ABSTRACT
The Japanese language is made mostly of three characters sets: hiragana, katakana and kanji characters. Kanji characters are inherited from Chinese, and include thousands of glyphs. Characters, especially kanji, memorisation is thus an extremely challenging task for learners of the Japanese language, and even for native speakers who tend to forget the meaning or writing of uncommon characters. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a novel memorisation technique based on an algebra defined for these kanji characters. By reusing classic algebra notations, the learner is able to rely on acquired knowledge (numbers algebra) to support his/her memorisation of Japanese characters. In addition, we consider automatic processing and application of this algebra to low-spec systems, for instance embedded systems.
- S. Richmond. A re-evaluation of kanji textbooks for learners of Japanese as a second language. Journal of the Faculty of Economics, KGU, 15:43--71, July 2005.Google Scholar
- S. Matsumae, T. Nakayama, and A. Matsumae. EPUB editor for making language teaching materials. In Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Computers and Their Applications, pages 219--223, Honolulu, HI, USA, March 9-11, 2015.Google Scholar
- O. Vaccari and E. E. Vaccari. Pictorial Chinese-Japanese Characters: A New and Fascinating Method to Learn Ideaographs. The publisher and C. E. Tuttle Co. (Tokyo), 1958.Google Scholar
- J. Heisig. Remembering the kanji, volume 1: A complete course on how not to forget the meaning and writing of Japanese characters. University of Hawaii Press, 2007.Google Scholar
- K. G. Henshall. A guide to remembering Japanese characters. Tuttle Publishing, 1988.Google Scholar
- Y. Mori, K. Sato, and H. Shimizu. Japanese language students' perception on kanji learning and their relationship to novel kanji word learning ability. Language Learning, 57(1):57--85, 2007.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. Bossard. Japanese characters cartography for efficient memorization. International Journal of Computers and Their Applications, 21(3):170--177, 2014.Google Scholar
- S. Shirakawa. Jisho wo tsukuru (字書を作る, in Japanese). Heibonsha, Tokyo, 2002.Google Scholar
- Y. Baba. Kono ji nanno ji fushigi na kanji (この字なんの字不思議な漢字, in Japanese). Taishukan, Tokyo, 2011.Google Scholar
- Japanese Ministry of Education, The Agency for Cultural Affairs. Table of the general use kanji characters (当用漢字表, in Japanese). 1946.Google Scholar
- T. Ogawa, T. Nishida, and K. Akatsuka (editors). Kadokawa Shinjigen (角川新字源, in Japanese) (revised version). Kadokawa (publisher), 1994.Google Scholar
- G. Gan and S. Gan. Kanroku jisho (干禄字書, in Chinese). Ryūshindō (publisher), 1880.Google Scholar
- Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Essentials on Elementary School Pedagogy (小学校学習指導要領, in Japanese), pages 18--20, 2008.Google Scholar
- M. Fukawa and K. Koike. Introduction to old kanji and old kana (旧字旧かな入門, in Japanese). Kashiwashobō (publisher), 2001.Google Scholar
- M. Flatt. Creating Languages in Racket. Communications of the ACM, 55(1):48--56, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC). 7-bit and 8-bit coded character sets for information interchange (7 ビット及び8ビットの情報交換用 符号化文字集合, in Japanese). 1969.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Premises of an algebra of Japanese characters
Recommendations
Implementation Proposal for Automatic Processing of the Algebra on J
CCATS '15: Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Computer Application TechnologiesThe Japanese language includes thousands of characters, distributed across various scripts, some extinct. The majority of Japanese characters is of Chinese ascent: these are the kanji characters. Character memorisation is thus an extremely challenging ...
Implementation Proposal for Automatic Processing of the Algebra on J
CCATS '15: Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Computer Application TechnologiesThe Japanese language includes thousands of characters, distributed across various scripts, some extinct. The majority of Japanese characters is of Chinese ascent: these are the kanji characters. Character memorisation is thus an extremely challenging ...
Stroke effect on legibility of Japanese characters
This study applied a computer program to analyze the descriptors of Japanese characters, including 56 Hiragana, 56 Katakana, and 98 Kanji characters. An experiment was designed to test the legibility of these characters by 40 Japanese students studying ...
Comments