New features in version 6.1

Database unification

In previous versions, one-kanji words used to be stored in a sepatate database table, being available only in kanji entries, while the phonetic dictionary contained kanji compounds and hiragana/katakana words. In JiShop 6.2, the two tables have been united, so that one-kanji words are contained in both of them, Now you can look up all the words in the same phonetic dictionary window.

The "Joint search" option is still available from both kanji entries and the phonetic dictionary. In the latter case, its practical sense has narrowed down to the search of kanji by their basic meanings and "In compounds" section headings, or by their Chinese readings.

Phonetic dictionary filters

1. One-kanji words
You can suppress the output of the above-mentioned one-kanji words in the phonetic dictionary using the menu: "Search options" => "Include in the search" => "one-kanji words".

2. Hiragana/katakana
In the same menu section, the option which suppressed the output of kana words is now split into two separate options for hiragana and katakana.

3. Made-up examples
Some compounds shown in kanji entries cannot be treated as true lexical units. They are specially built up to illustrate the usage of a particular kanji, for example, as a counter or name suffix: "biiru sambon" (three bottles of beer"), "yamada-sama" ("Mr. Yamada"), and so on. There are about 150 compounds of this type in the current version. By default, they are not shown in the phonetic dictionary, but you can enable their output in the menu: "Search options" => "Include in the search" => "made-up examples".

Search by words within readings

In JiShop 6.2, search by reading in the phonetic dictionary takes into account the internal structure of words, shown in their readings by spaces and hyphens. By default, the words singled out by spaces, hyphens and brackets are treated as objects for the search, equal to ordinary words. For example, if you specify the reading "hi", you will find not only the words with the reading "hi", but also such lexical units as "o-hi-sama", "kodomo-no hi" or "saki(hi)zuke". This also works when you search by fragments of readings specified by dots: if, for example, you specify the fragment "kabu...", then along with words like "kabuki", "kabuto" and "kabuseru" you will find the expression "doro-wo kaburu".

You can switch off this option in the menu: "Search options" => "Include in the search" => "words within readings".

Playing the sound of a word

This function first appeared in the mobile versions of JiShop. Now it is implemented in the desktop version, too. Run it from the popup menu in the phonetic dictionary which comes out when you right-click on a word. If your mouse has a middle button, you can use it instead to play the sound directly, without the menu. Text-to-speech conversion is provided by the free Microsoft Translator service, so you need an active Internet connection to enjoy this function.

Alternative ways of calling functions

Middle-click on a radical button in the table to open the respective Radical Info.

Open the unfolded list of all kanji with a given radical from the respective Radical Info (the "Search" menu section).

Open the magnification windiow or decomposition window from Kanji drill (the menu on the "Options" button).

Default depth of the search decomposition

New coming users often have difficulties with the search for kanji by their radicals. To make this task easier, the depth of the search decomposition is now set by default to maximum. If you had earlier version of JiShop on your computer, you will not notice this change due to the saved user's settings. However, if you often find it difficult to specify a kanji by its radicals, it might be helpful to increase the decomposition depth by hand.

Database statistics window

Open the statistics window from the "Options" section of the main menu. All the statistics is calculated in the moment of the call.

New dictionary data

More than a thousand compound and katakana words have been added to the phonetic dictionary. Now, when the database is unified, we will count the total number of words in JiShop, whether they are written in one-kanji, in two or more kanji, or without any kanji. At the moment, this number is 45.000, and it will steadily grow.

One more drill group file called JLPT.kdg is included in the package. It contains kanji for each level of Japanese Language Proficiency Test.