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K A N J I S O N O M A M A D S R A K U B I K I J I T E N
+ English-Language User's Guide +
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"Mankind has a great aversion to intellectual labor; but
even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people
would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little
trouble to acquire it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)
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F A Q I N F O R M A T I O N
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Completed: 5/18/07
Last Revision: 5/22/07
This FAQ covers how to use the Japanese dictionary program for Nintendo DS as
well as a number of questions about the program itself for potential owners.
This file has been written to aid non-Japanese speaking players in getting the
most out of the program. It's designed, when possible, to be user-friendly to
those who don't read/understand Japanese, but given the nature of the program,
I'm going to assume you have at least an elementary grasp of Japanese.
This guide is not intended to compete with or replace any other published game
guides.
I can be contacted about this FAQ at tsurara(a-t)gmail(d-o-t)com. Feel free
to email with suggestions/corrections.
Please note that I will not give help to people reguarding further
translations, bootlegged copies, or technical support.
If you find any mistakes (I'm sure there are a lot) please let me know. I'm
happy to credit you for any corrections made.
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V I E W I N G J A P A N E S E T E X T
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Since the #1 Frequently Asked Question about my FAQs has been "How can I see
the Japanese?!" I figured this addition was in order.
First right-click anywhere on the browser window with your mouse, choose
"Encoding", then choose "Japanese (Shift JIS)" or "Japanese (Auto Select").
If that doesn't work, you probably don't have Japanese character support
installed on your browser.
Try the following websites for more information about installing Japanese
support for I. Explorer other browsers.
http://language.uaa.alaska.edu/Japanese/support/installing.html
http://weblog.delacour.net/archives/2003/07/japanese_text.php
http://penguinppc.org/~hollis/linux/nihongo.shtml
http://www.msu.edu/~sunmingy/japanese/font.html
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P R O G R A M I N F O R M A T I O N
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"Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubiki Jiten" is a reference program designed to be a
more afordable version of popular, but pricey electronic dictionaries. It's
main features are a standard Japanese dictionary, a Japanese-English
dictionary and an English-Japanese dictionary. The stylus interface allows
for hand-drawn character input: a very big bonus since button-interface kanji
lookup can be quite tedious.
Developed and Published in-house by Nintendo and published on 6/16/2005 with
a CERO rating of "All Ages".
The game retails for 4,800 yen, and is relatively scarce on the used-game
market (likely due to it's long-term utility).
The game, like all DS software, is not region-locked and will run on non-
Japanese DS systems without a hitch.
The interface is entirely in Japanese. There is no English-version available.
The programs' webpage is located (in Japanese) at
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/arjj/index.html
The program is not currently liscenced outside of Japan.
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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
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I. User's Guide
A. Getting Started
- Dictionaries Included
- Other Features
B. Main Menu Navigation
II. Easter Eggs
III. FAQ
IV. Credits
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I. U S E R ' S G U I D E
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A. GETTING STARTED
+ Dictionaries Included +
Sonomama Kanji Jiten includes three main dictionaries.
- Genius English to Japanese Dictionary 3rd Edition
(ジーニアス英和辞典 第３版)
95,000 word entries translated from English to Japanese.
Most entries include voice samples to aid in pronunciation.
Some usage detailed here is obselete and a few entries are
slightly awkward or incorrect (ex. どの服を着たらいいかしら is translated
as "Which dresses do you think I should wear?") But for the
most part it's a solid dictionary. In print, the book retails
for about 3,500 yen. Also worth noting: this is the 3rd
edition and was already obselete by the time of the program's
release (Genius is currently in it's 4th edition).
- Genius Japanese to English Dictionary 2nd Edition
(ジーニアス和英辞典 第２版)
82,000 entries translated from Japanese to English. Few bells
and whistles, not nearly as comprehensive in usage guides or
examples as it's Japanese to English counterpart. Still a
serviceable pocket translator (especially for the price).
Given that the authors are actually fluent in Japanese, there
aren't many errors similar to those found in the English to
Japanese version. As far as I can tell, this book doesn't
actually exist in print form.
- Meikyou Japanese Dictionary
（明鏡国語辞典）
70,000 entries covering Japanese words and their Japanese
definitions. It's relatively sparse in it's coverage but it
is a popular dictionary and is well-reviewed. Again, there
aren't any extra features, but the dictionary is a decent one.
Most entries are explained in simple enough language to be of
use to high-intermediate and advanced Japanese learners. Sadly
there is no hiragana gloss on the entries: making this
particular feature fairly useless to younger students and
non-native learners who haven't yet mastered a moderate number
of kanji.
+ Other Features +
All of these features are accessable under the tools menu in the lower
lefthand corner of your touch-screen. It looks like a little blue wrench.
- English Vocabulary List
(英単語)
A collection of three checklists of notable English vocabulary
words that can be virtually "checked" when mastered. There are
three checklists included:
- GENUIS's Key Word List (基本語) : 1,000 words
- TOEIC TEST 470 Level : 800 words
- TOEIC TEST 600 Level : 700 words
All lists can also be viewed as flashcards.
- Bookmarks
(しおり)
Words that you have tagged in your dictionary travels. There
are three different pages available for bookmarks (A, B, and C).
Using these pages, you can create your own customized study
checklists in any of the three dictionaries. These lists can
be viewed as flashcards and edited to remove words at any
time.
- Japanese Quiz
(日本語クイズ)
A collection of pre-made quizzes designed to test your Japanese
knowledge on a variety of subjects. There are 16 pages of
quizzes to choose from with 78 quizzes in total. These quizzes
are designed to challenge native Japanese-speaking adults, so
chances are, unless you've been studying the language for quite
a while, most of these quizzes will be way over your head.
- Legend
(凡例書誌)
Guides to reading the entries in each dictionary, breakdowns of
commonly used terms, prefixes, endings, grammar and phonetic
guides, etc. Generally speaking, this is an appendix.
- Send/Recieve Information
(ダータ通信)
Uses the DS's wi-fi capabilities to send or recieve customized
vocabulary lists to/from friends (ie. your bookmarks).
- Picto-chat
(ピクトチャット)
Uses the DS's wi-fi capabilities to participate in chats with
up to 16 other users. The draw here is that the stylus kanji
input is fully compatable.
- Settings
(各種設定)
adjusts various settings (power-off timer, sound, time
allotted to input kanji with the stylus and the voice
keyboard option)
- Index text size
(ブックの文字大小)
switches between large and small text on the touch-screen
book-style index
- World Clock
(ワールドクロック)
Brings up a list of world cities in various time zones, each
of which can be viewed for the current time. Sortable by
country or city.
- Alarm Clock
(アラーム)
Allows you to set up to three alarms... for those who keep
their DS on while they sleep, I guess ^_^;;;
- Calculator
(電卓)
A calculator. Pretty much self-explanatory.
- Calender
(カレンダー)
An extremely basic calender. Also self-explanatory.
B. MAIN MENU NAVIGATION
For all features in Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten, the flipscreen is going to
be your main screen while the bottom screen is used mainly for various input
methods.
Let's have a look at the main menu:
+ Blue Arrows +
Blue arrows can be used to cycle through previous entries and tasks.
Let's say, for example, that you were to look up the word "arbitrary"
before checking your calender and the time in Toronto. Rather than
looking up "arbitrary" again, you can use the blue arrows to scroll
back to the original look-up.
The blue arrows appear on all sub-menus as well.
+ Dictionary Tabs +
The dictionary tabs appear along the lefthand side of the screen
and toggle between your available dictionaries.
-英和 (えいわ) English to Japanese
-和英 (わえい) Japanese to English
-国語 (こくご) Japanese to Japanese
-一括 (いっかつ) Japanese to English and Japanese to Japanese (mixed)
+ Keyboard/Stylus Input Area +
The lower half of the touchscreen is taken up by the input section.
The icon of a pencil triggers the handwriting recognition function.
The hiragana あ triggers a hiragana keyboard. The English A triggers
a keyboard in roman letters.
- Hiragana Keyboard
the hiragana keyboard is navigated by touching the buttons
with the stylus. This can be used alone or in conjunction
with the handwriting input method.
NOTE: all results for your search will be shown in kanji
if applicable.
- The English Keyboard
the romaji keyboard is also navigated by touching the buttons
with the stylus.
- Handwriting Input
Handwriting input works by drawing the characters you would
like to look up in the two large boxes available. Characters
will be added to your search line after a certain amount of
time (customizable through the "Settings" menu). You can work
on two characters at a time, but chances are, you're going to
want to stick with one at a time to make sure the input is
recognizing the right character.
You can also input hiragana and katakana with this method.
Both stroke order and count factor into the results given...
so to get the most out of your handwriting input, you're
going to need to have a basic grasp of both. This can be
frustrating when attempting to input a character you've never
seen before, but a bit of experimentation usually yields the
correct results.
You can toggle between various different kinds of handwriting
input with the tabs on the left side of the first writing grid.
-> 漢字 Kanji
-> かな Hiragana
-> カナ Katakana
-> 英字 English Alphabet
-> 数字 Numbers
There are also three tabs to the left side of the handwriting
input area:
候補 (possibilities)
This button brings up other close matches for the
currently given kanji. The correct kanji can be
chosen from a list of similar characters with the stylus.
<-- (backspace)
Erases the character written last from the search line.
小字 (small characters)
Changes certain characters to their smaller versions. (ex.
や、ゆ、よ、つ) In order to work, the character in question must
be the most recently inputted.
Whatever your method of input, your final search term will be displayed on
the search line just above the input area and the display screen will shift
to show the entries that most closely match. You can scroll through the entries
given with the arrow pad.
クリア (clear), located on the lefthand side of the search line
can be pressed with the stylus to clear all previously
inputted characters.
+ Tools +
The "tools" section is where all your extra doo-dads are stored. It can be
accessed by pressing the blue wrench in the lower left corner of the screen.
(See "other features" for a list of tools and what they do)
+ In the Dictionaries +
When browsing the various dictionaries, you can manipulate the contents using
the toolbar located on the top of the screen.
- 登録 (Register)
This feature adds the entry currently being viewed to one
of your bookmark lists. Touching the button immediately to
the right will toggle between your three bookmark lists
(A, B, and C)
- 成句 (idioms) [English - Japanese] only
Pressing this button displays idioms as seperate entries
(in green). Pressing it again, hides idioms.
- 派複 (Derivatives, Compounds) [English - Japanese] only
Pressing this button displays derivative or compound terms in
light blue as seperate entries. Pressing it again, hides
derivative terms.
- ジャンプ (Jump)
This can be used to jump to the entries for certain
related words within an entry. Using the two arrow-bearing
keys on the pop-up menu, you will be able to scroll up or
down through selectable words in an entry. The word in
blue brackets on the viewscreen will also appear in the center
of the touchscreen.
Choosing "A" will send you to the relevant entry in
the English-Japanese dictionary
Choosing "B" will close the Jump menu
Unfortunately, it is impossible to jump to any dictionary but
English-Japanese. Terms for which "Jump" is not relevant will
simply not allow the option.
- 文字 (Character Size)
This area has two selectable buttons: 小 (small) and 大 (large)
These two buttons will allow you to scale up or scale down the
size of the characters displayed on the viewscreen.
- Voice
This option, denoted by a button with a blue speaker will trigger
the voice playback of any pronunciation-enabled English entries.
- Help
This option, denoted by a button with a blue question mark will
trigger the Japanese tutorial program. It covers essentially the
same material covered here under two buttons:
楽引の使い方 How to use the program
and
ボタンの説明 Button Explanation
Pressing "B" will close the tutorial screen.
- Scrollbar
On the far right of the touchscreen is a scrollbar that can
be manipulated by the stylus to scroll up and down the page
within each entry.
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II. E A S T E R E G G S
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+ Nintendo Dictionary +
There are a number of Nintendo-related definitions hidden in "Ikkatsu" mode.
The definitions give a bit of history on various Nintendo terms and make a
certain nostalgic sound when triggered.
Known hidden definitions:
Mario
Nintendo
NINTENDO 64
NINTENDO DS
NINTENDO GAMECUBE
+ Game and Watch Omake +
A number of classic Game and Watch games are available for play through
certain relevant entries. Known bonus games and their search-terms are as
follow:
MANHOLE <OR> マンホール
JUDGE <OR> ジャッジ
BALL <OR> ボール
FLAGMAN <OR> フラッグマン
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III. F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S
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Q. Is there an English menu?
A. No. This is a Japanese release of software targetted
almost exclusively at a Japanese audience. Menus, interface
and the manual are entirely in Japanese.
Q. I want to learn Japanese? Will this program teach me?
A. This is not a Japanese-instruction program and the few Japanese
instructional features included cater to an already-fluent
Japanese audience. While potentially useful for reference,
this program will not "teach you" Japanese. Nor is it
recommended for beginners.
Q. How much Japanese do I need to know to be able to use this
program?
A. As long as you can navigate the menus, the Japanese-English
dictionary portion can be useful to just about anyone learning
Japanese or living in Japan long-term. The price tag is a bit
steep and the learning curve a bit too high to be practical
for casual learners or total beginners, but if you want an
electronic dictionary, this is a much more cost-effective first
choice than one of the standalone units.
Q. Should I buy this or a standalone electronic dictionary?
A. Honestly, that's your call. There are a number of pros and cons
to both courses of action. This program is certainly the
more cost-effective investment, as most electronic dictionaries
will cost you upwards of $150.00. Stylus interface is even
pricier and may knock you into the $200-300 range. On the
other hand, this program includes no English-English dictionary,
no English-language interface, already-obselete versions of
dictionaries originally published in Japan with ocaisionally
awkward translations. The flashcard features are phenomenal,
but only if you're going to use them.
Q. I already have a standalone dictionary. Is there any reason to
buy this too?
A. Again, it's up to you (and depends on the features you existing
dictionary has). Though, if you're looking to use your DS to
study Japanese, this program is probably one of your best bets.
The bookmark feature and customized vocabulary lists/flashcards
are quite nice features.
Q. Will this program come to the US/EU/AUS in English?
A. I doubt it. While English is compulsory in Japanese schools,
Japanese is still rather rare as a second-language in the US,
Canada, Australia and England. Even if the demand were there,
so many of the features here would need to be retooled or
replaced entirely that it seems more practical to start from
scratch with an entirely new program geared more toward English-
speakers.
Q. Will this program run on my DS?
A. DS software is not region-coded. This program will run on a
DS from any region.
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IV. C R E D I T S
==============================================================================
FAQ and translations by tsurara.
This FAQ has been written up with the help of the original program
instruction manual: 52 pages of dry technical writing.
I would like to thank Nintendo (over and over and over) for glossing said
manual in furigana.
Last but not least: thank you to Morimoto S. for her help figuring out what
the heck the "ikkatsu" function was supposed to accomplish.
Release specifics from:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/DS%E6%A5%BD%E5%BC%95%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8
Omake Information from:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/arjj/gamewatch/index.html
http://www.geocities.jp/maxasixi/ura_kdsr.html
