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Studying Japanese with a Nintendo DS

Started by tofugu · 10 months ago

When you’re not saving the Mushroom Kingdom from blood-thirsty turtles, you can use your uneducational Nintendo DS to study, improve, and practice your Japanese. There are several “games” out there to help you. Of course, there are several electronic di ... Continue reading »

50 comments

  • Viet

    1 year ago

    The homebrew games are loaded with the R4 chip. If you need the link IM me Koichi.... A lot of my coworkers and brother have the loader :)

    reply
  • Nana

    3 months ago

    Hi Viet! I'm currently studying Japanese. Would u mind sending me the link?
    reply
  • DBV

    1 year ago

    curious, is the real, full name for that first game called "そのまま楽引く辞典"? I can't seem to find it anywhere online to buy by searching for that name, but i've turned up results for "そのまま".
    reply
  • koichi

    1 year ago

    I would just search for "kanji dictionary nintendo ds" to find it, but that is indeed the name for it. If you put the kanji directly in, you'll find some japanese sites on it, but I imagine you want the English ones, right? :) It looks like you can buy it from play-asia.com

    reply
  • Erin

    1 year ago

    I'm kind of sad without my DS, you DS-taker. I want to play Gyakuten Saiban!

    OBJECTION~!
    reply
  • DBV

    1 year ago

    yeah, i found the real name of the first game; it's "Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten", in japanese as "漢字そのまま"
    reply
  • Obesepony

    1 year ago

    ooo I think I heard about this not too long ago. looks pretty nifty! I only studied like 80 kanji maybe it'll help me memorize/practice XD.
    reply
  • Sakuragts

    1 year ago

    My friend told me about that "game" and she said it's really helpful. I have to get my hands on it! ...And Gyakuten Saiban is one of the best DS games ever! No objections here XD
    reply
  • DBV

    1 year ago

    The main thing is I have the japanese toolbar on my PC, but using the JIS drawing system to draw kanji sucks SO BAD on it, and this tool looks wayyyy better than it so...
    reply
  • Onimusha Nosferatu

    1 year ago

    ahh! i don’t have a ds. i wanna get one though. kanji is one of the best parts of japanese. i guess this’ll be my 1st “game.” there must be a couple of these since i saw one in which you hold the ds vertically and write kanji. hmm... it's so expensive. i guess cuz it's imported. what a good investment. those kids dance like that girl in the polysic’s video.
    reply
  • shemgar

    1 year ago

    good stuff yo.
    reply
  • Leora

    1 year ago

    Wait a sec I'm kinda confused, what is the game called? and is it in Japanese? (like an import game or something?)
    reply
  • Alec

    1 year ago

    Thanks for this. I just started thinking yesterday about buying a Nintendo DS for study purposes (for study!). This article came at a perfect time. To be honest, I don't think I need it though. Ciao!
    reply
  • Daniel

    1 year ago

    Must.....get..... game! :(
    reply
  • koichi

    1 year ago

    @Leora
    Most of these games are import games, but they work perfectly in and DS. The kanji dictionary game is called, as DBV kindly pointed out: 漢字そのまま. If you are interested in this game, just type in something like "kanji dictionary nintendo DS game" and stuff will come up. Just making a quick round, I found it on play-asia.com, though I'd go around a little and see if you can't find better prices on ebay or something.
    reply
  • Gabu

    1 year ago

    My question to you lot is as to whether anyone, or any article you've read, has done a comparison to the other electronic dictionaries. I think one of the main issues with those devices is that despite having "23 dictionaries in one!" they never seem to have the ability to do all you want, especially when it comes to accessing useful functions in both English and Japanese. Often the features like thesaurus, aphorisms and even basic word meanings and are only available in one language, with a cumbersome "jump" feature to make up for this at best.

    The reason it makes me so interested to hear that the DS has this type of software is because one could simply pop in a variety of cartridges and hope that enough developers come up with the functions you wanted.

    I'll look myself for reviews comparing these dictionaries to post up, and please let me know what you find, too.

    thanks and ganbarou
    reply
  • hawthorneluke

    1 year ago

    haha, i found and got this game/app some months (?) ago and it really is awesome :D
    but tbh, lately, the best way i've been learning more japanese is by playing online games with the japanese :D
    games education? sonna bakana
    reply
  • Fredy

    1 year ago

    Eeehhhhh PSP>DS.... Haha. Well... um. Back when I bought it I just found it more useful, I sitll find it more useful, but I do understand that the touch screen freature is good and it's variaty of games. These games are cool too. I think I've seen some games like this for PSP. I never tried typing in Japanese on the PSP, I should try one day. I'm debating on getting a cheap used DS.
    reply
  • miya

    1 year ago

    uwaa! pretty neat info guys..
    i was going to buy a casio kanji dictionary where you can have similar function to the 1st game [そのまま楽引く辞典].. でも、ホンマに高いや!! its like 30000yen.. well, its expensive for me atleast x______X
    and damn i dont have CC or paypal so its pretty hard for me to buy things online (thank god i can still get my CDs and DVDs from cdjapan by registered mail :3)
    reply
  • Onimusha Nosferatu

    1 year ago

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEuxWps1yw commercial for the 1st game if anyone's interested. that guy needs to study. haha.
    reply
  • Eric Haraldsson

    1 year ago

    I personally like Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu. It teaches the first thousand or so kanji. Only problem is there is no english at all, so you'll have to look up the meaning of the kanji separately.

    Nevertheless, its my favorite kanji learning software fo Nintendo DS.

    Great blog!
    reply
  • Anna

    1 year ago

    HI, I just saw your America-Japan McDonalds comparison on Youtube and cracked up laughing! Thank you for speaking so clearly and slowly so I could even understand everything.
    Keep on researching about Fast Food Nations- maybe you come to Vienna in Austria one day and discover, that Burgers here are much much m uch smaller than in Japan or in the Us.

    Greetings from Vienna

    Anna
    reply
  • nick

    1 year ago

    i really want a DS now. not much into playing games anymore though (but i'm sure mario will bring back good memories). dont wanna part with the sterling is my problem, christmas perhaps......
    reply
  • jrfiction

    1 year ago

    I've been using kanji sono mama rakubikijiten for about six months now and think it's great for vocab, it is designed for the Japanese, so the definitions are in Japanese irrespective of which dictionary you use. There are three dictionaries and you can use them all concurrently so I don't find myself switching between them too much. The most useful function I find is the flash card function, which saves all the in your search history and then gives you access to them through 3 sets of 100 cards, very easy to review on the bus or train with one hand if need be.
    The only other DS software I use is Kanken DS by rocket at http://www.rocketcompany.co.jp/ It's approved by the people that run the paper test and is great for writing practice, economically friendly too because you don't waste so much paper. ;-)
    reply
  • Kisushite

    1 year ago

    For those of you who want to buy Kanji sono mama, as i will do tomorrow, go to www.nippon-export.com

    the price including shipping fee will be 6870-7400yen, which is VERY cheap indeed.
    reply
  • Erin

    1 year ago

    Kisushite:

    It is so helpful. Man, I want so many new games. I guess I'll just have to wait.
    reply
  • Kao

    1 year ago

    wow. all these games sound cool and all but you need to know at least some japanese. Are there any games you can think of or find that teach you japanese in english?
    reply
  • nororu

    1 year ago

    I got it for xmas! the DS with the Kanji Chikara! WEEE!

    Still trying to figure it out though, still in the middle of the basic japanese course.

    \ (^-^) /
    reply
  • Antonio Pratas

    1 year ago

    I love the new comments look
    reply
  • Kaijiru

    1 year ago

    So the DS is like the leapfrog of Japan? Ugggh, I was born in the wrong country!
    reply
  • Tyler

    1 year ago

    What's the game called in English?
    reply
  • .k3NiCHi

    1 year ago

    Although people have already said it, I'll just repeat that the first game is called 漢字そのまま　DS 楽引辞典 (Kanji Sonomama DS RakubiKI Jiten), in case anyone is still having a hard time finding it because of the misspelling. I personally bought this game and then put a copy on my R4 DS when I got one. I'd definitely recommend it.
    reply
  • ブロ

    1 year ago

    First of let me say that CM is funny, and second! I am off to play-asia to import all of these games. This is fantastic find, I just bought a DS lite. This would help me out alot in the kanji department.

    Thanks for the post Koichi.
    reply
  • lonna

    1 year ago

    I know this post is old but can some one put a picture up of what the sonomama game looks like. The one that recognizes kanji. I could really use that but I want to make sure I'm buying the right thing!!! THANK YOU!!!

    This has got to be the best looking game ever! It would help me learn Japanese so much!
    reply
  • Shtephen

    1 year ago

    lonna I cant post a picture of it her but if you go to www.amazon.com and search "kanji Dictionary" it will come up with the title in English its a the game is in a black case with with and has a blue,yellow and red stripe at the bottom. plus Its $42.95 if you buy it on amazon wich is cheaper than some of the sights that people listed above.
    reply
  • lonna

    1 year ago

    thank you so much for the quick reply!!!!! :)
    reply
  • lonna

    1 year ago

    This has got to be the best thing ever!!! Everyone studying Japanese should get one!!!

    PS Because of Sonomama I now know that in my Sailor Moon Doujinshi Queen Beryl is telling the guy with the white hair (I can't remember his name) to "Take out the trash" in reference to Sailor Venus, who she just hit in the head! Ah!!! I wanted to know what she was saying for literally years!!!! But there was no furigana so I couldn't figure it out!

    SO HAPPY <3
    reply
  • Erin

    1 year ago

    Ionna:

    Glad Tofugu advice is producing real world results!
    reply
  • Veksar

    1 year ago

    The zoolean website is down...is it still maintained at all? If not does anyone know of any other hiragana/katakana DS software? Thanks!
    reply
  • Mark

    1 year ago

    Hi,

    does anyone know if/how to jump to a particular kanji, not an english word, in Kanji Sonomama. I've just started using it and cannot seem to work out how do it. Be such a shame if it's not possible. Cheers.

    Mark
    reply
  • Erin

    1 year ago

    Not quite sure what you mean, Mark.

    If you want to clarify over email, though, we'll try our best to help.
    reply
  • Mark

    1 year ago

    Hi All,

    Erin, in the game, when you input a word/character and it gives you definitions, if you select(jump) it selects the english word, when it would be cool if it let you select th eunknown kanji in that definition. Hope it well enough this time. Cheers.

    Mark
    reply
  • wolf

    1 year ago

    It's a bit newer than your article, but DS Bimoji Training is really nice for making your kanji look nicer. It even comes with a swank brush stylus.
    reply
  • Ally

    1 year ago

    has anyone gotten the SECOND version of Tadashii kanji kakitori-kun that came out in, I think, november? I want to get this game but I'm guessing the second version is better. can anyone confirm that?
    reply
  • grikdog

    1 year ago

    Can anyone tell me what "rakubiki" （楽引） means? It's not in the dictionary (!) I would think something like raku pottery, pulled hot from the fire? So the name would be "The right Kanji, pulled from a hot dictionary" or something like that? Sorry, but 漢字そのままDS楽引辞典 gives me way more information than I need to make a fool of myself ^^;
    reply
  • Erin

    1 year ago

    楽 is "easy" and 引く (a verb) is "look up". It's probably hard to translate because 引く has so many definitions (e.g. play an instrument, pull, etc). Hoped that helped!
    reply
  • Funbit

    1 year ago

    I've found this post in the google and I should say that these 2 applications you mentioned - Tadashii Kanji and JDS project are the best ones in their genre! I've bought my DS Lite in Tokyo and got Tadashii Kanji right away :) And I'm very happy with it!

    PS. "M3 Simply" will help you to run "JDS Project" app.
    reply
  • cocomonk22

    1 month ago

    Like Ally said, there was a second edition of 正しい漢字かきとりくん released on November 27, 2007. It contains all 1945 jouyou kanji rather than just grade 1-6 kanji, so you may want to update this post so that readers will refer to that version instead (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70...)
    reply
  • Meronpan

    2 weeks ago

    My Japanese Coach. Love it. Learned Kana in 2 days, it works perfectly. It learns you japanese from scratch to I don't know where. I do know it has over a 1000 lessons.
    reply
  • Hikari

    6 days ago

    i dont know if u already found it
    but u can download (Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten) from here:
    [LINKED REMOVED]

    EDIT: We don't condone the linking to ROMs unless it contains a freeware license -Viet
    reply

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