Comme ça du Japon

This article is part of a series dedicated to the different softwares for the Nintendo DS to learn the japanese Kanji.

Tsugawa method

Since the unprecedented success of the Brain Age game, being endorsed by an authoritative person is almost a requirement for any Nintendo DS software with an educational purpose. This is the case of Kanji Kakitori Kun that we reviewed before. つがわ式 (TsuGaWa ShiKi) “Style Tsugawa” 漢字記憶術 (KanJi KiOku Jutsu) “Kanji Kiokujutsu (Kanji + memorization + art)” (ERTAIN production, developed by Lukplus, released on June 28th, 2007) follows this rule as it is based on the つがわ式記憶法 (TsuGaWa Shiki KiOku Hô) “the Tsugawa memorization method”. It is the method that 津川博義 (TsuGawa Hiroshi) “Mr Tsugawa Hiroshi”, of the Colombus Institute, a 塾 (Juku) “after hours class bussiness”. Learning the japanese Kanji with this method consists in marking the difficult parts of the Kanji with a red pen. You can then focus only on these parts to visually memorize the Kanji. The software received a lot of positive buzz when it was released because the press conference consisted in trying the method with 12 members of the AKB48 band, 48 young japanese ladies band composed of three teams (A, K and B) that have a permanent review in their own theater at Akihabara. But let’s forget the J-POP and the Japanese girls in school uniform for a moment. Grab a red pen and let’s see if the miracle that happened for 12 baby stars will also happen for us 外人 (GaiJin) “gaijin“.

Tsugawa Shiki Kanji Kiokujutsu

You should already know the two japanese alphabets hiragana and katakana to use Tsugawa Shiki Kanji Kioku Jutsu. Solid understanding of the basis of the Japanese Kanji is recommended. Note that the manual shows the reading above each Kanji so the strict minimum would be to be able to read hiragana and having a japanese dictionnary handy.

Shall we try ?

After drawing a circle on the touch screen of the Nintendo DS, an act at the basis of Tsugawa Shiki Kanji Kioku Jutsu, you will probably tap on お試し版 (OTameShiBan) “trial” to learn the Tsugawa method on the Kanji used for 薔薇 (BaRa) “rose”. This word is usually written in katakana because the Kanji are quite difficult to remember.

The Tsugawa method is explained on the example of the two Kanji used for the word ‘rose’. First, you have to remember the reading of each Kanji by marking them with the stylus. The next step is to remember how to write the Kanji. The secret is to identify the elements that are difficult to remember, mark them and focus your attention on the marked elements. On this particular example, the software analyze the different parts of the Kanji and select the difficult elements by itself. Then, you are asked to focus your attention on the marked elements. On the next screen, you have to write the two Kanji. When done, the correct answer is revealed and you have to evaluate your answer by yourself. If all went right, you should have successfully wrote the two Kanji.

Still have some doubts ? Write down 薔薇 (BaRa) “la rose” on a piece of paper, grab your red pen and have a go with the Tsugawa method.

After this explanation, we can try the Tsugawa method on a set of 10 Kanji with a test every 5 Kanji. I have made an evaluation grid in PDF format which is based on these 10 Kanji so you can try it by yourself.

• 漂白 (HyôHaku) “bleach”
• 享受 (KyôJu) “enjoy”
• 感銘 (KanMei) “impression”
• 倹約 (KenYaku) “economy”
• 補助 (HoJo) “aid”
• 郵便 (YûBin) “post”
• 雑誌 (ZasShi) “magazine”
• 車窓 (ShaSô) “train window”
• 癖 (KuSe) “habit”
• 就任 (ShûNin) “installation”

The exercices start by showing a sentence with a word written in red. The reading of each Kanji is also displayed above the sentence in hiragana. On the next screen, you follow the Tsugawa method and circle the reading of each Kanji. Then, you circle the difficult parts of each Kanji to focus your attention on them. After you feel confident, you can go to the next screen and draw the Kanji. At this stage, there is no automatic recognition of the Kanji and the evaluation is left to the user. The last screen shows the correct answer and your own answer. If you made a mistake, you can start over at the step where you mark the difficult parts of the Kanji.

Every 5 questions, you will have to pass a test to verify if you remember all the Kanji. This time, the Decuma AB character recognition engine (known for powering the Sony clié line of palm PDA in its time) is used to evaluate your answers. It seems that this engine is trying hard to recognize a Kanji even when you draw gibberish. It also does not take care of the order of the strokes and is not bothered with the fine details of Kanji writing such as the shape of each strokes which is quite unfortunate for a japanese Kanji learning software.

Features

First thing that you ought to know is that there is no user profiles built in this game. So you can’t share it with your family. Here are the available features :

• 極意と手順 (GokuI To TeJun) “secret and procedure” is just the first part of the お試し版 (O TameShi Ban) “trial”,
• 漢字記憶術
  (KanJi KiOku Jutsu) “art of remembering the Kanji”,
• 漢字テスト (KanJi TeSuTo) “Kanji exam”,
• 成績 (SeiSeki) “Performance”,
• 設定 (SetTei) “Options”,

Kanji Kioku Jutsu

The main screen displays your progress rate, the number of correctly answered questions and your Tsugawa rank. The touch screen shows the following different category of exercices.

• 基本 (KiHon) “Basics” with 100 questions,
• ビジネス (BiJiNeSu) “Business” with 200 questions,
• 暮らし (KuRaShi) “Life” with 200 questions,
• 常識 (JôShiki) “Common sense” with 100 questions,
• 漢検 (KanKen) “Kanji aptitude examination”, Kanji Kentei, levels 1 to 4 with 300 questions,
• 自慢 (JiMan) “Kanji for bragging” with 100 questions.

After a category is selected, the touch screen display the list of the exercices, each with 10 questions. The series for which we did great are marked with a medal. The exercice in itself is similar to the the one in the trial mode. A the end of the exercice, your score is displayed and your Tsugawa rank is updated to reflect how you did.

Examinations

The second feature of Tsugawa Shiki Kanji Kioku Jutsu called 漢字テスト (KanJi TeSuTo) “Kanji examination”, allows you to verify your knowledge with 4 different types of exercices. Some of them are available after completing some exercices. Also, the last three have the annoying particularity of not allowing any mistake as it just stops at the first missed Kanji.

• ぬきうちテスト (NuKiUChi TeSuTo) “surprise test” is available right from the start and consists in a serie of 20 questions randomly picked among the different categories,
• 復習テスト (FukuShû TeSuTo) “Review test”, made of 10 questions randomly picked from the Kanji we already learn,
• カテゴリテスト (KaTeGoRi TeSuTo) “test by category” with Kanji picked from a given category,
• 全問テスト (ZenMon TeSuTo) “test on all the questions” with 1000 questions.

Performance

The 成績 (SeiSeki) “performance” feature shows your progression rate, your Tsugawa rank and the top 5 of the best time for the different tests along with a list of recently missed Kanji. In the case of the test on all the 1000 questions, the best time is also displayed as a QR code (trademark of Denso corporation) which is a japanese two dimensional bar-code that can be scanned with a japanese telephone to enter the official online classment.

Options

The 設定 (SetTei) “options” menu allows you to turn off the BGM during the exercices, to skip a question when it was correctly answered two times in a row, to delete all the personal data and to watch the credits.

The good

What is good about Tsugawa Shiki Kanji Kioku Jutsu for Nintendo DS ?

• The fact that there is no hint of the number of Kanji to de drawn during the tests,
• The different categories of Kanji,
• The option that allows you to skip the questions that you answered correctly two times in a row.

The bad

This what I found to be annoying with this software :

• The fact that you can train on a particular Kanji for instance by tapping on one of the missed Kanji in the performance screen,
• The character recognition is too easy on the user, it does not take account of the order or the shape of the strokes,
• The annoying ‘feature’ of the examination that just end at the first mistake,
• The countdown at the beginning of the tests (about 5 seconds lost everytime),
• No dictionary to check the right way to draw a Kanji or its meaning.

Conclusion

To be honest, I have some doubts about the efficiency of the Tsugawa method. Yet it did work as advertised on the “rose” example. I think this is due to the fact that on this particular example, the software gives you some explanation of the different part of the Kanji. Unfortunately, there are no explanations for the other exercices. You need to have a certain knowledge of the Kanji to benefit from this method. It goes without saying that the method is pointless if you end up circling the whole Kanji. I also think that the number of questions is a bit low. Also it is not a systematic approach to Kanji learning or that you can’t really train on the Kanji you failed to remember, are major drawbacks for someone who intend to learn the japanese Kanji.

Your questions and comments

Drop me a comment if you have a question or an opinion to share. Also if you own the software, I would love to hear what you think about it.