When you select this menu item, the dictionaries in the Flashcard dictionary listwill be scanned and various words selected automatically for presentation. Note: since you can't have the help dialog open whilst doing exercises, please read these further instructions before trying out the exercise system.
The flashcard exercise system will randomly present words starting with their Japanese Kanji or with their English definition. Thus, you will be automatically tested both on your recognition of Kanji, and your recall of the Kanji which corresponds with an English definition. JWM learns about your Japanese skills by the feedback you provide by pressing the Right, Wrong and Skip buttons during the exercise process. These buttons become active when your input is expected.
An example of the Exercise dialog is shown below. On the right side of the dialog are the Success bar (which grows faster the more words you get right) and the Exercise timer (which rotates once per hour and provides immediate feedback on how long you have been exercising). The Speedkeys (which correspond to each of the feedback buttons) are shown below the buttons, and to get information about any Kana or Kanji, simply click it when it is displayed.
On the right side of the Exercise dialog you will see a bar marked 'Success' and a clock marked 'Timer'. These indicators provide feedback during exercises, and are reproduced in Figure 3 below.
The Timer clock has a sweeping minute hand. It does a full revolution each hour that you exercise, whereupon it flips color and goes around again. It can help you to organise your study period. For example, you might like to study for an hour at a time - the clock gives you an immediate indication on how you are progressing toward that goal.
To get information about any Kana or Kanji shown during flashcard exercises, simply click it and detailed information about it will be displayed.
JWM learns about your knowledge of each word from your answers, and adjusts future exercises accordingly. After words have been exercised for a number of sessions (usually 3 sessions, with the Normal emphasis level set), the word would move from Learning to Mastered status, and then come up less often. Mastered words are mixed in with words you are currently learning, providing you with automatic revision of previously learned Kanji and vocabulary. This saves you an enormous amount of time and effort over the long term, since you never need to track back over old vocabulary and Kanji lists. No other study system in the world offers this powerful facility.
To add more words to exercises, simply open the Lesson planner and tick the Use box of another lesson. When you next do exercises, this lesson will also be included. The idea is that you progressively add more lessons over the course of each study week, progressively building your Japanese vocabulary and Kanji skills. Of course, you can also add your own words and lessons by editing (or creating) dictionaries and adding them to the Flashcard dictionary list.
This menu item will be ghosted during flashcard exercises.