Learn the Japanese Kanji with a Nintendo DS
Saturday, October 27th, 2007
The most difficult thing in learning Japanese is probably learning the multitude of Kanji. If with some effort and perseverance, it is quite possible to learn how to read the Japanese Kanji, it’s much harder to learn how to write the Japanese Kanji. The main reason being that there are very few circumstances where you actually need to write Kanji by hand. Most of the time you will just work on a computer and use it to transform the reading of a Japanese word to its writing in Kanji. Even the Japanese have to resort to using their mobile phone to check how to write some of them. As far as I am concern, I usually rely on the computer or on my electronic dictionary that I always carry with me. However, there are some situations where the use of such devices is either forbidden or inappropriate. I am thinking of note taking during a meeting at work, or more radical, the occasional examinations in one’s business carrier. In the first case, I skip the most difficult Kanji and just write them in hiragana or translate on the spot in either English or French. For the examinations that are not based on a mark-sheet, there is no escape. So I took the decision to practice the writing of Kanji before facing such a situation. For that, I got a Nintendo DS with a bunch of softwares.
In the next few days, I will review each of the software that I bought. Here is the list :
漢検 DS2 +常用漢字辞典 “Kanji test DS 2 + Usual Japanese Kanji dictionary” by Rocket Company漢検 DS “Kanji test DS” by Rocket Company漢字記憶術 “The art of Kanji memorization” by LukPlus大人の漢字練習 “Kanji training for adults” by Nowpro正しい漢字 かきとりくん “Correct writing of Kanji” by ShôGakKan200万人の漢検 NiHyaku ManNin No KanKenとことん漢字脳 “200 millions people’s Kanji test - a thoroughly approach to Kanji” by IE Institute
If you have a question, feel free to post it to the comments. I will do my best to answer them when reviewing the Nintendo DS softwares for learning the Japanese Kanji.