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This is a response to Vol 10 Larry 5 ("Hiragana anyone?")...
Larry:
There are tons and tons of Japanese Language programs for the Mac. I was able to uncover the following samples in just a few minutes:
Two stacks from HEIZER SOFTWARE. Give them program name and number. Add Sales Tax and $3.00 shipping:
- JAPANESE ENGINEER, #30036, $30.00
This stack contains over 1000 Japanese words typically taught in first-year Japanese classes. Each word is displayed in English, Japanese, and Kanji. When accent is important the words also have digitized sound associated with them so you can hear the proper accent and pronunciation. You can search for any word in either Japanese or English, or you can move through the stack card by card. Developed by two linguists at Harvard and Cornell Universities, this stack is great for language teachrs, students, or anyone with an interest in Japanese. Two disk set.
- HIRAGANA/KATAKANA EXERCISES, #30248, $45.00
This stack will assist in the reading, writing, and comprehension of the Japanese language. Designed for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, this stack is divided into four concise sections: Information, Syllabary, Reading, and Writing. Syllabary focuses on character recognition; the Writing section teaches users how to draw the various characters, including correct stroke order; and complete word recognition and vocabulary are stressed in the Reading section (which contains over 1600 words). The objective of this stack is to provide flexible and instantaneous responses so that users can accelerate their recognition of Japanese characters and words.
Next: several offerings from EDUCORP. If you order just one disk, the price is $7 plus sales tax and $4 shipping. Prices decrease when more disks are ordered. They also sell commercial software:
- LEARN KANA, #7630
A language stack intended to teach the user the basics of Japanese Kana. Features a graphic representation of letters and numbers along with sound to ensure proper pronunciation.
- KANJIMASTER, #1199, $129.95
This is a commercial product, part of the Hyperglot Language Tutors series. KanjiMaster fills 12 disks. No other information was provided.
In the back of a recent MacUser I found an add from ANONAE SOFTWARE, P.O. BOX 7629, BERKELEY, CA 94707:
- Learn Hiragana, Katakana, and now Kanji using these HyperCard stacks. Character generation, pronunciation, recognition exercises. KANA contains a word list of 1600, cost is $45. KANJI contains 319 characters and a word list of 900, cost is $65.
MacConnection offers something called MacKanji 6.0 from a company called Linguist's Software. The price is $59 and I have no idea what it is. The same company also produces foreign language fonts.
Incidentally, I have an uncle, Roger's brother-in-law, who is the scientific attaché to the American Embassy in Tokyo. As a result, my cousin Dave, who lives in the Bay Area, has some experience learning all this Japanese stuff and may be able to reccomend several books or other aids, and could also provide some traveller's tips.
Roger, are you there? If so, you might ask Dave for suggestions and pass them along.
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