Language learning while knitting

I recently learned to knit and crochet, which you may have noticed if you follow me on Facebook or Ravelry (username: betsylavolette – let’s be friends!). It’s a great way to pass the time when you’re captive in a car, casually chatting with family, or watching a movie, but sometimes I get out those needles/hooks when there isn’t anything else going on. I wanted to study Japanese while I was knitting/crocheting, that is, listening and looking without any mouse clicking or typing (since my hands are fully occupied). Of course, I can listen to podcasts, but I also want to review vocabulary.

So, I created a PowerPoint with each slide as follows:

1. The word shows for 3 seconds in Japanese characters.

2. The word shows for 3 seconds with its meaning and reading (in furigana, Japanese phonetic characters), while a sound clip plays of the meaning and reading.

The slides play continuously, so I can glance up at the characters while I knit and listen. If I don’t look up at each slide, that’s okay because they will come back around. Each time I open the file, I can use a macro to randomize the slides – so I see them in a different order each time.

I’m including the PowerPoint file here so that you can use it as a template if you want to study your own list of words/language. When you open it, you will need to enable macros, then run the “shufflerange” macro if you want to randomize the slides. The audio clips are my own voice, so be aware that the Japanese is not necessarily native-like! The vocabulary words are taken from a children’s edition of The Tale of Genji, so they may strike you as somewhat archaic.

The next thing I’d like to try is making this a web app that can run in standard browsers and mobile Safari (for the iPhone). Any suggestions for me?