しあわせ

Long ago before I started learning Japanese, FileMaker Pro was one of my favourite programs. Then I started spending most of my time on Japanese and FileMaker was sidelined, especially as it didn’t support Japanese characters at that time. It’s interesting though, I get the same fun from learning Japanese as I did when I solved a problem using FileMaker.

Lately I’ve taken a look at the Kanjidic2 XML file. I’d like to do a little more than a standard dictionary search. The various sites and standalones don’t quite do what I’d like. I’d like to be able to pull out the data for which JLPT2 kanji are also Grade 4 for instance. I’d like to add my own notes, set up my own cross references, link it to Kradfile, link it to websites, get rid of the most annoying Heisig definitions (old-boy for 君 springs to mind). I have ideas for kanji learning I’d like to integrate. Although I wonder if I won’t have Yet Another Japanese Dictionary Reader in what is already a crowded market.

Anyhow to start to do this I need to put it into a database. FileMaker is the only real candidate to do what I want easily. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you miss out small tsu?
Forget when to lengthen a vowel?
Use the wrong voicing?
Help may be at hand from Purdue University. It is an old project (the last update was 2002) but they have available custom dictionaries for Japanese IME systems. I downloaded the extra dictionaries for Kotoeri. They also have files for Windows XP.
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Since MacOS X was first released the built-in support for Japanese has been excellent. Everything you need for Japanese is in the standard installation. It’s there when you want it. It just works; no searching around for install disks. I recently installed Windows XP using Parallels on my Mac. Boy it’s clunky. Mac is the way to go for Japanese. Doubly so because, if you want, with an Intel Mac you can get Windows too.

Japanese support was a big reason for me to go OS X several years ago. It was a deciding factor on Leopard as well.
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Alex Chapin (MacGraw-Hill)

While waiting on a friend in a bookshop I wandered towards the languages section as usual. I found this reasonably priced little title from MacGraw-Hill. It effectively turns your iPod into a talking phrasebook. One less book to carry if you’re taking your iPod to Japan anyhow. (Although books don’t run out of power or break when you drop them).

The package consists of a CD with 1621 files on it, that’s 5.4 hours and 314.2MB of content, and a booklet of all the phrases and also some suggestions on using it. All the files are clearly recorded by a native speaker. They are broken down into sections using Artist and Album to make finding a phrase quite easy. The text of the phrase is in English and Romaji in it’s title and the Lyrics feature contains the entire section in English, romaji and kanji.

The way I tend to use a phrasebook is to check on something and refresh my memory before piling in to a language transaction like reserving tickets. I think this product would be as good as any print phrasebook for most uses.
For language learning I think it’ll help me expand my vocabulary a little and help give me phrases to instantly insert into my conversation attempts.

Well worth the £10 it costs.

JEDict is my new favorite mac-based dictionary reader.
Again it uses data from the EDICT project like WordLookup, but it’s searches are much more powerful and speedy. It doesn’t only search on the first character. It has single kanji searches so you can find the meaning of individual components. It has a built in user dictionary so you can collect word lists. You can search for kanji you don’t know the reading of by using a radical index. It has a built in web browser that allows you to click on a word and get a translation!!! I liked it so much I upgraded my OS version to 10.4 in order to use it.
On the down side it isn’t as well designed as Word Lookup and I find it a bit cluttered and hard to read sometimes. However I think this will improve. The changes between 4.0 and 4.0.1 addressed a lot of things I found difficult.
It is shareware at a very reasonable $25. The unregistered version is completly usable but doesn’t allow you extra dictionaries.
Version 4 needs OSX 10.4 but version 3.8 will run on OS8 and above. (version 3 isn’t as full featured however)

WordLookup
is a bilingual dictionary reader. For Japanese it uses data from the EDICT project coordinated by James Breen at the Monash University in Melbourne Australia. WordLookup allows the user to perform searches on the EDICT data. You will need kana to input a Japanese search or to understand the results of an English search. WordLookup can also read other dictionaries such as English-German and English-Chinese, for details see their site.

WordLookup was once free but since version 3 it is now shareware ($15). As always I’d encourage you to support the author. Unfortunatly in order to search for anything beyond “A” you have to buy a licence.
The best new feature of 3 is that it now stores searches. Very useful when checking the meaning of individual kanji in compounds.