How does everyone here set up their reading environment(if at all)?

Here is how I personally set things up:
I use an Acer Aspire One netbook with Ubuntu 8.10 running Comix and Anki.
Manga is kept on a 16GB SDHC Card.

I prefer to keep the following 3 things separate:
1)Manga that I'm reading
2)Entering vocab into SRS
3)Japanese Dictionary

Technically, I could do all of these things on my computer in
3 separate windows, but there's something about clicking
and/or switching windows that kills the mood and makes me
lose interest. Not to mention actually finding the right window
when I have 10 other windows open.

So I have 2 setups: One for raw manga that I read on my laptop
and one for when I'm reading a physical manga book.


Manga on Laptop:

Manga -> read from laptop
Dictionary -> Wordtank V300
SRS -> Write vocab in a notebook by hand (kanji/word, reading, page number). Enter the vocab into Anki after I'm done reading(this is when I look up meanings). And I keep a separate notebook for each manga(with the manga volumes written on the front cover).

Physical Manga Book:

Manga -> book
Dictionary -> Wordtank V300. Look up meanings only if I know all the kanji already.
SRS -> write vocab directly into Anki on my Acer Aspire One. Study vocab later.


Vocab is entered into Anki on a per volume basis.
So each manga volume(tankoubon) gets a separate file.
Before moving onto the next volume, I review all the vocab from the current volume.

And on top of everything, I listen to Japanese music while I'm reading.

I have a dual monitor setup, so manga on my computer gets a full monitor all on it's own. For physical manga, I don't even bother with a dictionary. If I really want to look up something or find out a reading (which is getting rarer and rarer, especially since I know the onyomi already) I mark it with a small little sticker.

Am I a caveman??? I just light some incense and candles, put on some new age music and relax with a book.

I don`t know how everyone manage to read manga off a screen, I can`t stand doing it! though I wish I could..would save me a lot of money and shelf space.

I tend to just sit somewhere comfortable and have my DS with sonomama on it at arm's length, then enter words I looked up the next day into Anki. I like alyks' idea of using stickers though, I tried a bit of post-it on each page, underlining etc but this seems to be the best way of marking words.

Books:
lay somewhere with the DS dictionary next to me. On the first page of the book I place 26 small stickers which I've derived from the sticky part of post-it labels.
These stickers are rectangular (roughly 4-5mm wide and 1cm high, because the text is usually vertical) and numbered from 一 to (in my case) 二十六. They are numbered because this way I don't overlook them when turning the pages, and it also lets me know how many sentences are left.
While reading, when I encounter a word/kanji/reading/construction that I find interesting I put a sticker on it (obviously in order). Then at a later time (whenever I feel like to), I enter those sentences into anki with the help of the Sanseido and Yahoo dictionaries.

Manga:
I like my manga real, so I never read them on screen.
The method is similar: the little yellow stickers, in this case, are on a simple bookmark, and are not numbered.
I used to do it the same way as with the books, but lately I can't bother using the dictionary, since I'm able to understand most of what I read. I use the stickers for the stuff I don't understand.

99% of the sentences I add are from these sources.

chamcham Wrote:Here is how I personally set things up:

Never in my life have I been that organised, nor will I ever be. I tip my hat to you.

Alt+tab, Alt+tab, Alt+tab.

I prefer to read books on the screen, even when I have a real copy. It's easier to look up words. No need to type with one hand, or to drop the book. Here's what my desktop looks like - gqview, edict, rtk search and timebox.

I just read my books/manga. No dictionary, no nothing. If I feel there was a lot of stuff I didn't understand in a chapter I read, I start a textfile up later and quickly look through the text to find some difficult words and insert those sentences/find other example sentences.

deathspi Wrote:I don`t know how everyone manage to read manga off a screen, I can`t stand doing it!

This!

I've read English manga from a screen (both a laptop and a desktop) and it wasn't very comfortable. Reading Japanese manga from it is ... Horrifying.

What's the secret!?

Also, that RTK Search thing... Where'd you get that? It looks like something I could actually write, but the data from it is the important part.

iSoron Wrote:rtk search

that looks useful - is it a script you wrote yourself or is it available online somewhere?

Oh, one more thing: while I read the "real" book, when I add sentences I use a digital version, if I find it. That saves me a lot of typing.

For example, Suzumiya Haruhi book one (the same site has the rest of the series too):
http://www.sos-dan.ru/novel/01.html

thatkidpercy Wrote:that looks useful - is it a script you wrote yourself or is it available online somewhere?

It's basically a search on a text file. Nothing fancy. The important part is the data, as wccrawford have suggested. I've been writing my stories in the format "prim + prim + prim. story" ever since I started, so it was easy to export them and break them up. Unfortunately, I've changed a lot of keywords and primitive names, so I'm afraid my list will not be that useful for other users. Maybe someone has a better list? (Katsuo?)

Here's it anyway, and the filtering script (with a couple of others).

The few manga I've got in Japanese on the computer don't seem to have been scanned for the purpose of reading. The text is so small and fuzzy, I think the scanners just wanted the raws to look at, not read. I don't like reading manga or scanned text on the computer, but sometimes I have to.

When I read online, I just use rikaichan. Sometimes I go back and copy/paste the new words into Trinity.

When I read real books, I just read without a dictionary. Sometimes I write things down on paper, or look them up in my DS dictionary, but I don't like doing that.
Right now I'm underlining the new words in Harry Potter, so I can SRS them later. For some reason I'm okay with writing in that book...

Comix has a magnifying glass feature that lets you zoom in. Great for reading furigana and small text. The zoom level is user-configurable too. In the latest version, just press G and hover your mouse over the text.

That's how I get by without squinting.

Yeah I agree with that magnifying glass thing. It slows down the flow of the comic, but I have to say it is useful. Hell, sometimes I can't even read the furigana in the manga itself they print it so small.

But I am a fan of reading the actual book. Except I take a different approach. I look up all the words I don't know, but I don't SRS them. Why? Well, I feel like I'll come across it either in iKnow or KO anyway, and if not, then it will appear enough for me to know it. Plus, if I go into reading manga or a 小説 with the knowledge that I'm going to come out with a lot of SRS items, I won't want to do it.

So I think this way works better for me. And I already finding myself remembering the non-SRS'd words just through seeing them so many times (which I guess is the same way a SRS work, huh?).

What is "Comix"?

I do most of my Japanese reading on the computer.

Virtual Desktop 1

I have Explorer open on the side of my browser with the raws; I just drag them in one at a time. I have a smart bookmark set up so all I have to do is type 'ya XYZ' in the address bar to look something up in Yahoo 辞書.

Virtual Desktop 4

I can quickly switch between virtual desktops with ALT+1, ALT+2, etc. I keep Mnemosyne and TextAloud open on one desktop. Whenever I find a sentence I like, I just type it in in TextAloud, save it, and make a new card in Mnemosyne (audio -> text). I have them both set up to use the same directory, so it's fairly quick. ALT+1 and I'm back to reading.

Most Linux users should already have virtual desktops or be able to set them up easily. Windows users will have to install something like VirtuaWin or Microsoft's sluggish PowerToy (not recommended).



When I read physical books/manga, I don't worry about looking things up in the dictionary or collecting SRS items.

Haha, it's funny you do it that way Terhorst. When I read manga (mac user here), I use spaces to be able to go between the programs I need.

It's also pretty useful because I can just bring up the dashboard and I have a Japanese -> English and Japanese -> Japanese dictionary right there.

yukamina Wrote:What is "Comix"?

http://comix.sourceforge.net

It is only for Linux.

I wrote some instructions on how to use Comix in this thread:
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=2306

It also claims compatibility with the BSDs, and based on what it uses my guess is that it would work fine on OS X with properly-installed GTK, PyGTK, and other appropriate libraries.

~J

speaking of "comix," where exactly do you guys get all of your manga if you view it on the computer? Is it like torrents or something (I'm basically illiterate when it comes to this stuff...). The only place I was able to find online is mangahelpers.com.

chamcham Wrote:

yukamina Wrote:What is "Comix"?

http://comix.sourceforge.net

It is only for Linux.

I wrote some instructions on how to use Comix in this thread:
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=2306

I haven't used Comix but from the looks of it, for people who use windows Comicrack should have most of the same functions.

http://comicrack.cyolito.com/

For windows, you have CDisplay. On OS X you have FFView.

It's not that I can't read the blurry text, I just don't like to. I don't like reading small fuzzy text in English either.