
      THE HIRAGANA PROGRAM

Version 1.5, Prepared 11 October 1992

Background:

   This program introduces the hiragana Japanese
characters, and is also useful for brushing up your
knowledge of this phonetic script.  If you have forgotten
some or all of the symbols, a short session with the
flashcard facility gets you back to speed very quickly.

     The program also transliterates English words into the
way they would look in hiragana.  You can try this with a
person's name, or the name of your home town. There is also
an "identification parade" shown on your screen, for every
hiragana symbol, to see if you can pick out the right ones.

How to Use the Program:

     When you call the program, by its name, J1, or its
alias, KATA, you should see the intial screen, which
identifies the program, and offers four options.

     If you want to refresh your knowledge of hiragana, I
suggest you jump straight to option 3.

     Option 1 shows a screen on which you can type a word.
Try your name, or any other words.  The hiragana equivalent
appears under the words you type.  Note that it has to wait
until you type which vowel you want, before it knows which
symbol to display.

     Option 2 takes you through the symbols one by one,
showing the symbol and the sound it represents.  Then it
displays three of the symbols, mixed up randomly with other
symbols. It times how long it takes for you to pick out the
right characters, and shows how many you got right.

     To pick out each symbol, you can key the number which
appears above it. You may also point and click with your
mouse, or use the arrow keys, left and right, and then
press the spacebar to indicate which ones you want.

      If you press the key marked "F1" while using the
tutorial, you can choose which group of symbols to learn
next, with the last choice, number 16, returning you to the
initial screen.                                           

     Option 3 provides flashcard recognition, either for the
full set of hiragana symbols, or for any three groups.
Your first choice is which three sets of symbols you want
to flash up on the screen.  You can see all the groups
available, by pressing the page up and the page down keys.
Then you pick and three letters corresponding to the groups
you want.  For example, you can type in:     a  s  t



      The flashcard screen shows symbols at random in the
square at the top, and fifteen buttons for you to press,
corresponding to the symbol shown.  Press them by using a
mouse, and clicking, or by typing in the letters
representing the symbol, or by using the arrow buttons and
the spacebar.   The computer keeps your score.  At the end,
press ENTER to continue, or at any time press the F1 key,
to make another selection.  I find I can gradually improve
my score by repeated use of these flashcards.

    Option 4 exits from the program.
