We invite you to learn a little more about the purpose and technology of the Kanji Reader pen so you can appreciate its possibilities as well as its limitations.
Kanji Reader - What It Is
It's an electronic dictionary but is pen-shaped, thus highly portable. - It works as a standalone device so no host PC is required.
- It was invented to help people read printed materials written in a foreign language. (Many popular typefaces are supported—Times, Helvetica, Mincho, Gothic, etc.)
- It is the world's first pen-shaped device that can read Japanese characters and words, and translate them into English very quickly.
- It reads English words aloud using a built-in speech synthesizer. (Parts include one built-in speaker; one earphone jack; one maintenance port (currently not used))
- Use it to read Japanese books, magazines, newspapers, journals, and academic papers, or even Tokyo Gas bills and manga comic books!
- The pen supports vertically formatted Japanese, as well as horizontal text.
How It Works
The Kanji Reader pen has a very small optical image scanner which reads text images, i.e. kanji and other characters, just like a camera. So hold it stably and comfortably like you hold a pen.
Proper lighting is important - after all, you can't use a camera when it's pitch black night! When the pen is ready to read it emits a red light; this is so it can capture images more accurately. In general, red light is technically the best color for detecting printed text, which is usually black on white background. As the light is emitted against the paper, the pen tries to detect the reflections.
Scanner-captured characters are initially something like photographs which need to be converted into machine-readable characters. Here is where optical character recognition (OCR) technology comes into play. This is computer software which does its best to convert captured images into machine-readable characters.
Once the machine-readable characters are determined, the pen's built-in micro search engine searches the dictionary for the word or character. The amazing thing is, all of these operations take place in just two seconds!
Optimal Use of the Kanji Reader Pen
While the pen can capture a whole line of text, remembering that it is supposed to be held like a pen, try this experiment. Get an ordinary ball-point pen and see about how many letters you can write continuously. Doesn't look so great, does it? In the same way, when you use the Kanji Reader pen, it is recommended that you scan pieces of text which contain a word, a kanji compound or a phrase that you want to look up, rather than the whole line.
Something important to remember is that, unlike cameras, the pen has to make direct contact with the surface of the paper. Another useful tip is to start scanning a few characters to the left of the word to look up, then end after a few extra characters—always moving the pen gently and stably.
Finally, proper lighting is essential; the pen will usually tell you when lighting is inadequate!
Limitations to Keep in Mind
As the Kanji Reader pen is designed to help read printed material, it should be clear why reading handwriting is not really possible. There are some devices such as Palm® or other handheld PDA devices that include dynamic recognition of handwriting. However, the approach here is different; these devices can just ask you to repeatedly write the letter or character until they can determine what you're trying to write. No machine can cope with very poor handwriting.
Perhaps most important of all, please understand that the Kanji Reader pen is meant to be an aid, not a substitute for Japanese study! While we believe that the Kanji Reader is useful for anyone with a need to read Japanese kanji, as you increase your comprehension of Japanese grammar and the basic characters, your pen will become an even more valuable tool for your study.
Where to Buy
Understanding the Technology of the Kanji Reader Pen
