Mina-san, what do you think of the new PDFs?

If you want to use Preview on the Mac with the new PDFs, you need the arialuni.ttf font. When you install it everything works fine again.

scientific backup for Peter-san:

The brain selects from all the information it gets every day what to remember. Some information make it into short term and some even into long term memory. If you test yourself your brain noticed that the information is required and so put it from short into long term. Or if you can't remember it when you test yourself, the next time you try to put the information into your brain you have a greater chance of remembering it because in the selection process (what to dismiss as junk and what to put into your memory banks) the brain remembers that this information was required in the past hence could be required in the future. Just like muscles build up. They see they needed to be stronger the last time and so they build up for the next time. The brain is a muscle too.

That's also why short but more often is better then few times long. And different ways are also good because the brain doesn't stick to one way to remember the word (no associate for remembrance) but go directly to the information you seek.

It's said that only listening makes you remember 20%, only seeing 30%, both together 50%, see + hear + discuss 70% and see + hear + discuss + do it yourself 90%

(that are general numbers, every person is different and some learn more and some less with one of those methods)

Hi, I think the cut and past option of the new PDF is great!

That will save a lot of paper, which is a priority for me ^_^

So I'll try here. I have a Mac at home running 10.3X . It does not permit me to update to Adobe 8.0. Am I wrong about this? When I go to the Adobe web site it is very clear when you state your OS. I tried saying I had an upgrded OS downloaded 8.0 but it will not install.

What am I doing wrong? At work I have a PC and yes it works but it would be nice to "see' the PDF's at home. I am killing a lot of trees by printing everything out at work.

Advice accurate or not would be appreciated.

トム, please chill out. I didn’t say there was a patent war, I said I hoped there wasn’t. I stated that I hoped Apple would update Preview, which, given the time they’ve had, is a pretty legitimate concern.

Pdf is a weird beast, it is proprietary, has existed since 1993, and is only an open standard since 2008 (the 1.7 version was updated then too, without changing the version number). You might call it a 'de facto' standard before that, as it is easy to generate simple pdf documents without proprietary software, so it has been widely adopted both in proprietary and open communities. Should be best of both worlds.

The only thing I would suggest for the WordPower apps, is example sentences. I understand the word standing by itself, but am unsure of how to use it sometimes.

Great app!

--

Jon

Phil:

I don't think we've met. I'm Eve, and I blog about kanji in another part of the JPod site.

I might have a deal for you!

>What I’d like is a kanji training app, which will let me draw kanji and will tell if if I’m right, with all the associated review type stuff there as well. Plus an app which will interface with my JPod My Words and My Kanji set-up, so I can test myself on the go.

I have a list of links to info about new electronic or online kanji-study aids, and I'm happy to share the list with you to see if any fit your needs. I'm hoping you (or someone else out there) can help me in return.

In my forthcoming book, Crazy for Kanji, I have a very small section on electronic kanji-study aids. But I wrote that section 2.5 years ago. Publication has been delayed and delayed, and now, before the book finally comes out, I would like to update that section. I’m not familiar with the world of electronic kanji-study tools, and I actually can't motivate myself to research the issue, beyond having collected the list of links. Another problem I face is that even if I do update the section, it's sure to go out of date quite quickly. But maybe people who like this sort of thing develop a knack for knowing which tools are here to stay, and which ones will fade away soon.

If you feel like evaluating the links and letting me know if any seem worthwhile and useful for the long-term, then I can send you a free copy of the book when it comes out (in Dec., I hope). I would need the answers back in 2 weeks.

Interested? If so, please contact me: evekushner at yahoo.com (of course not really using "at"). Hope to hear from Phil (or someone curious about kanji-related technology) soon!

Thanks!

Eve

>> I can’t wait to try out WordPower Lite - Japanese

Daynah-san - WordPower Lite - Japanese finally showed up in the AppStore.

Click here to open it in the iTunes AppStore

Sophie, you are wrong. PDF 1.7 (the version used by the new PDFs on this site) is an open standard: ISO 32000. Adobe holds patents related to PDF but licenses them royalty free, so that's no excuse for Apple to not update their implementation. On Windows I've tested both Acrobat Reader (8.1) and Foxit Reader (free, and not based on Adobe libraries) with the new PDFs and they both work fine. Also, PDF 1.7 has been out since 2006, when the previous version of Acrobat Reader was released (8).

Please get your facts straight.

頑張ってください。

Being a software engineer, I know how it is when the hard work you are doing to make things better for your users are under-appreciated. I'm glad to see you are trying to get things as compatible as possible. Sometimes it's easier doing rocket science than trying to figure out what users really need and want.

It would be ideal to at least be compatible with the Preview tool on Apple. Thanks to your new apps (and some I want to write), I've been seriously considering buying an iTouch. I'll hold off until the PDFs work with that again.

Well, I’m among people who prefer to use Preview to read pdfs and have strong feelings against Adobe Reader.

I can wait, I’m pretty sure that before one year Apple will have updated Preview to catch up with the new proprietary Adobe format (if patents allow it). If it isn’t updated, I will not renew my Jpod subscription as pdfs will be useless.

Sorry that you are among casualties in a patent war, adding copy/paste was really answering to public demand... :(

My Operation System is outdated long ago but I easy can read and write 日本語

I have only Japanese and English, but outlook my keyboard is for my native language. But after one year I know use my PC in all tree language. And not need additional software.Maybe additional skills. But for learning it is ok.

ゾラン

>> With the new acrobat 9 I can copy and paste new documents, but I am still unable to copy and paste from earlier beginner documents

Jon-san -we do not have intentions of updating the older lesson PDFs at this time. We may decide to do that at a later date.

>>but I’ve requested assistance several times

Sean-san - I'm sorry if your requests have not been answered. Did you email to support@japanesepod101.com? If so, I will review and reply personally. If you posted requests elsewhere, please provide a link. Thank you.

>>>Acrobat ... seems to be the only application that manages to display the pdf now

Lior-san - We are working on a compatible version that will be accessible by other PDF readers. Thanks for your patience.

Do the new applications work only with the iPhone or will they also work with an iTouch? (I am in the US not an AT&T subscriber)

I'm also using Linux, and, like Mac users, being forced to use Acrobat is really a pain. It's not the default (Evince for most Linux distributions), and seems to be the only application that manages to display the pdf now :-(

I use mostly itunes for the files on my mac. Opening a pdf has now become quite tedious - with preview it was always very easy!

Cheers

Klaus

Stealing content isn't my interest here. JapanesePod101 has done an awesome job with their content. But I have a different flash card program that I use, and would like to move stuff into that more easily. I appreciate the upgrades you are all working on.

the new PDFs are great ! now I can steal the contents ! :dogeza:

I can't wait to try out WordPower Lite - Japanese :)

The new PDFs are awful; I far preferred having a choice of PDF readers.