered it correctly more times than you have missed it. After you have mastered that fifth kanji, KANJI LESSONS then introduces a sixth kanji and you learn that sixth kanji and compounds which are composed of it combined with any of the five kanjis you now know. The lessons progress this way until you know all 50 kanjis of this shareware program. After you know the 50 kanjis, KANJI LESSONS systematically reviews each of the kanjis. To do this, it selects a kanji, shows you the definition, and then tests you on every compound in the quiz list which has the selected kanji in it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO START KANJI LESSONS: At the main menu, select KANJI STUDY PROGRAMS You will then be asked to enter your name. After your name is entered, another menu will appear. Select the item KANJI LESSONS. TO STUDY THE KANJIS: KANJI LESSONS begins by showing a list of the kanjis you have already studied. The program then selects a kanji which you have not studied and presents the definition of that kanji for you to study. The program uses the list of kanjis you already know to determine which kanji you should study next. While you are studying the kanji definition, the program looks through its vocabulary list and creates a list of vocabulary items which consist of the particular kanji you are being taught combined with only those kanjis which you already know. (Some vocabulary items contain hiragana as well as kanjis. If you see a hiragana and are not familiar with it, use the function key specified above it and the program will tell you about that hiragana. Most of the hiragana in this quiz list are used in forming verb and adjective endings.) When the program is ready to start the quiz, it will let you know with a red message in the upper left part of the display. Take your time though and continue to study the new kanji as long as you like. When you are ready to begin the quiz, tap the ESC key. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For each quiz item, the program displays the kanjis and then presents a multiple choice list of four English translations. If you are studying pronunciation of the kanjis, a multiple choice list of four pronunciations written in kana will also appear. Select your answers using either the mouse or the keyboard. If you are studying pronunciation, then you must select both an English translation and a pronunciation. If you change your mind about your answer, simply select a new answer. When you are satisfied with your answer, tap the ENTER key. (Pressing both mouse buttons has the same effect as tapping the ENTER key.) The program keeps track of your answers and retests any items which are missed. It will continue to retest until, for each item, you have given more correct answers than incorrect answers. DEFINITIONS AND WRITING During the lesson, instant kanji look-up is available for all the kanjis which are displayed on the screen. To request the definition of a kanji, simply tap the function key (F2, F3, etc.) which is listed above the kanji. While the kanji definition is being displayed, you may also request a redrill on the kanji -- which is useful for troublesome kanjis. If one or more of the kanjis in the quiz item currently displayed has an irregular pronunciation, a message regarding irregular pronunciation will appear in the definition screens. (An irregular pronunciation is one which is so unusual for a kanji that it is not listed in kanji dictionaries.) The message is displayed so that you won't be confused by the fact that parts of the pronunciation do not appear in the definitions screens. Also, you may request a display of exactly how each kanji is written by tapping the ALT key together with the function key (F2, F3, etc.) which is listed above the kanji. To learn some general rules for writing kanjis, be sure to try the KANJI WRITING RULES-OF-THUMB program. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO STOP THE LESSONS: Tap the ESC key at any time to stop the program. It is better to stop the program just after it has displayed the definition of the next kanji to be studied. If you stop the program after you have answered some (but not all) of the questions for a particular kanji, you will receive no credit for answering those questions. THE VOCABULARY LIST The vocabulary list in this program has been selected with the primary goal of giving you many different opportunities to practice reading the kanjis. A few of the words aren't particularly practical for the new student (e.g., fireworks, magic tricks, electrocardiograph), but they are on the list because of the practice they each give in reading some of the kanjis. As you work through the various lessons, you will see that there are many ways to say the same thing in Japanese. Also, many kanji compounds have multiple meanings and many kanji compounds have multiple pronunciations. This can be confusing, so whenever possible, vocabulary items which say the same thing using different kanjis appear in the quiz right after each other. Also, when the same kanjis have multiple meanings or multiple pronunciations, those quiz items are kept together as much as possible. Another area of potential confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese sometimes use a different word order than English for expressing the same concept. An example taken from the quiz list is "black and white." Whereas English speakers use the phrase, "black and white," the Japanese say, "white and black." For this reason, some of the kanji compounds might appear to have the kanjis in the wrong order. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL REVIEW The GENERAL REVIEW program reviews some of the kanji compounds which you have already studied in the main LESSONS. This GENERAL REVIEW is very challenging because you must select your answers from a "kanji keyboard" which is displayed on the screen for you. If you are learning pronunciation, a "kana keyboard" is also displayed and you select the correct kanas to spell out the pronunciation. (Advanced students who want to differentiate between ON YOMI and KUN YOMI readings can toggle the "kana keyboard" back and forth between hiragana and katakana as needed.) To help you succeed, instant kanji lookup is available and you may flag any kanji which you find troublesome for review and re-drill. (The review occurs in the LESSONS program.) The review programs appear on the Kanji Reader menu after you know at least six kanjis. TO START THE GENERAL REVIEW: At the main menu, select KANJI STUDY PROGRAMS. You will then be asked to enter your name. After your name is entered, another menu will appear. Select the item GENERAL REVIEW. Depending on which kanjis you know, it is possible to know more than six kanjis and still have no items to review. This can happen because the review does not cover any item with only one kanji in it and the particular kanjis you know may not happen to form compounds with each other. If this happens, GENERAL REVIEW will ask you to try the program again after you learn a few more kanjis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO TAKE THE REVIEW QUIZ: For each quiz item in the review, the English translation is displayed. Below it, there is a kanji keyboard with 24 kanjis displayed (in random order.) All the kanjis required in the answer appear somewhere in that keyboard. There may be many correct ways to write the answer in Japanese and, indeed, the vocabulary list taught by Kanji Reader often covers multiple ways to say the same thing. Therefore, the program gives you an opportunity to identify what answer is expected without being penalized. At the top of the screen is a series of yellow dots. Those dots indicate the number of "mistakes" which the program will tolerate before it counts your answer as incorrect. Each time you make a selection which isn't part of the expected answer, one of the yellow dots is erased. After all yellow dots are erased, the program assumes you do not know the answer and a green HINT button appears. (The button has the word HINTO written in katakana on its top. HINTO is a Japanese word meaning HINT.) Select the kanjis for the answer in left to right order. To select a kanji, point to it with the mouse and tap the left mouse button. If you are correct, the kanji will appear in its place in the answer. If you are incorrect, one of the yellow "mistake" dots will be erased. After you have selected all the kanjis correctly, the program waits for you to let it know that you are ready to continue. Tap the ENTER key or both mouse buttons to let the program know you are ready to continue. If you are studying pronunciation, a kana keyboard will appear next. Again, select your answers in left to right order using the mouse. If you are learning pronunciation in both hiragana and katakana, a button which says kana (in hiragana) will appear in the lower left corner. Use this button to toggle between hiragana and katakana as necessary. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO USE THE HINT BUTTON: If the HINT button appears, it means that you have given too many answers which weren't the expected answer and the program has determined that you need to study this item again. The HINT button is designed to give you just one hint at a time. You may request a hint by pointing at the HINT button and tapping the left mouse button or by tapping the H key. Hopefully, one hint will give you enough information so that you can complete the answer by yourself. If not, then use the hint button again. It is possible to complete the entire answer by using the HINT button, but you learn much more by answering as much of the question as possible by yourself. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE KANJIS: After you have correctly selected all the kanjis in the answers, function key numbers (F2, F3, F4, etc.) will appear above the kanjis of the answer. If you press just the function key, the definition of the kanji and its pronunciations will be displayed. (The pronunciations will be displayed only if you have selected the option of learning pronunciation.) If you press ALT and the function key at the same time, a chart showing how to write the kanji will be displayed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO ENHANCE THE REVIEW PROCESS: When each quiz item is displayed: a. Glance at the English definition. b. Think about the kanjis which are likely to appear in the answer. (Remember that for many words, there is more than one correct way to write the word in Japanese, but take a guess anyway.) c. WRITE THE KANJIS on a piece of paper. d. Answer the question using the keyboard on the screen. e. After you answer the kanji portion of the answer, function key numbers (F2, F3, etc.) will appear above the kanjis. Tap ALT F2 (the ALT key and the F2 key together) to see how the first kanji is written. If you wrote it wrong, practice writing it correctly several times while you have the writing help on the screen for reference. Similarly, practice writing the other kanjis of the answer. This particular method of learning the kanjis helps ensure that you are learning to read AND write the kanjis. TO STOP THE GENERAL REVIEW: GENERAL REVIEW presents the review in sets of ten quiz items at a time. You may stop the review after you have completed a quiz set of ten quiz items (or you may continue and do another set of quiz items.) You may also stop the program at any time by tapping the ESC key or by using the mouse to "press" the red button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRONUNCIATION REVIEW PRONUNCIATION REVIEW is a program for students of kanji who are learning both reading for comprehension and pronunciation. It reviews the pronunciation of many kanji compounds using a multiple choice drill format. Many of the answer sets are carefully designed to challenge (trick) you with look-alike or sound-alike answers. Instant kanji lookup is available and you may flag any kanji which you find troublesome for review and re-drill. (The review will occur when the KANJI LESSONS program is run.) PRONUNCIATION REVIEW is also a speed-reading program. At the beginning of each group of ten review items, you may optionally set a goal for your speed of reading, and the program will let you know how well you met your goal. PRONUNCIATION REVIEW appears on the menu after you know at least six kanjis and only if you are studying pronunciation too. As a side note, the compounds chosen for the PRONUNCIATION REVIEW list are all Japanese proper names. That is, they are names given to people, places, etc. Proper names are used because they provide many new vocabulary items not in the main KANJI LESSONS list. All of the readings used in the proper names are taught by the main KANJI LESSONS program. Some kanjis have additional readings which are used only in pronouncing proper names, but those additional readings are not used in this review. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO START THE PRONUNCIATION REVIEW PROGRAM: At the main menu, select KANJI STUDY PROGRAMS. You will then be asked to enter your name. After your name is entered, another menu will appear. Select the item PRONUNCIATION REVIEW. TO REVIEW PRONUNCIATION: This program tests you on pronunciation of only those kanjis which you already know. The review items themselves may be new for you since they are all proper names, but the kanjis used and the pronunciations of those kanjis will already have been covered in the main LESSONS before they are used in your review. PRONUNCIATION REVIEW creates quizzes in sets of ten items at a time. After you complete the ten items, you may either stop the program or do another quiz set of ten. You may continue doing quiz sets until the program has tested you on all the proper names for which you know the kanjis. (All of the quiz sets will have ten items, but the last review set may have fewer than ten quiz items.) When each quiz set begins, the program asks you how many seconds you would like to take to read all the quiz items. This question is for those who are interested in increasing their reading speed. If you are not interested in speed reading, simply tap the ENTER key and the program will not time your reading speed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For each quiz item, the program shows you a proper name written in kanji and asks you to select the answer from a multiple choice selection of four answers. Though the proper name itself may have many different pronunciations, only one of the multiple choice answers will be a valid pronunciation. If you make a mistake, the program will repeat that quiz item later in the quiz set. It will continue to repeat the item until you have answered it correctly more times than you have missed it. IF YOU ARE STUDYING THE KANJIS USING BOTH HIRAGANA AND KATAKANA, the program will give your review using both syllabaries. It will take turns using hiragana and katakana. The answers for the first quiz item will all be written in hiragana, the answers for the next quiz item will all be written in katakana, and so on. IF YOU ARE NOT USING THE SPEED-READING FEATURE, the program hides the answers until you tap the ENTER key. This allows you to think about potential answers before the answer set is revealed. IF YOU ARE USING THE SPEED-READING FEATURE, the answers are shown immediately so that you can work quickly. Also, when your answer is correct, the next question appears immediately. TO STOP THE PROGRAM: PRONUNCIATION REVIEW presents the review in sets of ten quiz items at a time. You may stop the review after you have completed a quiz set of ten quiz items (or you may continue and do another set of quiz items.) You may also stop the program at any time by tapping the ESC key. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KANJI WRITING RULES-OF-THUMB Learning to write the kanjis involves a lot of memorization. To make the task easier, some rules-of-thumb are described in this program and examples are shown. Read through this tutorial from time-to-time until you have the rules-of- thumb firmly in mind. Use the kanji writing charts provided in the KANJI LESSONS, GENERAL REVIEW and QUICK REFERENCE programs to see how each of the kanjis is written. When you practice writing the kanjis while you are learning to read them, you will find that they are much easier to remember. During the KANJI LESSONS and GENERAL REVIEW programs, you can see how any kanji on the screen is written by tapping the ALT key together with the function key (F1, F2, etc.) above the kanji at the same time. If you press just the function key alone, you will see the kanji's definition. TO START THIS PROGRAM: At the main menu, select KANJI STUDY PROGRAMS. You will then be asked to enter your name. After your name is entered, another menu will appear. Select the item KANJI WRITING RULES-OF-THUMB. TO STOP THE WRITING RULES-OF-THUMB PROGRAM: Tap the ESC key to stop the program at any time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUICK REFERENCE PROGRAM The QUICK REFERENCE program allows instant look up of kanji definitions and kanji writing charts. It is a reference program which supplements the other study programs. It is designed to give you a quick reference source without having to wait until a particular kanji you are interested in is being taught or reviewed. The charts you see in this program are the same as shown in the KANJI LESSONS program. QUICK REFERENCE also gives you a quick way to let KANJI READER know that you want to review a particular kanji. Point to the kanji you want to review and tap the left mouse button. If you have already studied the kanji using KANJI READER, the message TAP R FOR A REVIEW DRILL OF THIS KANJI will appear. If you tap R and confirm that you want a review drill, the LESSONS program will review the kanji with you. (Often, it will be the next kanji that LESSONS teaches. Sometimes, other kanjis will be taught before the one you selected is reviewed. This is because KANJI READER is teaching the kanjis in a pre-selected sequence.) Until that review has occurred, the kanji you have just selected will stop appearing in the LESSONS and review programs. TO START QUICK REFERENCE: At the main menu, select KANJI STUDY PROGRAMS. You will be asked to enter your name. After you enter your name, another menu will appear. Select the item QUICK REFERENCE PROGRAM. TO STOP QUICK REFERENCE: Tap the ESC key at any time to stop this program. TO USE QUICK REFERENCE: A brief set of directions is displayed on the screen. Beneath it, 50 kanjis are displayed. Follow the directions on the screen. They will tell you how to select a kanji and how to request a definition or a writing chart. After you have studied the definition or writing chart, tap ENTER or both mouse keys to return to the screen which lets you select a kanji. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KANJI CONCENTRATION KANJI CONCENTRATION is the familiar game of uncovering matching pairs which are hidden in a game board. In this version of the game, you look for identical pairs of kanjis. The game is easy to play, even for people who aren't studying the Japanese language. However, optional larger playing boards can make the game absorbing and challenging - for advanced students too! Actually, KANJI CONCENTRATION is much more than a game. Playing the game will help beginning students recognize similarities and differences between the various kanjis. More advanced students will begin to remember where each kanji is hidden by associating its definition or its pronunciation with its location on the game board. TO START THE GAME: At the main menu of KANJI READER, select KANJI CONCENTRATION GAME. The game will begin immediately. When the game first starts, brief instructions are displayed. At any time during the game, you may see these instructions again by pressing the F1 key. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO PLAY THE GAME: Point to a square in the puzzle and tap the left mouse button. The kanji hidden behind that square will be displayed for you. Then point to another square and tap the left mouse button. The second kanji will be displayed. If the two kanjis you have selected match, they will remain displayed because you have found a pair. If they don't match, they will be hidden again. Continue searching for matching kanjis until you have found all of the pairs. After you have found them all, the Happy Face will REALLY smile! Also, a message telling you to press the mouse (to start the next game) will be displayed. If you want to know more about this message, press the F1 key after the message appears. TO CHANGE THE GAME OPTIONS: Options for this program are changed by "pressing a button" in the top row of five buttons on the screen. To do this, point at the option button icon and tap the left mouse button. The option buttons, from left to right, are described in the box below. KANJI CONCENTRATION OPTION BUTTONS (in left to right order) SPEECH If SPEECH is ON, the program pronounces the message about tapping the mouse button which occurs at the end of each game. MUSIC If MUSIC is ON, the brief musical notes will occur as the game is played. FACE If FACE is ON, the Happy Face is displayed. SIZE Allows you to a select a board size of 2x2, 4x4, 6x6, or 8x8. (If you change board size in the middle of a game, a new game will be started immediately.) COLOR Allows you to change the color of the screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is one more option in KANJI CONCENTRATION and it is very important. On the right hand side of the game there is a lever which controls how long mismatched kanjis will remain on the screen before they are hidden again. Press the red arrow if you want to see the kanjis for a longer time. Press the green arrow if you want to see the kanjis for a shorter time. TO STOP THE GAME: Tap the ESC key - OR - point to the red button in the lower left corner and tap the left mouse button. The game will memorize the settings of all the options and will use them the next time the game is played. For example, if the screen color is PINK when the game is stopped, it will be PINK when the game is started again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLOSSARY HIRAGANA A set of characters used in writing Japanese. The characters are used for "spelling out" words syllable by syllable. The basic 46 hiragana characters represent the sound syllables a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa n/m i ki shi chi ni hi mi ri u ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru e ke se te ne fe me re o ko so to no ho mo yo ro wo Altogether, there are 102 characters in the hiragana syllabary. The remaining characters are variations on these basic 46. INTENSIVE STUDY MODE One of the KANJI READER modes for learning the kanjis. In this mode the student learns to read the kanjis both for meaning and pronunciation. KANA An abbreviation which means either hiragana or katakana or both, depending on the context. KANJI Characters which have both meaning and sound associated with them. (This is in contrast to the kana characters which have only sound associated with them.) Kanji is generally used for writing nouns, verb stems (i.e., verbs minus the part which conjugates the verb into present tense or past tense, etc.), and other important words. Verb endings (which conjugate the verbs) are generally written in hiragana. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KANJI COMPOUND A word which is created by combining two or more kanjis. Each kanji has a meaning by itself. Together, they form a new word. KATAKANA A set of characters used in writing Japanese. Like hiragana, these characters are used for "spelling out" words syllable by syllable. Hiragana and katakana largely represent the same sound syllables. For example, the basic 46 katakana characters have identically the same sounds as hiragana. a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa n/m i ki shi chi ni hi mi ri u ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru e ke se te ne fe me re o ko so to no ho mo yo ro wo Whereas the Hiragana syllabary contains 102 characters, the katakana syllabary contains 127 characters. The extra characters in katakana exist for writing words of foreign origin, because some words which were adopted from foreign countries contain sounds which previously did not exist in the Japanese language. In appearance, hiragana is more cursive and katakana is more angular. In general, hiragana is used for writing verb endings and other grammatical sections of text, while katakana is used for writing words of foreign origin. (The Japanese language contains many words adopted from other languages.) However, the choice of when to use hiragana and when to use katakana is somewhat a matter of personal style because communication will take place no matter which syllabary is chosen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KUN YOMI A reading of a kanji which is native Japanese. ON YOMI A reading of a kanji which was adopted from the Chinese language. PARTICLE Small words within Japanese sentences which are used to show the relationship between words. For example, the particle ga indicates that the word or words which precede it constitute the subject of the sentence and the particle o indicates that the word or words which precede it constitute the direct object of the sentence. In English, the relationship between words is shown by the order in which they appear. For example, "BILL admires TOM" and "TOM admires BILL.". QUICK STUDY MODE One of the KANJI READER modes for learning the kanjis. In this mode, the student learns to read the kanjis for meaning only. Since the student is not learning pronunciation, kanjis are learned in a much shorter time. This mode is useful for beginning students who want to become familiar with a large number of kanjis very quickly and for travelers who want to be able to read signs but aren't interested in learning to speak Japanese. ROMAJI A way of writing Japanese which uses the letters from the Roman alphabet, i.e., the alphabet used in writing English. The basic characters of the kana syllabary are written in romaji under the definitions of HIRAGANA and KATAKANA in this glossary. The romaji used in all QuickScholar Software programs is a modified form of the Hepburn system. The Hepburn system was chosen because it most closely resembles actual Japanese pronunciation and is the easiest for new students to learn. Two variations to be aware of are described below: 1. Long o is written as either oo or ou, rather than as o with a line on top. This tells you exactly how the word is spelled with kana. A line over the o is ambiguous and requires that you memorize whether the o is followed by a u or by another o. 2. The 46th kana is pronounced either like an m or like an n, depending on what sound follows it. (If it is followed by a b, p or m, it is pronounced as an m. If it is followed by any other letter, it is pronounced as an n.) To remind you exactly how it is pronounced, an n or an m is used as appropriate in the programs. For example, the word for newspaper is shimbun. The sound before the b is an m sound. However, some dictionaries will list the word as shinbun. (This places the burden on the reader to remember that it is pronounced as an m.) SYLLABARY A system of written characters representing spoken syllables rather than of individual sounds. (See the glossary definitions of HIRAGANA and KATAKANA..) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS When the kanjis are introduced in the LESSONS program, some of the lessons are very short. Why is this? The lessons are short for one of two reasons. 1. Usually the lessons are short because the new kanji doesn't form many compounds with the kanjis you know at the time. (This is especially true for new users who know very few kanjis.) Nearly all of the kanjis will be seen in additional compounds as you learn new kanjis in the Kanji Reader series. 2. Occasionally, a kanji doesn't form many compounds in these programs because it doesn't form many compounds at all in the Japanese language. Why isn't pronunciation taught using a computer-recorded voice? Most of the QuickScholar Software programs do use a recorded voice to teach pronunciation. In fact, KANJI READER is currently the only QuickScholar Software program which does not use recorded speech. The reason for this is that the main (non-shareware) KANJI READER program contains too many vocabulary items to make recorded speech a practical option until it becomes a CD-ROM product. (The typical vocabulary item requires several thousand bytes of hard disk space for storage and there are multiple thousands of vocabulary items in each Volume of KANJI READER.) QuickScholar is taking steps to provide recorded speech in some form beginning with Volume II. Until KANJI READER is published on CD-ROM, any speech provided will, of necessity, be a compromise between functionality and practicality. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IF THERE IS A PROBLEM MESSAGES FROM THE PROGRAM Sometimes the program will issue a message which describes an error condition that it has detected. Two types of messages may occur: 1. Hardware incorrect If your computer does not support EGA graphics or if you do not have a Microsoft compatible mouse installed, a message will be displayed and the program will stop. These two hardware features are required because some of the programs cannot run without them. 2. File faulty or missing If the program detects an error when reading a data file, it will issue an error message and then stop. The program cannot continue without the data. The first step in trying to solve this problem is to reload the software. Perhaps the file was accidentally deleted or written over at some time. Reloading the software will return it to its original state. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPEECH NOT WORKING CORRECTLY On some brands of PCs, the internal speaker does not support output of sound. If you have such a computer and you do not have sound enhancement hardware, the programs will be silent. However, if you do have sound enhancement hardware and the program are silent, then ask yourself the following questions: Was a device for sound selected? At the KANJI READER main menu, select SETUP AND UTILITIES. Then use SELECT OUTPUT DEVICE FOR SOUND to make your selection. If you have an external sound device, is it plugged in snugly to the correct port? Occasionally, cables to the computer get jiggled loose. A looseness which is barely noticeable can cause speech to flutter or fail. Also, the cable might be plugged into the wrong connector. Is the battery of my Speech Thing still good? If you have a Speech Thing, its light may still be on even though the battery is low, so check the battery and replace it if necessary. Is my sound enhancement hardware installed correctly? If you haven't used the sound enhancement hardware recently, it may not be working for some reason. Use the documentation and software that came with your enhancement hardware to see if the hardware is still working. If you can hear speech but it is raspy, or clicking sounds are occurring, then ask yourself the following questions: Do I have a bus mouse? A bus mouse is a mouse for which a card was installed in a slot inside the computer. If you have such a mouse, check the interrupt selector. It may be using INT 2. If so, try changing the interrupt selector. (Refer to the documentation that came with your mouse.) Do I have a PC XT? Some computers are too slow to produce the speech sounds well. A sound enhancement system that uses DMA may help. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL NOTE FOR SOUND BLASTER USERS: The programs make every effort to exit gracefully, even when an error (such as a missing file) occurs. Exiting gracefully includes returning the screen to its normal graphics state and color, turning the mouse off, and turning sound enhancement hardware off if necessary. In the event that the program stops unexpectedly and isn't able to exit gracefully, you may have to reboot the computer with the RESET button if the Sound Blaster was being used. This is because the program didn't have a chance to turn the Sound Blaster off before exiting. A symptom that this problem has occurred is that, the next time you try to give a command to DOS, your computer will hang up completely...the computer will stop responding to ALL keys. It is very unlikely that this problem will occur, but this note is included because this relatively minor problem can easily be mistaken for a serious hardware failure. Also, if the SoundBlaster ever starts to produce speech or music and then continues to squawk endlessly, it is very likely that the file which is currently being "played" has been corrupted in some way. (Perhaps it was overwritten by a file which is not in the format required by SoundBlaster.) As with the problem above, you will need to reboot your computer. Then reinstall the software from your original disks so that the corrupted file is replaced by the original file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "OUT OF MEMORY" MESSAGE APPEARS The KANJI READER programs require a lot of memory. If you get an "out of memory" message, read your DOS manual for suggestions on how to free up additional memory. (For example, modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT so that no TSR programs are started and load the MOUSE program into high memory.) For KANJI READER to run correctly, your system must have at least 640K of memory. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INCOMPATIBILITIES These programs were developed to run specifically under Microsoft DOS. The programs have been seen to fail when other operating systems are in use. 4DOS, a COMMAND.COM replacement, may have some incompatibilities as well. We recommend that you comment 4DOS out of your AUTEXEC.BAT file and re-boot your computer whenever you run these programs. (END OF KANJI READER SHAREWARE DOCUMENTATION) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------