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 ===================================
BEFORE LOADING VERSION 1.06 ON YOUR SYSTEM. BE SURE TO REMOVE
THE 1.05D SOFTWARE. BOTH VERSIONS CANNOT BE PLACED ON THE SAME
STORE.
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.
== 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.