Hello,
I have seen a few references to Shinkanji ( http://shinkanji.bcerrina.com ) in this forum.
As I am the author I am biased but I am using the application daily when studying kanjis and I think this should be usefull to others.
I have just posted a significant update to apple so it should reach the appstore about next week. This mostly focuses on making it easier for users to enter a kanji to get the related informations.

I have seen someone mention that he is using the kanji structure navigation to basically find kanjis by radicals. This is not possible natively yet but I will have it done soon and will post the update.

I am interested by any suggestion you may have on how to improve the program to help you learn. In addition once shinkanji (which is a reference program) is complete enough (I'd like it to cover at least all the functionalities which are in padict http://padict.sf.net ) I will probably write a study program and one of the options would be to use the Heisig method (however up to now I haven't been following it so I would need to get up to speed).

Benwulf (a fellow student of japanese and kanji)
author of shinkanji, contributor to padict, taka

I know it's a bit of work, and I don't even own an iPhone or iPod Touch yet (maybe in the future, not sure yet) but one thing I find lacking is software to tell you how close your strokes are to true, and what you can do to correct it. I know that isn't easy, but you did ask for suggestions.

wccrawford Wrote:I know it's a bit of work, and I don't even own an iPhone or iPod Touch yet (maybe in the future, not sure yet) but one thing I find lacking is software to tell you how close your strokes are to true, and what you can do to correct it. I know that isn't easy, but you did ask for suggestions.

There is a ton of that kind of software on the DS. I certainly wouldn't trust a small app by an indie dev to tell me how to correct writing either since they are generally a) learners themselves and b) rely on low quality/faulty data like KANJIDIC and the like.

Jarvik7 Wrote:There is a ton of that kind of software on the DS. I certainly wouldn't trust a small app by an indie dev to tell me how to correct writing either since they are generally a) learners themselves and b) rely on low quality/faulty data like KANJIDIC and the like.

I also think it is not nice to charge for access to information that is freely available. In this case, it seems to be MIT's Taka rather than KANJIDIC. I have no idea how correct the data is in Taka either(I wonder if it was seeded with KANJIDIC), but the site says there are known bugs in the data. Not sure if that refers to implementation or to the actual kanji info.

In any case, I think if you are going to charge a premium for a program, you should also pay for a license to distribute a premium dictionary.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the Taka license grants permission to sell derivative works without restriction, provided the license is included, which it is.

JimmySeal Wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the Taka license grants permission to sell derivative works without restriction, provided the license is included, which it is.

I think his point was that if your application is commercial, you should put some of that money into getting access to a good dictionary, not a free one made by a community of learners which they themselves acknowledge to be full of errors or unchecked (depending on the section).

I don't remember what Shinkanji costs but I doubt it's enough to cover that kind of licensing.

JimmySeal Wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the Taka license grants permission to sell derivative works without restriction, provided the license is included, which it is.

All I said was "not nice". I never said anything about it being a violation of any license. My point was exactly what Jarvik said. Actually the app store has several pay apps that are nothing more than wrappers for jdic. (Like the $20! "Japanese")

At least this program is only $5.



EDIT: Strangely, Shinkanji claims to use Taka on the website but KANJIDIC2 in the app store.

Jarvik7 Wrote:

wccrawford Wrote:I know it's a bit of work, and I don't even own an iPhone or iPod Touch yet (maybe in the future, not sure yet) but one thing I find lacking is software to tell you how close your strokes are to true, and what you can do to correct it. I know that isn't easy, but you did ask for suggestions.

There is a ton of that kind of software on the DS. I certainly wouldn't trust a small app by an indie dev to tell me how to correct writing either since they are generally a) learners themselves and b) rely on low quality/faulty data like KANJIDIC and the like.

That is planned to be added to Shinkanji but not at the top of my list.
I unfortunately have to have a day job, and I fortunately have a family so my time on shinkanji is limited to about an hour a day and more the WE.
I had that functionality in padict though so I know that it is usefull

dilandau23 Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:There is a ton of that kind of software on the DS. I certainly wouldn't trust a small app by an indie dev to tell me how to correct writing either since they are generally a) learners themselves and b) rely on low quality/faulty data like KANJIDIC and the like.

I also think it is not nice to charge for access to information that is freely available. In this case, it seems to be MIT's Taka rather than KANJIDIC. I have no idea how correct the data is in Taka either(I wonder if it was seeded with KANJIDIC), but the site says there are known bugs in the data. Not sure if that refers to implementation or to the actual kanji info.

In any case, I think if you are going to charge a premium for a program, you should also pay for a license to distribute a premium dictionary.

Sorry but you may not realize that programming takes a lot of time and efforts. I am really not charging much. In addition I have been contributing a third of the taka db back to the project and to any body who wants to use it as well as enhancements to the taka editor.
I could have kept those for myself.

Finally I think 5$ is really not excessive and if I had to pay a license to distribute a dictionary the price would be much higher.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I think his point was that if your application is commercial, you should put some of that money into getting access to a good dictionary, not a free one made by a community of learners which they themselves acknowledge to be full of errors or unchecked (depending on the section).

for the last 5 years I have been the biggest contributor to the taka db. And since that webpage was written a third of the db has been updated. If you find errors please report them to me but frankly I don't think there are many left.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I don't remember what Shinkanji costs but I doubt it's enough to cover that kind of licensing.

you are correct, I charge $5, that doesn't allow me to pay for any license.

nest0r Wrote:

benwulf Wrote:Hello,
I have seen a few references to Shinkanji ( http://shinkanji.bcerrina.com ) in this forum.

Strange, the only reference to Shinkanji in this forum is by you!

Edit: I stand corrected (by myself). Although I'm still cynical and suspicious.

Ah, well that was not the intent. I have found this forum through google when searching for mentions of shinkanji.
I so one post with 3 pages including at least 3 references to my program. I have made an extra post and been very clear about who I am, I didn't pause as a happy user or anything.

Yes, I simply dislike it when someone participates in a forum solely to peddle their wares.

It's not like he made an account, spammed penis enlargement posts, then left. The dude is advertising his product here not only because it can directly benefit us, but because some interest has already been shown. Also, he's providing a direct line of feedback as to solving problems we have with the program as well as providing suggestions for improvement.

I don't see anything wrong with this kind of behavior, even if Shinkanji hadn't already been mentioned.