Unofficial PSO2 Font translator!!

[zOObie1]

Learning anything is like a snowball effect. The problem with Kanji is that it takes a long time to get that snowball up to a decent size. I mean heck, compare it to learning English. In our school systems, I learned everything I needed to really know by the time I was out of elementary school. Sure there were words I still needed to learn, but I had the ability to figure out any word on my own using a dictionary by that point.

With Japanese, you've finally become literate by the time you leave High School having learned 2,136 Kanji plus I'm assuming the 983 used in personal names. The sad part is, although you have finally learned enough to be literate, you still actually only know a fraction of the total number of existing Kanji.

KANJI IS OF THE DEVIL

Hmm... I don't think kanji takes any longer than English. I doubt you were considered "literate" by definition straight out of elementary school. Most things, such as newspapers or magazines, in the United States are written in or around an 8th grade level. Also, I don't know how your schools operated, but I studied vocabulary all the way through the end of High School. Which isn't any different than learning kanji all the way through high school. Except, I was under the impression that students in Japan finished learning the necessary kanji to be considered "literate" by the end of 9th grade, which isn't even High School yet.

Knowing a fraction of the available kanji is irrelevant, especially when most of them aren't even used. Most of them aren't even used in Chinese as well. Same as in English, you can look up a kanji in a dictionary if you don't know it.

[Chik'Tikka]

Am I the only one who didnt find it that difficult to read signs just by looking at them for a bit?

This was something I did randomly during Alpha 2, most of these signs don't even exist really now.

Spoiler!

no, i didn't have too much of an issue myself, but my friend Heath can't seem to read anything not in times new roman+^_^+ he even has a hard time with with OCR+^_^+ so i made this thread for everyone that might have issues+^_^+ also, nice collection of signage, I'm sure people will find it helpful+^_^+

[Jonth]

Hmm... I don't think kanji takes any longer than English. I doubt you were considered "literate" by definition straight out of elementary school. Most things, such as newspapers or magazines, in the United States are written in or around an 8th grade level. Also, I don't know how your schools operated, but I studied vocabulary all the way through the end of High School. Which isn't any different than learning kanji all the way through high school. Except, I was under the impression that students in Japan finished learning the necessary kanji to be considered "literate" by the end of 9th grade, which isn't even High School yet.

Knowing a fraction of the available kanji is irrelevant, especially when most of them aren't even used. Most of them aren't even used in Chinese as well. Same as in English, you can look up a kanji in a dictionary if you don't know it.

Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this point. Because I can't even begin to think about comparing learning English to learning over 2000 complex symbols in addition to two alphabets. In my school system, by the time I entered High School, I ceased to have grammar classes of any sort, and instead had English classes consisting of reading works of literature and writing essays. Then again, I consider my school system a complete and total joke.

Also, I was under the opposite impression that Japanese students were taught Kanji for the full course of their years at high school, but as I said, it was an impression. At least I thought I heard my Japanese teacher say something to that effect.

Also take into consideration that the educational systems in Japan are much more intense and scrutinizing than they are here in America, complete with entry exams into high schools. This means that Japanese students (and probably a good portion of the rest of the world) are taught much more in a less amount of time. This also means that studying things like Kanji (and other subjects) on your own was a requirement. I don't remember having to study grammar outside of school at any point.

But you know what? I'm okay with you thinking Kanji is comparable to learning the alphabet. You just won't be able to convince me of it.

[zOObie1]

Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this point. Because I can't even begin to think about comparing learning English to learning over 2000 complex symbols in addition to two alphabets. In my school system, by the time I entered High School, I ceased to have grammar classes of any sort, and instead had English classes consisting of reading works of literature and writing essays. Then again, I consider my school system a complete and total joke.

Also, I was under the opposite impression that Japanese students were taught Kanji for the full course of their years at high school, but as I said, it was an impression. At least I thought I heard my Japanese teacher say something to that effect.

Also take into consideration that the educational systems in Japan are much more intense and scrutinizing than they are here in America, complete with entry exams into high schools. This means that Japanese students (and probably a good portion of the rest of the world) are taught much more in a less amount of time. This also means that studying things like Kanji (and other subjects) on your own was a requirement. I don't remember having to study grammar outside of school at any point.

But you know what? I'm okay with you thinking Kanji is comparable to learning the alphabet. You just won't be able to convince me of it.

Based on your rhetoric used about the Japanese writing system and language I'd have to assume you haven't studied or know much about kanji -- maybe I'm wrong though. Learning a character in Japanese is like learning an English word. Clearly you know over 2,000 English words, right? Instead of spelling out a word and memorizing the definition that word, you're memorizing the meaning of the character and then giving it the Japanese word that best suites that meaning.

The addition of Katakana and Hiragana adds about 92 characters used for spelling words in Japanese, in which all kanji can be spelled out with hiragana if needed and sometimes is primarily used instead of the kanji. In the English alphabet we have two systems of writing too, Upper case and Lower case letters. Although, these don't function quite like hiragana and katakana do, there is still 52 characters for someone that is learning English to memorize.

I'm not trying to compare kanji to the English alphabet. It's nothing like that at all, actually. Learning Kanji is comparable to learning and studying new words in English.

EDIT: The reason I questioned your knowledge of Japanese is because you used the words "complex characters" to describe kanji. Someone who has tried studying kanji for just one week can notice and see a breakdown of the characters just based on the radicals alone. It starts to look a little less "complex" and starts to make more sense as you can begin to recognize parts of a character that you may not know.

[Jonth]

No, you are absolutely right about me not knowing any Kanji whatsoever. In a previous post, I made the statement that I knew only a handful of Japanese words, and I will further iterate that by saying that I do not know any of there Kanji equivalents. I apologize if I made it sound like I was an expert on Japanese, because I am anything but. You can't really even call me a student of Japanese, since I only had one semester of Japanese back in college. I was just offering an outsiders perspective, based on what little information I had accumulated.

However, after a night's sleep I could potentially see you being right. At the very least, I learned something new. Previously, I had not realized there was any real connection between Kanji characters, so that is something. Still, I'm not sure I am 100% convinced, or that I could be without studying it for myself. Kind of like a friend trying to tell you that something like liver and onions tastes great, but you just can't believe them until you try it... That's a bad example, because I have never tried liver and onions, and have no intentions of doing so...

[HUnewearl_Meira]

okay these signs were not really hard! : D

and this is medical center 7634989

No, it's a Medical Center, and its phone number is 763-4989.

[Mike]

No, it's a Medical Center, and its phone number is 763-4989.

At least it's not 867-5309.

[Chik'Tikka]

+^_^+ i know this thread disappeared under a hundred Error threads when OBT launched, well i figured I'd give it one last bump if anyone finds any use out of it+^_^+

[Chik'Tikka]

Found this on a site best left unmentioned+^_^+ anyway, it's a translation of one of the signs in the mines+^_^+

Spoiler!

if anyone has more to add leave a post!!+^_^+

[ScottyMango]

Pretty neat.