This is a pretty strange request I guess but is there something I could use to have a kanji slideshow (preferrably with a function for a slideshow of the english keywords too) on top of all the programs I'm using all the time? I guess the idea comes from the AJATT methodology, to keep the kanji around me even when I can't entirely focus on them. I'd put up some kanji on my walls but they're not very good for that and besides, having it on the desktop is more in-my-face and if it keeps changing around it's less static too. Actually, now that I think about it, later on this could be useful with the sentences.

So, anyone find/use something like this? Maybe Anki has some function that would work?(I'm not using Anki myself, yet)

m(_ _)m

I also would want something like this. I had something like this in my mind. This, or either an automatic way to change my wallpaper to a difference kanji every few minutes or something so that when I view my desktop, bang, a new kanji is there.

I believe Macs have this feature of changing the wallpaper to pictures you specify, but I am not sure.

mmh.. If you know any programming languages it wouldn't be too hard to implement, basically a screensaver that shows the heisig kanji?

There are wallpapers on this forum somewhere with all the RTK kanji.

I actually had an idea for an app like this the other day. basically it will show you the kanji, show you the associated story (and play the mp3 of the story) and then show a picture of a beautiful Japanese woman (to make sure you keep concentrating on the screen)

Now my Laptop is back in the land of the living I might just make this dream real

For the Kanji popup:

Kanji Gold

Quote:Features:

* Automatic and customizable review system.
* Custom color selection.
* Kanji choices available in On , Kun and English.
* All Level 1 and Level 2 Japanese Kanji (about 6000).
* Compounds sorted into Grade levels (0 -9) kanji. (over 44,000 compounds).
* Custom Dictionaries for compounds (can be made with JWPCE).
* Custom Dictionaries can be used for vocabulary study.
* Custom kanji lists and dictionaries (can be made with JWPCE).
* Includes Kanji lists for many popular kanji texts (with page numbers).
* Kanji POPUP feature that automatically flips through kanji and/or compounds while you are using other programs.
* Unique kanji study list method to help in memorization of Kanji.

For a great background switcher (via Lifehacker):

John's Background Switcher

Quote:Windows only: John's Background Switcher—a free utility that rotates your desktop wallpaper using photos from sources like Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, or just your desktop—has updated to support for RSS feeds. That means the popular wallpaper tool now supports sites like deviantArt, LOLCats, and pretty much any other photo site with an RSS feed.

So, with this program someone could create a series of kanji/vocabulary/sentence/etc pictures and upload them to flickr or something, and everyone else could use that for getting new Japanese-geeky wallpapers. 8)

Have you tried Learn to Speak X software? The one with that stupid wizard.

There is a Japanese version:

http://download.cnet.com/Learn-To-Speak-...86355.html

It works in the same way. It stay on top of your screen and show hundreds of words with their meanings in English.

I think you can add/remove them. If so, you can delete all the vocab and put your kanji with keywords.

I'm using Kanji Gold´s pop-up system right now and it´s exactly what I wanted. I'll probably tweak it a bit (it seems to be looping the same kanji sequence right now yes I'll rtfm when I have time) but just to have it up makes a huge difference. I even like the incredibly-basic look of the program! Huge thanks for sharing, Sebastian.

Thinking about it, I know a dude who has this mini slideshow on his desktop of all the images in a specific folder for art stuff so he can pick out anything interesting for study. Supposedly it´s an integral part of Vista so if you have that and you can get image files for sentences - I hear the Kanji Odyssey e-books have lots of these - or Kanji you could probably make good use of it. Plus it´s integrated so it´s probably very easy to set up. I´ll ask him about it sometime if anyone´s interested. (I still don´t trust Vista enough to make the jump myself)

The ideal program will show the keyword (or the kanji) then wait a while to let you think about it, then show the kanji (or the meaning.)

Does Kanji Gold works like this? I haven't tried it yet although I have it since 2004!

Nope, it just scrolls through different kanji groups - it's supposedly grouped according to the japanese school system's order. I'm not bothered by it at all since I just want the kanji to be there all the time, reinforcing the ones I know and making me more famiiar with kanji I don't know the meaning of. Besides, if it was more of an active thinking-tool I would be disturbed and stressed by it while doing other stuff. But when you mention it, it's strange koohii doesn't offer that variant of the review SRS. It shouldn't be hard to make the flashcards pop up as a separate window with just the text&kanji (you can use the keyboard for answering already anyway) or some kind of applet.

In any case, KG's pop-up isn't what you want (unless you can heavily modify it, but I don't think it has that much flexibility), you'll probably have better luck with the other programs offered. Of course, an image/item pack for these would make it way easier.

Today I downloaded Kanji Gold and discovered that you can make your own lists of kanji (or vocab) using the word processor JWPCE:

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/japanese.html

Surreal Wrote:Nope, it just scrolls through different kanji groups - it's supposedly grouped according to the japanese school system's order. I'm not bothered by it at all since I just want the kanji to be there all the time, reinforcing the ones I know and making me more famiiar with kanji I don't know the meaning of. Besides, if it was more of an active thinking-tool I would be disturbed and stressed by it while doing other stuff. But when you mention it, it's strange koohii doesn't offer that variant of the review SRS. It shouldn't be hard to make the flashcards pop up as a separate window with just the text&kanji (you can use the keyboard for answering already anyway) or some kind of applet.

In any case, KG's pop-up isn't what you want (unless you can heavily modify it, but I don't think it has that much flexibility), you'll probably have better luck with the other programs offered. Of course, an image/item pack for these would make it way easier.

can the kanji be displayed at the same time with the english meaning and/or pronunciation underneath?

ahibba Wrote:The ideal program will show the keyword (or the kanji) then wait a while to let you think about it, then show the kanji (or the meaning.)

Does Kanji Gold works like this? I haven't tried it yet although I have it since 2004!

No, but kanji (or compound) and its readings (and meanings if you want them) are shown as 2 separate little windows. So, you can place them at opposite sides of your screen and "quiz" yourself by looking at the kanji first, remembering its readings and/or meanings and checking the other pop-up rapidly.

mygbmygb Wrote:can the kanji be displayed at the same time with the english meaning and/or pronunciation underneath?

Yes.

Kanji Gold can display separate pop-ups for isolated kanji and/or compounds. In both cases it shows you the kanji, readings (in kana), and you can choose if you want also the meanings in English.

Kanji Gold also has a quiz mode for kanji and compounds where you are shown an item and have to pick the correct answer from several options. It even has a sort of SRS you can customize.