One click on a mouse turns the hankul characters on an Internet chat site into a Japanese message of welcome, delighting elderly Japanese participants in an online exchange with some of their South Korean counterparts.
Using the same software, the South Korean participants then strive to translate Japanese messages into their native language, but seem quite disappointed with the on-screen results.
"I like the idea of the software, but my Japanese is still more accurate than this," said 75-year-old Kim Seong Kook, a member of KJ-Club, an Internet networking group comprised of South Korean citizens who speak Japanese.