One of the things that I’ve found difficult while using Wanikani has been keeping burned words/kanji fresh in my memory whenever I’m too busy/distracted to sit down and do some real hardcore studying, which I’ve discovered can be achieved (with the least amount of effort) by keeping a list of short sentences nearby and then incorporating those into some kind of continuous 24/7 “total immersion” environment.
So in November last year I started working on a simple slideshow app that could be left running permanently on a dedicated computer (e.g. Raspberry Pi) which would cycle randomly through sentences in Japanese that contain kanji that I’ve studied. This eventually resulted in a more ambitious web app called Duendecat that contains tens of thousands of sentences from the updated version of the Tanaka corpus, which are grouped into Wanikani levels 1-50 with the following features:
- It’s free! :)
- Long / short sentence option
- Pause / skip controls
- Speed control
- Furigana
- English / Japanese interface
- Flashcard option - Cumulative option: shows sentences that contain combinations of kanji learned in previous Wanikani levels
- Add your own sentences and categories
- Spaced repetition reviews
For the next couple of months I’ll be adding new sentences / furigana-izing the cumulative levels. I’ve tried to reduce translation errors as much as possible, but nothing’s perfect so if you do find something that’s off then please let me know by clicking the Report Sentence button. :)
http://duendecat.com/
Update 12/29/13:Added “about” section and donation button.
Update 01/12/14:• Cumulative levels option: Select your Wanikani level and Duendecat will display sentences containing any of the kanji you’ve previously studied (every combination). Furigana for cumulative levels is currently available for level 26 and below; more will be added in the coming weeks.
Update 01/18/14:
Also:• Flashcard mode option: hides furigana until the English translation has been revealed
• Skip: press return / right cursor to move immediately to the next slide
• Option guide: explains each option in detail
• Corrected most of the weird timing issues
• Minor bug fixes• Increased the amount of time between translation / next sentence• Added hotkey reference to option guideUpdate 03/09/14:• Lists - You can either save the sentence on screen to a custom group (up cursor) or add your own new sentence.
• Blacklist - Sentences in this list will not be displayed on the main screen
• Report sentence button - Found a translation error? Click the thumbs down icon (above the sentence), and it will be sorted out.
• List Manager - Log in, add new sentences, drag/drop to organise, see what other people have added publicly & then drag to your own lists.
• Ratings - If you mark your new sentence as ‘public’ then its reliability can be rated by others.
• New hotkeys (see option guide)
• Pause mode is now identical in appearance to loop mode.
• Many other bugfixes / code improvements.Update 04/07/14:• Dictionary - When you position the mouse over a kanji you will now see its definition and readings (on’yomi & kun’yomi).
• Added a small widget to show the list of kanji that Duendecat is using to search for sentences (desktop only).
• Welcome screen - Duendecat is now 100% more welcoming.Update 05/28/14:• Added slider controls for text size and contrast (background opacity).
Update 08/04/14:• Reviews - There is now a shiny new spaced repetition feature built into the list manager. The levelling times are comparable to Wanikani’s SRS, but the style of answering is closer to Anki (choosing the next interval yourself based on how well you could read the sentence).
