INTRODUCTION

KANJI READER is a multiple volume set of programs which provides you with an
opportunity to successfully read thousands of Japanese words and phrases while
learning the kanjis, one kanji at a time.

KANJI READER tracks your progress and creates lessons which are tailored to your
specific achievement level.  That is, each lesson teaches you just one kanji and the
quiz items for the lesson contain only
-- the kanji you are currently learning (by itself)
          and/or
-- the kanji you are learning in combination with kanjis you have already studied.

KANJI READER has many different types of activities to help you learn the kanjis.
Please read about them in the remaining sections of this manual.



KANJI READER can operate in one of two study modes:

QUICK STUDY MODE

This mode teaches you how to read the kanjis for meaning and optionally shows you the
stroke order for writing each of the kanjis, but it does not teach you how to pronounce
the Japanese characters and words.

(It is possible to read the kanjis for meaning without ever learning to speak a word of
Japanese.  Learning the kanjis in this mode proceeds quite rapidly since there is less
to learn.  This mode is useful for many travelers and gives beginning students a quick
boost in the number of kanjis they recognize.)


INTENSIVE STUDY MODE
This mode teaches reading, writing, and pronunciation.

You choose your study mode when you first begin to use Kanji Reader.


Some students may want to begin with the QUICK STUDY MODE and later change
to the INTENSIVE STUDY MODE.  To change to the INTENSIVE STUDY MODE,
use a new name when you start the program so that you will learn pronunciation
for all the kanjis.




KANJI READER ACTIVITIES

KANJI READER contains eight different activities to help you learn the kanjis.
On the main screen display of the program, there are eight activity buttons with captions
underneath.  The ninth button (at the lower right) is an EXIT button which you click
when you want to stop the program.

To start an activity, point to it and tap the left mouse button.  (Pointing the
mouse and tapping the left button is called Clicking.)

Each of the activities is described later in this manual.  When you are running the
Kanji Reader program, use the Help command to obtain additional information.




STUDY THE KANJIS

Study The Kanjis is the heart of the KANJI READER set of activities.
Utilizing the list of kanjis you have already studied, Study The Kanjis introduces new
kanjis to you one at a time in a manner designed to guarantee your success.  Every
quiz item includes only one kanji which is new for you.  All other kanjis in the quiz
item will be those which you have already studied.

The lessons are given as multiple choice drills.  This enables you to breeze through
the lessons quickly.  To assure that you really have absorbed the information, 
challenging review programs are provided by other KANJI READER activities.


Please notice that there is a Repeat the quiz command in the menu bar of this activity.
If you click the mouse on that command, the program will repeat the entire quiz for the
current kanji immediately after you have completed it.

Further, you can request a review drill of the kanji at any time by using the Review 
command in the Dictionary window for the kanji.  In many cases, the size of the quiz will
increase if you have learned more kanjis since you took the quiz the first time.  This 
happens when your new kanjis form words with the kanji you are reviewing.



REVIEW PRONUNCIATION

This activity reviews the pronunciation of a large number of kanji compounds
using a multiple choice drill format.  Many of the answer sets are carefully designed to
challenge (trick) you with look-alike or sound-alike answers.  You can review the
pronunciation of any kanji in a quiz item by pointing to it and clicking the mouse.  While
the Kanji Dictionary is open, you may request a review of the kanji if it is particularly
troublesome.  (The review will be given by the Study The Kanjis activity.)
Review Pronunciation is also a speed-reading program.  At the beginning of each group
of ten review items, you may optionally set a goal for your speed of reading.  When you
complete the group of items, the program tells you how well you met your goal.

To give you practice in reading both kana syllabaries, the program takes turns using
hiragana and katakana.  The answers for the first quiz item are written in hiragana,
the answers for the next quiz item are written in katakana, and so on.

As a side note, the compounds chosen for the Review Pronunciation list are all
proper names.  That is, they are names given to people, places, books, institutions, etc.
Proper names are used because they provide hundreds of new quiz items not in the
Study The Kanjis quiz list.  All of the readings used in the proper names appear in the
Kanji Dictionary (which is displayed when the kanji is first taught and when you request
it.)  Some kanjis have additional readings which are used only in pronouncing proper
names, but those additional readings are not used in this review.




TEST YOURSELF

This activity reviews some of the kanji compounds from the Study The Kanjis quiz list.
Test Yourself is very challenging because you must select your answers from a
"kanji keyboard" which is displayed on the screen.  If you are learning pronunciation,
a "kana keyboard" is also displayed and you select the kanas to spell the words.
You must use katakana for ON YOMI readings and hiragana for KUN YOMI readings.

To help you succeed, instant kanji lookup is available and you may flag any kanji
which you find troublesome for review and re-drill.  (The review will be given by the
Study the Kanjis activity.)

There may be many correct ways to write an answer because many Japanese words have
synonyms.  The vocabulary list used in KANJI READER often covers multiple ways
to say the same thing.  Therefore, this activity gives you an opportunity to identify which
answer is expected without being penalized.  At the top of the screen, there is a series
of yellow dots.  These dots indicate the number of  "mistakes" the program will tolerate
before it counts your answer as incorrect.  Each time you make a selection which isn't part
of the expected answer, one of the yellow dots is filled in.  After all the yellow dots are
filled in, the program assumes you do not know the answer and a HINT button appears.
Use it to help you complete the answer.  This quiz item will be repeated later in the
quiz until you have answered it correctly more times than you answered in incorrectly.




KANJI CONCENTRATION

This activity is the familiar game of uncovering matching pairs which are hidden in a 
game board.  In this version of the game, you look for identical pairs of kanjis.  This
helps you become familiar with the similarities and differences between the kanjis.

The game is easy to play, even for people who aren't studying the Japanese language.
However, when using a large game board, the game is absorbing and challenging --
for advanced students too!


If you aren't familiar with the game of Concentration, please click the mouse on Help
in the menu bar of the Concentration window.




REFERENCE SELECTED KANJIS

This activity provides you with two ways to review the kanjis:
   by definition of the kanji
      and 
   by appearance of the kanji


When you select a kanji, its Dictionary window appears on the right side of the
screen.  For kanjis which have been giving you difficulty in quizzes, tap the Review
command in the Dictionary menu bar, and Study the Kanjis will review the kanji for you
when you return to that activity.




HELPFUL INFORMATION

Helpful Information contains an introductory description of the kanjis and
a description of the major features of Kanji Reader.  It is reading material only.
(There is no pop quiz at the end.)




KANJI WRITING RULES-OF-THUMB

Learning to write the kanjis involves a lot of memorization.  To make the task easier,
some rules-of-thumb are described in this activity.  Demos of the rules are provided
by animated kanjis which you can watch as often as you like.


Read through the material from time-to-time until you have the rules-of-thumb
firmly in mind.




PRACTICE WRITING THE KANJIS

This activity will probably be the most useful in helping you learn to write the kanjis.
To practice writing, select a kanji and draw it in the large black box on the left.  Then
request that the kanji be animated by tapping the Animate command in the menu bar of
the Dictionary window.  Compare how you drew the kanji with the way it should be drawn.
     
     Did you draw all the strokes?
     Did you draw each stroke in the correct direction?
     Did you draw the strokes in the correct order?

If you are not pleased with the way you drew the kanji, tap the Clear command in the
Dictionary and the Clear command above the box on the left.  Then write it again.

Please do not be too hard on yourself about straightness of lines and other artistic
details of the kanjis you draw.  It is difficult to draw using the mouse.  The important
lesson here is testing yourself to see if you have learned the correct stroke order and
stroke direction.

Return to this activity frequently if learning to write the kanjis is important to you.


EXITING THE PROGRAM

When you tap the EXIT button, Kanji Reader will stop.  Your progress is recorded
in a file.  The name of the file is the name you have chosen plus the suffix .SCR

Therefore, if you enter your name as MIKE, the list of kanjis you know and your
selection regarding romaji and pronunciation are saved in a file called
    
    MIKE.SCR

When you start KANJI READER again and use the name MIKE, the file MIKE.SCR
will be read so that you can begin again exactly where you ended.
                               
                               
     (This is the last page of the manual.)