🚀 go-pugleaf

I have recently returned from a 1.5 year stay in Osaka, conducting research
in computer vision and robotics.  I have had a year's worth of Japanese before
going over.  A year or so back, I came across some Japanese-reference software
for the mac called 'KanjiSama' that I found to be indispensable.

KanjiSama is a kanji reference tool that allows you to look up kanji with
several different lookup modes.  If you know the readings of the kanji, you
can simply use the FEP (Front End Processor, the little window that pops up
when you type in Japanese mode in KanjiTalk) to find the kanji.  Or you can
find your unknown kanji based on its root meaning, it stroke count, or its
primary radical (same as looking up in famous Nelson kanji dictionary). 
Kanjisama also has a mode of looking up based on an alphanumeric code for
each kanji, it works great if you know how to use it.

Once you have determined the kanji and/or kanji compound through the
lookup modes, it has both a general and technical dictionary that gives you
the reading, and the English definition.  If the particular compound is not
found in the dictionaries, KanjiSama automatically gives you the root meaning
of the individual characters, so you can get a jist of the meaning.

I have found that KanjiSama is great for reading Japanese articles.  I read the
material, and if I don't recognize a kanji compound, I can usually find the
meaning using KanjiSama in a few seconds.  Before, I had to have two or
three dictionaries out, so I could lookup the readings, and then the meaning.
this took a lot of time, and it would be so frustrating that I couldn't get
through the Japanese article.

KanjiSama is also good for learning reinforcement.  You can save your unknown
kanji/compounds to a text file and drill on them later so as to remember them
next time.  When used consistently, your word recognition increases rapidly.

I have seen other Japanese reference software for the mac, but they all seem
to be based on Hypercard, and are pitifully slow.  KanjiSama is an application
by itself, and dictionary accessing is quite rapid.

KanjiSama is produced by a company called SANBI Software, the address & tel:

SANBI Software
3594 Crowell Avenue
Riverside, CA  92504
(714) 352-0276

I think the latest price for KanjiSama is about $140.  I have heard they also
have a demo version as well.

______________________________________________________________________________
Matt Barth
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
matt@asgard.ucsb.edu
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