8.4.2010

I was very positively surprised with this game. I have been studying Japanese for around 5 years now, including a year in Tokyo and have since tried to expand my knowledge or at least keep what I have.When you first start the game gives you a test to judge how far you are already and put you into the correct level. Sadly you can't jump very far ahead with this test and it also does not keep track of individual words reviewed in previous lessons that the student might not know yet. I got an awful lot of colours wrong, but because I didn't get 3 questions in a row wrong, it just assumed I already knew all the colours and gave me full mastery points for the words in question. Also,despite jumping as far ahead as I believe possible, I still ended up reviewing some Hiragana and having to work my way through all the Katakana lessons - which is a bit of a pain if you can write both Hiragana and Katakana, as well as around 100 or so Kanji. There is also no way of manually marking words or letters as "needing review" or "mastered", so there is no way of jumping ahead or reviewing specific words. Yes, it is possible to track down the individual lesson that taught the word in the first place, but I feel there should be a way to include certain words more often than others in the games intended to drill the meaning of words into you. Also it would be nice if after your initial test it would give you lessons which include words you got wrong, but skipped over other lessons where you got all questions right. The lessons themselves are fairly short though, so overall it is not much of a problem to quickly play to the point that your Japanese is actually at.The best part of the game are definitively the mini games, which drill the meaning of words, the writing of Kana and Kanji, as well as sentence structure into you. They unlock fairly slowly, so even if you are relatively far into the game, there still remains things to be discovered. The curve from Romaji to Hiragana/Kanji is fairly well done and I believe will slowly introduce a beginner to the new writing without overwhelming them. For each successfully completed game you get Mastery points for the words that you got correct in the game, depending on the difficulty you played at. You can choose if you wish to work on "open words" (words you haven't mastered according to the game) or "Mastered words" or both, which I particularly enjoy, as it gives you a convenient way to regularly review words from previous lessons. Sadly, if you actually did not know a word from a previous lesson or could not remember it, this doesn't help very much as the word might pop up once per session but rarely more. I am still struggling with the colours and I haven't seen a colour in any of my games for several lessons now, despite the fact that I always choose to review both open and mastered words. What I would have really liked to see would have been different mastery bars. One for initial mastery, then one that fills more slowly over time. In my experience - if I still know a word a year after I originally learned it, then it is firmly lodged in my memory, but sadly the game does not test for that. Initially you learn a lot, but how much of that actually stays in long term memory remains to be seen. You can also not loose mastery points, even if you get a word wrong repetitively, which again is a shame and keeps this game from being brilliant.As others have said, some of the Kana strokes and Kanji strokes aren't right. So far I haven't found this to be a major problem and often the game acknowledges both stroke orders (the one it teaches and the correct one). It obviously still demonstrates the Kana and Kanji with the wrong stroke order, so if a stroke order looks dodgy, it is always worth consulting an actual Kanji dictionary. What is also missing (as far as I can tell, I have still two games to unlock) is a game to drill verb forms. While the verb forms are explained, they aren't much drilled, which would have really been necessary - preferably right from the lesson where the different bases are first introduced. Knowing the bases well and which verb belongs to which group makes Japanese in the long run so much easier and I feel they really missed an opportunity here. They also use Romaji excessively in places - like the game where you hear the Japanese word and need to type it out on a Western keyboard. To me it would be much more useful to hear the word (or even the English version of it) and then have to write the word in Japanese.While you slowly work your way along the lessons, you also work your way through the Japanese school system. You start off as pre-schooler, go to Kindergarden and so on and so forth. I really enjoy that system, as it gives you a very real idea of how far you are. In effect it is only a title and as such has no real influence on the game design, but I find it very motivating.Short but sweet:+Small lessons, with a low frustration factor and realistic word targets+Fun and effective games, with good difficulty levels+The tool to record your pronunciation and compare it to a mother tongue speaker's is excellent+Training of writing, reading and listening skills+It is possible to go back to any lesson to review it+The game is huge and not only targeted at beginners+A good curve from Romaji to Kana and Kanji-Only initial "Mastery" and no meter to assess if a given word is actually in long term memory-Grammar is awkward to fully comprehend on such a small screen-No game to practice Japanese Verb forms-Lessons are fairly stagnant and you have to work your way from one to the next, no matter if you know the content or not-No way for the user to get the game to practice particular words more often than others-Incorrect stroke order on occasion-Overuse of Romaji at timesDespite it flaws, I would still recommend this game to anyone who wants to keep their Japanese up or get an impression of the language. It is fun, motivating and keeps you coming back for more. It is however not a replacement for old fashioned pen and paper flash cards and a proper Japanese book with grammar drills and lots of actual Japanese writing.

24.8.2009

Unless you're some sort of freaky genius, studying Japanese is a challenge for English speakers - but at the risk of sounding like a Tomy advert, this game actually does make learning fun (and even slightly addictive). It's split up into lessons which teach you 10 to 15 words or symbols at a time; you then play a variety of games to earn points and 'master' the words, after which you can move onto the next lesson. There are 100 thematic lessons, and then 900+ "open plan" ones, each of which teaches you ten new words or kanji.If you learn best aurally then this will be useful for you, as it comes with audio recordings of all the words and sentences covered. For me,this is the biggest advantage of the game as I find the words are much more likely to stick in my head if I hear them spoken aloud. You can also pinpoint specific words or phrases that you have difficulty with, which might be more difficult to do with a CD. The audio is also really helpful for pronunciation, obviously. The second big advantage is that the game gives you time to practice the hiragana and katakana (two of the Japanese writing systems), and after the 30th lesson it cuts down on the romaji so you're forced to read it and eventually pick it up, even if you don't put all that much effort into learning it. If you want to learn a lot of vocabulary quickly but don't have hours to dedicate to it, or are just a bit lazy, then this is a great way to do it.The downside of the game is the grammar lessons, which are far too brief; after fifty lessons I knew about five hundred words but had no idea how to use them. There are also too few examples; you're hit with a list of ten verbs but only one or two sentences to illustrate how you put them into action. Obviously the DS screen is pretty small so there's a limit to how much text they can squeeze in there, but even so, some of Haruka sensei's explanations were dire. It's easy to keep moving through the lessons as you're only tested on vocabulary, not grammar, so if you want to learn Japanese properly you really need to supplement your learning with a grammar book; personally, I like 'Schaum's Outlines: Japanese Grammar' and 'Japanese for College Students'. (Note: you'll need to be pretty nifty with your kana if you want to get much out of those.) The explanations and reading of kanji are also a bit vague, so I'd recommend buying a kanji book.All in all, this is definitely a worthwhile buy - I've only been learning for a few weeks but I've found I'm picking it up pretty easily. In the past, when I was trying to learn using books only, I found it all a bit overwhelming and didn't get very far, but I now feel like I'm making progress; at the same time, if didn't have a grammar book I wouldn't have a clue what was going on. This is a fun, useful addition to more traditional learning methods, but not good enough as a standalone product.

11.1.2010

When I bought this I didn't expect to learn very much. I already knew a lot of vocabulary from watching endless anime and did not expect much from this in the way of grammar or writing. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that after a few short lessons I was already forming basic sentences and writing down elementary kana symbols.The game starts by testing how much Japanese you already know, and then determines what level to place you at for you to continue your learning. The lessons alternate between vocabulary with grammar pointers on how to use that vocab, and kana writing lessons, and encourages you to learn the kana in order to continue learning the vocabulary without the help of romanji (phonetically written in English).You learn approximately ten words or symbols per lesson,

14.10.2009

Having been to Japan two years ago I fell in love with the place. It is without doubt one of the few places you must visit before your heart stops beating. I used to download my Japanese lessons from ITunes and whilst in Tokyo it proved quite invaluable - one of the locals even asked me if I studied the language (we were in a pub at the time so perhaps the alcohol was the cause of flattery?) made me smile though!This game arrived yesterday (just missed the pesky postal strikes - hurrah) and I must say that I am simply blown away! The learning curve is just right and it allows you to go at your own pace. Fun games and the prospect of 'mastery points' keep you coming back for more!In less than a day I now know my colours,

2.3.2009

Having previously only used books and audio methods to learn a language I thought I'd invest in a DS and this game to see if it could help with my vocabulary retention and general learning. First off it has to be said that it is very easy to set up your profile on this game and get into the learning very quickly. A female Japanese character guides you through each lesson (which are also introduced with facts about Japan as a nation which is a nice touch) and introduces the various words and phrases before moving on to various games to help you remember and apply them. The word games are fairly simple but help concrete the words in your memory and as you progress through the game more are

3.2.2009

Well i got this because it was cheaper than any of the other materials i have purchased to get me to learn a second language.I've spent hundreds of pounds on books, cd's and who knows what else, all i needed to do was spend 15 quid on a game for the DS.The learning curve is very very low unlike many other methods of learning japanese or any language for that fact they don't throw you in at the deepend with a 4 paragarph conversation, just nice easy 5-10 words on 1 subject and some really entertaining quiz like games multiple choice wordsearch and hit the word (like whack a mole) these are just the games you start off with there are more to find as you work you way through the lessons.I've only been using it for a few days my basic knowledge meant i could skip a few lessons.ooh forgot that,

23.2.2009

I was already a moderate Japanese speaker before I bought this game but thought having lessons in game form would motivate me to improve my Japanese further. Books can get soo boring! The game starts by estimating your current Japanese ability and sets you off from an appropriate lesson- it's suitable for absolute beginners to moderate Japanese speakers, but may be too simple for experts.The lessons involve basic Japanese nouns, verbs then progresses to sentences. Every now and then a Kanji (Japanese characters) lesson is thrown in. I've not finished it yet but it does do a good job teaching you new Japanese words. However it does get a bit boring after a while.

28.1.2010

myself being a big anime & manga fan and everything japanese i jumped at the the chance to buy it. as soon as it came i was hooked.the start of the game is very simple create profile & then a starting test will test your current capabilties. i was very suprised with how well i did. the learning parts are very simple and straight to the point. the game includes both kana's hiragana & katakana as well as later in the programme kanji. the game goes from easy to hardwith different lessons - pronoucations, colours, basic words- hello, that, there etc, days of the week and just builds up from there.with the ds functions of touch screen and microphone you can practice the strokes of the kana where

16.12.2008

I studied Japanese and lived there many years ago and have been trying to keep up with the language every since, with varying success. I've purchased some Japanese games for the DS recently, which have been useful for Kanji and Kana learning (Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubikjiten and Tadashii Kanji Kakitori kun - both available from Amazon Japan).I think this is the first game released for the DS that takes English speakers through the basics of the Japanese language. English learning games for the DS at all levels are very common in Japan, so this is well overdue. The Japanese games for learning English often don't have enough Japanese in them of the right level to be useful to English speakers,

17.5.2010

This game is very good at teaching you japanese, however only if you want to learn the language. If you're looking for something to teach you just enough to get by on holiday or something, then this may not be for you.It has a brilliant dictionary feature, and makes sure that you learn both the relevant alphabet and the correct pronunciation, to the point of making your words the correct length!The games are comprehensive and useful. My only problem was the writing games; you can't practice looking at the whole word and recognising it very much, or writing a whole word - you can only write words letter by letter. But,

10.9.2009

Having lived in Japan for two years and been in the teaching profession myself I have tried many different approaches to learning the language with varied success. For me, this game is by far the best value learning tool for Japanese you can get. The material is almost identical to that covered in conventional textbooks, but far more interactive, easier to study on the go and tailor made for self-study.Among my highlights would be the writing system (it's not perfect but so much better than most stuff out there - this game actually makes me WANT to learn the stroke order, and makes it more approachable).

17.8.2010

Really helpful, I wouldn't use it on it's own though...I have the Pimsleur course and it's great to get a better understanding of the language using both. Sometimes on the Pimsleur course they don't tell you the basics like colours, why different particles are used such as wa, mo, no etc, but that's explained in the game!Really interactive, sometimes the games are a bit pointless and I tend to choose the ones to practice what I remember/know that's better suited to what i'm learning. For example the wordsearch is not very useful all the time, as is the silly bop'it game!The 4 star was for the comprehensiveness of it all as it's not great, but fun and you do learn from it!

21.3.2009

This is a great little tool for those of you wanting to learn or brush up on your japanese.The game starts by testing yuo on any existing knowledge you may already have then proceeds to teach you from that level onwards. Great if you already know bits and peices so you don't have to go over older stuff instead, though you can choose to if you like.The in learning games anr fun and easy to get to grips with and each lesson is repaeted so that the knowledge really sets in. Plus with each lesson only being around about 20mins ong it's not to taxing as well.I would highly recommend this as it's great fun and as i've found out, quite hard to put down.

3.4.2009

I have just bought and started playing the game and I think it is a very good idea. I think it's good for beginners as it gives you a push in the right direction.The lessons are short and do not contain hugh lists of vocabulary which can seem quite daunting to a beginner. The lessons contain about 10 new words each which is a good amount and you are able to practice and review them through fun games.All in all the game is a great idea and I would recommend it to anybody who is beginning to study Japanese.

12.1.2010

Fantastic little game-im trying to learn Japanese with a audio book at the moment but sometimes I dont carry it so this is a fun handy little game to keep me on my toes and its very addictive to want to up your level. I especially like how it starts by giving you a little test to check what level you are already at so you can skip a few lessons.

My Japanese Coach (DS) - Reviews

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