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

• Japanese-Chinese Dictionary – 83,000
• Chinese-Japanese Dictionary – 85,000
• Chinese Conversation Dictionary – 5,000 examples
• Oxford English-Chinese and Chinese-English Dictionary – 52,000
• Oxford Today English Dictionary – 80,000
• Oxford Today English Thesaurus – 365,000
• Genius Japanese-English – 82,000
• Genius English-Japanese – 95,000
• Super Darijirin Japanese Language Dictionary – 252,000
• Kanji Gen Kanji Dictionary – 13,112 Individual Kanji, 48,000 Kanji combinations
• Concise Katakana Dictionary – 55,200
• Japanese Synonym Dictionary – 79,000
• Japanese Kanji Jukugo Four Kanji Dictionary – 1,422
• Japanese Proverb Dictionary – 4,293

Features

• Chinese Words appear in the Roman Alphabet in the Chinese-English and English-Chinese Dictionaries for those who can not read Chinese characters
• Pronunciation of Chinese Words – Chinese Words and examples senteces can be heard by the touch of a button. Pronunciation is by a native Chinese speaker. The voice is not synthesized.
• Voice Record – Record your own voice for comparison to the native Chinese speakers recording
• Stylus Input System – Enter Japanese, Chinese or English words via the wordtanks stylus pen. Romaji, Chinese characters, Japanese Kanji, English and Hiragana can be entered via the stylus pen. In addition the keyboard can also be used to input words.
• Stylus Navigation System – Allows the use of the included stylus to navigate the dictionaries and features of the V80 Wordtank.
• Kanji Animation Feature – stroke order of each Kanji in animated on-screen (an excellent tool to learn writing of Kanji characters)
• Chinese Pin-In Input – Input Chinese words in the Pin-in form
• Book Marker Function – User is able to save their space within a dictionary for later use
• Japanese/Chinese Character Search – Japanese Kanji and Chinese characters can be searched via writing the character on the screen. (You don’t want an electronic dictionary that doesn’t have this feature!) Kanji can also be searched from its On/Kun reading, radical stroke count, total stroke count, reading of the kanji components or a combination of all the search methods used together.
• Multi-Jump Function – Allows the user to go from one dictionary to another while searching for a word or a Kanji character. Useful for looking up the hiragana meaning to unknown kanji.
• Quick Search – Displays possible choices as characters and words are being entered
• Bundle Dictionary Search – Allows several dictionaries to be searched simultaneously
• Example Search – Search example sentences in English Japanese and Chinese
• Plural Dictionary Search – Words can be searched in the plural form
• Wildcard Search – Makes it possible to find words that you only remember partially
• History Function – Words that were previously searched can be recalled.
• Word Memo – Words or Kanji you wish to memorize can be saved in specific files (Great for studying new words or Kanji!)
• English Menu Message – (Change the user menu message to Japanese English or Chinese. English Menu is more extensive and detailed then previous wordtanks)
• Additional features – Romaji or Kana input, auto power off, magnifying of text and English spell check, Letter Size Change from 12/16/24 pixels in size

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.

Posted on February 5th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods. Comments: 6

My fourth DS game for learning Japanese arrived in the mail yesterday. Kanken DS 2 + Joyo Kanji Jiten (漢検DS2+常用漢字辞典) is the name of it. The thing that excited me the most about this DS title was the dictionary (jiten or 辞典). After messing around with it for an hour I have to say that the thing I am most disappointed with is the dictionary. However, everything else is much better than expected. I think this may even end up being a more useful tool than my previous favorite, Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan.

Let’s take a brief look at some of the features with some screenshots I took.

The above screen is a practice test at level 9. There are 10 levels in Kanken 2 corresponding to the 10 levels of the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test (Nihon Kanji Nōryoku Kentei Shiken, 日本漢字能力検定試験). Level 10 is the easiest level and level 1 is the most difficult.

The format looks fairly similar to the quizzes in Tadashii Kanji Kakitorikun Kanken Taisaku. However, Kanken 2 is far superior in my opinion. With the above on the top screen, the user writes らいしゅう, one hiragana character at a time, on the lower screen. After touching OK the next screen appears.

Now the user writes にちようび (日曜日) and so on. The quizzes are more interesting than those found in Tadashii Kanji… or Nazotte… as the content varies and is not the same format over and over again like those games. For instance, after filling in the hiragana for several kanji marked in red a different task is required as follows.

Now the user has to write the number of the stroke highlighted in red. What happens if you make a mistake?

In this case I wrote 10 instead of the correct answer of 9. One thing I really like about Kanken 2 is that instead of just taking me to the next task I am given the option of going to the dictionary for this character. If I click on the orange box I go to the dictionary.

The dictionary is usually three pages wide. Above I am showing you photographs of two of those three pages. As you can see the dictionary doesn’t offer much more than the Nazotte… dictionary. The dictionary has stroke order, on and kun readings, number of strokes, and radicals. That’s it. Nazotte… doesn’t have radicals, but it has all of the other items.

If a Kanken 3 ever comes out I hope Rocket Company (the software publisher) adds three things to the dictionary: example jukugo, a brief definition in Japanese, and two or three meanings in English. This would be very useful for both Japanese and gaijin users of the program.

Other than the addition of radicals, there are two other things about the dictionary that make it superior to those found in Tadashii Kanji… and Nazotte… The first I mentioned above in that you can leap to the dictionary whenever you miss something. The other is that you can look kanji up by sound. For instance, you can write kei (けい) and be taken to a screen with every kanji that has a kei reading. You can also click on any of the kei kanji to be taken to the dictionary screens for that particular kanji.

In summary, (although if there is interest I’ll post more screenshots and discussion of this title on this blog in the future) the games and quizzes in Kanken 2 appear to be much more enjoyable and varied than those in previously mentioned DS games teaching kanji that I’ve experienced. The character recognition is better than My Japanese Coach but not as good as Nazotte… However, Kanken 2 doesn’t give the false positives that Nazotte… sometimes does. Another complaint of Kanken 2 is the size of the characters on the screen. Nazotte… is much easier on the eyes. Still, my prediction is that I will be using Kanken 2 much more than Nazotte… in the future simply because it is more entertaining while accomplishing the same goal of kanji mastery.

Posted on December 16th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, kanken, reviews. Comments: 2

After many attempts I finally passed the seventh 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. If you can read the above Japanese and are wondering what アル is, that’s my name–Al.

The first six levels corresponded to how Japanese kids learn kanji in school–200 or less a year. The 7th level was a giant leap forward and hence was much more difficult to get through. Not only are the kanji much more difficult, on average, than those in the first 6 grades (kyōiku kanji 教育漢字), but there are also over 315 to learn and be tested on in Level 7. Ouch!

Level 8 appears to give users a minor break with “only” 286 kanji to learn. Would you believe me if I said I’m not that excited to jump into another 286 characters right away? 😉

The above screenshot shows that I can read kanji better than I can write them which is good for me since I rarely have to write them.

Here are a few more screen shots I haven’t previously shown. I’ll walk you through them in case you are thinking about purchasing this game. Explanations will be below the photos.

My normal routine is to do “Today’s practice” (the upper left big button). There you get 5 new kanji to learn and practice reading and writing. After doing 4 of these for a total of 20 characters I move on to “Promotion test” (the middle left big button). To pass the test you have to read all 20 of the kanji recently learned in “Today’s practice.” The characters are presented in random order and you never know if you will have to provide an on or a kun reading. The jukugo words may, or may not, be the same as those you were given in “Today’s practice.”

After passing the reading test, I take the writing test for the same 20 characters. Again, the questions are presented in random order. The recognition of my writing is very good by the program–much better than My Japanese Coach, but sometimes you are given a false positive if you are slightly off or haven’t drawn the last stroke.

After completing all of “Today’s practice” and “Promotion tests” for a level (except the final comprehensive exam for a level which is much more than 50% more difficult when it is over 300 characters instead of 200 characters or less) I go into “Weaknesses” (the middle big button on the right).

The above screen shows that I cleared out the final 4 kanji I previously made a mistake on by correctly writing them this time.

Once you have mastered all of your previously missed kanji under “Weaknesses” you earn the above certificate.

The above screen indicates that you have no previously missed kanji to review since the top button is grayed out. The lower button can never be cleared out. It provides short, 10-question quizzes (5 reading and 5 writing) for any kanji you have ever missed in the program. If you click on the lower button you see the following:

This means that at some point I incorrectly read 260 kanji and incorrectly wrote 541 of the 1,322 kanji studied so far. You can’t reduce these numbers by taking the 10 question quizzes and answering them correctly. This is good as you can always come back to review these kanji that you may now know fairly well without having to wade through the ones that you know really well and never miss.

The 60% indicates that when I have taken these 10 question quizzes of previously mistaken kanji I score an average of 6 out of 10 correct (usually 4 or 5 out of 5 for the reading and 1 or 2 out of 5 on the writing in my case).

I would like to see the creators (Nowpro) of this program put out a new edition of Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan. While this is the best DS game for learning Japanese that I have tried so far, three enhancements would make it even better.

1) On the screen showing the on and kun readings, include a definition in Japanese and English.
2) On that same screen include three or four example jukugo.
3) When a user makes a mistake reading or writing a kanji (in any setting including the tests), take the user (or at least allow the user via a button option) to go to the on and kun reading page mentioned in 1 and 2.

If you have mastered this DS game then you are in luck. Nowpro is coming out with a variation early in 2009. Advanced students of the Japanese language will want to check out the latest offering in this series: Imi made Wakaru Otona no Jukugo Renshuu Kadokawa Ruigo Shinjiten Kara 5-Man Mon (意味までわかる大人の熟語練習 角川類語新辞典から5万問).

Posted on December 13th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu. Comments: 4

I’ve been playing around with the site readthekanji.com for a few days now. This site is a nice tool to improve your skills in reading Japanese (not just kanji) and in preparing for any level of the JLPT.

The registration process is painless and free. It doesn’t even require an email address. You do want to register as doing so allows you to track your progress. You will be shown the characters you are having the most difficulty with so that you can focus in and master them.

If you are just learning hiragana and/or katakana you can start at that basic of a level too. Otherwise you can choose to start at JLPT 4, JLPT 3, JLPT 2, or JLPT 1. Even if you start at a higher level (like JLPT1 or JLPT2) you will still be tested on more basic kanji. I recommend you read this page before beginning.

Happy studying!

Posted on December 3rd, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, japanese links. Comments Off on Read the Kanji

These will be my final thoughts, for a while anyway, on My Japanese Coach, the new game for the Nintendo DS.

The lessons (pictured to the left) in My Japanese Coach sort of jump all over the place and aren’t nearly as methodical as lessons you’ll find in a Japanese textbook like Genki. If another company chooses to create a game that teaches Japanese on the DS, a more structured approach should be considered. Perhaps the first 40 lessons should focus on what is needed to pass the JLPT 4 exam. The next 40 could focus on JLPT 3 and so on. In this way a person could theoretically be prepared to sit for JLPT 1 by going through the whole game of 1,000 lessons. If nothing else, it will keep the programmer focused on keeping things simple early on (which isn’t always the case with My Japanese Coach).

The lessons in Japanese are a mixed bag. Some are OK. Others are poorly written, unclear, lack examples to illustrate a concept, or flat out wrong in places. I almost wish I could have been commissioned to write the lessons. 😉 Japanese need not be as confusing as the lessons can make things appear.

Many words are brought forward in non-dictionary form without explanation. This will prove very confusing to new learners of Japanese. For instance “drunk” is presented as yopparatta instead of yopparau for “to get drunk.” “Rude” is said to be shitsureina instead of shitsurei. It is true that a na particle will frequently show up after shitsurei, but that isn’t always the case.

Sometimes kanji are presented before they are learned in the program. Grammar is sometimes taught incorrectly. For instance, hoshii can only be used for oneself. I think My Japanese Coach may hint at that fact, but then in the examples it is used incorrectly. Other people are also sometimes used in examples without a suffix like san or kun, and that isn’t correct either.

The grade levels are very misleading. For instance, in Lesson 48 of My Japanese Coach you enter the 4th Grade, yet you only have learned only 20 kanji. Japanese kids entering 4th Grade actually know over 400 kanji. Even though 20 characters have been introduced, kun and on readings have yet to be distinguished.

In summary, I hope the strong demand for this product will light a fire under DS game developers to create a game like My Japanese Coach without all of the flaws. The task shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish. Some of the existing games for Japanese people (like Tadashii Kanji Kakitorikun Kanken Taisaku or Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzenhan) can be adapted with English translations. The only other thing that would need to be added is the lessons.

Another approach could be to just upgrade the Ubisoft product by having a native Japanese person work on the calligraphy, employ someone who teaches Japanese to re-write the lessons, improve the character recognition software, and replace some of the useless games with games that will improve a person’s Japanese language abilities (including kanji games like those in Tadashii… and Nazotte…). Add a kanji lookup dictionary like Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten and you will be talking about a fantastic product that Ubisoft can sell for over $50 instead of $30. I’d much rather pay $100 for such a product than $30 for My Japanese Coach. How long do you think I will have to wait for such a thing to come to fruition?

In the meantime, I’ll continue to go through the vocabulary in My Japanese Coach. My Japanese Coach is a worthy investment for a beginner (if it doesn’t build too many bad habits like incorrect stroke order and sloppy grammar) at only $30. Intermediate and Advance students of the Japanese language will want to stick with Japanese titles produced by Japanese companies to improve their Japanese at this point.

Posted on October 28th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, my japanese coach. Comments: 7