Kanji Exercises No.1 (Anonae Software; distributors include Lingo
Fun)
System Requirements: HyperCard 1.2 or higher, 1MB of free RAM, 3MB
of disk space; JLK not required
Price: $65
Review by Atsushi Fukada, Purdue University (IN)
Kanji Exercises No.1 is the first installment in Anonae's kanji exercise
series containing 319 kanji and 900 words. The manufacturer's plan is to
complete the series with the total of 2,000 kanji. The main part of the
program consists of three HyperCard stacks organically linked to one another:
character presentation, character reading exercises, and quizzes. There
is also a sound stack containing model pronunciations.
The character presentation stack functions as a reference source providing
KUN and ON readings, meaning in English, animated stroke order presentation,
and pointers to other kanji with the same radical. Many characters have
audio (KUN reading only) recorded for immediate play-back. In the character
reading section, characters are grouped by subject matter into manageable
sizes. When you choose a subject area, you are presented with two characters,
each with three compound words. You can click on a word to display its reading.
Clicking on the reading will give you its meaning. Clicking on an individual
character will take you to an appropriate card in the reference stack. Words
are carefully chosen so that the user can practice various readings of the
kanji. This environment allows the learner to work on recognizing readings
and meaning.
In the quizzes, characters are grouped by subject matter again. When you
choose a subject area, 10 or more characters or words are displayed. At
this point, you are to press either the "kana" button and/or the
"English" button to reveal the reading and/or the meaning of the
word in question to be used as a cue. You then answer by clicking on a word
in the pool of choices. The reading of the word you choose is displayed
separately, so that you can check your answer yourself. No judging is performed
by the program.
The program lacks the ability to create a personalized list of kanji and
it apparently does not go along with any textbook. Therefore, it might be
difficult to use this program as a supplement to class work. It was probably
designed for use in self-study, and it should serve this purpose well.
Most appro. venues: CmpLb, RscRm, SlfSt