Software for learning Japanese
Adobe Type Manager-J Adobe Type Manager 3.8.1J provides sharp display images and high quality output for the two Japanese and 13 Roman fonts included in the package. This program is compatible with a large range of fonts, Roman as well as others.
Apple Japanese Language Kit, version 1.2 Enables System 7.1 and above to work in Japanese. The Japanese Language Kit contains everything you need to add Japanese to your documents. It works with both WorldScript and KanjiTalk applications.
Dynafont 30 CD-ROM A font pack for users who want some variety in their Japanese fonts. This CD has 17 different TrueType fonts in various weights to make a total of 30.
Fontworks Collection Japanese fonts offer unlimited resolution on a printer equipped with a 2 byte-capable RIP. At $800 per typeface FONTWORKS fonts are 1/4 the cost of Adobe's high resolution Japanese fonts, and are compatible with ATM.
Kanji Kit for WINDOWS Allows you to read Japanese
Internet sites on English Windows. The version by Stone
Bridge Press
works with all major web browsers. Another version
by ComStar Company allows you to send and receive e-mail in Japanese
from WWW browses such as Netscape & Internet Explorer. KanjiKit
also allows you to type Japanese text into your favorite Windows applications
such as MS Office, Lotus Smart Suite, and more.
Apple KanjiTalk 7.6 Apple KanjiTalk 7.6 is a Japanese operating system for the Macintosh. KanjiTalk has been the Mac's Japanese system software since 1986. Users who prefer to have their system menus and messages show in Japanese should use KanjiTalk.
Claris MacWrite II-J 1.5 Apple's original word processor for the Mac now features QuickTime movies and AppleEvent technology. Also able to read files from later versions of EGWord, Ichitaro, and MS-Word.
ClarisWorks Premium-J ClarisWorks is considered the standard integrated software package for the Mac. This single program offers word processing, data base, spreadsheet, graph, draw and communication modules. Documentation in Japanese.
EGWord 6.7 The latest version of Japan's most popular word processing program for the Mac. It supports a full range of standard word processing features, plus extras such as a sophisticated table-making tool, importing of Excel spreadsheets and vertical-text printing.
E.Typist Japanese OCR software The newly updated e.Typist v. 2.0 Bilingual provides quick, efficient conversion of Japanese newspapers, magazines, or manuscripts into text data with the use of a scanner and simple menus.
Ichitaro V.5 for Macintosh Ichitaro has long been a favorite of PC users. The new Mac version will convert DOS and Windows Ichitaro files, making it the perfect tool for translators working in a Mac environment who need to deal with client files in those formats.
Microsoft Office 4.2-J For Macintosh This package combines MS Word 6.0J, Excel 5.0J, PowerPoint 4.0J, and MS Mail 3.0.
Microsoft Word 6.0 The world's best selling word processor is now available in a Japanese version for the Macintosh. Much of the layout is very similar to the English version. Vertical writing and a Japanese document checker are also featured.
Microsoft Office 97-J for WINDOWS This package combines MS Word 97-J, Excel 97-J, PowerPoint 97-J, MS Mail 97-J, Visual Basic 97-J and Access 97-J. Microsoft Office version 95-J is also available.
Nisus
Writer 4.1 Nisus' word processor successfully bridges the multilingual
gap. The default menus and messages are in English, but just add a menu
file to the folder and re-launch the program to switch to Japanese.
Adobe
Illustrator 5.5-J Japanese Illustrator has all the
features of the English version. In addition, Adobe Type Manager and the
HeiseiMincho ATM font are bundled with Illustrator J, enabling users to
outline Japanese text, then save as
an EPS file. The file can then be used as a graphic on computers that
do not have a Japanese system. Illustrator is the only program that can
convert whole pages of Japanese text in this way. Documentation is
in Japanese but there is an English READ ME file.
Adobe Photoshop 4.0-J Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for photo manipulation. It handles color as well as black and white and lets you paint directly on your scanned images, color correct them, or merge two or more images. It has the ability to open and manipulate most graphics file formats and work in layers, allowing greater control of the image building process. It supports a thriving industry for third-party "plug-in" filters for more image enhancement possibilities.
Claris FileMaker Pro 3.0-J With FileMaker Pro users can easily organize complicated data. FileMaker enables company users to link customer information with the file that handles orders, payments, shipping and invoices.
Claris
MacDraw Pro-J1.5 V2 MacDraw Pro provides easy production
of presentations, illustrations, and
designs. Use its simple interface for color, shadow, and grey-scale
effects. MacDraw also supports professional quality color matching with
the PANTONE system.
Freehand 5.5-J This latest version includes new on-screen palettes, on-line help, and 99 levels of undo. These are in addition to the features that have made FreeHand a long-time favorite of graphic designers, technical illustrators and publishers. Users may work with on-screen nameable color swatches, named-layer elements organization, preview editing, etc. Documentation is in Japanese.
Microsoft Excel 5.0-J Microsoft Excel 5.0-J is the Japanese version of the popular spreadsheet program, Excel 5.0. It is a comprehensive environment which offers you enhanced ease of use, improved analytic, data management, and presentation capabilities. Excel 5.0-J gives you all the power and flexibility of theEnglish version of this popular spreadsheet program, plus full Japanese-language support, including vertical text. In addition, this Japanese version provides yen-currency formats, Japanese time and date formats, and sorting in Japanese.
Persuasion
3.0-J This Japanese version of the popular presentation software
supports all the features of the equivalent English version, plus it gives
the user the abilityto use Japanese text in presentations. When used in
combination with a Japanese font utility or a Japanese PostScript print
device, Persuasion Japanese produces high-quality kanji output in overhead
transparencies and slides. Comes with Japanese documentation.
Applause 2.0 Applause 2.0 is an English to Japanese and Japanese to English desk accessory dictionary. The dictionaries feature 59,000 entry words and 85,000 translations for English to Japanese and 60,000 entry words and 60,000 translations for Japanese to English.
Berlitz Live! Japanese This interactive Japanese language and culture primer features a matter-of-fact cartoon samurai. It is aimed at the first-time traveller, particularly the businessperson. The disk emphasizes pronunciation drills, basic expressions and simple conversations.
Blackbelt Combines graphics and verbal reinforcement with an story line to teach hiragana and katakana character sets and 192 of the kanji characters.
Dynamic Japanese Uses multimedia and focuses on the development of listening skills. The exercises focus on fundamental vocabulary development and an understanding of the basic langauge structures of Japanese.
Free-Light Japanese Education Software Learn the Japanese writing system (Hiragana, Katakana and 1945 Jouyou Kanji), vocabulary and pronunciation.
Fundamental Japanese For DOS A multimedia education program for the Japanese language which teaches reading, writing and speaking skills using graphics, animation and sound.
MacKOJIEN CD-ROM Ayumi Software The Kojien Dictionary, the premier reference tool in Japan, is equal in scholarly reputation to the Oxford English Dictionary. The 4th edition of the Kojien was published in 1994 with 220,000 entry words, 2,500 graphics and 84 bird sounds.
Mikan(reading tutorial) Mikan uses a hypertex format to teach the meaning and pronunciation of Japanese words via in-line pop-up menus.
Speech Partner will read any Japanese text aloud to you so you can look up kanji with less difficulty.
Vocabulearn This bilingual flash card program in Japanese introduces thousands of words and expressions and allows you to type answers and receive hints among other features.
Word Hunter CD-ROM Thirteen dictionaries include a thesaurus, an idiom collection, several English-to-Japanese and Japanese-to-English dictionaries, and special dictionaries for letter-writing, word-processing, and imported foreign words (gairaigo). 330,000 total combined entries.
Word Torture is a vocabulary drill for students at all study levels and comes with 1400-2100 words and their translations.
KanjiBase is an on-line version of Spahn & Hadamitzky's Japanese Character Dictionary and provides on-line access to tens of thousands of Japanese terms and their English equivalents.
KanjiWorks provides a revolutionary method of referencing kanji. You can specify up to 8 contained elements to narrow down the search. KanjiWorks displays the stroke-order for each kanji, broken into elements (radicals) and kanji characters, rather than single strokes.
KanjiWorks Advanced V1.2-J Learning Software provides the reinforcement necessary needed to master the kanji characters used in Japanese newspapers. Every kanji has entries for okurigana, meanings, radical, stroke order, compounds, and sample sentences.
KanjiWorks Extended V1.5 Kanji Learning Tool KanjiWorks Extended v1.5 provides an extension of KanjiWorks that will turn it into a complete Kanji-English Dictionary.
Kantaro Kantaro is a multimedia kanji learning system for Windows. If you've already got a grounding in hiragana and katakana, this program will allow you to learn the first 200 kanji in Japanese, the most fundamental ones in the language.
Nihongo Learning Systems Back to Basics Japanese Kanji Drill is an interactive program designed to teach the user the Kanji Characters learned in Grades 1-6 by Japanese elementary students (996 Kanji Characters supported).
Spectra Kanji allows users to freely create and manipulate their own customized groups of elements, kanji, and compounds. Add, delete, or highlight items based on a wide variety of criteria: meaning, reading, components, strokecount, etc.
JapanEase Volume 1 & 2 teaches the katakana and hiragana alphabets as well as Japanese grammar. Provides pronunciation by native speakers and exercises.
Multi-Media
Kana Learning System Kanakun is advanced multimedia learning
for teaching the fundamentals of Japanese language writing, using
animation, photographs, sound, and computer generated illustrations.
Eudora Pro-J Eudora Pro-J offers the same features that have made the English version so popular and also handles Japanese E-mail. You can also download a free version of Eudora-J from this site.
Information on Japanese E-mail This page, provided by Purdue University, explains in great detail how one goes about sending email in Japanese. Includes specific recommendations for both Windows and Mac users.
Ambassador Japanese Tool Ambassador is a correspondence translation tool. It provides a broad range of template sentences, pre-translated into both English and Japanese, which users combine into ready-to-send letters. Users can translate English into Japanese and vice versa.
Bi-Ling
Writer automatic word-phrase electronic dictionary Dynamic
bi-directional capability in
English/Chinese, English / Japanese and English / Korean to speed up
your study or translation.
Coscom Japanese Language Program Coscom is a Tokyo-based language-teaching firm, and the company provides this site for basic learning. Included are several hundred essential verbs with in-context examples, as well as a bi-level online Japanese course. Also included is information about the company's program.
H-NET
Asia-Pacific Network A clearinghouse of information on Asia.
You can search for and browse information about on-line
discussion groups, jobs, resources, reviews, and on-line Asian studies
journals. There are links to newspapers, academic sites and
teaching resources.
Information/News
in Japan Links to different Asian news and information
websites.
Japanese/English
Dictionary This highly customizeable dictionary is very easy
to use, allows searches in both languages, and provides kanji along with
the japanese dictionary spelling.
Japan Information Network A good site to find information about Japanese culture, business, technology, society, government, industry and many more.
Japanese Kotowaza A graphic display of Japanese proverbs and idioms (kotowaza)
Japanese Language Dojo This site provides online learning of Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji, with several levels of each being provided. Also includes many links, including a dictionary and a history of the three forms. (WARNING:This site takes some time to load.)
Orientation - Asia's Web Directory A source of information on Asia.
Useful
Information on Japan Useful information on various aspects of
Japan, especially Kyoto. Most useful for first-time visitors, the site
breaks down Japanese denominations of money. Also explains Japanese holidays
and provides links to similar sites.
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