Rikaisama

Rikaisama is a modification of the rikaichan Japanese-English popup dictionary that adds many features and customization options. Supports Windows, Ubuntu, and newer versions of OSX.

Contents

• Features
• Screenshots
• Download
• How to Install
• General Usage
• Setting up the Anki Real-Time Import Feature
• Hidden Options
• Abbreviations
• Pitch Accents
• Tips
• Version History

Features

• Ability to hear the pronunciation for the highlighted word. (screenshot).
  Just hover over a word and press the "F" key to hear the pronunciation for that word. The pronunciations are provided by the good folks at japanesepod101.com. You can also enable the "Play audio on hover" option to automatically play the audio after a short delay.
• EPWING dictionary support. (screenshot 1, screenshot 2, screenshot 3, screenshot 4, screenshot 5).
  This allows you to hover over a word like usual, but instead of the normal J-E EDICT definition, you will see the definition taken from the EPWING dictionaries of your choice. Press the "P" key to toggle on/off. Use "-" and "+" to switch between dictionaries. Use "[" and "]" to switch between entries.
• Sanseido web dictionary support. (screenshot).
  Similar to EPWING Mode, but the definition is taken from the J-J sanseido web dictionary site. Press the "O" key to toggle on/off.
• Word Frequency Information. (screenshot).
  Most words will have a frequency number attached to them. This is the number of words that are more frequent than the given word + 1. So if this number is 700, it means that there are 699 words that are more frequent. The lower the number, the more frequent the word. Colors of the frequency numbers: very common words are green-ish, common words are yellow-ish, uncommon words are orange-ish, rare words are pink-ish. Frequencies are based on analysis of 5000+ novels. Naturally, frequency based on other mediums (such as newspapers) might vary. Not all words have frequency information. When the frequency is based on the reading, and the expression and reading differ, "_r" will be appended to the end of the frequency number to indicate that the frequency number was based on the reading. To enable, check the "Options... -> Dictionaries Tab -> Show frequency information" checkbox
• Pitch Accents. (screenshot).
  Show pitch accent number to the right of the reading if available. To enable, check the "Options... -> Dictionaries Tab -> Show pitch accent" checkbox.
• Advanced Clipboard & Save options. (screenshot).
  You can now specify the exact format of the save feature using tokens. You can even save the pronunciation audio! In addition to the normal "S" save key, Rikaisama adds the "X" save key that allows you to save the kana version of the highlighted word (essentially, the $d token is replaced with the $r token).
• Ability to add cards directly to your Anki deck using Anki's "Real-Time Import" plugin. (screenshot).
  Click here for instructions on how to setup and use this feature.
  
• Indicate words that you should already know (or want to learn). (screenshot 1, screenshot 2).
  Rikaisama can indicate if the highlighted word is in a provided list of known or to-do words by placing a '*', '*_r', '*t', or '*t_r" in the popup window next to the word. '*' means word was found in the known list via it's expression. '*_r' means word was found in the known list via it's reading. '*t' means word was found in the to-do list via it's expression. '*t_r' means word was found in the to-do list via it's reading.
• "Super Sticky" mode.
  Allows you to see the definition only when you Ctrl-click or Alt-click on a word (as opposed to hovering over it). Press the "U" key to toggle on/off.
  
  Tip 1: Alt-click a word when it resides in a link (so you don't follow the link).
  
  Tip 2: You can use this mode for words that are inside the popup (kind of like a Rikaisama-within-Rikaisama).
• Ability to customize the shortcut key layout. (screenshot).
• Added startup tab to the preferences dialog. (screenshot).
  This allows you to automatically enable certain features when Rikaisama is enabled.
• Kanji link to the Reviewing the Kanji study page.
  Clicking the Heisig label/number in the kanji view (via lookup bar, sticky mode, or "Super Sticky" mode) now links to the corresponding RevTK study page.
• Added option to make the popup translucent. (screenshot)
  Just adjust the "Opacity" option in the General tab of the Options dialog. By default, the popup is completely opaque.

Screenshots

• The General tab showing the new audio and opacity features:
  
  
• The new Startup options tab:
  
  
• The new customizable shortcut keys feature:
  
  
• The Dictionaries tab showing the new frequency and pitch accent features:
  
  
• The new EPWING options tabs:
  
  
• The Clipboard & Save tab showing the new Advanced save options:
  
  
• The new Vocabulary options tab:
  
  
• The new Anki options tab:
  
  
• EPWING Mode example (showing Kenkyusha 5th Edition):
  
  
  
  
• Same screenshot as above, but using a regular expression "\n[・▲◧◨].+|ﾛｰﾏ.+|\〔.+?\〕|\n.+?　.+" to remove the example sentences:
  
  
  
  
• EPWING Mode example with the "Show all entries from the same dictionary at the same time" option enabled:
  
  
  
  
• Same screenshot as above, but with the "Append EDICT gloss" option enabled:
  
  
  
  
• Sanseido Mode example:
  
  
  
  
• Pitch Accent, Frequency Information, and Known Words example. In the first entry, the gray 3 is the pitch, and the green 636 is the frequency. The asterisk " * " means that 流れる is in my Known Words file deck:
  
  
  
  
• Transparency feature:
  
  
  
  

Download

The latest version can be found on the Rikaisama download page hosted by SourceForge. Source code is included.

How to Install

1. Download the latest version of Rikaisama.
2. From the Firefox menu, select "File | Open File..." and select the .xpi file that you just downloaded.
3. Click the "Install Now" button.
4. Restart Firefox.
5. Install the official rikaichan dictionaries if you don't already have them.

General Usage

• Play Audio:
  Hover over a word and press the "F" key. In the General tab of the Options dialog, you can also enable the "Play audio on hover" option to automatically play the audio after a short delay. If the audio does not exist for a word, the 'no audio' clip will be played instead.
• Disable the 'no audio' clip:
  
  1. Open the Rikaisama options and select the General tab.
  2. Uncheck the "Enable the 'no audio' clip" checkbox.
• Change Audio Playback Volume:
  
  1. Open the Rikaisama options and select the General tab.
  2. In the Audio Volume box, enter a value in the range 0-100 with 100 being the loudest.
• Using the Advanced Save Feature:
  
  1. Open the Rikaisama options and select the Clipboard & Save tab.
  2. Select a save file. If you would like to save audio clips, select an audio save directory.
  3. Adjust the formatting options to suit your needs by adding one or more tokens. You can hover your mouse over a token to get a brief description of what the token does.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Hover over a word and press the "S" key to save information about the word to the chosen file.
     Note: In addition to the normal "S" save key, Rikaisama adds the "X" save key that allows you to save the kana version of the highlighted word (essentially, the $d token is replaced with the $r token).
• Using EPWING Mode:
  
  • First add one or more EPWING dictionaries to the EPWING tab of the options dialog.
    Note: The EPWING dictionary path must not contain Japanese or other non-ASCII characters.
  • To toggle EPWING mode just hover over a word and press the "P" key.
  • To move to the next/previous dictionary, use the plus "+" and minus "-" keys.
  • To move to the next/previous entry, use the "]" and "[" keys.
  • You can customize the look and behavior of EPWING mode by selecting various options in the EPWING tab of the options dialog.
• Enable/Disable Sanseido Mode:
  Hover over a word and press the "O" key to toggle on/off. At this point, Sanseido Mode will stay enabled until toggled off.
• Enable/Disable Frequency Information:
  Open the Rikaisama Options dialog, click on the "Dictionaries" tab, and select "Show frequency information".
• Enable/Disable Pitch Accents:
  Open the Rikaisama Options dialog, click on the "Dictionaries" tab, and select "Show pitch accent".
• Enable/Disable "Super Sticky" mode:
  Hover over a word and press the "U" key to toggle on/off. Now, just hold down the Ctrl key or Alt key and click on a word to see its definition. You can even Ctrl-click/Alt-click inside of the popup window!

Setting up the Anki Real-Time Import Feature

1. In Anki, install the Real-Time Import add-on using code 2512410601 (Tools > Add-ons > Browse&Install...).
2. In Firefox, fill in Rikaisama Options > Clipboard & Save > Tags. These are the tags that will be added to new cards. You may leave this field blank if you do not want add a tag to your cards
3. In Firefox, fill in Rikaisama Options > Anki > Save format. This is the save format to use. Map the tokens in the save format to the field names that you enter in the Field names box (see next step). You must separate the mapped fields with a tab token ($t).
4. In Firefox, fill in Rikaisama Options > Anki > Field names. Enter the field names that correspond to the desired fields in your deck's current Note Type. Make sure that the field names match the the tokens in the save format (see previous step). You must separate the fields names with a space.
   
5. Open your Anki deck. The Real-Time Import plugin will automatically load itself.
6. Back in Firefox, highlight a word and press the "R" key. If you setup everything correctly, you should see a "Note Added" popup in Anki.
• Note: In addition to the "R" key, you may also use the "T" key to send the kana version of the word to Anki (essentially, the $d token is replaced with the $r token).

It might be easiest to follow an example:

These are the fields in our Anki "Japanese" Note Type:


Notice that there are 5 fields in this Note Type: "Expression", "Reading", "Meaning", "Hint", and "Examples".

For this example, we want Rikaisama to add cards with the "Expression", "Reading", and "Meaning" fields filled in whenever the Real-Time Import key ("R") is pressed. We also want to leave the "Hint" and "Examples" fields blank when adding cards.

In Rikaisama Options > Anki, here is how we would configure the "Save format" and "Field names" to accomplish this:

As you can see, we have entered the field names that we care about into the "Field names" box. We have separated the field names with spaces like this: "Expression Reading Meaning".

In the "Save format" box, we have entered "$d$t$r$t$n". The "$d" token maps to the "Expression" field, the "$r" token maps to the "Reading" field, and the "$n" token maps to the "Meaning" field. Notice how these tokens are separated by a "$t" token. Whenever Rikaisama sees a "$t" token, it will start mapping to the next field.

Troubleshooting:

The most common issue is using a "Note Type" in Anki that doesn't contain the necessary fields. To change the current "Note Type":

1. Open Anki.
2. Select your deck from the deck chooser.
3. Click "Add" (it's between "Decks" and "Browse").
4. Click the "Type" button and select the correct "Note Type".

Hidden Options

The following options can only be enabled via the about:config page:

Abbreviations

Pitch Accents

1. If the accent is on the first mora, then the pitch starts high, drops suddenly on the second mora, then levels out. The pitch may fall across both moras, or mostly on one or the other (depending on the sequence of sounds)—that is, the first mora may end with a high falling pitch, or the second may begin with a (low) falling pitch, but a native speaker will hear the first mora as accented regardless.
2. If the accent is on a mora other than the first or the last, then the pitch has an initial rise from a low starting point, reaches a near-maximum at the accented mora, then drops suddenly on the next.
3. If the word doesn't have an accent, the pitch rises from a low starting point on the first mora or two, and then levels out in the middle of the speaker's range, without ever reaching the high tone of an accented mora. Japanese describe the sound as "flat" (平板 heiban) or "accentless".

1. If the accent is on the first mora, then the first syllable is high-pitched and the others are low: H*L, H*L-L, H*L-L-L, H*L-L-L-L, etc.
2. If the accent is on a mora other than the first, then the first mora is low, the following moras up to and including the accented one are high, and the rest are low: L-H, L-H*L, L-H-H*L, L-H-H-H*L, etc.
3. If the word is heiban (doesn't have an accent), the first mora is low and the others are high: L-H, L-H-H, L-H-H-H, L-H-H-H-H, etc. This high pitch spreads to unaccented grammatical particles that attach to the end of the word, whereas these would have a low pitch when attached to an accented word. Although only the terms "high" and "low" are used, the high of an unaccented mora is not as high as an accented mora.

Tips