Rikaichan

HEY LOOK! Inline translation tool for Firefox and Thunderbird.
Awesome.

Rikaichan

-ベックマン

日本語をべんきょします

Here is a site that will quiz you on the vocabulary from みんなの日本語.
Enjoy and がんばって!

http://www.practicejapanese.com/

-ベックマン

Language Bar Quick Change?

Another thing that frustrates me about Windows is there doesn't seem to be a way to quickly change the input method in the language bar. In other words, on Mac, I can just hit a hot key (command-shift-something I think) and the input style will change to hiragana, katakana, romanji. Windows doesn't seem to have any convenience.
If anyone knows how to do this please let me know.

-ベックマン

Font Fixing!

HEY! Are you tired of Japanese looking like crap when you're using Windows? Me too!
As a man who is proficient in Linux and Mac but begrudgingly uses Windows on most of his computers, for reasons I won't go into, I finally fixed that problem.
In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the default font for displaying Japanese characters in Windows looks like something the Mooninites from ATHF crapped out. (A pixelated mess!) Here they are after working a whole five minutes devloping their crappy font:


Getting sick of this font and the eye strain it was causing me, I actually searched on Google using the following phrase as my query: "Japanese fonts look like crap in Vista" (I'm not making that up)
Apparently I wasn't alone in my frustration and found some information that helped me remedy this situation. It is this information that I now share with you, my readership. (Also, take a look at my last blog entry for a link to a website that will help you recognize Hiragana and Katakana)

For Firefox users (I put you first because Firefox is a much superior web browser compared to Internet Explorer):

1) Open up the "Tools" menu and select "Options"

2) Click on the "Content" tab

3) Under "Fonts and Colors" click advanced

4) select "Japanese" under "Fonts for"

5) Change Serif and Sans-serif to "Meiryo"

6) Click "OK"

7) Breathe a sigh of relief as all your Japanese fonts smooth out and become readable!

For Internet Explorer 7:

1) Open the Windows Control Panel

2) Open the "Internet Options" Control Panel

3) Select the "General" Tab and click on the "Fonts" button at the bottom of the window

4) Change the "Language Script" menu to "Japanese"

5) Change the "Webpage font" to "Meiryo"

6) Click "OK" and then click "OK" again

7) Ponder why are you still using Internet Explorer when you could be using Firefox

8) Ponder why you're still using Windows when Mac OS is such a nicer operating system.

This blog entry is complete.
-ベックマン

Great site for practicing kana recognition!

I thought that I would share a site I found last year that really helped me practice my Hiragana and Katakana recognition.
I hope this helps anyone who reads this post!

RealKana

-ベックマン

BAM!

Well, I guess I forgot to make my post in my native language and therefore left everyone in my group hanging. Oops, すみません.
I'm looking forward to devoting more of my time to learning Japanese this semester. I had taken half of this class last Fall'07 but had to withdraw due to my other classes.
I'm studying Japanese for many typical reasons. I want to learn a language that is very foreign to me and I would love to be able to watch Anime in it's native tongue. I am also very interested in Japan's culture and would love to spend some time there, getting to know the people and the land.
I learn best by studying with other people and I feel that practicing this language with others is the best way to become proficient in Japanese. So if anyone would like to drill, practice, or study with me let me know!

-E

はじめまして！

はじめまして！
わたしはベックマンです。
アメリカからきました。
わたしはコロンビアだいがくのさんねんせいです。
さんじゅういっさいです。
どうぞよろしく。おねがいします。