しあわせ » 01 news • 新聞

Japanese Courses in Sheffield

ロバート — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 19:34:02 +0000

I read some comments made by Amelia Cook of Chocochip Languages on a (ill concieved) campaign against romaji web site today. Based solely on the level-headedness of her comments, she comes across as an enthusiastic, thoughtful and caring teacher who can convey her enthusiasm. Following her links to Facebook, I found a page about her courses in Sheffield. If you are in the Sheffield area and want to learn Japanese I suggest you check it out.
Chocochip Languages Japanese courses in Sheffield
They seem to have many options for courses and an interesting approach. While you can learn a lot by yourself if you are disciplined, a class; classmates; a teacher and a regular time for Japanese can be incredibly useful.

(unfortunately since it seemed to insist on a Facebook account I couldn’t comment on the no-romaji site. But in the spirit of fixing the Internet I’m working on a post in rebuttal.)

さよなら Smart.fm

ロバート — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:07:49 +0000

Smart.fm, formally know as iKnow, is going back to its original name and going behind a paywall. Quite a steep paywall as well at 1000円 or $12 a month. And in the process finally abandoning the last of the community/social aspect of their business.
They have a lot of disgruntled users. (also complaints at koohii and tofugu) But I expect them to disappear as their user base shrinks by about 95% if newspaper paywalls are anything to go by.The (ex)users may well delete their vocab lists before they go which will lead to patchy results in the community lists search feature of iKnow. I’ve had a look at the new site. It feels very much a cut down version of the free community based site. Any subscription money you have would be better spent on a couple of good textbooks.I can understand the anger of users. Smart / iKnow set itself up as a free collaborative social space, with the hint of possible future premium features. It’s to become a subscription based online srs program. (with the possibility of mobile apps, not sure how this will work but based on their prior efforts not so good would be my guess). A very different proposition. They have also taken the user compiled lists and locked the compiler out. At the very least it’s very poor etiquette on Cerego’s behalf not to credit people. From a users perspective the inability to search for a compilers work makes for a poorer experience.

They’ve squandered a lot of goodwill and are now engaged in some damage limitation. (They have since deleted their blog, not that they read many comments judging by the spam they allowed to accrue.) Despite what Cerego say a substantial amount of content on the site was user generated, according to their own statistics yesterday over 1000 items were created and 120 lists (goals) compiled, and this during the swan song. Individuals have added thousands of words, sentences and translations, and hundreds of lists. Quality aside, just going by the index generated on custom lists I would guess there are circa 674,000 custom goals compared to under 100 of Cerego’s official goals.
I’m tempted to delete the lists I made but it’d be a bit churlish perhaps. I more or less knew I was providing free labour for Cerego, but saw it as part of the give and take of a sharing community. I certainly won’t be making any transition to the paid site.

Smart was good for a while. Eventually though, I became fed up with how laborious it was to create lists and how difficult it was to extract your content from the site. When I got an iPod touch I no longer wanted to study online and moved to using a flashcard application. I think that’s where the majority of iKnow / Smart’s users will go. I reckon under $30 would buy a desktop app of equal power or about $6 on an iPod.
I understand their need to charge fees. It can’t be cheap to run a site like that and as yet there wasn’t much evidence of a revenue stream from the site itself although they have raised $23million plus in funding to date. I wonder if the investors will be seeking a return. That’s about 160,000 user years of subscriptions. Unfortunately for Cerego the dominant pricing on the Internet is free. The pricing of apps on the Apple App Store is under $5 (as a one off payment) They are facing an uphill battle. I would have thought a freemium model would have worked better. Although maybe they hope the core market in japan is less likely to complain and more likely to pay. I’m not so sure. The Japanese I’ve met expect top quality service and products.

If you want an alternative to smart.fm online try wordchamp.com. It may not be as graphically stylish but it has some more features. It’s free but also has a premium rate at a very reasonable $10 a year. Or there’s quizlet. On the iPod I recommend flashcards deluxe ($4) Or for a dedicated (but less customisable) program with multiple tests and games and high quality material to study including audio by native speakers and example sentences I highly recommend Japanese Sensei ($16)
Actually I recommend an iPod over any online system or desktop system mainly because it’s so portable; you can find many spare moments to go through your flashcards.
Anki seems very popular. It’s free for pc and mac but relatively expensive on the iPod (mainly the developers idea is for the iPhone app to subsidise the work on the free desktop app). I don’t really like it. It requires a lot of initial effort to learn the program and it always seemed windows clunky in it’s interface and documentation.

(This is a cross-post from my microblog, I wonder what that does to my google juice)

microblog

ロバート — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:21:58 +0000

I’ve started a microblog on posterous for briefer posts and interesting pages that don’t seem to be appropriate for this site. There will probably be posts about FileMaker as I continue with the Kanji Sieve project. Eventually I’ll sort out the RSS feed display and there will be a listing in the sidebar.

しあわせ microblog

Kanji Sieve 0.5 released

ロバート — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:17:10 +0000

Now with added Kanji Notebook.

New features in this iteration

option to turn off tooltips
click to display kanji information in statistics view
shift-click for options on some buttons
October 2010 standard Jyouyou kanji
User defined keywords
preferred language preference
Spanish keywords
French keywords
Spanish, French and German automatic lookup on wwwjdic
added Hispadic and Wadoku to list of online dictionaries
Chuta.jp queried for English and preferred language
sieve for custom list of kanji
searched word in waeijiten is highlighted (verbs and adjectives decline)
minor interface improvements
improved character count for more accurate overall statistics
Kanji Notebook (2010 Jyouyou, KKLD kanji, Kanji Oddysey)
phonetic data (work in progress – 75 groups at present)
Import images
Images and Audio copied to media folder
Image Editor from pixlr.com

The kanji in the statistics panes can be clicked to get basic information about the kanji, its keyword and the KKLD index. there is also a checkbox to mark it as known.
Kanji Notebook contains more data on 2537 kanji, covering the 2010 Jyouyou, KKLD kanji, and Kanji Odyssey lists. My motivation to build Kanji Notebook was to get a sort of dictionary that showed the data I wanted, and allowed me to add my own notes and importantly change the keyword. The dataset from EDRDG originally started with keywords from Heisig. These are still there as the first word and were driving me crazy. Jim Breen said he was going to clear up these entries way back in 1995 but I still want to scream when I see “old boy” for 君. The keywords from KKLD are better, or sometimes my own keyword. I haven’t included KKLD keywords but there is the option to add them yourself. The KKLD index from EDRDG‘s data is included to help with a look-up. (If you managed to get the iPhone app before it disappeared putting a ~ before the index number allows you to search for it)
The example words are from vocabulary extracted from records in Kanji Sieve. Therefore all vocabulary should be relevant to your interests.

There is automated look-up of Internet dictionaries for a kanji. I find it interesting to search google images to see if I can guess a clear meaning or see how it is being used. You can explore kanji using the browse tab, to get lists by grade, radical, phonetic, kakitorikun screen, or Kanji Odyssey group.
Kakitorikun is a great piece of software for the Nintendo DS. It’s main drawback is it’s completely in Japanese. With Kanji Notebook I can at least easily put an English keyword to kanji on a given screen.
Kanji Odyssey from Coscom is an excellent e-book based on the frequency of use of kanji. It has many examples and recordings of native speech. I recommend it. An added bonus is their completely free update program. Recently I got a new CD from them when they updated for the 2010 Jyouyou. Absolutely free, not even postage costs. That’s a rare service these days.

There is the beginnings of language support for languages other than English. Spanish and French keywords are included. They will be displayed in preference to English when the preferred language is set in preferences. This also controls what language is used to query chuta.jp. However I found that the returns are very short so English is also submitted. wwwjdic will use the preferred language when searching for vocabulary.
Complete translations of the interface are unlikely at the moment however.

That’s it for now. Next potential release will be January. I really need to spend some more time on documentation! …

Downloads

More about Kanji Sieve

Kanji Sieve v0.4 released

ロバート — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 13:10:07 +0000

Another month another set of improvements to Kanji Sieve.
In this release I concentrated on getting data in and out of the program.

It is possible to import records from a previous version.
As I strongly believe that the data belongs to the user it can all be exported in a variety of formats to be used elsewhere.
You can use a built-in mini browser to search for texts at your favourite sites.
Plain text and audio can be imported.
Chuta can now be viewed online on PCs and Macs
There is a choice of 7 online dictionaries to search for word meanings
Individual dictionary lookups are automated
The layout is now more flexible
There is a full screen mode for reading
There is an online help system (in progress)
The interface colour has been toned down
Interface and navigation improvements

I was hesitant about using Chuta online display. It was the only way at the moment to implement it for the PC. Chuta only stores a search for a limited time and while chuta is fast it does take a while to compile the custom page. I would prefer to work with cached data. What I do in the online display is check to see if the remote cache has expired and if it has fetch it again. It’s not ideal when loading the Chuta pane in the program but it is the best for now. I also had to sacrifice some screen real estate to get feedback that the program hadn’t frozen. After the first time your own cache should speed loading. Mac users can still work with the cached data by setting a preference.

There are now several dictionary urls to chose from. I think jisho.org (denshi jisho) in a mobile phone version or risukun are the fastest and cleanest. Jim Breen’s wwwjdic is comprehensive but you need to pare down the interface via the preferences to avoid information overload and clutter. The Japanese dictionaries from Wordbank, Yahoo, Goo and ALC all have ads to a varying degree. ALC is the worst, which makes for a very cluttered window without expanding it.
As I like to automate where I can you can submit a search just by clicking a button in the wordlist. You don’t have to type or copy and paste if you don’t want to. Owing to the imprecision of looking up words automatically you have to chose the correct version from the results and paste that into your wordlist yourself.

There is a mini-browser to help with getting text into the program. I dislike jumping from program to program so I wanted something “right there”. However it’s not as capable as a proper browser like Safari or Firefox (and on the PC you’re stuck with the dreadful Internet Explorer engine). And there is no ad filtering. One way around this is to use Evernote and your usual browser to collect interesting text then access your Evernote account from with Kanji Sieve. ( note: Kanji Sieve does not store or access any passwords, history etc. This is all handled by your computers browser software and stored elsewhere on your system. (Safari on the Mac, IE on Windows) Apart from accessing the help files through a browser, the software does not in any way call home. The only data going out are submissions to chuta.jp and dictionary sites for word lookups.)

I am happier with the PC version this time around. Overall I really think this is becoming a usable and useful tool.

The online help is a work in progress. I will be writing it over the next month or so. After that it will be on to version 0.5 to release sometime in November.

The downloads are here.

––update 04Oct10––
bug release v0.4.1 released 3 Oct

Jukai 樹海 at the Blue Elephant Theatre London

ロバート — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:34:09 +0000

My friend Tomoko-san is performing in JUKAI, starting 28 September 2010, in South London at the Blue Elephant Theatre.

JUKAI was created by Theatre Témoin in Santa Cruz, CA in 2008 with actors, musicians and designers from Japan, California and London. Now the company has gathered together again to perform the London premiere in 3 weeks time.

At the base of Mount Fuji lies a stretch of forest known locally as “The Sea of Trees”. Thousands of people who have entered these woods have never been seen again. Some simply got lost. Others went in intending to disappear…

Physical theatre meets Japanese taiko drumming. JUKAI is a play of mask, dance, movement, samurai sword fighting and live music, telling a touching story of a French writer visiting Japan. Guaranteed to bring you an exciting cultural night out.

JUKAI will be performed in English. It runs from 28 September to 16 October on Tuesday to Saturday at 8 pm for 15 performances at
Blue Elephant Theatre / Nearest tube: Oval (map)

Tickets are £9.50 (£7.50 conc.; £6.50 Southwark residents and Previews)
There are free seats available for under-26s. Check with the box office, but early booking is required.

Kanji Sieve 0.4 progress

ロバート — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:11:03 +0000

I’ve been working away at Kanji Sieve whenever I get the opportunity.
Printing has now been added. It will now print the text, stats and vocab for a record properly.
As I don’t like jumping from application to application I’ve added the capability to browse your favourite sites within Kanji Sieve to find new texts.
Although the base layout is designed for small screens I’ve made the screens more flexible for larger screen sizes.
When making new records you can now import a text file. I’ve also added search and replace including regular expression abilities in New Record and Edit Record to clean up texts, removing furigana in brackets for instance. (I may look into the optional display of furigana at a later date.)
I’ve cleared up a couple of bugs. I’ve made popup windows modal to stop users going astray by accident.
I’ve updated the version of 360 Works Scriptmaster bundled in the runtime.

Windows still has me stumped to an extent. As this is a hobby project not a commercial one, and to be honest not many people seem to be downloading Kanji Sieve, I can’t justify the cost of setting up a Windows system just to chase down the glitches. (I looked at cheap netbooks but it doesn’t help that Windows 7 has a confusing array of flavours and I’m not sure at which point you get Japanese support. I prefer Mac’s system of buy once get everything.) So while I realise a lot of people are on Windows, I’m doing this firstly for myself and I use a Mac.

I should have something by the end of this month. As soon as I sort out data transfer from version to version I’ll post the update. I might need to consider a data separation model where the user data is kept in a separate file but this may have to wait until I stop adding to the solution.

Kanken London 2010

ロバート — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:13:40 +0000

This year’s kanjikentei will be held on Sunday 31st of October at SOAS UCL London.
They have a Google webform this year for candidates to request application forms. The deadline is the 28th September. You can sit more than one level if you want but this year I’ll only be attempting 8 kyu. It may take me a few years to reach my 5 kyu goal of the 1006 primary school kanji. It’s not the kanji so much as the vocabulary and usage.

Be aware that British Summer Time ends on the 31st, so make sure you turn up on time for the test!

(I had a rather interesting search term in my blog stats today. “Heisig classes in Tokyo” Good Luck with that, Heisig seemed very anti-teacher and only an individual could manage his method. And only the Internet has kept his book in print… )

Also open for applications is the 2010 JLPT held at SOAS. This year they have online application and are again limiting candidates to 1000 across all levels. I must get back on track with JLPT. The leap to 2 was too daunting, but now there is the intermediate N3 I should give it a go. Just not this year!

Kon Satoshi 1963 – 2010

ロバート — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:31:30 +0000

I was sad to see the death of animator Kon Satoshi 今敏 reported on Boing Boing today.
He was one of my favourite film-makers. He made animated films with serious themes aimed at adults.
I remember thinking “They broadcast this on TV?!” when watching Paranoia Agent with it’s storylines exploring bullying, prostitution, and Internet suicide pacts. Indeed the episode concerning the suicide pact had cuts made to it in the UK. He depicted a modern Japan much darker than I’ve seen portrayed in other anime. It could have been live action but somehow by being animated it is hyper-real in an odd way.
I thoroughly recommend, Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ (great Christmas movie!), Millennium Actress 千年女優 and the series Paranoia Agent 妄想代理人.

––update 05Sep10––
His last words (posted online by his family) have been translated into English by Makikoh Ito on her blog. (as well as some notes on her translation). They’re very sad in many ways. My thoughts go out to his wife and parents.
I’m of a similar age to Kon Satoshi and will never have even a fraction of his talent or accomplishments…
In rely to his おさきに　I offer お疲れさま　and 　ごきげんよう
(My Japanese Father-in-law died from cancer last year. I never really got to know him because my Japanese was never good enough, but language and cultural gulf notwithstanding he welcomed me into his family. I doubt I will ever have a fraction of his talent and accomplishment either.)

———————————
おはよう
This is a one minute short part of the Ani*Kuri15 project for NHK.
It’s a good example of his style.

JLPT Changes from 2010

Kanji Sieve for Windows

ロバート — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:57:23 +0000

Finally.
I’ve cleaned up the display as best I can for Windows. I don’t know whether it is just that I am am used to the display on the Mac, but I’m not 100% happy with how it looks on Windows XP. Maybe it looks better on a more recent release.
I’ve changed the colour to blue for the interface elements. Windows requires the Meiryo font or rather will probably look best with Meiryo. Unfortunately I cannot manage to resolve the display of the Chuta dictionary from within FileMaker, which cuts down the amount that is automated for a Windows user. Mac and Windows use the same base file and I just detect which platform it is running on and the changes happen automatically (more or less!). From the next version (whenever that might be) I hope to have a simultaneous release through more checking as I go along.

The downloads are here and I have a movie demonstrating Kanji Sieve instead of help files.

––update 01Aug10––
And already I have an update. When I was setting conditional formatting for Windows I inadvertently removed the record highlighting from the list view. Version 0.3.2 adds this back. I haven’t uploaded full packages for this just the Kanji Sieve Data.usr file. Replace the .usr file in v0.3.1 with this file. Unfortunately I haven’t implemented import of records yet, so any records you have will have to be re-entered.