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Learn kanji with your Nintendo DS! (Video)

April 10th, 2007 by James

Finally, a kanji training game for the Nintendo DS that can be useful for foreigners with less-than-advanced Japanese ability:

Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun is a game designed to help Japanese elementary school students review their kanji. It is designed to start teaching kanji writing and reading to children who have no prior knowledge of kanji, so it can be very useful for foreign learners of Japanese. It teaches the proper stroke order of each kanji through example animations, allowing users to write the kanji with the stylus and have the neatness and appearance of their kanji given a score. It also has a large number of practice problems and quizes to help you train your kanji writing and reading to perfection. It may not be for more advanced Japanese learners, but it is perfect for those who are looking to get down the several hundred kanji that are expected of a Japanese person who has completed the 6th grade. I tried it out today and I can whole-heartedly recommend it to all you kanji studying nutcases out there!



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33 Comments »

Comment by mike
2007-04-10 22:52:30

the commercial is strangely familiar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9wSMuCJCkQ

 
Comment by Luis
2007-04-10 23:09:25

Now, is the nintendo ds really something I should buy. I heard that there is no region code restriction on games. So that means I can buy this game without having to have bought a japanese nintendo ds. Is this a worthy investment?

Comment by David
2007-04-10 23:36:05

I bought my DSLite on a trip back to the USA because I could find one for sale here in Japan. It works just fine in Japan: wifi, charger, games. I have a few games for my DS but I leave the English-Japanese dictionary in it all the time. About 90% of my DS use has been that one cart. There are many kanji study carts for sale and finding one that you like might take some research. My pal just got adult kanji practice 大人漢字練習 which he likes. The one I have is pretty good, but I forgot the name. My Japanese friends who don’t have a DS love the dictionary and the kanji games, it makes a good conversation starter at bars too!

Comment by Eric
2007-07-24 00:13:42

Hi, I am desperately looking for a DS game that helps me in Japan. what is the name of your English-Japanese dictionary game. Is it made for both English and Japanese speakers?

Thanks!
Eric
e_daniel17@hotmail.com

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by JohtoKen
2008-01-01 16:09:29

This dictionary is primarily for Japanese people who want to learn English, but it can be somewhat useful to the English speakers that know Japanese as well.

The game is called 漢字そのままDS楽引辞典(Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubiki Jiten). It’s about 50 dollars if you import it.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Daniel B
2007-04-10 23:35:40

There are no regional restrictions on DS, except for the chinese model. So you can use this without problems on an american or european DS. I have several japanese cartridges for my DS, which is an american model.

Comment by Snead
2007-10-24 13:10:21

Its kinda the other way around, the Chinese one still has no region restriction, but Chinese games can’t be played on the others due to all the characters. If all of them were the same it would raise the price of the product as a whole. That is, if I remember correctly. Either way non-Chinese DS can’t play Chinese DS games.

 
 
Comment by Kaspian
2007-04-11 01:15:49

Ooooo, I definitely want this. It could be really useful, and possibly fun, in memorizing kanji.

 
Comment by mike
2007-04-11 02:18:14

David, what is the name of the dictionary that you use?

Comment by David
2007-04-11 08:49:07

I use this one
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/13/ds-gets-wordplay-japanese-english-dictionary/

I have a Wordtank V80 also, but I leave it at work. The DS is smaller and more useful to carry around. The biggest problem with the DS version is not being able to jump to Japanese words in a definition.

There was a post about it here on Japan Probe

 
 
Comment by kristin
2007-04-11 04:25:29

Any idea where we can import the main game featured (or the second one in the commercial, with the yellow cover)?

Comment by Kaspian
 
 
Comment by Tenrou
2007-04-11 06:56:36

My girlfriend bought me 「なぞって覚える、大人の漢字練習」 which I think is really nice for kanji practice. I had to enter my age as being six to get to start from level one though. ;)
I’d love some software for improving vocabulary as well, but I guess the market isn’t as big. xP

 
Comment by Bryan
2007-04-11 10:23:07

Thanks for the link, Kaspian, and thanks for the Dictionary info, David. Going to purchase the Kanji one first and see if it helps. :)

 
Comment by Akoua Doffou
2007-04-11 16:07:07

I need this game badly! My kanji suck!

 
Comment by varble
2007-04-11 22:26:06

just downloaded this, and it seems pretty good. One complaint, is that it appears to be only for writing and stroke order. No definitions or usage. I haven’t gotten that far into it yet, so maybe its there, just haven’t found it yet.

Comment by James
2007-04-11 22:47:06

I’m not sure about definitions, but there are definitely lots of example problems that show you usage.

 
 
Comment by Luis
2007-04-12 01:50:14

Well, it looks like I’m buying a DS and here in NYC you can find that game real quick!

 
Comment by taipan
2007-04-12 03:28:09

I would like that too but I am a beginner and still learning Katakana and Hiragana. Are there any DS games with the kanas?

Comment by JohtoKen
2008-01-01 16:14:17

Sadly, there are no official releases for learning Hiragana and Katakana.

 
 
Comment by James Annan
2007-04-13 16:40:49

Can someone who’s got this software confirm whether it covers only the 1006 kyouiku kanji or all the 1945 jouyou ones?

Comment by James Annan
2007-04-13 16:43:14

Answering my own question, amazon clearly indicates the former…shame

 
 
Comment by varble
2007-04-13 20:06:16

@ taipan.

Its got Hiragana and katakana too.

Comment by James
2007-04-13 20:11:03

It does, but you’ll be blindly clicking on buttons if you can’t read hiragana and katakana, since all the menus are written in kana.

 
 
Comment by Smerg Bergley
2007-05-24 07:45:20

Does anyone know if this can be configured for left handed people?

 
Comment by Jamie
2007-05-25 23:25:14

Yes it’s configurable for left handers. I just got it today and it’s excellent. There are only 1006 Kanji, but it looks like a good starting point for the more advanced kanji learning games.

 
Comment by john
2007-10-27 09:46:06

do you need to know katakana and hiragana before buying this game, or there’s an english option for the people that don’t know nothing about japanese???

what games do you recommend for people that don’t know anything about japanese like me

Comment by JohtoKen
2008-01-01 16:16:46

There is no English option because this game is tailored for elementary school Japanese kids.

 
 
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