A flash-card style database application specifically designed for learning Japanese kanji letterforms, but which may be adapted for general use in memorising sets of symbols.
Contents:
- System Requirements
- What Its For
- General Operation
- FAQ
- Problems and Suggestions
- Purchasng
- Software License
System requirements:
System 7.1 or higher (it may work with 7.0, but its untested)
2 Mb free RAM
What Its For:
A particularly sucessful technique for tackling the daunting task of learning the 2000+ symbols in regular use in the Japanese writing system is for the student to create a flash-card when they first try to learn a particular letter. Flash-cards usually consist of a small piece of paper with a letterform on one side and information about that letter on the other. As the student learns more and more letterforms, they accumulate a whole pack of cards which can be flicked through to test/refresh their memory.
'KanjiCards' is designed as a direct replacement for paper cards - it improves and extends the functionalty of paper cards in a number of ways:
• Its quicker and easier to handle (try shuffling a pack of 2000 home-made cards!)
• Its quicker and easier to create new cards.
• Its quicker and easier to modify/correct/add data to existing cards
• The cards can be easily sorted into packs more quickly and in more versatile ways than possible with physical cards.
• Cards can be searched virtually instantaneously. This feature allows the card library to be used for high-speed reference as well as memorisation.
• It contains a 'Cardomiter' which tracks the rate at which you are learning new cards (great for people who like setting themselves targets)
• Each card can hold much more information than can be squeezed on to the back of a playing-card sized bit of paper.
• The stroke order and direction of the marks used to build up the symbol are preserved in the image data.
General Operation:
The best way to find out about the capabilities of KanjiCards is to load up some of the example files and play around with them - use the help balloons to discover the function of the individual controls.
Although it is possible to learn simply by viewing the example files, you will get the most out of KanjiCards by making up your own library of symbols - adding new symbols as you come across them in the course of your study programme. A good kanji dictionary will have all the information about a kanji symbol necessary to complete all the fields on the 'Card View' but there is no need to fill in all the fields if they contain information that is not important, or is not available to you.
Typically, you will create only one data file (called a 'Card Library' file) This file will contain all your cards and information on which of these cards are grouped together into 'Packs.'
You should load up and look through the cards in the library regularly - randomly flick through the cards testing your memory before pressing the space-bar to reveal the hidden information about the symbol. Also try to add new cards to the library regularly.
I have tried really hard to make KanjiCards as reliable as possible, but this application was written entirely by one person, and tested on only two machines, please, PLEASE save often and keep a back-up copy of your Library files so that if I have failed to find a nasty bug, you won't lose all your work through a corrupted data file or a crash. If the program does misbehave, email me at forever.games@virgin.net and describe what went wrong, so I can do something about it!
(Tip: You could even copy an alias of the library file into the 'Start-up Items' folder of your system folder to remind you to do a little revision whenever you start-up your Mac.)
If you have created a card library that you would like to share with other users, by all means send the file to me via email forever.games@kagi.com together with a text introduction to the library so that I can make the library available for download on the KanjiCards web site.
Frequently Asked Questions:
• I get corrupted junk text in the vocabulary window when looking at the Joyo kanji example file. Whats going on?
The Joyo kanji file takes advantage of MacOS's Japanese text handling capabilities to include Kanji text in the vocabulary list. If you do not have the kanji text handling extensions installed, it will not display properly.
From OS 8.5 onwards the English MacOS system cds have had Japanese text as an optional install - you can easily install it from the CD - launch the installer, do a custom install, selecting only the Japanese Language package.
If you already have the capability to display Kanji text, but the vocab list still displays junk characters, go to the Pack View and make sure the font pop-up menu has a Kanji font (eg. Osaka) highlighted.
• What's all this 'Forever Games' stuff about?
I am a games programmer by trade, hence the name of the web-site and kagi vendor name. I wrote this application as an aid to my own kanji learning efforts, and only later realised that others might also find it useful.
• I don't care about Kanji, but I like the about box....
I have detached the game in the about box from the rest of the application, making a free-standing game which is available to download from
http://freespace.virgin.net/forever.games/
Look for 'The Pongy Mouse Game'
Problems / Suggestions:
I have worked hard to make KanjiCards as reliable and useable as possible, but if you do find any bugs please send an email to forever.games@virgin.net detailing what went wrong, when and what machine you were using at the time. Suggestions for improvements are also welcome.
Purchasing:
Kanji Cards is shareware, if you find it useful, you are obliged to make a financial contribution which will go towards its future development and the development of further MacOS productions. As moral obligations are somewhat out of fasion these days, I have deliberately crippled the shareware version - anyone wishing to create or view card libraries containing more than 100 cards will have to pay in order to do so.
The order process:
Kanji Cards costs just $15 (US Dollars) and all payment transactions are handled by Kagi - the well established payment processing firm. You can pay by cash, cheque, money order or credit card using the 'Register Kanji Cards' application that accompanies this file - fill in the required data and send it to kagi by fax, mail or email. Whichever method you use to order, when Kagi receive payment they will send you a registration code via email (if you supplied an email address) otherwise they will post it to you. Simply launch KanjiCards, type in the code and the unrestricted version will be enabled.
You can also order Kanji Cards by credit card over the web, by going to:
http://order.kagi.com/?XVI
Using 'Register Kanji Cards':
Run 'Register Kanji Cards' by double clicking on it, fill in the form. Check that all the information is correct, then select Print, Save or Copy as appropriate to the payment method (see below)
• If you do not have an email address, you will need to include your postal address and select the 'Postcard Receipt' check box. Kagi will send a Postcard receipt to this address containing your registration code - there is an extra $1 charge for this and it takes much longer than an email response.
•If paying with Credit Card, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number. Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email containing your registration code as soon as it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive the code as soon as it has been processed, otherwise, the code will be sent by post.
• If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-XVI
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD check is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method because without the payment, the form cannot be processed.
Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi as soon as the form is processed.
If you do not have an email address, please enter your complete postal address and please remember, we do not know what country you live in so please enter that into the postal address also. If you do not have an email address you must select the Postcard Receipt so that Kagi can inform you of your registration code. Kagi transmits the registration codes via email and paid postcard receipt only.
License:
This software is provided 'as is', without any warranty express or implied. If you launch it, you do so entirely at your own risk, and the author will not be held responsible for any loss or damage caused as a result.
This software is freely distributable by any means (websites, ftp, CDRom, etc.) provided the following files are all presented together (in the same folder or archive) and without modification:
- Kanji Cards FAT ( the application program )
- Manual (this document)
- Register Kanji Cards
- Kanji Cards Homepage (web link file)
- Online Orders (web link file)
- Sample Libraries (folder containing example files)
Registration codes are provided for the exclusive use of the purchaser and must not be shown or made available to anyone else or broadcast in any way.
