My Japanese Coach for the Nintendo DS is selling really well on amazon.com. It is ranked #1 in its category ahead of titles like Spore Creature, Cooking Mama, and Nintendogs. It’s in the top 10 for all DS games. I hope this shows other game developers that there is demand out there for a product that teaches Japanese to those who speak English. After playing the game for a few hours now, I’m hoping a Japanese company produces a similar title without all of the mistakes.

And what are the problems? As mentioned previously, intermediate students of the language are going to have to play the game for hours, maybe even days or weeks, before they learn something new. There is a way to skip to Lesson 30, but the developer has yet to reveal that cheat code. Hiragana yo and na, as well as katakana ka, ne, no, hi, and wa, show an incorrect stroke order. The characters are sometimes drawn poorly. Katakana i, for instance, shows the middle line way over to the right when it should be right down the center of the screen. The character recognition is not nearly as good as in some other kanji learning games like Nazotte….

Something else that would be nice to have in this game is a kanji lookup dictionary like that found in Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan or Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten.

Based on the popularity of this title I hope Ubisoft will employ a native Japanese person to improve a second version of My Japanese Coach. If they don’t, maybe some other company will take up the charge to create a bug-free Japanese learning game that will be of use to both beginners and more experienced Japanese learners. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Until then, My Japanese Coach is still good for beginners who don’t mind learning a few things incorrectly but is frustrating to those past the beginner level who will get more out of Nazotte… and other titles aimed at Japanese people.

Posted on October 24th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, my japanese coach, Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu. Comments: 2

The first DS game aimed at English speakers learning Japanese has finally hit the market. My copy of My Japanese Coach arrived from Amazon in the mail today. After playing with it for 20 minutes I have some good things and some bad things to say. I’ll give you more complete reviews in the coming weeks.

The first thing I was happy with is the placement test. I thought, “Great! Now I don’t have to go through dozens of levels before learning anything I don’t already know.” Unfortunately, even if you score perfect on the placement test with tons of time left on the clock you will only skip the first 10 levels.

I also can’t change to kanji/kana until I get through 20 more levels. I can change the difficulty level for games, but they are still too easy if you know much Japanese.

The next problem is a bigger one. I noticed the stroke order as taught in My Japanese Coach is incorrect for some characters. Those include the hiragana yo and the katakana ka. I hope those are the only two, but I’m guessing there will be more. (After all, I’ve only played the game for a less than a half hour.)

The games look fun, varied, and comprehensive so I don’t think anyone that wants to learn Japanese will get bored quickly. I’m excited to delve further into all the features, and will share them with you, but I wish the creators at Ubisoft would have made things more friendly to intermediate and advanced users. More importantly, I hope there aren’t many Japanese errors being taught (like incorrect stroke order).

Posted on October 22nd, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, my japanese coach. Comments: None

I’ve finished reading a couple more magazines that need a new home. If you want them, or the earlier items mentioned, let me know.

Nihongo Journal, August 1993 features articles and pictures on selecting a dictionary, J-league soccer, preparing for the JLPT, and much more. Clocking in at over 120 pages, this magazine can keep you busy studying the Japanese language for a while. Most articles include English translations. All include furigana. Some are aimed at beginners. Others target those at upper beginner and intermediate levels.

Mangajin, No. 24 is no longer available from the publisher and is quite difficult to find. This is one of the better ones I’ve read (not that the others aren’t good). There is much about mizu shobai in this issue. The Crayon Shin-Chan and What’s Michael? manga in this issue are absolutely hilarious. Mangajin expanded to about 100 pages starting with about issue No. 20. Good stuff!

Posted on October 16th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, Japanese Manga, mangajin. Comments: 1

Somehow, a few months back, I stumbled upon Kanji Clinic, a website featuring the writings of Mary Sisk Noguchi. She writes a piece for The Japan Times six times a year. All of her past essays for the paper are on her site. I started at #1 and am reading several a week. I’ll be sad when I catch up and then have to wait two months for the next installment. 

I’m up to #39 which I read yesterday. It included the following which I will share with you so you can get a taste:

“Back in 1930, Shojiro Ishibashi (石橋, Stone-Bridge) dubbed his new tire company “Bridgestone,” now also internationally known for its bicycles. Just think, if plugging English keywords into the names of Japanese companies had become a trend, millions of drivers the world over might be cruising around not in “Toyotas,” and “Mitsubishis,” but in “Richfields” (豊田, Toyota), and “Triple Diamonds”(三菱, Mitsubishi).”

Whether you are learning Kanji or just interested in them, there is much of interest in her fun little columns.

Posted on October 10th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, japanese links. Comments: 1

After several months of off and on reading (I didn’t bring the book with me to Europe during the summer when I was away for more than six weeks) I have finished ハリー・ポッターと秘密の部屋. This was the first book I have read in Japanese in almost twenty years. Clocking in at almost 500 pages, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Although daunting at the outset, the reading was actually not that difficult and quite enjoyable. In addition, I picked up some new vocabulary/kanji and had a great review of other vocabulary, grammar, and kanji. Not all of the things learned will come in handy. After all, how often will I need to use words like 屋敷しもべ妖精 (house elf), 杖 (wand), or ほとんど首無しニック (Nearly Headless Nick) in real life? But overall this was a very enjoyable studying routine. I plan to continue it by reading a Japanese book on a daily basis from here on out (in addition to Mangajin, Nihongo Journal, and other things).

The Harry Potter book had furigana next to all of the kanji. For my next read I plan to read something without the furigana crutches. It will probably be slower going, but that is the norm while in Japan which is what I’m preparing for.

I also finished Mangajin #23 as well. If you are interested in purchasing either of these items from me (or the other things previously mentioned) make me an offer.

Posted on October 2nd, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, mangajin. Comments: 1

I passed the sixth level tests on Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan (なぞっておぼえる大人の漢字練習完全版) for the Nintendo DS. This means I can read and write about as good as a Japanese kid finishing elementary school. I could probably pass Level 5 of the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test (日本漢字能力検定試験). To get through the sixth level on Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan means you have mastered all of the kyoiku kanji (教育漢字) or about 1,000 kanji. I can probably read another few hundred, but I probably can’t write many more. That will all change as I continue my Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan studies.

The joyo kanji include almost twice that many characters. The next 900+ that I learn/relearn are known as the other general use characters. Although they aren’t as common, it’s important to learn them in addition to the kyoiku kanji as you’ll be looking up lots of characters if you don’t.

When I previously mentioned passing the fifth level I showed you some of the screens in Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan. Here are some more for a different part of the Nintendo DS “game.” These deal with its kanji lookup capabilities.

Let’s say you come across a kanji that you don’t know. On the main screen, above, click on 書き順検索.

You’ll be presented with a blank screen on the bottom. The top screen basically says to write the character on the lower screen and then select the character that will appear on the left that is the one you are trying to write. Stroke order and neatness are not important. I’ve yet to have the kanji I’ve drawn not appear as the top selection on the left.

I wrote this character in; notice that four possible matches magically appear on the left of the kanji I drew. The top one looks good so I select it.

The “game” now provides me with a screen on the bottom where I can practice writing the character using proper stroke order. I also get, from the top screen, the on and kun readings of the character. No, there is no English translation here, but it is still pretty cool don’t you think?

My Japanese Coach for the Nintendo DS is supposed to be available in mid-October of 2008. I will give you a full review soon after my pre-ordered copy has arrived. I’m guessing that it won’t be as good as Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan for Intermediate and Advanced level students of Japanese but will probably be very good for beginners, including those who can’t read hiragana or katakana yet.

Posted on September 23rd, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, my japanese coach, Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu. Comments: None