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+--- Thread: Scrivener as a study tool. (/thread-13085.html)
Scrivener as a study tool. - rich_f - 2015-10-16
I ran across Scrivener the other day by total accident. It's a program for writing long-format books, primarily novels, dramas, etc., but it can be used in a variety of applications.
What it does is it allows you to organize information into chapters (folder) and scenes (pages), and each chapter and each scene can be represented by an index card on a virtual corkboard, so you can organize the entries however you want.
So if you're writing a story, you can write "The chapter where Bob gets a haircut," with as many scenes in it as you want. A scene where Bob decides to go out and get a haircut. A scene where he tells Mary he's taking the car to get a haircut. A scene where he's ACTUALLY GETTING HIS HAIR CUT.
You can manipulate scenes/chapters however you like. Scenes can be one sentence, or 100 pages. Whatever you want. They'll display all as one chapter, or you can hide scenes from the display. (It's tweakable.)
I saw it, and I thought that it looks like it might be a great way to organize all of my Japanese grammar notes. I like creating study notebooks and outlining as I review, and this looks much less tedious. (I think. No idea how it'll work in practice.) What I really want is that one go-to personal resource that tells me what *I* want/need to know, and what helps me keep things straight, so I don't wind up looking up the same crap over and over and over again.
Naturally, what I need, and what someone else needs are probably going to be different.
The idea I'm kicking around is, for example, to create a chapter for や否や (or any other grammar point I may want to polish up). Scene 1 could be the explanations I have for how it works, what it means, and how to construct it. Scene 2 might be a few example sentences. Scene 3, however, would be where I practice writing my own sentences using it, and figure out how to use/differentiate it from, say, なり or が早いか.
What's also cool about Scrivener is that you can select whatever you want, however you want, and print it out as a paper book, PDF, RTF, text file, or whatever.
It's on sale, too, until Sunday, I think. Mac and PC. The PC version is a little bit behind, but the author is getting it close to caught up to the Mac version. I have the PC version, and it's fine.
I already picked up a copy, because I plan on using it for other things as well.
And yes, I know, I could just Anki it. But I want to try something different for a change, something that involves me writing out things and working it out in my brain, rather than simply reacting to flashcards like a rat in a box hitting a lever to get a food pellet.
Sale (50% off):
https://store.boingboing.net/sales/scrivener-2
Program:
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
A good 1.5 hour bootcamp on using it, aimed at authors, done by a NYT best-selling author:
Scrivener as a study tool. - Roketzu - 2015-10-16
In your idea where you have や否や as a chapter and scenes divided up into explanations and examples, do you know if there is a way to make it so that you can link directly from the explanation for や否や to the explanation for なり, and do the same with the examples for similar grammar points, somehow either visually linking them in the binder/corkboard, or having them be one click away from each other?
Edit: I just did it, it's pretty simple. All I did was write something at the bottom saying:
Similar: なり
Then highlight なり and go to Edit > Scrivener Link > Select the なり scene
It'd be nice if there was a way to visually link things in the corkboard view, though that doesn't seem to be something a tool like this would be designed to do. There's probably an even better tool for going about doing this kind of thing, I just don't know of it.
Scrivener as a study tool. - rich_f - 2015-10-16
Yeah, there probably is a better tool out there somewhere. But this one is pretty neat.
The other thing I was thinking about using was keywords, if they work like tags. So や否や would be a keyword, and I'd sprinkle it around wherever I have a problem getting it and another grammar point confused. So や否や's entry would also have なり as a keyword, too.
Scrivener as a study tool. - rich_f - 2015-10-17
I finished the tutorial last night (kind of tedious, but highly recommended), and then got to work. It's super-fast to go through edits and compile stuff.
It imports shift-JIS encoded text files without much trouble. Batch-importing is slightly annoying, in that I have select shift-JIS from the dropdown each time it imports the next file. I imported all of the files I wanted to use into the resources folder at the start, to save time later on. It works well that way. It hiccups a little bit when I move a shift-JIS doc into the main "book" binder at times, though. I think it's re-encoding on the fly.
Memory usage isn't bad. 246MB. 4-5 Chrome processes are beating it for biggest memory hogs.
Overall the text manipulation feels buttery smooth, in that I don't find myself cursing at the screen. (Unlike in Word or Excel.)
Ctrl+Shift+K is awesome for creating a new document with the title of the selected text, from the start of the selection to the end of the current document. Then move the cursor to the point where you want to break off more text into a new document, and hit Ctrl+K to break off text at that point. Makes it really easy to create a main doc with "なり…なり…" in the title, and the rest as subdocuments. (It doesn't make the subdocs subordinate to the main doc automatically, though. Kind of a pain in the butt there. You have to move them under the main doc yourself. )
I've spent about two hours going over old Kanzen Master grammar stuff, and I've banged out about 6 chapters. That's pretty good, considering I'm reformatting and fixing old stuff into a more readable format.
Scrivener as a study tool. - Splatted - 2015-10-18
So I accidentally bought the mac version first(edit: did it again trying to buy one for someone else) and now have a(2) spare code(s) if anyone wants it(one). It doesn't seem to be refundable. (Actual forum members only please.)
Scrivener as a study tool. - Oniichan - 2015-10-19
Splatted Wrote:So I accidentally bought the mac version first(edit: did it again trying to buy one for someone else) and now have a(2) spare code(s) if anyone wants it(one). It doesn't seem to be refundable. (Actual forum members only please.)If you still have one, I can put it to good use. I am intrigued by rich_f's idea and wonder if I can adapt it to work with software development jargon (J -> code) too. I could add one scene that contains a description in code in Japanese, another with the relevant code snippet and group them into chapters based on RoR development stages.
Or, you might try sales@literatureandlatte.com to see if you can switch your codes. Either way, thank you for sharing.
Scrivener as a study tool. - Splatted - 2015-10-19
Yep, I've sent you a pm.
I still have one copy left if anyone's interested.
Edit:
Oniichan Wrote:Or, you might try sales@literatureandlatte.com to see if you can switch your codes. Either way, thank you for sharing.Thanks but PC codes wouldn't be any better at this point since I have what I need, and I can't imagine them being willing to exchange codes purchased from a bargain hunting site for different full priced ones.
Scrivener as a study tool. - jmignot - 2015-10-19
Splatted Wrote:I still have one copy left if anyone's interested.I have sent you an e-mail, in case it is still available.
Scrivener as a study tool. - Splatted - 2015-10-20
Yep, you get last one.
Scrivener as a study tool. - jmignot - 2015-10-20
Got it. Thanks!