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I finished the above two issues of Nihongo Journal this past week. We are leaving for Japan in about 10-12 weeks and I have about 20 unread issues to still get through so I need to keep up my pace of about 2 a week. Nihongo Journal is very enjoyable to read. It’s probably about the best method of studying Japanese on your own out there. Too bad they no longer publish new issues. It was a great run while it lasted though.
I’m down to just a few months before heading over to Japan, and I need to sale all 30+ of my remaining issues of Nihongo Journal before I go. I recently reduced my price to $12 per issue (compared to other sites on the internet selling them at $20+ per issue).
From today until they are gone I’m going to offer an even better deal if you purchase 5 issues or more at a time. 5 issues will be just $50 with free shipping to addresses in the U.S.A. Issues ordered beyond the fifth that are shipped at the same time are just $9 each!
You can still purchase individual issues at $12 each plus $3 shipping if you want less than five issues. And I have a few issues left with tapes too.
A new version of the fabulous Japanese and Kanji learning game for the Nintendo DS was released today. I reviewed the prior version here. Kanken DS3 Deluxe (漢検DS3デラックス) appears to include some of the suggestions from my prior review. I won’t know for sure until I actually try it out what all the improvements are, but after taking a quick look at Rocket Company’s website it looks like they have nearly doubled the number of different questions/problems from 60,000 to 116,000.
The dictionary also looks much better. Now there are actually definitions and examples instead of just readings, stroke order, and radicals. Another huge improvement, which puts this dictionary above other DS dictionaries and even some fancy electronic dictionaries, is you can write four character jukugo and get a definition.
Of course, it’s impossible to tell just how much better this product is than Kanken DS 2 without actually using it, but I’m guessing it is well worth the price–just $38.99 delivered.
If you’d like my Kanken DS 2 I’m now willing to part with it for $28 delivered. Email me if interested.
My wife is currently enrolled in her second term of Japanese. One of her classmates turned her on to Human Japanese 2, a software package designed to teach someone with no knowledge of Japanese how to speak, read, and write Japanese. We downloaded it last week and have been messing around with it ever since.
I’ve been pretty impressed with this package, although I must admit that I haven’t tried much of the competition. The main reason for not comparing it to the other programs out there is you have to fork over $50+ for them (and sometimes well over $100) before knowing if the software is even useful.
The audio is very good (even funny at times when you get to compare how a foreigner pronounces a Japanese word versus a native for instance); the lessons are logical and clear. Stroke order is animated (and always correct unlike My Japanese Coach) and easy to follow. They even toss in some Japan culture items between some of the lessons.
Overall I think this is an excellent package for the price for anyone at the beginner level in their Japanese studies. One of the nice things about Human Japanese is you can try it before you buy. Once you are ready to buy, the version from Amazon is actually cheaper (at the time of this writing at least) than if you purchase directly from the publisher. The trial version allows you to go through the first 12 lessons. The full version gives you another 28 lessons. I don’t know if the version that costs about $20 adds anything to the first 12 trial version lessons.
If you are past the beginner level in your Japanese studies then this software won’t be of much use to you. It would be really nice if they did a subsequent version for more advanced learners.
Kanji Box is a cool, little application for Facebook which allows the user to learn and/or test their Japanese skills. It’s mostly a reading application, but you are likely to pick up a few new words along the way. You need not know any kanji to use this application as there are also kana quizzes. You can change the level of kanji tested to any JLPT level or Japanese grade level you wish to quiz yourself at whatever stage you are at in your kanji studies.
For those with a competitive streak in them, you can also work on improving your personal high scores, compare your high scores with other Facebook friends, and stare in wonder at the leaderboard (which I am still 250 points away from). On the stats page, after taking a few quizzes, you can see what level you are at. For instance, I can see from my results on the stats page that I can easily pass JLPT 4, JLPT 3, and JLPT 2, but I’m borderline passing for JLPT 1.
You can even export printouts of kanji you miss for offline studying.
After a year of use and tremendous assistance provided by my V80 I am going to part with it after purchasing a V300. I certainly don’t need both! If you’d like to take this electronic dictionary (電子辞書) off my hands the price is $129 which includes free shipping in the U.S. and a used protective case (which normally costs over $20 new on ebay). The $129 price is very good considering that this dictionary goes for prices well above $250 on ebay and other discount places. The retail price is almost $600. (52,000 yen)
The dictionary functions perfectly, and I haven’t had any problems with it. As the pictures show, there are signs of wear, mostly on the outer shell. This is a great dictionary if you are learning English, Japanese, or Chinese and already speak one of the three. Here are some more specs:
English/Japanese/Chinese Dictionaries
Features
Uses 2 AAA batteries for 100 hours of battery life.
Size: 148 mm x 104 mm X 18 mm
No flash and poor lighting on the above photo. The screen is actually much easier to read than the above picture indicates. You can also change the darkness/contrast of the font easily with a knob on the side.
This is an example of the small font size. By touching the screen icon on the lower right with the stylus you can quickly enlarge the font size.
For more information (in Japanese), see the Canon Wordtank website.