Kanji Characters Research Articles

A Study of the Learning Curve of the Japanese Keyboard on Smartphone

Japanese (Nihongo) is an east Asian Language, extensive use of Chinese character called KANJI and Phonetic Characters called KANA (hiragana and katakana). Many people assume Japanese Keyboard on smartphone is difficult to use that’s why I decide to conduct study to determine how easy to learn Japanese Keyboard for new users. Two user with no experience with Japanese keyboard on smart phone were asked to enter some Japanese sentences as fast as they can at least 20 times and same thing was asked to experienced users as well.

Robust and real-time stroke order evaluation using incremental stroke context for learners to write Kanji characters correctly

Writing Kanji characters of Chinese origin in the correct stroke order and direction is still one of the important subjects in Japanese elementary education. So far, the stroke order evaluation was made by stroke-to-stroke matching without stroke context so that it was unrobust to Kanji characters having multiple similar strokes. Here, we employ shape context features around each feature point in not only conventional fan-shaped bins but also in square bins with applying a Gaussian function. We also propose simple incremental context and augmented context from future strokes. Our approach can judge whether the stroke order and direction are correct or not every time a new stroke is written on a tablet by matching a partially written Kanji pattern with the reference pattern written to the same number of strokes. Evaluation shows that the best-tuned method with square bins and the Gaussian function records the highest performance and correctly evaluates stroke order by 98.5% with the maximum time of 0.12 sec. /character for Kanji patterns after all strokes are written using an average desktop PC. The method is also shown to possess high reliability to detect wrong stroke order and direction incrementally every time after each stroke is written.

Real-time detection and discrimination of visual perception using electrocorticographic signals

Objective. Several neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the ventral temporal cortex contains specialized regions that process visual stimuli. This study investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of electrocorticographic (ECoG) responses to different types and colors of visual stimulation that were presented to four human participants, and demonstrated a real-time decoder that detects and discriminates responses to untrained natural images. Approach. ECoG signals from the participants were recorded while they were shown colored and greyscale versions of seven types of visual stimuli (images of faces, objects, bodies, line drawings, digits, and kanji and hiragana characters), resulting in 14 classes for discrimination (experiment I). Additionally, a real-time system asynchronously classified ECoG responses to faces, kanji and black screens presented via a monitor (experiment II), or to natural scenes (i.e. the face of an experimenter, natural images of faces and kanji, and a mirror) (experiment III). Outcome measures in all experiments included the discrimination performance across types based on broadband γ activity. Main results. Experiment I demonstrated an offline classification accuracy of 72.9% when discriminating among the seven types (without color separation). Further discrimination of grey versus colored images reached an accuracy of 67.1%. Discriminating all colors and types (14 classes) yielded an accuracy of 52.1%. In experiment II and III, the real-time decoder correctly detected 73.7% responses to face, kanji and black computer stimuli and 74.8% responses to presented natural scenes. Significance. Seven different types and their color information (either grey or color) could be detected and discriminated using broadband γ activity. Discrimination performance maximized for combined spatial-temporal information. The discrimination of stimulus color information provided the first ECoG-based evidence for color-related population-level cortical broadband γ responses in humans. Stimulus categories can be detected by their ECoG responses in real time within 500 ms with respect to stimulus onset.

Inhibitory effects of semantics of constituent kanji characters on semantic processing of Japanese kanji words

Inhibitory effects of semantics of constituent kanji characters on semantic processing of Japanese kanji words

A Study on Fukuzawa Yukichi’s Translation and Kanji Notation of Foreign Place Names

In connection with Fukuzawa Yukichi’s view of translation, this study examined the Kanji notation in his books written in the early Meiji Era, and compared it with that in other documents. First, place names translated into the same Kanji notations are found in all of Fukuzawa Yukichi’s books, among place names that had comparatively long been translated into Kanji. Second, in each book, translation of one place name into two or three Kanji notations shows the intention to gather various notations together; and on the other hand it demonstrates the view of translation trying to reflect the diversity of Kanji notation. Third, the place names translated by coining Kanji characters represent a positive aspect that it enabled early modern Japanese people to have easy access to the Western world. On the other hand, it shows limitations that the Kanji notations that were coined by excessively relying on the colloquial style did not play a proper role as Kanji characters representing the place names. Fourth, the comparison shows that the two documents have relatively similar notation pattern. However, since there is mixed use of Japanese-style Chinese characters and Chinese-style of Chinese characters even in the same document depending on the translator, it confirms the transitional period of natation of place names.

Ma part de Gaulois par Magyd Cherfi

Origami smacks of several different genres as well: following the title page of each of its four chapters (“Washi,” “Origami,” “Zen,” “Ima”) are factual, italicized messages about the UNESCO Committee which, in November 2014, chose Japanese washi as an artisanal activity working toward peace. In addition to these brief historical interludes, the novel begins each of its chapters with the kanji character that is the equivalent of its title and the explanation of what the symbol’s lines mean. Just as the kanji writing enhances the storyline’s exotic aspect, the sparseness of words on many of the pages transports the reader far from the often flowery language of traditional prose. Rather, the simple lay-out of print against an expanse of white is reminiscent of the Japanese haiku poem. University of Texas, El Paso Jane E. Evans Cherfi, Magyd. Ma part de Gaulois. Arles: Actes Sud, 2016. ISBN 978-2-330-066529 . Pp. 260. This is a personal narrative account of Magyd, a young man of Kabyle origin who lives in the north banlieues of Toulouse in the early 1980s. The story takes place in the year Magyd is preparing for the baccalauréat. This is a usual ritual in the life of a Frenchman, but it was atypical for a young man of Arab origin, and Magyd was the first one from his cité to reach that level of education. Behind this achievement stands a whole family, especially his mother, whose sacrifices and priorities about her son’s education are clear. Magyd’s account allows the reader to enter a space that is closed to anyone outside the banlieues. The reader follows Magyd’s militant friend, his artist friend, and the young women who try to escape family oppression and neighborhood marginalization to whom Magyd tries to lend moral support. In addition to the description of the outskirts of the city of Toulouse, the reader is made aware of its people, whose historical and cultural references are not the ones taught at French schools. The language in the outskirts of Toulouse is neither Arabic nor French but a mix of both. The reader sees what is hidden in this impenetrable space, witnessing the identity struggles of the youth. The blatant contrast between the enthusiastic reaction of the French to the arrival of the socialist government in 1981 and the fear of those in the outskirts of Toulouse is beautifully depicted. To most French, Mitterrand is the conveyor of hope and of new ideas of inclusion, and social change. To the French in the outskirts of Toulouse, he is the executioner who sent to death the FLN fighters as Interior Minister during the Algerian War. For the population of la périphérie, the arrival of the socialists is a missed opportunity. The French language plays a central role in the narrative, as it is central to Magyd’s identity. For Magyd, written French becomes a tool that helps him integrate into French society. It enables him to bypass the division between those inside and those outside. Yet, the more Magyd integrates into French values, the more he becomes a threat to his group of friends. He finds 260 FRENCH REVIEW 91.1 Reviews 261 himself the object of ridicule as his mastery of the French language is an indirect reminder of how marginalized they are. Through the French language Magyd is armed with an ability to fight the academic failure of his friends and the exclusion and abuse of women whose efforts to read and escape ignorance destabilize the social status quo of a macho society. Magyd’s language, full of irony and self-mockery, helps the reader to penetrate a world long unnoticed. St. John’s University (NY) Zoe Petropoulou Chiarello, Fanny. Le zeppelin. Paris: L’Olivier, 2016. ISBN 978-2-8236-0997-4. Pp. 220. Ce quatrième roman confirme la singularité de son auteure. Sa douzaine de narrateurs aux noms plus invraisemblables les uns que les autres—Séverine Cockenpot , Solveig Cruette, Simone Chlopek—créent un chaos polyphonique arrimé par le seul zeppelin qui survole leur ville en ce 26 juillet 2005. Chiarello nous promet un livre-catastrophe à la manière de ces films...

When And Where To Use Furigana? The Application Of Phonetic Notation In Japanese Translations Of Clinical Outcomes Assessments (COAS) For Children

Furigana (used for Japanese) is a phonetic notation which accompanies the traditional Japanese Kanji characters in the form of small symbols alongside or above the original character. These symbols aid the reader to pronounce characters out phonetically to understand the meaning of the text, principally employed in texts for children and language learners. This study concentrates on its application and importance of use in COAs intended for children. To understand the relevance and application of furigana within COAs, research was conducted into its cultural use to assess the necessity of its presence in the final translation. Academic studies and feedback from 32 native speakers/developers were collated. This data was analysed to verify if the use of the phonetic notations is applicable in COAs for children. The results were set into 3 items of preference for learners of kanji, ‘text with furigana’, ‘no furigana’ or ‘other (descriptions)’. Considering furigana usage for respondents, 65.6% reported that if there was no furigana to assist in reading, a page with a high density of kanji was considered daunting. When asked if they preferred ‘text with furigana’, ‘no furigana’ or ‘other’, 63.3% of respondents opted for text with furigana. The results highlight that the safer option is to apply furigana to the translations; ensuring children can easily understand each character and reduce the risk of misinterpretation. Expert feedback showed that furigana is seldom used in most texts for adults and is usually used for clarification and pronunciation. However, it is frequently used in books for children or non-native speakers learning the language and therefore should always be considered when translating COAs aimed at children into Japanese.

On-reading predominance over Kun-reading in progressive Gogi (Word-meaning) Aphasia: Characteristics of Kanji reading in the Japanese semantic dementia patients

Background: Progressive Gogi (word-meaning) aphasia is a Japanese manifestation of semantic dementia. Reading and writing impairments are similar to those in Western countries. Surface dyslexia and lexical agraphia (selective reading or writing impairment for irregular or exceptional words) are the cardinal features. We previously reported that On-reading preceded and Kun-reading was not recalled in reading of a single kanji character in a patient with semantic dementia.

The influence of grapheme properties on the number of synesthetic colors for Japanese Kanji characters

The influence of grapheme properties on the number of synesthetic colors for Japanese Kanji characters

The phonological unit of Japanese Kanji compounds: A masked priming investigation.

Using the masked priming paradigm, we examined which phonological unit is used when naming Kanji compounds. Although the phonological unit in the Japanese language has been suggested to be the mora, Experiment 1 found no priming for mora-related Kanji prime-target pairs. In Experiment 2, significant priming was only found when Kanji pairs shared the whole sound of their initial Kanji characters. Nevertheless, when the same Kanji pairs used in Experiment 2 were transcribed into Kana, significant mora priming was observed in Experiment 3. In Experiment 4, matching the syllable structure and pitch-accent of the initial Kanji characters did not lead to mora priming, ruling out potential alternative explanations for the earlier absence of the effect. A significant mora priming effect was observed, however, when the shared initial mora constituted the whole sound of their initial Kanji characters in Experiments 5. Lastly, these results were replicated in Experiment 6. Overall, these results indicate that the phonological unit involved when naming Kanji compounds is not the mora but the whole sound of each Kanji character. We discuss how different phonological units may be involved when processing Kanji and Kana words as well as the implications for theories dealing with language production processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Role of Morphological Awareness in Word Reading Skills in Japanese: A Within-Language Cross-Orthographic Perspective

ABSTRACTWe examined the relationship between morphological awareness and word reading skills in syllabic Hiragana and morphographic Kanji. Participants were 127 Grade 1 Japanese-speaking children who were followed until Grade 2. The results showed that Grade 1 morphological awareness was uniquely and comparably associated with word reading skills in both Hiragana and Kanji in Grade 1 after controlling for nonverbal and verbal cognitive abilities, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming. The effect of Grade 1 morphological awareness on Grade 2 Kanji word recognition was slightly stronger (∆R2 = .10) than the effect on Grade 2 Hiragana reading fluency (∆R2 = .03). The findings suggest that morphological awareness plays an important role in early word reading skills across the two scripts, and with reading skill development it may become more important for mastering morphographic Kanji characters.

Writing in the air: A visualization tool for written languages.

The present study investigated interactions between cognitive processes and finger actions called “kusho,” meaning “air-writing” in Japanese. Kanji-culture individuals often employ kusho behavior in which they move their fingers as a substitute for a pen to write mostly done when they are trying to recall the shape of a Kanji character or the spelling of an English word. To further examine the visualization role of kusho behavior on cognitive processing, we conducted a Kanji construction task in which a stimulus (i.e., sub-parts to be constructed) was simultaneously presented. In addition, we conducted a Kanji vocabulary test to reveal the relation between the kusho benefit and vocabulary size. The experiment provided two sets of novel findings. First, executing kusho behavior improved task performance (correct responses) as long as the participants watched their finger movements while solving the task. This result supports the idea that visual feedback of kusho behavior helps cognitive processing for the task. Second, task performance was positively correlated with the vocabulary score when stimuli were presented for a relatively long time, whereas the kusho benefits and vocabulary score were not correlated regardless of stimulus-presentation time. These results imply that a longer stimulus-presentation could allow participants to utilize their lexical resources for solving the task. The current findings together support the visualization role of kusho behavior, adding experimental evidence supporting the view that there are interactions between cognition and motor behavior.

Topographical Subcomponents of Electrical Brain Activity Allow to Identify Semantic Learning.

We investigated the change of event-related brain activity elicited by reading meaningful or meaningless Japanese symbols in 20 healthy German adults. In a learning phase of about 20 min, subjects acquired the meaning of 20 Kanji characters. As control stimuli 20 different Kanji characters were presented. Electrical brain activity was obtained before and after learning, The mean learning performance of all subjects was 92.5% correct responses. EEG was measured simultaneously from 30 channels, artifacts were removed offline, and the data before and after learning were compared. We found five spatial principal components that accounted for 83.8% of the variance. A significant interaction between training time (before/after learning) and stimulus (learning/control) illustrates a significant relation between successful learning and topographical changes of brain activity elicited by Kanji characters. Effects that were induced by learning were seen at short latencies in the order of 100 ms. In addition, we present evidence that differences in the weighted combination of spatial components allow to identify experimental conditions successfully by linear discriminant analysis using topographical ERP data of a single time point. In conclusion, semantic meaning can be aquired rapidly and it is associated with specific changes of ERP components.

Stroke effect on legibility of Japanese characters

AbstractThis 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 in university. Subjects were asked to identify characters displayed in the screen center, shown initially at an illegible size and gradually enlarged until the subject recognized them. The results illustrated that the Hiragana characters were more legible than the Katakana, and the Katakana characters were more legible than the Kanji. Although the legibility thresholds were increased with the number of strokes in these three kinds of Japanese characters, the effects of the number of strokes on legibility among them were different. Increasing one stroke in a Kanji character would necessitate a 0.4‐arcminute enlargement to maintain legibility, whereas no linear stroke effect was found in Hiragana and Katakana characters. This may because of the features of stroke of Hiragana and Katakana are quite different from that of Kanji. Furthermore, for Hiragana and Katakana, adding a semivoiced consonant sign ‘o’ to a common character would necessitate a 7‐arcminute enlargement to maintain legibility and adding a voiced consonant sign ‘ ” ’ to a common character would necessitate a 10.3‐arcminute enlargement to maintain legibility. The results can be used as reference for information and interface design.

The Impact of Flipped Online Kanji Instruction on Written Vocabulary Learning for Introductory and Intermediate Japanese Language Students

AbstractThis study explored the pedagogical benefits of flipped online kanji (i.e., Chinese characters used in Japanese) instruction integrated into college‐level introductory and intermediate Japanese language courses. Using a quasi‐experimental mixed design, the investigation looked at the effects of two instructional approaches: (1) a flip approach in which students learned new characters using online materials prior to class, and (2) the conventional (nonflip) approach in which in‐class lectures were followed by printed exercises. During the 2014–2015 academic year, a total of 46 students who were enrolled in introductory or intermediate courses learned 9 to 12 sets of 10 new kanji characters per semester through one lesson per week. Half of the lessons were taught in the flip format, and the other half were taught in the nonflip format. The results showed that introductory students scored better on postlesson tests in the flip condition than in the nonflip condition only for fall 2014 but not for spring 2015, whereas no statistically significant difference was observed for intermediate students. However, the students in both courses reported that online exercises helped them improve their kanji knowledge. Consequently, a substantial portion of kanji instruction can be shifted to self‐paced, semi‐structured online learning with no negative impact on instructional quality.

Influence of visual complexity on synesthetic color choice for Japanese Kanji characters

Influence of visual complexity on synesthetic color choice for Japanese Kanji characters

日本語学習者の漢字学習に対する意識と学習ストラテジー -エピソード･インタビューによる分析-

日本語学習者の漢字学習に対する意識と学習ストラテジー -エピソード･インタビューによる分析-

Beliefs of Japanese native speaker teachers for the guidance of the kanji writing - Correction and beliefs of teachers focusing on the guidance of single kanji character -

Beliefs of Japanese native speaker teachers for the guidance of the kanji writing - Correction and beliefs of teachers focusing on the guidance of single kanji character -

The Intelligence APP development for children's Kanji character education using Block and Stop motion

The Intelligence APP development for children's Kanji character education using Block and Stop motion

A DISCUSSION ABOUT EFFECTIVE WAYS OF BASIC RESIDENT REGISTER ON GIS

In Japan, each municipality keeps a database of every resident’s name, address, gender and date of birth called the Basic Resident Register. <br><br> If the address information in the register is converted into coordinates by geocoding, it can be plotted as point data on a map. This would enable prompt evacuation from disaster, analysis of distribution of residents, integrating statistics and so on. Further, it can be used for not only analysis of the current situation but also future planning. However, the geographic information system (GIS) incorporating the Basic Resident Register is not widely used in Japan because of the following problems: <br><br> – Geocoding In order to plot address point data, it is necessary to match the Basic Resident Register and the address dictionary by using the address as a key. The information in the Basic Resident Register does not always match the actual addresses. As the register is based on applications made by residents, the information is prone to errors, such as incorrect Kanji characters. <br><br> – Security policy on personal information In the register, the address of a resident is linked with his/her name and date of birth. If the information in the Basic Resident Register were to be leaked, it could be used for malicious purposes. <br><br> This paper proposes solutions to the above problems. The suitable solutions for the problems depend on the purpose of use, thus it is important that the purpose should be defined and a suitable way of the application for each purpose should be chosen. In this paper, we mainly focus on the specific purpose of use: to analyse the distribution of the residents. <br><br> We provide two solutions to improve the matching rate in geocoding. First, regarding errors in Kanji characters, a correction list of possible errors should be compiled in advance. Second, some sort of analyses such as distribution of residents may not require exactly correct position for the address point. Therefore we set the matching level in order: prefecture, city, town, city-block, house-code, house, and decided to accept up to city-block level for the matching. <br><br> Moreover, in terms of security policy on personal information, some part of information may not be needed for the distribution analysis. For example, the personal information like resident’s name should be excluded from the attribute of address point in order to secure the safety operation of the system.