Learn Japanese characters in Linux
There are neat apps in Linux which could help you learn other languages including Japanese. There’s actually a flashcard macro in Emacs but what the hey! There are cool apps which help me review kana and kanji. ;) 
- GJiten - Wanna learn Kanji? This is the tool to install. You could do a search for the kanji of the English words you are familiar with. You could also search the kanji by the number of strokes or by the radical. It will display ’tiles’ of the kanji and when you click the particular tile, you will see the meaning, the stroke count, the readings and also the grade level. I really think that it’s a nifty way to search for kanji especially if you’re having difficulty remembering these things.
- Kanatest - It’s just kanji and kana. It’s good for me to get a review on my katakana and hiragana. Especially katakana! I get confused with some katakana. Anyway, just check out the quiz. Select if it’s a purely hiragana test, a katakana test or a mixed one.
Master Japanese! You could do it. It’s really fun, especially with these apps. :)
Ubuntu users could easily find them in the repos.
Here are the links:
GJiten - the project page. Includes links to deb and rpm packages.
Kanatest - project page on Freshmeat.
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POSTED IN: Geeky Fun
7 opinions for Learn Japanese characters in Linux
colbert
Oct 11, 2007 at 12:15 am
wow. this is cool. I never knew about it. thanks for the cool write up
Jason
Oct 11, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Nice to know these kind of options exist on Linux. Time to dust off that copy of Suse.
Clair
Oct 12, 2007 at 6:57 am
Hi, Colbert! These packages are quite nice. It’s been fun learning kanji with Kiten but at least there’s Gjiten now. I didn’t know it before either. I just did a search the other night and got it. You’ve installed it already? :)
Sean
Oct 14, 2007 at 5:57 am
Thanks for this. I read alot of manga, so it would be cool to read the raws.
Sean
Oct 14, 2007 at 6:09 am
Oh, there is also kiten in the repository.
Clair
Oct 14, 2007 at 3:32 pm
@Sean Yup. Kiten is also there. Kiten was the first tool I used but little did I know that Gjiten was in existence because almost everyone was telling me to use Kiten.
ash
Oct 24, 2007 at 7:01 am
Anyone know of a similar package(s) for Mandarin Chinese?
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