| The Kanji Sketch pad can be configured to provide readings and usage examples automatically for each kanji as you learn it. One example of a usage pop-up for the dog-kanji is shown on the left, but the amount of information shown varies dynamically, according to each student's current state of knowledge. A student who had only just learned this kanji would see less, and a user who knew the kanji very well would see more. The amount of information shown at each stage can also be configured according to each user's preferences. The text in the usage window is responsive to the student in other ways, too. To make life easier for beginners, hiragana and katakana are automatically translated into romaji a the meanings of kanji appear as soon as the student hovers over an expression with a mouse. Clicking on any kanji used in a compound opens a new usage window dedicated to that kanji. What follows is a guide to help you decide how to adjust your preferences but I actually recommend leaving the program's default behaviour alone until you have a feel for the program and how it fits with your own learning style. |
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There are two main schools of thought on when (and whether) to mix the learning of Japanese vocabulary with the learning of
the Kanji symbols. Some authors, such as Heisig, recommend a divide-and-conquer approach: learn all the kanji with English meanings before linking the symbols to actual Japanese words and before worrying about the so-called 'readings' (how the symbols are pronounced). There is a clear rationale for this approach. It avoids the potential cognitive overload of trying to associate a meaningless bunch of lines - the kanji - with a meaningless bunch of Japanese syllables - the readings. Not even native Japanese speakers try to learn both of these at once. With the divide-and-conquer approach, only one thing needs to be learned at a time. The kanji symbols are associated with meanings, and then the meaningful kanji are associated with pronunciations. By the time a student starts to learn that 犬 may be pronunced いぬ (inu) or, at oehr times, as けん (ken), at least the kanji itself is already known to the student as the kanji for dog, so there is an incremental, manageable linkage of new material to known material. Others see learning the kanji in isolation as a waste of time. They question the value in knowing the meanings of kanji symbols divorced from their use in actual Japanese words. Such people lament the fact that after learning 2000 kanji via a Heisig-like method, a student will still not be able to read a single word of Japanese out loud. They also point out that the English keywords commonly associated with each kanji do not necessarily convey the full spectrum of meanings that these symbols have when combined. They recommend an approach that is based on reading real Japanese words and trying to learn the symbols as needed. | ![]() |
The Kanji Sketch Pad adopts a middle path by default, though it can be configured to introduce readings and usage quickly, slowly, or not at all. It applies Heisig's divide-and-conquer approach to individual kanji, but not to the entire joyo kanji. It introduces real Japanese words during the acquisition of kanji, but only when the student has already learned the relevant symbols and their core meaning, so that only one new fact has to be assimilated at a time. Usage examples pop-up spontaneously after an item has been learned and has passed its first couple of revision tests; these examples may be imported into the test vocabulary (where they will be assessed via multi-choice) if the student wants them, or left alone. To import any usage example, click on the + symbol.
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The program uses the Edict dictionary for its usage examples but it presents each user with a tailored view of the dictionary. Because the program knows which kanji have been learned, it knows which kanji-compounds are within easy grasp. For instance, it presents single kanji compounds before two-kanji compounds, and initially it chooses two-kanji compounds constructed of known kanji. Because it is introduced slowly and carefully, this usage information does not distract the user from the primary task of learning the joyo kanji; rather, it provides an opportunity to consoldiate the rote-learned material and make it more meaningful. In rating how valuable a fact is, and hence whether it is worth remembering, I believe that the brain's memory triage will inevitably take special note of knowledge nodes that lead to other nodes. That is, if we imagine knowledge to be an interconnected network like a road-map or, indeed, the internet, hub-nodes leading to other regions of knowledge will be perceived as more valuable, and will form more cognitive attachments that facilitate later recall, than simple dead-end nodes that lead nowhere. |

Index
Part One - Overview
Part Two - The Main Buttons
Part Three - The Mnemonic Buttons
Part Four - The Text Editor
Part Five - The Pad's Hot Zones
Part Six - Learning Targets
Part Seven - Usage and Readings