Dear friends, I'm following your interesting discussion. From my perspective, I feel that you are both right with your respective arguments, difficult to say.
HG, I found your little game quite funny. Well, I did 2.6 for pictograms and 4.3 for kanjis, but is not so meaningful.
First, I am an European, not used to see kanjis. I guess a Japanese or a Chinese would go faster. Second, it just mean that color is perceived quicker than the orientation of a wedged shape. So what? Chess nor chu shogi is a game of speed, it doesn't matter if my brain needs 2s more to identify a situation. Third, the problem just focuses on identifying an anomaly in the setup, things can be quite different for a full evaluation of the situation on a board. There is difference between the two systems might be reduced to an unsignificant number. I mean if I need 1 mn to evaluate a full board, spending few seconds more because of the color-or-orientation system is not a problem per se. Especially if I were an Eastern-educated person.
Now, speaking of my personal experience, I just played once shogi on-board, against my French publisher, who was more at ease than me with kanjis, and it was a ... massacre. I remember being surprised of how difficult it was to identify the opponent pieces because the kanjis were upside-down for me. Even though I knew of all them. I concluded that I would probably need a 1-kanji set instead of a 2-kanji set. And, I confess, I bought a second set but with ... pictograms! Shame on me.
Dear friends, I'm following your interesting discussion. From my perspective, I feel that you are both right with your respective arguments, difficult to say.
HG, I found your little game quite funny. Well, I did 2.6 for pictograms and 4.3 for kanjis, but is not so meaningful. First, I am an European, not used to see kanjis. I guess a Japanese or a Chinese would go faster. Second, it just mean that color is perceived quicker than the orientation of a wedged shape. So what? Chess nor chu shogi is a game of speed, it doesn't matter if my brain needs 2s more to identify a situation. Third, the problem just focuses on identifying an anomaly in the setup, things can be quite different for a full evaluation of the situation on a board. There is difference between the two systems might be reduced to an unsignificant number. I mean if I need 1 mn to evaluate a full board, spending few seconds more because of the color-or-orientation system is not a problem per se. Especially if I were an Eastern-educated person.
Now, speaking of my personal experience, I just played once shogi on-board, against my French publisher, who was more at ease than me with kanjis, and it was a ... massacre. I remember being surprised of how difficult it was to identify the opponent pieces because the kanjis were upside-down for me. Even though I knew of all them. I concluded that I would probably need a 1-kanji set instead of a 2-kanji set. And, I confess, I bought a second set but with ... pictograms! Shame on me.