Penguin's Japanese Resouces Site

On-Line Programs, Info & Links

by Marc "Penguin!" Ellis: penguin@vossnet.co.uk

link thingy

Konnichiwa (Welcome, Good Day)

Hi and welcome to my Japanese Resources Site. This site is aimed at all those with an interest in Japan and the Japanese language especially students of the latter. I'm currently studying Japanese for the second time and have, in my studies, come across many resources that I would like to recommend to others in a similar position. They are grouped as follows:

My Tutee's Site - A short site including Kana Tables and simple pronounciation rules.

Kana Sensei - A most excellant quiz for learning Kana.

Books - A quick guide to some of the books I've found useful and where to get them.

Japanese Word Processor - An easy-to-use Word Processor for typing in Kana and Kanji.

Language Extension for MIE - Enables your browser to read Japanese web pages.

Links! - A list of links to other handy Japanese Pages.

Closing Credits - A few people I should really say a quick "thanks" to.

My Tutee's Site

About half a year ago - while in between courses myself - I started a short Japanese Class by e-mail. It only lasted a few weeks (there was a short lesson each day) and had made a start on Hiragana.

This is a site that I made at that time to show what Hiragana looked like and to show some of the more basic pronounciation rules. I hope it will still be a good first port of call to anyone starting to learn the Japanese Language.

Kana Sensei

ksensei.zip (93Kb)

Kana Sensei is Great! It's a quiz for learning your kana and vocabulary that runs from DOS. It's very simple to use and I've found it the best way for learning kana.

When I first looked in the back of my textbook, saw 100 squiggles and was told that I had to learn them all in 3 months it seemed impossible, but Kana Sensei made it a great deal easier. It's also shareware. That means that you can download it and try it out and it doesn't cost you a penny.

Should you wish to Download It! you may do so from the VossNet ftp site here in the UK. If you are further afield, there are a couple of lists that you can peruse to find the nearest Kana Sensei site to you: Jumbo.com and Shareware.com.

It was written some time back now by Michael Chachich and was based on his studies at the time, which were in turn based on the text book Japanese for Busy People. JFBP seems to be the most common of all Japanese text books and thus Kana Sensei makes an essential study aid for Hiragana, Katakana and also basic vocabulary from the book.

As with all shareware if you find that you are using Kana Sensei regularly then you should register it. This can be done for US$15.00 and will also entitle you to the latest update including...

The last Kana Sensei version is 2.02 which has the following changes:

Minor typos were corrected in the documentation
Support was added for small katakana a i u e o and katakana vu
Added recognition of wo as alternative for o'
EGA error in which Quit(Y/N) prompt was not appearing was fixed
Repainting the quiz screen was changed because it didn't work on some machines
Omission for automatically recognizing dd, gg, etc. cases in which the small tsu should be displayed was fixed
Kana Preview was added in Create Quiz screen so that the current entry can be previewed in kana for accuracy

Also the registered version contains several more quizzes including a few kanji.

Michael now lives in Japan and there are many other pieces of information and insights into Japan on his pages. They also house his other unique contribution to the web: The Web's First Japanese Pizza Page , where would we be without sites like this pushing back the boundaries of the web! <g>

Recommended Books

This section has now expanded to take up it's own page. It contains short descriptions and purchasing information on text books, dictionaries and other books that I've found useful in the study of Japanese. It also features a Where to Buy section for addresses, directions and even the odd map of places to buy the books.

Go to: Penguin's Recommended Japanese Books Page

JWP - Japanese Word Processor

jwp_all.zip (6.7 Mb)

JWP is a Japanese Word Processor for windows.

All the files for JWP, except the source code are in the zip. The main FTP site has this a little more compartmentalized so you can be more selective. This zip has all the fonts, 16 and 32 bit programs, dictionary and the manual in Word 6 and self-viewing formats.

"The site ftp.cc.monash.edu.au contains a large archive of Japanese
software under the directory /pub/nihongo.  It is also the official
distribution site for new updates to all the databases and dictionaries
that JWP uses." - JWP's Readme.

Japanese Language Extension for Microsoft Internet Explorer

IE 3.0 Multilanguage Support for Win'95 and NT 4.0

This is the easiest way to view Japanese sites as Kana and Kanji, although it only appears to be available at present for Win'95 and NT.

Go to Japanese Version Download Area.
Select the nearest download to you. The file is about 2,460 KB.
Run the file and follow the setup instructions (not that there are many) & restart.
Click the globe that should now have appeared in the lower-right corner of the Internet Explorer window.
Click Japanese (Auto Detect).

Now try a Japanese Site, such as http://www.jp.msn.com/ (even if it does have sucky sound).

With these installed, Explorer 3 will spot Japanese pages and show you them as kana and kanji, rather than random garbage. Instructions should be given on the page that is linked to at the top. However as Microsoft seem to keep changing their site, please let me know if you find that the link has changed. Thanks.

Note: Auto Detect will diplay Western characters as well, but may display them in a strange font. To switch back, just go back to the globe and select Western.

Netscape & Other Browsers

I have little or no information on this at present, so if anyone has any ideas, they'd be more than welcome. Just mail them to penguin@vossnet.co.uk. Thanks.

Shodouka

...However, whatever your browser you should be aware of Shodouka options where available for pages. Although I have yet to test it myself, it is apparently a service that will automatically translate the code on Japanese web pages into kana and kanji for you without the need for any special software. To get Shodouka to mediate a site for you, select the main Shodouka site and type in the address of the page you want translated or (where available) just select the

link in front of the site name. Easy huh! Nuff respect to to Ka-Ping Yee who aparently created it :o)

Although the service is sometimes unavailable (due to excess use), try the following pages:

Links - Lotsa Japanese Links

The Hiragana Learning Application - http://andreae.unbc.edu/everj000_html/cs495/testPage.html: As much as I don't like Java, this is a handy little applet to have running in the background. Although still in development it is workable enough to help test you on your Hiragana and Katakana. Select 5 rows of Kana and it draws a 5 by 5 grid, from which you must select the chosen Kana.
Universal Currency Converter - http://www.xe.net/currency/: Always within a couple of days and ideal for converting Punds to Yen, to Pounds etc. :o) Literally minutes of fun for the entire family! (but useful none-the-less).
Nihongo de Onamae - http://www.gse.upenn.edu/PaulC/onamae/: Hmm. Get your name converted to Japanese. Not always a great conversion, but a good starting approximation for beginners.
The University of Sussex Language Centre - Japanese - http://www.sussex.ac.uk/langc/CALL.html#japanese: An excellent archive in the UK for shareware and the likes. They also have an Internet Resources for Japanese section which is also well worth a visit.
Asahi Shimbun (English Version) - http://www.asahi.com/english/english.html: Daily newspaper from Tokyo. The Japanese Veriosn is viewable with MIE3 Japanese Extension.
Yahoo!'s "Top:Education:Languages:Japanese" Index - http://www.yahoo.com/Education/Languages/Japanese/
Yahoo!'s "Top:Regional:Countries:Japan:Society and Culture" Index - http://www.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Japan/Society_and_Culture/

If there is a link that you'd like me to include, or something that you think I should recommend (book or shareware), then please let me know: penguin@vossnet.co.uk.

A Handful of Credits

A big thanks to my friend and colleague Howard Jones for making various pieces of software available from the VossNet ftp site and also giving me someone to study with.

Thanks also to:
Norman Smith - my first Japanese Tutor
Takahara Sensei - my current Japanese Tutor
Michael Chachich - for writing KSensei and making my learning of Kana a whole lot simpler

Finally a quick thanks to all those who have either contributed things to the site, or have helped me in the development. Domo Arigato Gozaimasu.

This page has been (loosely) constructed by Marc "Penguin!" Ellis, penguin@vossnet.co.uk, Jan '97.
Feel free to mail him and tell him that he needs to stay off the alcohol :o)