Anki updates

Exciting news from Anki, the excellent Leitner-derived spaced repetition system.

It creeps ever closer to the magic v1.0, now at v0.9.9.6, but along the way it has been seeing ports across to an ever increasing number of platforms, beyond the usual desktop varieties of Windows, Mac, Ubuntu and Fedora. You can now run Anki on:

• vanilla iPod/iPhone
• hacked Maemo iPhone
• Maemo N770
• Windows Mobile

and for me, most excitingly, in the pipeline there is

• Android

This will be the shift that really makes SRS the ultra-powerful tool that evidence suggests it can be.

DS Language learning

Not sure there's anyone out there any more, but worth mentioning this to see the response...

Just seen that there are two Japanese learning games on the DS here in the UK

• My Japanese Coach
• Mind Your Language: Learn Japanese

Not sure how good these are, but one reviewer rated the first of these (MYL isn't out until next month)...

If you already have a DS and are serious about learning Japanese, you should get this game to help along your study, particularly if you are not fortunate enough to have a Japanese speaker giving you regular lessons.

So this may not be much use for me and the boy, but I'm interested as it would help my visual learning bias. There is one pretty major grip about kanji stroke order, which could be really annoying, but as a tool for learning - imagine having a DS version of fb's KanjiBox app (v2 in beta now!). How cool would that be?

The same reviewer also mentions a couple of Japanese titles:

I've purchased some Japanese games for the DS recently, which have been useful for Kanji and Kana learning (Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubikjiten and Tadashii Kanji Kakitori kun - both available from Amazon Japan).

Anyone used any of these? Let me know and I may try getting hold of them.

JLPT RIP?

It appears that the venerable Japanese Language Proficiency Test is to be no more!

Well, actually it has another year of life left (2009 will be the last one) before it is rippped up, burnt and replaced with... the revised JLPT.

Big deal I hear you cry. Well, there is a significant change afoot - the revised JLPT, which will still only test receptive skills but will get a funky new prefix to distinguish it from the old one, will be available in 5, count 'em (five) levels; again numbered from hardest to easiest; N1 (the hardest) will come in slightly tougher than the current JLPT 1-kyuu. At the easier end of the spectrum, N5 will be a direct, like-for-like replacement of the current 4-kyuu.

Well, plus ca change - the difference comes in the middle. Right in the middle actually. The new N3 will be an intermediate level, bridging the gulf between the current 2-kyuu and 3-kyuu.

For many students this leap is quite a challenge - the step up requires a three-fold expansion of kanji knowledge and requires an awareness of four times as much vocabulary. After the fairly moderate increase from 4-kyuu to 3-kyuu (ha! get me, I haven't managed yet have I?) this can present quite a daunting challenge unless you are in country (I know a few people who have tried and failed 2-kyuu here in the UK) though that's not to lessen the achievement of those who do manage it in Japan - it's still the same exam, after all.

Which brings us to the other change that will occur at the same time: biannual testing. Yes, for those who do fluff either of the harder level (N1, N2) exams, the opportunity will be there for a retest in July, though only for those in Japan, or its neighbours Korea, China and Taiwan.

Thrilling stuff. Let's just hope that I'm in a position to apply for N3 by 2010, the inaugral year...

Got Anki?

Ooh, joy of joys, another Anki update! As it creeps its way inexorably toward a v1 release, here is what Anki looks like 0.0.1.7 of its development to go:I'm a big fan. After years of trying to learn vocab and failing, Anki REALLY, finally, seems to be making a bit of a difference. As I spend more time trying - hopelessly for the most part - to chat in Japanese at home, I snatch bits of language and stuff them in to Anki. Slowly I'm getting to the point where I remember those bits the next time I need to use them. Knee. 膝。ひざ。See? Working already.

Why is Anki so good? Because it is based on spaced repetition - probably one of the most significant points of research supported understanding in learning theory, and yet one of the most under used.

As my son gets older I'm going to be encouraging him to use one to support his learning (perhaps I shouyld work out about the sounds now). Who knows, he may even get to work with version one!

N700系 「のぞみ」

Well, for some time I've been meaning to do a series on the shinkansen, or 'bullet' trains, in my son's スーパーのりものシリーズ (super vehicles)　book, しんかんせん. So today we start with the first and foremost, the mightly N700.

東京えき～博多駅（福岡）の間を走っています。最高速度は時速３００ｋｍ。お客さんを乗せて、日本で一番速いスピードで走れるのが自慢の新幹線です。カーブを曲がる時でも スピードを落とさず、少ない揺れで上手に曲がることができます。

Right then, what does this mean? Here's what I think...

The train runs between Tokyo and Hakata in Fukuoka Prefecture. Its top speed is 300km/h. [Gets a bit trickier now, but something like...]Customers can take pride in riding the fastest bullet train in Japan. The train leans in to corners so it doesn't have to slow down, [and I'm paraphrasing the next bit] it corners without wobbling.

Of course, I may well (ie am) some way off with this translation, so feel free to correct me or add anything you think may be useful.

Key words :

• 走っている (はしっている）= running - literally "running", just like with a pair of Nikes. Odd that it is the same turn of phrase in Japanese as it is in English - speakers of many European would screw up their faces if you used that, after all, trains don't have legs.
• 最高速度　（さいこうそくど）= top speed - that phrase again "さいこう"(in romaji, "saikou"), meaning top, best, excellent.
  
• 落とさず　（おとさず） = is, I think, something like "without reducing", but I can't be sure since I can't find it in my books. However, the root verb 落ちる is also useful in the sense of dropping (a ball for example) or failing (a language exam for example).

About the train
This bizarre looking duck faced train is the quickest in Japan, and for some time was the fasted in the world. It is a 'nozomi' which is the fastest, least stoppingest type of shinkansen around. Inside the seats are in groups of three, either side of the wide aisle, which makes this train very much wider than a UK train.

Coming soon:スーパーのりものシリーズしんかんせん

I've found a great book about one of Japan's best features - its trains. I'm going to share it with you, but first, here's a taster of what to expect...

N700形　のぞみ
東京駅～博多駅（福岡）の間を走っています。最高速度は時速３００ｋｍ。お客さんを乗せて、日本で一番速いスピードで走れるのが自慢の新幹線です。

Thrilling stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

Funky housing - I want one

With the housing market in the UK in freefall, domestic energy prices surging through the roof and there being something of a shortage of affordable housing, what the country needs is something cheap, quick to build, cost effective to heat and frankly different to the myriad of dull city apartment blocks.

How about these?


Okay, these incredible polystyrene domes from the aptly named International Dome Houses company of Japan don't quite meet the ideal requirements for housing density that would be the most perfect "green" solution (ground level living is, I'm afraid, inherently un-environmentally friendly in a small, crowded place like Southern England), but they check the box on just about every other score.



They cost around £15-20,000 in Japan, then you'd have to pay import duty, but that's not bad. A variety of pieces mean you can come up with variations on the dome theme too. And how damn cool are they to look at?

Image nicked from the unknowing, but quite skilled Erika Snyder. Story spotted on OtakuInternational.