Working through the online annotated script for Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, I came across 止める pronounced やめる, meaning to stop or give up; the dictionary then gave another やめる, with the kanji 辞める, meaning to resign.

This then gives a 'family' of four related 'stop' words:-
とまる／止まる = to stop (intransitive)
とめる／止める = to stop (transitive)
やめる／止める = to stop or give up
やめる／辞める = to resign

Within the group there is one pair where the pronunciation determines whether the verb is transitive or intransitive; one pair with the same kanji but where pronunciation determines the meaning; and one pair with related meaning and the same pronunciation, but the kanji determines the meaning.

Many thanks to Heather for the pointer to Genius, a learning database that uses your performance to determine the frequency of testing of each word, and allows you to determine the speed at which new words are added. Genius is free, and there's a ready-made hiragana file here for starters.

While both Genius and VOLATS allow you to build your own database content in line with your own learning, Genius has the advantage of allowing the exchange of lists via tab-delineated files. I would like to be able to download lists into VOLATS, say for the next chapter of a text-book or another source. No doubt that would be doable in VOLATS, if I developed a standard format for the intermediary file - and if anyone else ever used VOLATS, of course. Not much point otherwise.

One downside of Genius is that the software itself determines whether your answer is correct. I like to enter phrases as well as single words, and often there are alternative answers which are equally valid. Also, you can only run a Genius test on a computer. With VOLATS, I print a daily test that I can take anywhere and use how I like; the test routine makes an assumption that I have got each answer right, and updates each item accordingly. You can over-ride that, for example by bringing a 'monthly' word back to 'weekly' if it's a bit shaky, or right back to the beginning again if you've completely forgotten it.

Another thing I like about VOLATS is that you can custom-design it as you go along, so it has far greater use than a simple flash-card system. It becomes your dictionary, for example.

Anyway, while browsing around Genius and its related links, I came across something called Supermemo. This is a Windows application that allows you to import chunks of text, such as articles from the internet, and to set question/answer pairs using key words or facts within the article. As with Genius and VOLATS, a key element is the interval between tests for each item. You build your own knowledge library and input new material at your own pace. This looks very smart indeed, and I particularly like the idea of the internet as a source of structured learning. We're too used to 'browsing' and 'surfing', and information seems to pass across our screens without sticking. But my home computer is an Apple, so Supermemo is not for me.

Over the past few days, I've been revisiting Japanese for Busy People I, making sure I've not missed out any vocab. Shockingly, there were lessons I'd only glanced at, and words I know would have helped me in the end-of-year exam if I'd been more thorough. They're now all in my VOLATS.

The Oxford Japanese Grammar & Verbs proved surprisingly interesting too. I've only ever browsed through it before, but it all makes a lot more sense now.

I've added some memo fields to my VOLATS, and have used in to mark verb pairs (e.g. 止める and 止まる) and 五段 verbs that look like 一段. I've put lists of these in the files section of the site, and will update them over time.

Mike Smeen got me thinking on the question of how to prioritise our study to get the most benefit, taking account of what we already know. That's such a huge question, which goes right to the heart of things. I can't stop thinking about it.

Is there a way of visually or mentally representing what we know and what we need to know, our skills and our weak areas? A map, or a set of gauges, or a matrix of some kind, that we can fill in for ourselves as we study, and that will help determine where to make the next push? There probably is, and anyone who has studied the psychology of education must be laughing their socks off right now. People who write textbooks and compile courses must surely think along these lines.

But our education is not in the hands of a faculty committee somewhere. Our brains are not theirs to mold like a standard glob of putty. We each have strengths and weaknesses, or create them as we make choices about how to use our time. So, how do we, as humble students, know what to do next and how to do it?

A couple of simple answers spring to mind:
-- Just do a bit of everything and you'll be OK;
-- Stop wasting time thinking about this nonsense, and just get on with it.

Both good answers, but somehow not satisfying.

This from Michael Cook's 'A Brief History of the Human Race', (p. 192 - Chinese Culture beyond the Imperial Frontiers):-

"There is no denying that Chinese influence went very deep - so deep that the basic Japanese number system today is made up of Chinese loan words."

For 'is made up of', substitute 'includes'. Which rather dilutes the point, doesn't it?

いち、に、さん etc. are borrowed from Chinese, but ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ etc. are Japanese and are very much alive and kicking today. If I were Japanese, I'd resent the implication that we wouldn't even have numbers if it weren't for Chinese words.

My copy of 'Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text' arrived today, and it is everything the Amazon blurb promised.

The first section, Level One, has four stories from Souseki's 'Ten Nights of Dreams'; Level Two has Ryuunosuke's 'In a Grove' and 'The Nose'; Level Three has Ryuunosuke's 'Rashomon'. Each double-page spread has the Japanese text top-left, the English version top-right, and the 'zero omission dictionary' in the bottom half of the page. This includes all kanji and the 'more difficult' hiragana words in the text, in the order they appear in.

There are mini-biographies of the authors, and a preface to each story. On the website there is an mp3 file of each story to download.

For me, this is absolutely perfect. I've read a lot of Souseki in English, and can now plough my way through the original. What a great incentive to keep studying!

Another incentive arrived today - the result of my end-of-year exam, which was very satisfying. (Me? Smug??)

... knowing who to ask. And who should come to the rescue, but Kate from Kenkyuukai.

Here's what she has to say:-

"I think it sounds great! If it's got the dictionaries and sound files, what more could you ask for? I'd say that nothing is out of your league as such - I started reading japanese fiction (no notes to help, the real thing!) in my first year of studying. And it was horrible. I had to look up every third word, and even then I wasn't sure if they were right in the context. BUUUUUT, now, in my second year of studying I can read only checking my dictionary a couple of times a page, and its seems to have helped my spoken fluency as well - it seems to reinforce things I've heard but wasn't sure about reading. So yes! Definitely go for it!"

That's all the encouragement I need!

The psychic god that is Amazon.co.uk threw me an interesting recommendation today: Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text. My beginner's level Japanese wouldn't be up to the task, but I was sorely tempted. What's interesting is all the extra features for learners: vocabulary lists on each page, including all kanji words, and free download of audio files from the net.

This seems like a great resource. I'd like to hear from anyone who's used it.

For me, one of the rewards of learning Japanese is the thrill I get when I come across a word or phrase I recognise, whether it be in a film, in printed text somewhere, or a snippet of conversation. At this early stage in my learning, any new grammar and vocabulary is likely to be something that's in common use, so the rewards are pretty immediate. The idea of being able to read literature in the original language is really exciting, but it seems a long way off.