Using JFC

JFC is relatively easy to use. This chapter covers the basic operation of the program, and the different types of cards that can be created. To create your own flash cards, you will need to generate a flash card file.

  • Introduction
  • Types of Flash Cards
  • Vocabulary Cards
  • Kanji Cards
  • Advanced Kanji Cards
  • Controlling the Program
  • Review Mode and Statistics
  • Limiting the Cards Generated
  • Adding Time Pressure to Your Cards

  • INDEX: Contents
  • PREV: The JFC Interface
  • NEXT: The Flash Card File

  • Introduction

    JFC is relatively easy to use. This chapter covers the basic operation of the program, and the different types of cards that can be created. To create your own flash cards, you will need to generate a flash card file.

    JFC operates by using flash card files. This is a file that you create with a Japanese text editor (JWPce for example) that contains words and kanji that you want to learn. When you load a flash card file, JFC will use the information in the file and the options you set to generate a flash card set.

    As you work though the flash card set making wrong and right guesses about each card JFC can keep track of statistics on the cards you get right or wrong and use this information to generate later flash card sets for you in the future.

    When you finish a flash card set, JFC automatically closes the file and waits for your next command.


    Types of Flash Cards

    The types of flash cards supported by JFC can be divided into two basic groups. The first group is vocabulary cards, where the object is to learn the meanings, spelling, and/or kanji associated with specific words. The second type of card is kanji cards, where the object is to learn the readings (on-yomi and kun-yomi) and meanings associated with a specific kanji.


    Vocabulary Cards

    In the case of a vocabulary card you will supply information about the vocabulary word that will basically contain the kanji for the word (if the word has a kanji representation), the kana for the word, as well as the meaning. (In reality, you do not need to supply all of these. You can just supply one of the three and JFC can usually find the others using the included dictionary. Generally it is best to provide the kanji representation for the word, since this is the least ambiguous representation of the word.)

    From this information JFC will generate up to three actual flash cards:

    1. Provide the kanji and ask you for the kana and meaning.
    2. Provide the kana and ask you for the kanji and meaning.
    3. Provide the meaning and ask you for the kanji and kana.

    Which cards are generated depends on the current option settings, and the actual information provided in the flash card file, and sometimes on other information. For example, JFC can use information in your JWPce color-kanji list to determine what kanji you know and decide weather or not to make an actual flash card where the kanji is shown based on whether or not you know the kanji for the vocabulary word. As another example, JFC may adjust the flash cards generated based on how often you miss a particular vocabulary word.

    Related Topics


    Kanji Cards

    One of the most powerful features of JFC is kanji cards. These are designed to greatly enhance one's kanji learning ability. First, kanji cards come in two varieties. The first variety is a simple kanji card, containing only the readings (on-yomi and/or kun-yomi) and the meaning. The second type of kanji card contain a simple card, but is augmented by having a number of sub-cards containing vocabulary words based on this kanji

    Simple Kanji Cards

    For these cards the flash card file contains information on the kanji character, readings, and meaning. (As with the vocabulary cards you do not need to provide all of this information. From the kanji character JFC can provide the readings and meaning using the kanji information files from JWPce.) From this information and the current options settings JFC will generate up to three flash cards:

    1. The kanji is shown and you must provide the readings, and meaning.
    2. The readings are shown and you must provide the kanji and meaning.
    3. The meaning is shown and you must provide the kanji and readings.

    Related Topics


    Advanced Kanji Cards

    Advanced kanji cards are simply a simple kanji card with an attached list of vocabulary words. From this information JFC generates a kanji card that presents you the kanji and a list of vocabulary words. To get the card "correct" one must not only get the readings, and meaning correct, but must also get the vocabulary words correct. This allows you to tie your vocabulary to your kanji knowledge and greatly strengthens learning process.

    Related Topics


    Controlling the Program

    JFC is a flash card program, and thus has a very simple control system.

    The Active Text Control

    Normally, one of the Japanese text controls will be active at any time. This control is indicated by a dotted line around the outside of the text. The active control can be changed by selecting another control with the mouse (this will also show hidden text, see below), or using the up/down keys, or the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, or the Up and Down buttons on a PPC.

    Reviling Hidden Text

    Most flash cards will have one or more blank Japanese text controls. These are the parts of the cards you are supposed to guess. Generally you will want to reveal the hidden text so you can see if you "guessed" correctly or not.

    Clicking on a blank text control will show the hidden contents. You can also press the space bar or right key to show the contents, if the text control is selected (has a dotted line around it). For uses of the PPC's, pressing the select button will show the hidden contents of the control.

    You can also show the contents of all hidden controls by clicking the Show button, pressing any of the following keys, s, S, Alt+S, Left, z, Z, <, or comma, or selecting the Card/Show menu command. On a PPC device you can press the reject button to show all hidden text. Using special settings, the up key can be set to reveal all hidden text.

    Dealing with Advanced Kanji Cards

    Advanced kanji cards have a typical kanji card at the top (there is an alternative display mode), and a number of vocabulary words at the bottom. Depending on the settings of the options section, the hidden parts of the vocabulary words can be show in one of the following two patterns:

    1. In swap mode, each time you select the text control, it will toggle between displaying the vocabulary word in kanji and displaying the kana and meaning for the word.
    2. In cycle mode, each time you select the text control, it will cycle through all possible display options (vocabulary word in kanji, kana, and meaning).

    A control can be selected by clicking on it with the mouse, pressing the space bar, or pressing the select button on a PPC.

    Moving to the Next Card

    Once you have determined if you correctly "guessed" the information for the current card, you are ready to move on to the next card. In order to move on, you must tell JFC if you got the current card correct or not. The following varied methods can be used:

    card correctcard incorrect
    click Right buttonclick Wrong button
    Card/Right menu commandCard/Wrong menu command
    press r, R, x, X, >, ., or Alt+Rpress w, W, c, C, /, ?, or Alt+W
    press Enterpress ESC
    double press PPC select buttondouble press PPC reject button
    double press the Right keydouble press the Left key
    double click mouse

    It is possible to change some of these controls using special settings.

    As you move to the next card the statistics on the status line will change to indicate the number of remaining cards, the number of correct and incorrect cards (note that duplicated cards are not counted in the statistics, see below).


    Hint! If you are using the keyboard, you may find the right-hand controls (<, >, and /) or the left-hand controls (z, x, and c) to be more convenient than the normal set of controls (s, r, and w).

    Special Controls for PPCs

    PPCs have very limited input systems. Several special control systems have been built into the PPC versions of JFC. Most of these systems will also work on other systems.

    Key to understanding the operation PPC controls is to realize that JFC can be controlled with six functions. These are move up, move down, show this, show all, wrong and right. For devices with a cursor control there are eight possible button combinations. Using just the wheel control of a PPC there are only six possible controls.

    The Wheel Control option on the General page of the Options dialog box determines basically how the double Up and double Down buttons are interpreted. If the Wheel Control setting is off these double events are interpreted as move up or down twice. With Wheel Control on, these events are used to indicate show all and wrong, allowing JFC to be fully controlled with just the wheel.

    Events with Wheel Control off:

    EventAction
    UpMove up
    DownMove down
    SelectShow this
    double SelectRight
    LeftShow all
    double LeftWrong
    RightShow this
    double RightRight

    Events with WheelControl off:

    EventAction
    UpMove up
    double UpShow all
    DownMove down
    double DownWrong
    SelectShow this
    double SelectShow all
    RightShow this
    double RightRight
    LeftShow all
    double LeftWrong

    There is also a special mode that can be used by people who don't use the advanced kanji cards. In this case the move up and move down functions are not required, so the following set of controls can be used if the One Click mode is selected on the General page of the Options dialog. This mode is designed for people who only want to press a single button, not two.

    EventAction
    UpShow all
    DownWrong
    SelectRight
    RightRight
    LeftWrong

    Dealing with Incorrect Cards

    Lets face it, if you never got a card wrong you probably don't need this program. When you get a card incorrect, JFC automatically moves the card to the end of the stack, and will keep presenting cards until all cards are correct.

    JFC also has an options to Duplicate Missed Cards (Cards page of the Options dialog [Utilities/Options... or Ctrl+O]). When this option is used, the missed card is not only inserted at the end of the stack, but is also inserted every 20 or so cards through the deck (to really drive the point home).

    Related Topics


    Review Mode and Statistics

    If you have been working with a stack of flash cards a lot, you may want to start dealing with the cards in review mode. In this mode JFC keeps track of the cards you miss the most and emphasizes those cards. Keeping statistics on the card deck each time you go though it does this.

    The statistics file keeps track of how often you got a particular flash card correct out of the last eight (8) times it was shown to you. Based on how often you got it right, JFC may elect not to include it in the current card set. The weights that are used to determine this can be adjusted on the Review page of the Options dialog (Utilities/Options... or Ctrl+O).

    Note that JFC can also store a copy of some of the major options settings in the statistics file and restore these options when loading the configuration file. This allows you to use have different options settings for each set of flash cards. This can be very useful if you are working with some flash cards for review and some for new vocabulary.

    Related Topics


    Limiting the Cards Generated

    There are several ways to control the number and type of flash cards generated by JFC.

    Controlling the Type of Cards Generated

    You can use the options (vocab and kanji) to control what types of flash cards are generated from a flash card file. These controls effect the entire file and provide global level control.

    You can also, however, use the flags associated with specific lines in your flash card file to control the type of flash cards generated from each individual line of your flash card files (vocab and kanji).

    Using Review Mode to Reduce the Number of Generated Cards

    By using review mode, JFC will reduce the number of flash cards generated. In review mode JFC emphasizes cards that you regularly miss and skips some (or all cards) that you regularly get correct. How much this reduces the number of flash cards generated depends on the review mode settings.

    Duplicated Cards

    Normally a missed card is moved to the end of the stack as a review. You can also have JFC duplicate missed cards a number of times to drill specifically on the missed card. Both of these options effect the number of cards in the stack, particularly the duplicate cards option.

    Fixing the Number of Cards Generated

    Finally, you can instruct JFC to generate no more than a specific number of cards

    Related Topics


    Adding Time Pressure to Your Cards

    A number of timing features are built into JFC. These allow you to either automatically flip the cards, or limit the amount of time you have to determine the correct answer.

    The timing options are located on the Cards page of the Options dialog box.

    If the timing options are enabled, two numbers are chosen (both are in 10th of a second). If you do not indicate the card is correct before the Show time, JFC will show the card. The Next time indicates how long the card will be shown before the card will be marked as wrong and the program will move on to the next card. In the example shown above, you have 5 seconds before the card is shown. After the card is shown, you have 3 seconds to indicate the card is correct or the card will be considered wrong and JFC will move on to the next card. You do not have to wait for the time to run out, you can press show, right, or wrong manually before JFC automatically does.

    Setting either of the time values to zero (0) will disable it. This can be used to make the Show or Next time infinitely long (setting both values to zero at the same time effectively disables the timing system). This also means the minimal internal that can be timed is 0.1 sec.

    The timers are automatically disabled when you deactivate JFC. The timing periods will start over again when you again activate JFC. (This does provide a way to cheat on the time by selecting another application to disable JFC.)


    Tip: You can use the timing system to generate a continuous display of cards. If you have missed cards placed at the end of the stack, you can have a stack of cards that goes around in circles forever, flashing the cards and moving on.

    WARNING! If you create a loop as above, but have the missed cards duplicated and inserted into the deck, you will generate a much larger set of cards as the loop continues to process.

    Related Topics


    Next Chapter: The Flash Card File