Most Viewed FAQ

• How do I type Japanese?
• In iKnow!, we follow the same conventions that Japanese people do when it comes to typing Japanese, which is to use "word-processor romanization" (ワープロローマ字）. The conversion process is built into the application itself, so you only need to use English input. Japanese input is NOT accepted.
  
  Please refer to this page for an explanation.
  
  Here a few quick pointers:
  
  
  Long vowels
  To lengthen an o or u sound,　add u
  
  Examples:
  ku →　く　　　　　kū: kuu →　くう
  ju →　じゅ　 jū: juu →　じゅう
  kyo →　きょ　 kyō: kyou →　きょう
  
  To lengthen other vowels, repeat the vowel:
  
  ki →　き　　　 kii →　きい
  obaasan →　おばあさん
  （In katakana, the long dash-like symbol is used to lengthen the vowel. i.e. te-buru → テーブル )
  
  The exception is え which takes an i to lengthen
  e →　え　 ei →　えい
  
  
  Typing ん
  Type nn if the ん　is at the end of the word, or the next character is a vowel.
  
  For example,
  jikann →　じかん
  dennatsu → でんあつ
  (typing denatsu converts to でなつ）
  
  
  Typing づ
  Type du to produce the づ in つづく
  
  
  Typing を
  Type wo to produce the "o" in ごはん を たべる
  
  
  Double consonants and typing っ
  Type double consonants to produce the っ
  
  Examples:
  kitte →　きって
  gakkou →　がっこう
  
  
  Typing small vowels
  This is only usually used to write katakana (loan words from other languages)
  Type x before it. For example,
  uxe-ruzu →　ウェールズ (Wales)
  halouxi-n →　ハロウィーン (Halloween)
  
  For ティ, you can type thi:
  mi-thingu →　ミーティング (meeting)
  
  or you can type xi
  pa-texi →　パーティ (party)

  Tags: typing Japanese
  Category: Learning Applications

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• How do I type small Japanese characters? (ゃ、ゅ、ょ、っ)
• Typing an 'X' before ya, yu, yo will allow you type these small characters. This is especially useful if you make a mistake like:
  
  Question: 電車
  
  User types: densho = で　ん　し　ょ
  
  System recognizes: で　ん　し　＿
  
  User types: X Y A = ゃ
  
  System recognizes: で　ん　し　ゃ
  
  [っ] - type X T U
  [ぁ] - type X A
  [ぃ] - type X I
  [ぅ] - type X U
  [ぇ] - type X E
  [ぉ] - type X O
  
  

  Tags: typing small japanese characters ゃ ょ ゅ っ
  Category:

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• I'm new to this site. What should I do first?
• At smart.fm, users have access to lessons on language acquisition, or you could choose to learn facts, trivia, and much more. There are many features here, but first, let's get you hooked in to the community.
  
  First, let's see if you already know anyone here. Connect some of your web profiles, and we'll try to find some of your friends.
  
  Next, let us know what you would like to learn. By choosing a topic, our system should have recommended a few courses in the topic and/or language(s) you listed you wanted to learn, as well as some lists based on your interests. From here, you can jump into a list and start studying words and sentences with our flash applications, or you could build your own list. See demo here.
  
  If you are encountering any issues, check out the user forums, or feel free to send us an email via the feedback form.
  
  There are also many other features on the site, including widgets to install on your blog/website, or recieving podcasts after every session of iKnow!

  Tags: new user where study what first
  Category:

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• Are there any shortcuts in the applications I can use?
• iKnow!
  Space: play audio
  Page down: display translation
  Tab: move to next tab (example sentence or typing practice)
  Arrow keys (left, right): move to next screen or to main page
  Arrow keys (all): move between answer choices in multiple quiz
  Enter: select
  
  Dictation
  Ctrl + < : hint (not the left arrow key but the less than symbol)
  Ctrl + > : play audio (not the right arrow key but the greater than symbol)
  Arrow keys (left, right): move to next screen or to main page
  Enter: select
  
  PS Many of these shortcuts are now customizable within the application. Please check it out in the Settings>Shortcut Key tab.

  Tags: shortcuts
  Category: Learning Applications

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• How do I type つづく [tsuzuku]?
• To type ず, you type Z-U.
  To type づ, you type D-U.
  
  So in order to type つづく【続く】, or tsuzuku, you type:TSU-DU-KU

  Tags: typing zu づ tzu tsu
  Category:

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• I'm not ready to learn kanji. Can't I see the items in hiragana, or even just simply in English letters in the iKnow! application?
• If you're a complete novice in Japanese, then you have the option to change the setting of the iKnow! application so that the items are displayed in the English alphabetical transliteration of Japanese, known as romaji. If you've already learned hiragana and katakana but don't feel ready for kanji, you can also choose a kana mode. And of course, if you're ready for kanji, there's that mode as well. All three of these modes can be selected from the Quiz tab in the Settings on the main screen.
  
  
  
  Romaji mode:
  
  
  
  Hiragana mode:
  
  

  Tags: quiz mode, hiragana, romaji
  Category: Learning Applications

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• How do I type Pinyin in Chinese courses?
• There are 4 accented tones, and a neutral tone in standard Mandarin Chinese. Please refer to this page for an in-depth explanation of the Chinese tonal system.
  
  The numbers 1,2,3, and 4 are used to represent the first, second, third, and fourth tones. For neutral tones, you don't input a tone number.
  
  In iKnow!, we automatically convert numerics to the diacritical tone marks. This means that to type dàibiǎo [代表] - which is "dai fourth tone, biao third tone" - you would type dai4 biao3.
  
  Chinese input is NOT accepted for Chinese courses and lists, and you don't need to have Chinese IME installed.
  
  Typing ü
  To type ü, use the letter "v".
  Example:
  nǚ ér [女儿] - daughter
  You type: nv3 er2

  Tags: typing, input, pinyin, tones, Chinese
  Category: Learning Applications

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• I'm having trouble typing some Japanese letters. Is it because of my AZERTY keyboard? (Je n'arrive pas a écrire certaines lettre japonaises. Serait-ce à cause de mon clavier AZERTY?)
• Yes, indeed. At the current time, our applications are based on the QWERTY configuration.
  
  Therefore, the Q and the A are inversed and the M is in the place of the comma. The M on your keyboard corresponds to the semi-colon, so we have no use for it.

  ---

  
  Oui, en effet. A présent, nos applications sont basés sur la configuration QWERTY.
  
  Donc, le Q et le A, ainsi que le Z et le W sont inversés, et le M se trouve à la place de la virgule. Le M sur votre clavier corréspond au point-virgule, alors nous n'en avons pas besoin.

  Tags: AZERTY, typing Japanese
  Category: Learning Applications

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