Anybody know where Mark Spahn has disappeared to?

[Warren Smith]

I am a bit worried that I have not heard from him for a long time, and he has not returned my emails...

 

Warren Smith

[Tom Gally]

Warren,

It’s been quite a while since I last heard from him, too. He used to write to me fairly regularly.

He used to cc: some of his e-mails to his daughter Emily. I’ll e-mail you her address (from a decade ago) privately. Let us know if you hear any news that you can share.

Tom Gally

On Tue, Nov 7, 2023 at 9:53 AM Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net> wrote:

I am a bit worried that I have not heard from him for a long time, and he has not returned my emails...

 

Warren Smith

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Honyaku E<>J translation list" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to honyaku+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/F9FB799D8297474B9496586FD9EB9270%40WarrenSmithDell.

[Wolfgang Hadamitzky]

We used to exchange mails about once a month, but the last one I received was dated May 12th. He never reported any health problems.

Wolfgang Hadamitzky

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/CACnS3NeNaRccvvxPw23hrDHHmGWTxePUtQ_GA3Xf0QB9Zmqw1g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Matthew Schlecht]

On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 7:53 PM Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net> wrote:

I am a bit worried that I have not heard from him for a long time, and he has not returned my emails...

 

Warren Smith

I had gotten the sense that he had retired this year because he seemed to have a lot more time on his hands for posting on his off-topic, Honyaku-related listserv Not-Honyaku, several times per week, on a wide variety of subjects.

His last post there was three months ago, on Aug. 7 of this year.

I just sent a message to Not-Honyaku to see if there is a response.

Matthew Schlecht, PhD
Word Alchemy Translation, Inc.
Newark, DE, USA
wordalchemytranslation.com

[Warren Smith]

His daughter wrote me back, and said that while she has not communicated with him for several weeks, she is unaware of any reasons for concern. Said that he had changed Internet providers recently, so perhaps that is the issue.

 

W

 

---

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Honyaku E<>J translation list" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to honyaku+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/CALnYxcyizmHePY%3DQeJFwW9mqejPhOKp4XtOv3bjX6z37NcPLkg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Sadowsky]

I'd just like to express my appreciation (or appreciation x 10 or x
100) for the Spahn/Hadamitzky yellow dictionary that in its day was a
leap forward from "the red one" (you know what I mean) for its reverse
kanji lookup function. That age will never return, but as a fledgling
translator in the early '90s or so, that yellow dictionary was the
latest innovation and helped me immensely, as everyone here who has at
least 30 years under their belt will likely confirm.

So while I have this tiny window of opportunity in late 2023, I'd like
to say thank you, Wolfgang!
You helped me earn a living and in turn lead a life that I am grateful
for. Much obliged.

Best regards,
Richard Sadowsky

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/3A1CEE3C48054BB982044930A81457F8%40WarrenSmithDell.

[John Stroman]

I most heartily concur with Richard's comment. Although my 4 bookcases full of dictionaries and reference books have dwindled to a single 26.5" shelf, the bold yellow and red S&H Kanji Dictionary sits prominently in the center, and I still use it from time to time. What a treasure!

John Stroman

----------------

On Sat, Nov 25, 2023 at 7:53 AM Richard Sadowsky <richard....@gmail.com> wrote:

I'd just like to express my appreciation (or appreciation x 10 or x
100) for the Spahn/Hadamitzky yellow dictionary that in its day was a
leap forward from "the red one" (you know what I mean) for its reverse
kanji lookup function. That age will never return, but as a fledgling
translator in the early '90s or so, that yellow dictionary was the
latest innovation and helped me immensely, as everyone here who has at
least 30 years under their belt will likely confirm.

So while I have this tiny window of opportunity in late 2023, I'd like
to say thank you, Wolfgang!
You helped me earn a living and in turn lead a life that I am grateful
for. Much obliged.

Best regards,
Richard Sadowsky

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Honyaku E<>J translation list" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to honyaku+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/CAERFvc%3D44SD2Yu2VvhjF6Mtwc2UKfH9_GY2n3bMV%2Bk32SyhRKg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Tom Gally]

I seem to go back even further. I started learning hiragana and katakana from Wolfgang and Mark’s Kanji and Kana a few months before moving to Japan in 1983, and over the next couple of years I made checkmarks with pencil in the book next to kanji as I learned them.

Many thanks to both.

Tom Gally

[Wolfgang Hadamitzky]

Richard, John, and Tom,

 I don't know how to thank you for your kind remarks about the works I created with Mark in the last century. Not only do I feel honored - and I'm sure Mark will feel honored too when he's back in the digital world, especially on this platform - but I'm also pleased to see in retrospect that the efforts back then had a benefit. And sometimes still have, even though the works mentioned, especially the Kanji Dictionary, are increasingly under threat from GPT & Co. When the works were published, I would never have dared to hope that they would live to see the year 2023 - just like myself, now aged 82. And that there will be users who will still remember them fondly decades later and/or have even given them a place of honor on their otherwise depleted bookshelves in these fast-moving times.

With best regards and best wishes

Wolfgang

Am 25.11.2023 um 15:20 schrieb Tom Gally <tomg...@gmail.com>:

I seem to go back even further. I started learning hiragana and katakana from Wolfgang and Mark’s Kanji and Kana a few months before moving to Japan in 1983, and over the next couple of years I made checkmarks with pencil in the book next to kanji as I learned them.

Many thanks to both.

Tom GallyI

[Gwen Clayton]

I’d like to belatedly add my own thanks for the great work that is “Hadamitzky and Spahn", if I may! I loved that yellow dictionary so much during my degree that it fell apart, forcing me to buy a second copy! Fast forward 30 years and I am happily working as a translator. I have so many ways to look up words that I don’t know now, but your dictionary will always be part of my arsenal! 

In homage and with thanks - 

Gwen, London, UK

Gwen Clayton
Legal & Literary Translator (German/Japanese > English)
BA (Oxon), Dip Trans (IoLET), CL, FCIL, FITI 
ARSM, Solicitor (non-practising)
+44 7841 387526/+44 20 8870 2748
gwen.c...@yahoo.com
www.perfectlyphrased.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Honyaku E<>J translation list" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to honyaku+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/EC67077E-E490-4758-AB64-C77CE777B95D%40hadamitzky.de.

[Philip Schnell]

Likewise! Kanji & Kana, The Learner’s Japanese Kanji Dictionary, and the yellow monster were my mainstays while learning Japanese in the late 90s, and still have a place of pride on my shelves. I still think the lookup method you two devised for those books is the most elegant method for looking up unknown characters in a paper dictionary that I’ve ever encountered, and it saved me untold hours of frustration wrestling with the dictionaries that relied on the usual Byzantine 214-radical system.

All best,

Philip

[Wolfgang Hadamitzky]

Many thanks also to Gwen and Philip for your interesting reminiscences.

When I developed the 79 radical system with Mark, I had in mind that the benefits of reducing the number of radicals would be particularly obvious in the future, especially on digital devices with small displays. Because you would still be able to display all radicals in a legible size. With partners, I designed a few patterns. One example see appendix, with the graphemes 亻 and ⽊ marked to find 休 via the grapheme search mode. To this end, I increased the number of radicals (graphemes) to 80. I published a paper on this in 1985 (entitled "Radikalkur?") and have since worked with Mark on revising and expanding the KD data. However, the technical hurdles are so high that it is now rather unlikely that there will ever be a digital product for cell phones.

Mark and I were lucky that in the 1980s and 1990s, as authors of teaching materials and dictionaries, we were not dependent on programmers etc.

All best

Wolfgang

[Hadamitzky Wolfgang]

I apologize for inadvertently not deleting the long rat tail of the mail i just sent.
Wolfgang

[hakujin]

I too owe much to Mr. Hadamitzky and Mr. Spahn. 2 unlikely names on a book for Kanji... lol But I carried the Kanji & Kana book everywhere I went in Tokyo and was obsessively looking up new characters. I still have it in my library. The Nelson book was just too heavy to carry around. I lived in Tokyo for a year and a half from 1981- 1983. I never did become a translator but now after 40 years I have been able to read much literature in Japanese. Still have to look up words of course...

Anyway, thank you gentlemen!

[Matthew Schlecht]

On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 7:53 PM Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net> wrote:

I am a bit worried that I have not heard from him for a long time, and he has not returned my emails...

Mark Spahn has resurfaced on Not-Honyaku.

I informed him of the interest in his situation expressed here on Honyaku.

[Hadamitzky Wolfgang]

Mark also got back to me today. I enclosed copies of the friendly comments on Kanji & Kana and Kanji Dictionary that had been posted on Honyaku during his absence.

Wolfgang

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Honyaku E<>J translation list" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to honyaku+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/honyaku/CALnYxcw%3D-9Lw%3D8pcbqL4-M5Nfgj-w5BYxewoAnSQ2fE%3DU5xgew%40mail.gmail.com.