I already wrote about
small programs useful for Japanese learning and another one on
spaced repetition software, as well as one about
PSPKanji. I reckoned that it would be interesting to share the news about this particular software that is not necessarily known by everyone. However, these posts were also written on the spot, which means that they did not have long testing time behind them. After learning Japanese for about three years now and using computer software to enhance the process much more extensively than before, I would like to tackle the subject again.
In exactly one month from now I will be writing my
Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 3, also known as Nihongo Noryoku Shiken. I have prepared my learning aids all around me and now I am going to share my setup with you. I do not claim that it is the best possible configuration ever, but it works great for me and I have not seen the detailed description of such combination anywhere else, hence the idea to share it with the world. So here we go!
ANKI
The most important program in my computer-enhanced studying process is undoubtedly
Anki, the
spaced repetition software. If you are unsure what the term means, just click on the link and read more on Wiki, but in short this means that the program will adapt the frequency of cards it displays to how well the user remembered them.
I know that long time ago I have written that I prefer Mnemosyne to Anki, but over time the latter has become my weapon of choice. My previous favourite turned out quite annoying in prolonged use due to the fact that there are too many buttons to classify how well user remembered kanji, irritating bug which caused the labels on these buttons to be displayed incorrectly, as well as a number of other minor annoyances (read
this post for more on the subject). Also, my impression is that Anki was constantly developing, while Mnemosyne was standing still.
In short, I use Anki because it is reasonably easy to pick up and use for a normal non-geek person, yet at the same time very configurable, bug-free, stable and well supported. Anki is available for Window, Mac OSX and various Linux distributions. Other than that, it is also pretty, which is definitely a good thing - I don't like ugly interfaces.
Of course, Anki is only as good as the deck it is using. The deck means the collection of cards, the question and answer pairs. Many people recommend making one's own deck when studying, but while it is a good habit, it also requires considerably more effort and therefore can be discouraging for some lazier users. I have actually prepared my own deck in the course of learning, because I was looking for some things I could not find in other decks available on the internet (I will share them at some point, but the are a little bit too messy to go public just yet), but in the beginning I was using pre-made decks. Yes, I am a lazy bastard deep inside.
For JLPT 4 and 3 I highly recommend the decks from
Transmogrified website - they are infinitely better than the decks available for download on Anki page and I actually consider them to be the best around. At least until my deck goes live, that is.
We've exchanged emails with the author and here's what he has to say on the installation procedure:
I've corrected the two issues you mentioned in your email, so
downloads should work correctly now. You may want to let your readers
know that they may experience problems if they don't have the latest
version of Anki (9.9.8.5). I made these decks on a little older
version of Anki and the application version in the Ubuntu repositories
appears to have trouble with some of them. 9.9.8.5 can convert them
correctly, however.
Hence, the bottom line is that you should use the newest possible Anki version and import the decks in order to have them working fine. Also, let me remind you that thanking the author for his hard work is generally a nice way of showing appreciation.
With Anki ready to use, now it's the time to introduce the second great tool that I use almost daily, namely Wakan.
WAKAN
I have wasted quite some time searching on the torrent sites for a good Japanese dictionary software and couldn't find any. Then I just slapped myself and looked for a legal and preferably free option. As it turns out, there exists an excellent, yet almost unknown and therefore much underappreciated piece of software that is both a dictionary and
ideogram database:
Wakan.
Wakan can in fact be used with both Chinese hanzi and Japanese kanji characters, but obviously I have used it only for my Japanese study. I mostly use it as a dictionary, but the fact that there are premade sets of kanjis for different JLPT levels (and other classifications) or that it also has a very powerful tool for searching kanjis based on
radicals go to prove that there are many ways in which Wakan can be used. For me, however, its main advantage is that Wakan is infinitely faster than searching for kanji in a regular book dictionary.
Its only downside is that, unfortunately, sometimes it does not recognize the copy-pasted kanji, even though it does in fact exist in Wakan's dictionary (but it happens rather rarely). Also, it is only available for Windows, but I have had no problems running it via Wine on Linux and I suppose that it should not be hard to convince it to run on Mac OSX as well.
I recommend to download the full Wakan file from
the download section (last version as of writing this post is 1.67), then replace the edict dictionary file with the latest version (edict_dic_080320 from 20 March 2008) and add JLPT Levels 4, 3 and 2 Vocabulary files, as well as Japanese Example Sentences file. In order to find the last two files you will need scroll down to Japanese Vocabulary files section that strangely enough is separate from Japanese dictionaries section. I am unsure as to why Japanese has been split into two sections (with Chinese dictionaries in-between!) and it does not seem very logical to me, but the authors have decided to have it that way.
If you follow the above steps, your Wakan will use the up to date dictionary and highlight the words that are officially marked as required JLPT vocabulary (so that you know exactly which ones are important for your particular exam level). It will also present sample sentences containing characters that you were looking for and while these sample sentences may seem very difficult to read at first, even to the point of being intimidating for a beginner, the practice they provide will certainly prove very valuable over time.
Also worth noting is the synergy effect that stems from using Anki in conjunction with Wakan - user can almost instantly check what some particular kanji from a multi-character expression means, something that is not feasible with just Anki. It is a very effective learning enhancement, especially in cases where you have the impression that you already know some kanji from elsewhere, but can't quite recall it and would like to check it immediately on the spot. The sense of achievement flowing from finding it out significantly boosts the chances to remember the character in question.
LEARN KANA
I have to admit that I am very quickly fogetting both kanji and kana. It can be attributed to me getting older, not having daily contact with written Japanese other than single lesson per week or perhaps to overall difficulty in memorizing abstract graphic symbols. Aspiring to any JLPT examination, however, one should have a perfect proficiency in kana - and I still tend to forget some of them, especially less often used katakana. Here comes the solution.
While Anki can be used to practise kana as well, I prefer a separate program instead of juggling many decks. It is just my personal quirk. The program I use is LearnKana - there actually are two programs bearing the same name, the one I have in mind is
this one, not
this one. Not much can be said about it, as it is a rather simple tool - but its simplicity is one of its main advantages, it means that there's nothing to distract you from just taking it and using it from the very beginning. It is a simple, quick and somewhat rough around the edges solution for kana memorization. I mention it here, because I think it deserves it place in the suite.
MOBILE
The aforementioned trio is the main powerhorse of my accelerated learning process, but there are also mobile platforms to take advantage of when learning. I won't describe these programs in as much detail as the previous ones, because A) this post is already reaching gargantuan size and B) they are simpler applications. Nevertheless, they are quite useful in prodding memory banks with a stick when away from the computer.
The program that I most often use when on the go is Kanji Recall, a kanji quiz written in Java for mobile phones. From what I know, it is not using spaced repetition algorithms, which makes it a little less sophisticated than Anki and co. It is, however, very convenient for repeating kanji when on the bus, waiting at the queue and so on, mainly because one always has their mobile phone on them. Simple, neat and free - excellent combination (I have found a number of paid programs, but having tested them I don't think they are any better than Kanji Recall). For JLPT 4 you will need First Grade and for JLPT 3 - Second Grade. I will not provide you with a download link, because the numerous websites with Java programs are coming and going and it might become invalid at some point in future, but if you google the program name, you will surely find it.
The second program that can be used for kanji and kana quizzes is
PSPKanji. With a good number of options, XML lists and nice interface, it is an interesting alternative for studying on the go. Its disadvantage, however, is that it requires a hacked PSP with Custom Firmware, which makes it userbase significantly more limited than Kanji Recall and while there exists a PC version, it is inferior to Anki and Wakan. You can find more about PSPKanji in
this post.
The third solution is not only portable and mobile, but also does not require electricity: kanji flashcards. Mine are from White Rabbit Press, namely this set:
Japanese Kanji Flashcards, Volume 1 (warning: this is an affiliate link). They are inexpensive, durable (I've carried them around in my backpack for years now and it doesn't show), contain stroke order and sample kanji use, plus they are geared towards JLPT - the volume 1 set contains kanji cards for Level 3 and Level 4. I like having them around for times when I can't look at computer screen any longer and for making my own custom lists.
So there you have it - five applications and a traditional deck of flashcards are what make my studying setup. It was first testing it when preparing for JLPT 4, but it is just now, on the verge of passing JLPT 3, that the true strength of such combination is beginning to show - the number of kanji and vocabulary to memorize is three times as large as at the previous level. The exam in December will verify both my skills and usefulness of this setup, yet I am confident it is a good choice of programs to boost your learning curve, which is why I am sharing this with you.
If you find this post useful, please let me know via comments.
