The Kanji SITE Blog

Useful phrases from my Canon Wordtank - Vol. 1

Chris — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:41:12 +0000

Oh, I almost forgot to mention - I tripped over this fantastic example sentence while researching vocab for 「相 (そう) - aspect, dimension」 on my Canon Wordtank V80:

「あなたには水難の相がある。」

…which the WordTank chooses to translate as “Your physiognomy suggests that you will die by drowning.” There’s lovely.

(”Physiognomy”, for those of you not familiar with the word, means “a person’s facial features or expression, esp. when regarded as indicative of character or ethnic origin” or “the supposed art of judging character from facial characteristics”. So, god forbid you ever actually find yourself needing to use this phrase, but at least you’ve been warned.)

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JLPT Level 2 Kanji Batch 17 Updated: Detailed Info Added

Chris — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:00:55 +0000

I’ll keep it brief because I know you’re busy: Batch 17 of the Level 2 kanji has been updated with example vocab. You can get to the action via the JLPT Level 2: View All index page, not to mention the JLPT Level 2 Random Testing page.

And a big “Thank you” to Elena, for submitting some example vocab for the SEKI - one of a pair kanji from Batch 16, which I’ve now uploaded to the site. Strangely, I couldn’t find any examples of the kanji in question in the official JLPT vocab list, which was why I originally left it blank, but there are of course plenty of examples of SEKI running around in the wild out there. (But why have it in the Level 2 syllabus if you’re not required to know any of the words it appears in for Level 2? Hmmm.)

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JLPT Level 2 Kanji Batch 16 Updated: Detailed Info Added

Chris — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 02:22:16 +0000

Ok, the next batch of Level 2 kanji has been updated with example vocab. You can get to batch 16 via the JLPT Level 2: View All index page, as well as the JLPT Level 2 Random Testing page.

Incidentally, I was having difficulty finding any decent vocab examples for the SEKI - one of a pair kanji, so if anyone’s got any suggestions, do let me know via the comments. Ta muchly.

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JLPT Level 2 Kanji Batch 15 Updated: Detailed Info Added

Chris — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:03:03 +0000

Bang! That’s the sound of another batch of the JLPT Level 2 kanji being updated. Get used to it, as you’ll be hearing it a few more times in the coming days. One appears to be on a bit of a roll.

Batch 15 can be accessed via the JLPT Level 2: View All index page, and also on the JLPT Level 2 Random Testing pages, if you’re that way inclined.

I’m trying to bash through these remaining Level 2 batches as fast as possible so, although I am checking everything before it goes live, please do let me know if you notice any errors, discrepancies, or even just dodgy translations and I’ll do my best to sort it out. Enjoy…

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JLPT Level 2 Kanji Batch 14 Updated: Detailed Info Added

Chris — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:55:48 +0000

Hello there and I hope you’re all well; I’ve been schmoozing my way around mainland Europe for the last couple of weeks, but you’ll be glad to hear that I’ve returned to upload the detailed info for batch 14 of the JLPT Level 2 kanji. That’s right: not even the freshly snow-laden pistes of the French Alps could keep me from my kanji duties. Plus, the neighbours reported that the zombies were starting to smell, so I had to come back to open the windows and air the place out.

Batch 14 can be reached via the JLPT Level 2: View All index, and also via the JLPT Level 2 Random Testing pages, for those of you who like life to be unpredictable. Happy hunting.

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JLPT Level 2 Kanji Batch 13 Updated: Detailed Info Added

Chris — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:58:24 +0000

Ok, next update: I’ve uploaded detailed info for batch 13 of the JLPT Level 2 kanji. That’s another 25 down, only another, er… 430 or so to go. Good grief.

This update also fixes the “speed / seed” typo in the title of the SHU / tane page.

The good news, though, is that I spent much of yesterday putting together a script that will automate much of the production of the remaining Level 2 pages, so I ought to be able to bang through them fairly rapidly. Then I can press on with my plans for the major overhaul [insert evil laugh here].

Batch 13 (unlucky for some) can be found lurking via the JLPT Level 2: View All index, and indeed within the JLPT Level 2 Random Testing pages. Enjoy.

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Kanji SITE Bookstore relaunched

Chris — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:18:55 +0000

Well, that’s Christmas and New Year out of the way for another 12 months - I hope you all had a good one. Here at Kanji SITE HQ the zombie horde and I are trying to shake some monster New Year hangovers (at least, I assume they’re hungover, but with zombies it’s difficult to tell), so please no-one shout too loudly for the next few hours. Thank you.

It hasn’t all been party party party, though. My undead workforce and I have been busy getting the site in order. Last week’s assignment was to get the bookstore sorted out, as many of the links and reviews were somewhat out of date. I’ve increased the number of categories and items and made sure that the older, out-of-print titles are replaced with newer editions or alternative titles.

The Kanji SITE Bookstore is run in association with Amazon. I’ve set up three separate ministores: one with Amazon.com, one with Amazon.co.uk and one with Amazon.co.jp, in order to give as many of you a chance of avoiding international shipping fees as possible.

The Kanji SITE receives a small commission (about 5%) on all sales via the store, which I put towards hosting costs (and the occasional trip to the cinema for the zombies; motivating the undead can be hard work - they literally have nothing to live for, after all). So a big thank you to anyone who chooses to support the site this way - it’s much appreciated.

If anyone notices any problems with the new-look bookstore over the next few days, please let me know via the comments below (or the main feedback form, if you prefer). Amazon say this new “aStore” interface is only just out of beta, and I’ve noticed some glitches on the admin side of the Japanese one in particular, but the customer side of things looks ok so far.

More updates to follow soon - have a groovy New Year’s Day.

Visit The Kanji SITE Bookstore >>

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Front page kanji menu alignment fixed

Chris — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:47:49 +0000

Thanks to everyone who pointed out that the image map on the front page was all screwed up on certain browsers; I spotted that myself a little while ago but was dreading having to sort it out as it was using an intricate javascript-rollover-sliced-image-map which was approximately twenty times more complicated than it needed to be.

Anyway, the whole thing’s been ripped out and replaced with a single image-map. It doesn’t rollover any more (aww) and it’s still a bit of a search-engine-unfriendly, late-nineties throwback, but it’ll do for now.

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Missing images fixed (repeater kanji, etc.)

Chris — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:05:32 +0000

Wotcha - just a brief post to let you know that I’ve fixed a couple of missing images. The ‘repeater’ kanji is now in place, as is the hiragana character for “cha”, which was missing from the SEKI / aka - red page.

I also fixed a couple of typos on the kana explanation pages - a typo in “Ministry of Education” and one place where I wrote “hiragana” but meant “katakana“. D’oh!

I think there are a couple more typos that I need to sort out; I’ll hunt them down over the weekend and let you know how the fight goes. Have a good weekend yourselves; don’t study too hard.

Update: oh, and I forgot to add, “Thank you” to everyone who e-mailed or used the feedback form to let me know about those bugs. I do check everything, obviously, but in a site this size, occasional errors are inevitable. Thanks to all of you who take the time to let me know about them; it’s greatly appreciated. (And yes, I know the front page is a bit screwy in Safari and Firefox at the moment - that’s next on the list.)

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JLPT Level 2 Kanji Batch 12 Updated: Detailed Info Added

Chris — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:26:43 +0000

Ok, those of you making your way through the Level 2 kanji will no doubt be delighted to hear that I’ve uploaded detailed info for the 25 characters in batch 12. You can get to them via the JLPT Level 2: View All index, and they’ll also show up via the JLPT Level 2 Random Testing pages.

A reminder about the batches: these are just my own way of breaking down the 755 Level 2 kanji into manageable chunks. Don’t expect to encounter the “batch” system in the official textbooks or the test itself; I’m afraid it’s all one glorious free-for-all in the real world.

A couple of you have asked about the Level 1 kanji… mmm. At some point I’m planning to switch the site from its current HTML-and-string format across to a snazzy database-and-dilithium-crystals affair, and one of the main topics of debate here at Kanji SITE HQ is whether to do that before or after adding in the Level 1 kanji. Obviously, I’d rather not do a ton of work on the Level 1 kanji in the old format, only to replace it all a month or so later with the new version… but it might be handy to have a complete “old” version of the site in the meantime, for completeness’s sake - not to mention as a backup if the new version goes spectacularly wrong. Hmmm. Watch this space, is all I can say for now.

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