JavaDict Reference

Name

Overview

         JavaDict is a portable, easy to use, graphical dictionary program primarily for use by English-speaking students of Japanese (or Japanese-speaking students of English). Students of any foreign language quickly reach the point where they cannot progress much further without reading newspapers, magazines, and books intended for native speakers. This is what makes Japanese such a challenging language to learn, since one must learn thousands of seemingly random characters just to read prose intended for young teenagers. It is at this point that most quit out of despair.
         And it's no wonder. Faced with an unknown character, "" e.g., traditionally one is reduced to memorizing complex indexing systems and then flipping through one of several huge books currently available--a process which can take anywhere from 1-10 minutes. A veritable needle in a haystack! ("" is, in fact, the character for "needle") But, "" may only be half a word!!
         JavaDict can help. If you can correctly write the character (a skill quickly learned) you'll have the meaning and reading in seconds. If you're a beginner or can't figure out the stroke-order, you can fall back on Jack Halpern's famous "Skip" Method, which allows you to describe the shape of the character and pick it out of a small list. But unlike Halpern's dictionary, you won't have to search through 500-some-odd pages to find the right shape, nor will you have to memorize the numbers or even the exceptions to the system--with JavaDict everything is graphical and self-explanatory.
         What? You've already memorized the 200-or-so radicals required to use the Japanese "Bushu" method? Well, that's included too; and again, you'll find your character much faster than you would flipping through a book.
         Once cheap pen-based Java-capable palmtops become ubiquitous, there'll be no more excuses. We'll be able to read Japanese as easily as any other foreign language, and will be limited only by our motivation to learn.

Instructions:
• SunOS/Solaris (and also Linux)
• Japanese fonts are normally included with X-Windows, so just rename the "font.properties" file in the "lib" directory of your Java Virtual Machine, and copy the "font.properties.Unix" file in this distribution to "font.properties" in the lib directory. For example, if your JVM is installed under "/usr/local/jdk", and you've unpacked this distribution in the "~/JDict" directory, you would type:

  cd /usr/local/jdk/lib/
  mv font.properties font.properties.old
  cp ~/JDict/font.properties.Unix font.properties
  	

  This change will not affect English applications.
  

  ---

• Microsoft Windows '95/NT 4.0
  
  1. Install Microsoft's Japanese true-type font (see above).
  2. in the lib directory of your JVM there is a file called "font.properties". Go to that directory and type "move font.properties font.properties.old" Then copy the "font.properties.Win32" file in this distribution to "font.properties" in the "lib" directory. For example, if your jvm is installed under "c:\jdk", and this package was uncompressed in "c:\JDict", you would type:

     c:
     cd \jdk\lib\
     move font.properties font.properties.old
     copy c:\JDict\font.properties.Win32 font.properties
     	    

     This change will not affect English applications.
     

Usage

         Javadict is started by typing "java JavaDict" in the distribution directory (it must be started from that directory in order to correctly find its data files)

• Options

  
           By default, JavaDict will display all readings for dictionary words and Chinese characters using Hiragana or Katakana (the two Japanese syllable-based scripts). If you can't read any Japanese at all, you can still use the dictionary to look up Japanese words if you set this to "Roman letters."
  

• Dictionary

  
           The choice-box on the bottom left can be used to select English, Hirgana, or Katakana entry. Then, English or Romaji can be typed in the entry-box, at which time conversion is done and appears to the right of the entry-box (use '/' to specify English word boundries as in the example). Hitting return starts the search, which(like all searching in JavaDict) is multithreaded and interruptible. To look up a character, click on the line where the character appears and you will be taken to the kanji display screen (see handwriting recognition , below). Clicking on the "edict" button will open a dialog that will allow you to choose an alternate dictionary (several other specialized dictionaries are available on the net).
  



• Handwriting Recognition based character lookup

  
           Using a good mouse (or preferably a pen), simply write the character in the space provided and press "Lookup Kanji." Currently it can recognize well over the 3000 most-used kanji (including ALL the Joyo kanji). You must draw the kanji correctly--if you make a mistake, click clear and start over.
  
           After clicking "Lookup Kanji," your kanji (along with 4 other close kanji in a choice-box) appears alongside reference information, including readings, meanings, frequency, grade-level, and indexes into popular (paper) dictionaries.
           By clicking on "Find in Dictionary", you can initiate a search for all dictionary entries containing the character being viewed, and will return to the dictionary mode
  



• Skip-code based character lookup

  
           Skip is an excellent lookup system for indexing characters invented by Jack Halpern (see credits). I've developed a graphical interface to his method. Now, no memorization is necessary to find characters easily. Great for the novice and native alike! Just choose the first appropriate general shape of the character (e.g., characters that have a seperate left and right portion), and choose how many strokes the character has (e.g. on the left, and then on the right). That's it! In most cases you'll only have to look through 10-20 kanji. Plus, the list of kanji is sorted by major radical (the black labels), so scanning is easy.



• Major radical (Bushu) based character lookup

  
           This is the primary system that the Japanese use to look up characters. You choose a radical from the list at the left, and all the characters that use that radical appear at the right. Both sides are sorted by number of strokes (the black labels). Clicking on a character in the list to the right will cause a switch to the kanji-information mode, shown above under handwriting recognition.
  

• All code is original and copyright (1997) Todd David Rudick under the terms of the GPL.
• The handwriting datafile is also original and copyright (1997) Todd David Rudick. This is also under the terms of the GPL
• The Japanese->English dictionary "edict" is copyright Jim Breen. It's free but commercial usage is denied. See his documentation ( edict.doc) for details.
• The Kanji information file "kanjidic.sorted" is copyright Jim Breen and others. (the sorting is my doing) It's free but commercial usage is denied. See his documentation (kanjidic.doc) for details.

Copyright (C) 1997 Todd David Rudick

Verbatim copying and distribution is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

Last modified: Sat Jan 3 03:26:11 MST 1998