Archive: 17 posts

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Well, since I've had a Japanese player comment on one of my levels (in kana), I decided to go out and buy My Japanese Coach for the DS (I had been wanting to learn to read Japanese for a while before then). I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn the language, it's a very useful tool. Since starting last weekend, me and my gf have been learning a lot. We're up to the point where we've learned the numbers 1 through 15, the months, the days of the week, some colors, some basic words and about 20 hiragana characters. Perhaps in a month or so, I'll be able to tell if the player left me a good comment, or called my level rubbish lol :hero: If you've got any questions about the game, ask here and I'll try to answer as best I can

2008-11-26 15:30:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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are there any other coach games? Spanish maybe? I need a good spanish coach because i don't get spanish. It's hard for me to understand and comprehend.

2008-11-26 16:30:00 Author: Frank-the-Bunny Posts: 1246

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are there any other coach games? Spanish maybe? I need a good spanish coach because i don't get spanish. It's hard for me to understand and comprehend. Yes, there are a line of coach games. A friend of mine bought My Spanish Coach. I can't give any info on it though, since I speak fluent Spanish already and thus didn't buy it

2008-11-26 16:35:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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i've thought about the japanese one. Is it helpful. Can you figure out what some things say already?

2008-11-26 16:37:00 Author: Frank-the-Bunny Posts: 1246

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i've thought about the japanese one. Is it helpful. Can you figure out what some things say already? Well, I've been practicing by trying to pinpoint those few characters I know. In the Japanese player's comment I noticed that he wrote "II" which means "Good" and is one of the things I learned. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to phrase structure yet, so I don't know if he actually wrote "II" or if it's part of another word. Still, makes me hopeful that he didn't call my level rubbish :hero: There are still many characters I don't know, but for having spent only 4 days learning, I'd say that's pretty impressive already.

2008-11-26 16:43:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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yah that's good i have learned spanish for two years and i don't get it still

2008-11-26 16:45:00 Author: Frank-the-Bunny Posts: 1246

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Well, you could say I am necroing a thread over 6 months old now, but I'm finding this software very helpful as well. I've also bought the "My Chinese Coach" as well, which teaching Simplified Chinese (Mandarin). There are similar programs but different. To summarise though, I highly recommend them. The great thing about the DS is that you can use the microphone to practice your speaking skills, and the stylus to practice your writing and stroke order. Most PC programs skip those two vital points, which limits how much you can learn. The games are well thought out. They are repeatative, yes, but that's what you need when learning languages. Repeatition and more repeatition. As the program moves on you unlock different games, include trying to recognise or translate words by sound alone, and trying to remember different translations. It's just really solid and I highly recommend it.

2009-06-05 15:45:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Lol @necroing. Barely anyone paid any attention to this thread back when I posted it, that's why it went out. It's an awesome learning tool/game, and the language is different and interesting. It's really unfortunate that some minor bugs managed to slip through (nothing too major, and they can be bypassed once you know about them). According to some reviews the stroke order we're shown is sometimes incorrect, but unless you're planning on handwriting Japanese anytime soon, I don't think it matters much. The proper stroke order is shown on wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Specific_kana

2009-06-05 16:18:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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Well, to be technically correct, you can sometimes get away with almost random scribbles when having to write characters. It's not the ideal way to learn, and it would hurt you in the long run if you were to keep to such a habit, but it's by no means a perfect writing simulator. Still though, as I said in the previous post, it's rare to find a computer format that will test your ability to write asiatic languages. Considering that real person lessons can easily cost at least twice as much as this game goes, and that's in a group setting, it really is good value for money. If you factor in the price to buy a DS as well, it's worth the equivalent of I think maybe 3 semesters or 1.5 years worth of classes. Considering you get quite good software that you can take at your own pace, plus a DS as well, it's just a really good option if you want to learn Japanese.

2009-06-05 16:34:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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Btw, does it ofer different dialects/ types of japanese?

2009-06-05 18:27:00 Author: Silverleon Posts: 6707

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Btw, does it ofer different dialects/ types of japanese? As far as I am aware of I do not think so. I believe it's just one speaker for the entire program, who is female. You can change the pitch though to make it sound more masculine if you prefer. Off memory it formally teaches around 1,000 words and has the capacity to teach 10,000 words in total. That's easily enough to converse, and starting to get to dictionary levels of content. But as for different dialects, I do not think there is any option for this. I'm guessing here that it would be based around a tokyo/central Japan style dialect. Although there are other styles they can all still basically understand each other, though sometimes different Japanese dialects can be like a Scotsman talking to a Texan in English. :eek:

2009-06-05 18:41:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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I just got this and it's pretty good So far i've learnt some basic words, colours, days and 1-19 I've come to a dead end on the Kana section though! I've just spent about 2 hours trying to learn 15 letters which i'm still forgetting xD Now i'm on the "months" lesson though i'm completly stuck, it's suddenly asking me to write out the numbers and counters which there hasn't been a lesson about, and on top of that it's asking me to learn characters that i've never seen! Anyone got tips on remembering all of these because i'm not getting anywhere at the moment

2009-06-10 00:01:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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seems good ^ it always seemed like something that wouldnt be that good, but i guess we cant judge a game buy its cover xD

2009-06-10 01:59:00 Author: 01philip01 Posts: 545

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I don't own a DS but I've got a podcast I'm learning Japanese from. Helps with the pronunciation but not so much the written versions of the language. They offer those too but they don't work with my generation Ipod. Cool idea to have it in a game though.

2009-06-10 02:22:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983

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I just spent ages trying to learn how to write out each of the months, and then realise the lesson never actually asked me to write anything xD Well i guess i'll have a head start later on

2009-06-10 03:32:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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The kana is tough the first few characters, but once you start to memorize some, the other ones start to be easier to learn. Practice practice practice, it's really the only way to learn them. For the words, I find it easier to learn by memorizing the word and practicing until I'm sure what the word means. Only after that, I bother with trying to read the word in kana, though once you've learned all of the kana characters this should start being natural. Don't try to rush ahead too fast, just go at your own pace on each lesson until you're sure you've learned, then you can move on. Also after a lesson, be sure to refresh yourself on the previous lessons in the "Games" section, it really helps to make the stuff you've learned stick.

2009-06-10 11:09:00 Author: Gilgamesh Posts: 2536

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I'd heartily recommend not trying to race through this cartridge as fast as you can. You are trying to learn a language, not watch the final cut scene of a pre-built storyline. That means learning and digesting rather than going as fast as you can. The best way to learn is to repeat and repeat and repeat again. I only do 1 or at most 2 lessons a day, and then revise a tonne. I'll try and do each game that I've unlocked at least once each day on words that I have not mastered, so I can better learn and digest and process what I have learnt. Going to "game" and then unselected "open" and selecting "mastered" will make it go through words and characters that you are expected to already know. Also not avoiding the "hard" games like writing long words using characters is good as well. Although it's really hard at first, repeatition and practice will eventually make things easier. I'd struggle to write 1 or 2 words in hirigana initially, now I usually get about 6 out of 10. While going through each lesson, you can hear the pronounciation of each word, practice saying each character, word or phrase and have it repeated back to you, and also practice writing out each of the characters as well. Although you do not get any "rewards" or "unlocks" for spending time on these parts, they really are essential to be going over time and time again. That is where you start to learn new things, that's where you start to process new characters. Certainly, you can just play the pre-built games in each of the lessons, guessing the right answers and repeating them until you "unlock" the next lesson. If you do this, you could probably work through the first few lessons pretty quickly. But really you are just hurting yourself in the long run. You skip the initial lessons based on how well you do in the introductory quiz, but you are able to go over those lessons you have skipped if you like. I remember though one lesson, I think it was "numbers 2" which is about lesson 16, referred back to "numbers 1" being lesson 3 or something like that, when in actual fact it was lesson 2. Those might not be the exact lesson numbers, but the point is to look over the previous lesson titles and recap stuff that has not fully sunk in yet. I haven't gotten this far yet, but I think by about lesson 30 (that's about 30 hours worth) they almost entirely drop out the use of romanji as you are expected to have a reasonable grasp of hirigana by then. If you are just rushing through lesson and not repeating, practicing, learning and memorising the alphabet, it's going to be near impossible to go on from there. If you keep repeating everything though, and work really hard at trying to memorise the characters, words, and practical uses for them, then it's going to get a whole lot easier to keep going on. Ask yourself... what would the current month be in Japanese? What would I say the colour of this object is in Japanese? What would be some basic arithmatic numbers in Japanese? How would I write the vowels or T group or R group and so on and so on. Asking practical questions in the real world can also help you grasp what you are learning on a deep level. Yes, it's a game, but really, it's a lesson system. That means learning and studying if you want to get good and "unlock everything" to see the "final cutscene".

2009-06-13 07:15:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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