PEC Business Japanese Lessons Version 1.06, February 1995 A Newton MessagePad Software By Wendy and Manabu Tokunaga Pacific Electronic Connection 723 Camino Plaza, Suite 162, San Bruno, CA 94066 USA Tel/Fax: (415) 712-0409 Email: pec@netcom.com http://www.CultureWave.com/culturewave/pec Thank you for trying PEC Business Japanese Lessons. As a business person myself, all of the phrases in here are based on my actual experience guiding American business executives to meeting tables at major Japanese corporations. ------------------- * FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION PLEASE SEE THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT. * UPGRADING 1.05D to 1.06? PLEASE READ THE SECTION ON UPGRADING IN THE LATER HALF OF THIS DOCUMENT. 15-DAY TEMPORARY REGISTRATION AVAILABLE. Please Email/Fax us and tell us that "the check is in the mail" we will temporarily unlock the software for you right away! We appreciate your inputs to version 1.05D. This version now has two of the most often requested features. Please read on, and keep your inputs coming! == Why PEC Business Japanese Lessons? ============================== Also as a software engineer in a medium sized company, I am often assigned to "on-the-spot" assignments to visit business partners in various countries. So based on my experiences, I thought that having a handy training session for the most essential phrases would be useful, especially if it was on my Newton along with all the other important information I need. So here are my basic assumptions in designing this software package: 1. As a busy person you probably have no time to learn the writing system of the country where you are going to. 2. You probably do not understand when they talk to you in their language, but... 3. You will need some essential phrases so that you can get by with situations leading up to that important meeting (transportation, lodging, food, etc.). 4. The people you are meeting may speak some English, but on some important points you need to express your desires in their language to make sure that they are understood. In essence, this is a compact interactive language survival assistant that you can carry. All phrases are the shortest possible to achieve the desired effect and are typical phrases that are used in business. We also think that PEC Business Japanese Lessons can help build basic Japanese vocabulary for beginning to intermediate Japanese students. == Using PEC Business Japanese Lessons =============================== The software itself is very simple, and it is based on a flash-card model. You can go through all the phrases in the database or limit them to the topics of interest: Transportation, Food, Lodging, General, Shopping, Business and Emergency. You can also take advantage of the "scroll" arrows and the "dot" in the lower middle of the MessagePad. The "Up Arrow" will take you to the previous screen; the "Down Arrow" will take you to the next screen and tapping the "dot" will give you the correct answer. Arrows are useful for "fast forward" and "rewind" phrases. To do this, just hold the stylus on an arrow for the desired direction. This effect cannot be achieved with the main panel buttons. This software remembers the phrase location and the lesson configuration of your last session. (Below describes the newly added features since V1.05D) From this version (1.06) you will be able to check mark each phrase "Learned". If you check a phrase "Learned" then you will not see that phrase again unless "Show All" check box is checked. If you've learned all the phrases in a category, a message will appear and congratulates you. At which point the "Show All" box will be automatically checked. While "Show All" is checked, you can review previously "learned" phrases, and you can also uncheck "Learned" check box to "relearn" some of the phrases. These check marks will be kept as you exit the program and remembered when you come back to the program later. ==> Note if you are using more than one external storage cards. =========== Depending on how you set up your Newton's Memory Preference, the location where session information is kept can be in your external PCMCIA storage card or inside your own Newton. If you set your Newton's external PCMCIA storage card option in "Store New Items On Card" mode, each session information is created and stored on the external storage card. If you do use this option, plug in the card before you start the lesson and keep it in the slot until you are finished with the lesson. Always use the same card for the purpose of maintaining lesson information (or use multiple cards to maintain separate lesson information, for example for yourself and your spouse or friends). If you attempt to pull out the card while the lesson is in progress, your Newton will ask you to plug it back in. Please do so. If you DO NOT set your Newton's external PCMCIA storage card option in "Store New Items On Card" mode, session information is kept inside your Newton's internal memory. == Pronunciation Tips =============================================== This information is also available by clicking the ? button on the software display and then pressing the "More..." button once the software information panel comes up. (New since version 1.06). 1. If you see a consonant and vowel (a,e,i,o,u) together, try to speak two characters at a time. "Makudonarudo (MacDonald)" is pronounced like "Ma Ku Do Na Ru Do". This is similar to the Hawaiian pronunciation pattern, eg - "Mahalo, Molokini, Kamehameha". 2. Often the vowel sound will stand alone. If this is the case, you will see two vowel sound. For example "auto" in "Chekku auto" should be pronounced as "a u to". == If you seriously want to learn more Japanese and its culture =========== We often get requests about software that teaches the Japanese writing system. But before continuing, I would like you to understand the magnitude of the task involved to do this both for you and me. In Japanese, there are 3000 or so characters you will need to learn for daily survival. It takes a Japanese student up to 9 years of primary and secondary school education to master the 3000+ characters. Some of you might also have heard of Hiragana and Katakana characters, which cover about 100 of the 3000 I've mentioned. Knowledge of these characters are definitely the first required step in mastering the essential Japanese character sets, but their knowledge alone is probably not too useful during your trip to Japan. If mastering both reading and writing Japanese is your goal, we highly recommend you take classes to learn some basic Japanese writing skills from nearby schools or while you are in Japan (if you got a long-term assignment). If you have access to GEnie, the Internet or CompuServe, you can also join many people with Japanese interests on-line. GEnie users can visit the Japan RoundTable. If you have Internet USENET news access, try "sci.lang.japan" section. CompuServe users can find their JAPAN FORUM very useful. GEnie and CompuServe offer a rich set of software libraries that house software that can run on your IBM-PC and Macintosh with Japanese language support. We also recommend the monthly magazine that comes out of Atlanta Georgia, called Mangajin. If you are really interested in how to process Japanese language on computers, check out "Understanding Japanese Information Processing" by Ken Lunde of Adobe Systems, Inc. and published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Be sure to visit our World Wide Web home page at http://www.CultureWave.com/culturewave/pec === REGISTRATION INFORMATION ====================================== Your "PEC Business Japanese Lessons" Version 1.06 has an on-site registration and activation feature. While it is un-registered, you can still try many of the phrases, enough phrases for you to learn for a a few weeks. If you decide you like it and continue to use, send us the shareware fee payment of only $10.00 US or equivalent, and also E-mail or Fax us that you have sent your payment in. As soon as we hear from you, and while the check is in transit, we will temporarily activate your software for 15 days by letting you know the temporary password. After confirming your payment, we will either Email, Fax, or Main you the official password for activation. So when you decide you like it, mail a payment to us and write to pec@netcom.com or fax to 415-712-0409 anytime. You can send $10.00 U.S. or equivalent in currency to: Pacific Electronic Connection 723 Camino Plaza, Suite 162 San Bruno, CA 94066 pec@netcom.com Please include the following information with your registration request. Name: Surface Mailing Address: Phone Number: Fax Number: (If you desire fax reply from us). Email Address: Version: 1.06 Within version 1 series software, there is no upgrade charges for registered owners of version 1.xx PEC Business Japanese. A few more minor upgrades are planned. == HOW TO USE ON-SITE REGISTRATION FEATURE ======================== On unregistered software, a registration panel will always appear first. If you do not wish to register now, press the "Later" button. If you have registered and obtain the keycode from us, you can enter the keycode and press "Register". Save the keycode on a safe place in case you need to re-install the software (after a major repair or buying a new Newton model). Note that if you have activated temporary registration, this registration panel will still open so that when you receive the full registration code you can enter the code any time before the temporary registration expires. Temporary registration is a one-time only mechanism and once temporary registration expires, it is not possible to extend it by using the temporary registration code again. To enter the keycode, I would recommend that you double tap in the key code entry area and enter the keycode via the "keyboard". Also there is no need to enter the keycode into your Newton personal dictionary. After entering the keycode, press the "Register" button. If you are correctly registered, the panel will be put into the "trash". This panel should not appear again until you completely reset your Newton or restore old system data back to your Newton from the Newton connection kit. If PEC Business Japanese Lessons deregisters itself for this reason or other, try re-entering the keycode again. Anyway, your support in terms of this small income is very exciting and it is a good incentive for me to write more challenging software. So I thank you for your support! == UPGRADING FROM 1.05D to 1.06 =================================== If you have registered for 1.05. Your registration will remain in effect. If you are completely re-installing, use the keycode that was given to you at the registration time. We advise that you *remove* the1.05D package from your Newton before loading the version 1.06 package. == Release Notes ================================================== Version 1.06 has "Learned" and "Show All" check boxes to enhance your lesson management. The main panel should resize dynamically by querying your MessagePad's display panel size (but let me know if this does not work in your situation). The about panel now has a pronunciation tip section. Several more interesting phrases based on our situational problems encountered during our trip to Paris (good thing I do not speak French). 15-day temporary registration feature added for added convenience for future customers. This software has been developed with the Newton Tool Kit and the internal application signature of "PECPIE" has been registered with Apple Computer Inc. The lesson engine can be adopted to any flash-card type lessons quickly. Please contact us for customizing. Names of Macintosh, Newton, Light Bulb Logo belongs to Apple Computer, Inc, and PEC products comply with all licensing agreements with Apple Computer Inc. (c) 1995 Pacific Electronic Connection. All rights reserved.