Chapter 2. Setting up JGloss

Table of Contents

What you need
Running JGloss
Making Java work with Japanese text
Java and X11 fonts
Do It Yourself

What you need

JGloss is a Java application. To run it, you will need a Java implementation that conforms to the Java 2 Version 1.3 or 1.4 specifications, e. g. Sun's Java Runtime Environment 1.4 ( JRE ). Make sure that you install the international version.

Your computer system should already be configured to work with Japanese text. You must have a Japanese font installed. Having a Japanese input method installed is not absolutely necessary, but very useful. As a test, if your web browser can display Japanese text, it should be possible to set up Java do do the same. See also the section called “Making Java work with Japanese text” .

To use JGloss , you will need some dictionaries. Currently supported dictionary formats are:

EDICT

EDICT dictionaries are Japanese to English word dictionaries. You can download them from the Monash Nihongo FTP Archive . Each dictionary also needs a JJDX index file. If no index file is found, it will be created automatically by JGloss and saved in the dictionary directory. Should the index file creation fail, for example because the directory is write-protected, the dictionary can't be used and an error message is displayed.

WadokuJT

The WadokuJiten is an extensive Japanese-German dictionary. To use it, download the file WadokuJT.zip from this page , unzip it and add the resulting file WadokuJT.txt to the list of dictionaries used by JGloss in the dictionary dialog.

The WadokuJT dictionary format is only supported if you have Java Version 1.4 installed, otherwise JGloss will display a "not a dictionary file" error dialog. The WadokuJT dictionary is also available converted to EDICT format from the same location. The EDICT format however does not support the more detailed entry format of WadokuJT.

WadokuJT dictionaries need a JJDX index file. If no index file is found, it will be created automatically by JGloss and saved in the dictionary directory. Should the index file creation fail, for example because the directory is write-protected, the dictionary can't be used and an error message is displayed.

KANJIDIC

KANJIDIC dictionaries store information about individual kanji, among other things readings and translations. You can find KANJIDIC dictionaries at the same location as the EDICT dictionaries.

SKK

The SKK dictionaries provide a mapping from readings to words (no translations). They are usually used by Japanese input methods, but JGloss can use them to look up readings for kanji words.