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  • Studying With The Nintendo DS

  • Posted on 10.23.09 in Language

    • studyDS

    Recently, Brett of Rainbowhill asked via Twitter for some iPhone/iPod applications to help with your study of Japanese, so I decided to ask around myself to find some useful Nintendo DS games. These are the most popular games that were recommended by fellow twitter users.

    Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten

    kanji_sonomama

    I wouldn’t really consider Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten a game, it’s more of a dictionary but that doesn’t mean it’s not also extremely useful. The stylus can be used to write a kanji that you only know by sight, with a few strokes of your stylus you can find the meaning of the kanji but a lot more, I have something like this on my iPod Touch but with the use of an actual instrument besides by finger, I would be able to identify an unknown kanji much more easily.

    Bimoji Training

    bimoji_training

    This one was really appealing to me, Bimoji (Beatufil Kanji) Training helps you practice making kanji look beautiful. Bimoji Training comes with a special stylus that looks very similar to a calligraphy brush to really get an idea of how to write kanji.

    Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun – Kanken Taisaku

    kanji_kenten

    Kanken Taisaku also makes good use of a stylus and is used for learning kanji. This is different from the other games because you actually learn the Kanji, you study the stroke order of the character, readings and meanings. The game has 3 stages, learn new characters, drill yourself on those newly learned kanji and then test yourself. It’s vocabulary is very similar to the vocabulary of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test so that’s another big plus. This video actually has only 3 seconds of the game itself so I recommend you should go looking for some more videos^^

    The Round Up

    All these different games are great and I can’t decide on which one I want to get, so I’ll leave it up to you. Christmas is coming up in a few months so I’m going to buy one of these games depending on how you vote because they’re all so good.

    So vote for them now! If you also think that there’s a DS game that’s perfect for studying Japanese and I didn’t include it, than leave a comment and other people can “like” that comment so I can tell if there’s another great game.

    Don’t think I forgot all those people who helped me out on twitter, these are the people who either gave feedback or RT’d…

    Rainbowhill, kiruchan, jyuichi, maryag, c_nak, eMagi, and NihonGoup.

    You can buy all these games and more on White Rabbit Press and please RT this post to get a more accurate answer for the best DS game.

    dsnihongo


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  • I'd take my iPhone over a DS any day. I had a DS and several programs to help me with Japanese, but found the DS lacking in many areas. It was replaced with an iPod Touch and then an iPhone. At least with the Apple Store there are more options for homebrew or small time programs. Maybe this will change and Nintendo will open up their store to everyone with a DSi and some programing skills.
  • TurningOtaku
    very nice point, but I think I DS would be better for kanji practise, it's more realistic to use the stylus when your own finger when writing the kanji
  • I did a similar round-up of useful titles for Japanese study a few months ago: http://dsninja.com/japanese-study/

    Looks like we have a few picks in common!
  • Does anyone know whether it's possible to publish downloadable games for the DS? I would love to port http://nihongoup.com/ to it...
  • codePhantom
    You can make a homebrew, though I don't know how possible a game like NihongoUp would be. ^^;
  • Al
  • I got Bimoji - it's a good way to learn writing kanji... but it doesn't teach the meaning which is kind of pointless. Writing isn't nearly as difficult as learning the meaning. I got the iPhone app - "Japanese" which is the best learning tool I've used so far!
  • codePhantom
    But the whole point of the game is to teach you to write beautifully and it does a pretty good job in that respect. Who doesn't want Japanese girls fawning over their handwriting? :D
  • I should first work on my english handwriting which is currently worse than my japanese one xD
  • TurningOtaku
    I also have Japanese, it is totally worth the heavy cost :D
  • codePhantom
    You can find a review of the games and some others that could be useful like なぞっておぼえる here. I think the blog is dead though...
  • TurningOtaku
    Nice, any favorite's you think should be in the running?
  • codePhantom
    Kanken DS and Nazotte Oboeru. I don't suppose My Japanese Coach has any chance of getting on this list? lol
  • I'd heard of Kakitorikun but not Bimoji, both worthy of further investigation. I'm currently hooked on KankenDS.
  • TurningOtaku
    Thanks for the recommendation, other people should "like" that comment if they also consider Kanken DS a great game^^
  • I have both the "Sonomama" and "Tadashii" games and they are really good. My Japanese isn't on the level to properly use Tadashii though. "Sonomama" is great to have whilst watching J-TV or reading something.
  • TurningOtaku
    Great! Sonomama is in the lead for the best tool for studying Japanese :D
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