The Kiten HandbookKiten is a Japanese reference/study tool for KDE.
Table of Contents
IntroductionKiten is an application with multiple functions. Firstly, it is a convenient English to Japanese and Japanese to English dictionary; secondly, it is a Kanji dictionary, with multiple ways to look up specific characters; thirdly, it is a tool to help you learn Kanji.
Each of these modes is discussed in its own chapter.
Using the DictionaryKiten's most basic mode is as a dictionary for looking up both English and Japanese words. You can also add other dictionaries to Kiten's list.
Kiten uses Jim Breen's Edict and Kanjidic as the default dictionaries. You can find more information at the Edict web site and the Kanjidic web site.
To look up words in either language, type them in to the text-edit (much like Konqueror's location bar) and press either Enter or the Search button on the toolbar (again, much like Konqueror). Kiten will then look up the word.
You can enter Kanji, Kana and English and get back results from Kiten. These results of your search will appear in the large results view which takes up the majority of the Kiten window.
Often times you will want to filter rare words from your search. Kiten will do this for you if toggle ->.
Note
Not all dictionary files support filtering rare entries - most dictionaries, excluding the two provided by default in Kiten do not.
If you have not enabled filtering rare entries, common entries will be labeled Common in the result view.
Advanced SearchesKiten supports more advanced searches than plain normal word searches.
To search for the beginning of a word, instead of pressing the Search button on the toolbar or pressing Return on the text-entry in the toolbar, choose using the ->->. Similarly, choose ->-> to search for your text anywhere in a word. These search modes work for searches of both languages.
Verb DeinflectionKiten can deinflect verbs you search for. To enable this, make sure you have enabled the "builtin" dictionary for verb deinflection. Kiten will then deinflect Japanese you search for that starts with a Kanji and ends with a Kana.
The "Deinflect" option tries to unconjugate Japanese verbs. Deinflect only supports the common verb conjugations. If you search a lot of Japanese text you might consider using this option until you get used to handling Japanese verb forms.
Looking Up KanjiKiten has features that makes finding the one kanji you want easy from over 14,000 in the default dictionary.
Note
Clicking on any Kanji in the main result view will show details on that particular Kanji. This can sometimes be the fastest way to look up a kanji.
Tip
Kanji searches are also filtered according to whether -> is checked.
You can search with English and Japanese search strings the exact same way you can with the normal dictionary.
Caution
When searching for Kana readings in the Kanji dictionary, you will have to put a period before the okurigana (the kana that are not part of the Kanji).
Radical SearchingYou can use Kiten's radical search dialog to search for Kanji with a combination of radicals and a certain stroke count. Choose -> to open the radical search dialog.
To choose the radicals you want to be in your Kanji, select them from the middle listbox. To display possible radicals to select from this listbox with a certain number of strokes, choose this number of strokes from the spinbox just above the listbox. The radicals you choose will appear in the listbox to the right.
To choose how many strokes your Kanji should have, just enter the values into the spin boxes below the results area.
To perform the lookup, press the button that matches the kanji you wanted to look up.
MiscellaneousThis chapter describes miscellaneous features that can be used in both modes in Kiten's main window.
Kiten keeps track of all of your queries in a list. You can see your last 20 results by looking under ->. To go forward one in the history, choose ->. To go backward one in the history, choose ->.
Global ShortcutsYou can set global Kiten shortcuts that work everywhere on your desktop. Go to the Kiten configuration dialog, which can be opened by choosing ->. Select the Global Keys section of the dialog. Here you can set the keys for a global word search and a global Kanji search like in other KDE shortcut configuration panels.
FontsYou can choose the font that Kiten uses in its result view and while printing. Go to the Kiten configuration dialog, which can be opened by choosing ->. Select the Font section of the dialog and select the font in the font-chooser.
Note
Qt™ 's font-substitution system makes it so a Japanese font will always be substituted for Japanese characters, even if the font you specify doesn't include them. Thus, you can choose any font in the chooser and everything should still display fine.
Credits and LicensesKiten copyright 2001, 2002 Jason Katz-Brown
Developers
Jason Katz-Brown
(jason AT katzbrown.com)Neil Stevens
(neil AT qualityassistant.com)Jim Breen
(jwb AT csse.monash.edu.au)- Wrote xjdic, of which Kiten borrows code, and the xjdic index file generator. Also is main author of edict and kanjidic, which Kiten essentially require.Paul Temple
(paul.temple AT gmx.net)- Port to KConfig XT and bug fixing.Joe Kerian
(jkerian AT gmail.com)- wrote kiten v4
Documentation copyright 2002, Jason Katz-Brown
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.