NDrill: Kana Drill

Overview

Usage

Startup Window

This is where the user selects what characters they wish to drill on and how they'd like to drill them. The following options are available:

Combination Characters:

When selected, the program will drill on two character combinations, such as きょ (kyo) or しゃ (sha). Otherwise, the program will drill on single characters.

Non-Core Characters:

When selected, this will include unusual characters and two character combinations (many of which are only used for foreign words), such as ファ (fa) or ウェ (we), including some very odd ones indeed. Otherwise, only "basic" characters (the 46 characters of the gojuuon, or the basic 107 sounds generally taught to the beginning student if drilling on combinations) will be included.

Hiragana:

Drill on hiragana characters.

Katakana:

Drill on katakana characters. One of these two options (or both) must be selected to continue.

Kana -> Roomaji:

Drill on kana characters by selecting the matching roomaji.

Roomaji -> Kana:

Drill on roomaji readings of characters by selecting the matching kana.

Repeat:

This is the number of times that each character has to be identified correctly before the drill is finished (the default is twice).

Choices:

This is the number of choices of possible answers that the user will be given to drill on the currenct character.

Begin Drill:

Finish character selection and begin drilling.

Quiz Window

This is the window where the user actually drills on the characters. The following items are found here:

Character:

This displays the current character to be matched.

Select:

These are the possible answers, one of which matches the current character. When drilling on a mix of hiragana and katakana, be careful of the case of the roomaji; hiragana is rendered in lowercase letters, and katakana is rendered in all caps.

Cheat:

This will display the correct answer. This counts as an incorrect answer as far as the grading goes (see below).

Kana Left:

This is how many characters are left to be identified.

Answers Needed:

This is how many correct answers are needed to finish drilling on the current character followed by the number of correct answers needed overall.

Percent:

This is the percentage of answers that were correct.

Correct:

This is the number of correct answers over the total number of attempts. At the end of the drill, this (and the percentage) will be displayed.

Status Line:

This line (which says "Correct!" in the example above) notifies the user of various things (such as whether an answer was correct or not, etc.)

Menu Options

File Menu --

Quit -- Exits the program.

Quiz Menu --

Skip Character [Only available while drilling] -- Skips the current character (the number of correct answers needed to finish drilling on the current character doesn't change, nor is this considered an answer -- correct or otherwise -- it simply picks a new character to be the current character to drill on).

Help Menu --

About -- Displays some information about the program.

Notes