ReadJapaneseNews.com - Help & FAQs <link href="/stylesheets/style.css?1272498304" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="/stylesheets/layout.css?1272498304" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="/stylesheets/ruby.css?1268176363" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="/javascripts/prototype.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/javascripts/cufon.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/javascripts/fonts/Arial_Rounded_MT_Bold_400.font.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> Cufon.replace('h1.notjapanese'); Cufon.replace('#instructions'); Cufon.replace('.fancy'); var addthis_config = { data_track_clickback: true } </script> <link href="/newsletters.rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Latest updates, new features and tips from ReadJapaneseNews.com" /> </head> <body id="page"> <div class="min_width"> <div class="main">  <div id="header"> <div class="header_left"> <div class="header_right"> <div class="height_header"> <div class="logo"> <img src="/images/logo.png" alt="ReadJapaneseNews.com" /> <div class="login"> <div class="multiple_buttons"> <form action="/session" method="post"><div style="margin:0;padding:0;display:inline"><input name="authenticity_token" type="hidden" value="quGpEJ3MxBWkMvQFPFPdiSaxl2lKqx3bTIX58DU/jIg=" /></div> <input id="login" name="login" type="text" /><br /> <input id="password" name="password" type="password" /><br /><input name="commit" type="submit" value="Log in" /> </form> <form method="get" action="/users/new" class="button-to"><div><input type="submit" value="Register" /></div></form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="indent"> <a href="/"><img src="/images/title_h.png" alt="Master written Japanese. Stay current with Japanese news." /></a><br /> <div class="fancy">ReadJapaneseNews.com is an innovative system designed to teach you the written language and kanji through real-world news stories. Recommended for intermediate to advanced learners.</div> <div class="clear"></div> </div></div> <div class="menu_indent"> <div class="menu"> <div class="col"> <a href="/" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>Home</span></a> <a href="/stories" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>News Feed</span></a> <a href="/studying_stories" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>My Vocabulary Lists</span></a> <a href="/bookmarks" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>My Bookmarks</span></a> <a href="/help" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>Help & FAQs</span></a> <a href="/resources" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>Resources</span></a> <a href="/contact_us" class="btn green"><i></i><span><span></span><i></i>Contact Us</span></a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>  <div class="content"> <div class="indent"> <h1 class="notjapanese">Help & FAQs</h1> <br /> <h2>Getting Started</h2> <p>ReadJapaneseNews.com works by giving you a selection of recent news articles from Japan and creating vocabulary lists for you based on the contents of the articles. You can always see a list of these articles by clicking on the <a href="/stories"><tt>News Feed</tt></a> link on the top. When you go to this page, you will see a list of stories. At this point, you may not have any idea what they are about. The list of key words in English is provided to give you a possible clue.</p> <p>When you have decided which article you want to study, simply click on the "create vocabulary list" button next to it. You will then see it on your <a href="/studying_stories"><tt>My Vocabulary Lists</tt></a> page. On the top of this page is your global vocabulary list and all the words from all the vocabulary lists you study will be placed in it as well, should you wish to review all the words you have studied and not only the vocabulary for a particular article.</p> <p>To study the virtual "flashcards" for the story you selected, click "study" next to the story on your vocabulary list. This simply lets you look at the meaning of the words and flip through them. There is one study button each for vocabulary and kanji. You can then, when you are confident, go back and quiz yourself on the vocabulary (forward or backward) or on the kanji. There is no set length to the quizzes. Rather, you get a random card, but based on your history of right or wrong answers for the vocabulary. Words you have mastered you will not be quizzed on often, even if you study a new article that also has that word in it. ReadJapaneseNews.com adjusts and adapts to your proficiency so that you are always learning.</p> <p>We recommend after getting 20% or somewhere close words "mastered" (answered correctly at least 5 times) for a article trying to read it. You may also want to take a stab at it before you even begin studying, depending on your proficiency at reading Japanese. Do not be frustrated if it doesn't make sense. Try reading again periodically and watch as the story makes more sense as you go along.</p> <p>If, after knowing all the words, some sentences still don't make sense to you, you may wish to review Japanese grammar. The grammar of Japanese newspapers is different from every day Japanese. Much of the meaning is expressed with kanji compounds rather than modifying words, verbs and such. This makes the language more concise but also harder for young people and foreigners to understand. The "must be comprehensible to a 12 year old" rule that applies to newspapers in the English speaking world does not apply in Japan.</p> <hr /> <h2>FAQs</h2> <p><b>If my premium account lapses, will I loose my vocabulary lists or custom stories?</b><br /> No. Your progress in learning vocabulary will be kept indefinitely, ready for you to use should you renew. Additionally, you can study and/or quiz yourself up to 50 words a day on the free account.</p> <p><b>Can I manually create my own vocabulary lists?</b><br /> <strike>At this time, ReadJapaneseNews.com does not have that ability, but it is something we are interested in adding in the future.</strike></p> <p>Yes! However, this requires a premium account. Also, we have ways to create lists for educators. If you teach Japanese, please <a href="/contact_us">contact us</a> with your specific needs.</p> <p><b>Some of the words in the article aren't in my vocabulary list.</b><br /> Unfortunately, occasionally some words do fall through the cracks. Some words are simply not in our dictionary (or in many dictionaries, being new or a place name). Also, since Japanese does not have spaces, we rely on some artificial intelligence to parse the sentence and take out the words. Sometimes, our robo-reader makes mistakes and misses words (or finds words that aren't there). Be assured that we always strive to continually improve the quality of the Japanese parsing. It already performs better in many areas than other software out there.</p> <p><b>Where does the news come from?</b><br /><a href="http://news.ameba.jp/">Ameba News</a></p> <p><b>I have my own Japanese learning website and want to offer this as a feature.</b><br />Not a question, but the answer is yes! We offer affiliate programs and also a REST API for those wishing to integrate into their system. Also good for online universities. Please <a href="/contact_us">contact us</a> and our business partnership department will get back to you.</p> <p><b>I don't recognize the words used when I study reading for kanji</b><br />We select a <em>random</em> word from the dictionary that contains the kanji in question, so you can see the variety of words the kanji appears in (and the variety of readings it has).</p> </div> </div>  <div id="footer"> <div class="indent"> <div class="w100 h100"> <div class="box_3"> <div class="side_left"> <div class="side_right"> <div class="side_top"> <div class="side_bot"> <div class="left_top"> <div class="right_top"> <div class="left_bot"> <div class="right_bot">  <div style="width: 100%; padding-top: 10px;"> <div class="indent"> <div class="small_menu"><a href="/">home</a> | <a href="/contact_us">contact us</a> | <a href="/privacy_policy">privacy policy</a> | <a href="/terms_of_use">terms of use</a> <br /> </div> ReadJapaneseNews.com © 2009-2010 <a href="http://www.osakared.com">Osaka Red, LLC</a>.<br /> All Japanese language content retrieved from <a href="http://news.ameba.jp">Ameba</a> copyright © 1998-2009 CyberAgent, Inc.<br /> This site is in no way affiliated nor endorsed by CyberAgent, Inc. 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