Comme ça du Japon

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

Kanji exercises for Adults

Among all the Kanji learning software for the Nintendo DS that I own, なぞって覚える大人の漢字練習 (NaZotTe OboERu Otona No KanJi RenShû) "remember by tracing, Kanji exercises for Adults", published by Now Production is the one that I prefer. This time there is no seal of approbation by some authority like it was the case for Tadashii Kanji Kakitori Kun or for Tsukawa Shiki Kanji Kioku Jutsu. The sales pitch is a simple idea that consists in tracing the Kanji by following a model like in the invaluable Kanji to Kana I and Kanji to Kana II books. Let’s see what’s in it for us.

Technical features

Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshû was developed by Now Production and went on sale on the 21st of December 2006. What makes it different from the other software of this category is the large fonts, unlimited time to answer the questions, the whole 1945 Kanji set with readings and stroke order. The second release of this series なぞって覚える (NaZotTe OboERu) 大人の漢字練習 (Otona No KanJi RenShû) 完全版 (KanZenBan) "remember by tracing, Kanji exercises for Adults, complete version" was released on the 22nd of November 2007. Judging by the new features list, it definitely has a lot of great improvements but we shall focus on the first version for now. The character recognition engine used is called 楽ひら (RakuHiRa) from 松下電器産業株式会社 (MatsuShitaDenKiSanGyô KabuShikiGaiSha) "Panasonic". It has no major flaw and the recognition is very fast. Not like the other software, the Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshû is always evaluating your writing to determine a character. If it happens to be the right answer, your input is automatically validated and the software move on to the next question. It really speeds up the interaction and allow you to maximize your practice time.

Main menu

The main menu shows the following options.

• マイトレーニング (Mai ToRE-NiNGu) "My training",
• 簡単テスト (KanTan TeSuTo) "Simple exam",
• 漢字のゲーム (KanJi No Ge-Mu) "Kanji games"

My training

The software has three slots to store the user profile and data. You will have to enter your name and your birthday. What you need to know is that the birthday you entered will be used to estimate your level of knowledge. I would recommend that you enter today’s date if you want to start afresh as if you were a young japanese. The next screen display your progression with completion rate, your current level, the number of diploma you obtained, your average score at the exams, the number of Kanji you know, the number of Kanji you have difficulty with and the number of completed challenges. Then you can access to the activities screen with the following options :

• 今日の練習 (Kyô No RenShû) "Today’s exercise",
• とことん練習 (ToKoToN RenShû) "Non-stop exercises"
• 雑学チャレンジ (ZatsuGaku ChaReNJi) "Knowledge challenges"
• 進級テスト (ShinKyû TeSuTo) "Graduate examination"
• 苦手克服 (NigaTe KokuFuku) "Get over your weakness"

Today’s exercise

The first screen shows your level and the number of Kanji you learned. A cute character explains that every 20 learned Kanji you will be able to access to a new exam in the 進級テスト (ShinKyû TeSuTo) "graduate examinations" section.

Today’s exercise is made of 10 questions with 5 sentences. The questions alternate between writing questions and reading questions. The main screen displays a short sentence with one of the Kanji written in red. You will certainly appreciate that the reading of the other Kanji are also displayed above each Kanji. The input is done on the touch screen in a large area. There are buttons on each side of this screen that allow you to おわる (OWaRu) "quit", こたえ (KoTaE) "show the answer", けす (KeSu) "erase everything", et もどす (MoDoSu) "erase the last stroke". Like I said before, the character recognition is always running in the background therefore there is no button to validate your answer. The cute character on the side of the screen shows you what was recognized by the engine up to this point. If you press the button to show the answer, the reading of the Kanji will be displayed above the Kanji and the touch screen will show the 音読み (OnYoMI) "Chinese readings" and the 訓読み (KunYoMi) "Japanese readings" of the Kanji.

The next question shows a different sentence using the Kanji from the reading question but now displayed as its reading in red hiragana. You must draw the Kanji on the touchscreen with your stylus. The buttons on the side of the screen are similar to the buttons in the reading question except that the button to show the answer is replaced by なぞる ( NaZoRu) "trace". A tap on this button will reveal the answer by showing a trace of the Kanji on which you can practice. The nice thing about this feature is that you are forced to draw it in the correct order. The cute character on the left side of the touchscreen shows you the order of the current stroke displayed in red. You have to successively trace over the red stroke to complete the Kanji. An erase button allows you to practice as you see fit.

At the end of the exercise, the number of Kanji successfully learned along with the number of Kanji required to access to a new examination are displayed. The next screen allows you to practice on the Kanji used during the exercise. The Kanji that you got right are marked by a red circle. A tap on one of the Kanji shows the review screens with the different readings on the main screen and the practice pad with the trace of the Kanji on the touch screen. When you are done with the review, you can either go back to the main screen or start another exercise of the day.

Non-stop exercises

The とことん練習 (ToKoToN RenShû) "non-stop exercises" function is similar to the "today’s exercises" if it’s not for the fact that there is a unlimited number of questions and that you can choose the type of question beforehand. You can choose between なぞり練習 (NaZoRiRenShû) "practice with a trace ", 読み練習 (YoMiRenShû) "reading practice", 書き練習 (KaKiRenShû) "writing practice" and then a level among 9 or the ‘all’ option. This is a great way to make the most of your time.

Examinations

The main screen displays your progression for the examination and the number of 習得漢字 (ShûToku KanJi) "learned Kanji" among the 1945 usual Kanji set. The examinations you can access are based on your progression and your level. Each level has about 10 tests and a final examination. The correct answers are counted to calculate the number of learned Kanji. You can also review the Kanji that you missed during the test in the 苦手克服 (NigaTe KokuFuku) "get over your weakness" function. To reach a the next level, you must obtain at least 80 points on each of the test for your current level. The final screen shows your grade and the detail of the notation. If you succeed to reach the 80 points line you also obtain a new diploma. You are also able to review all the Kanji used during the test on the spot.

Get over your weakness

The Kanji that show up in this particular function are the one you missed during the tests. The presentation is similar to the one used for the "Today’s exercise" function except that the questions don’t alternate between reading and writing questions but are limited to the type of question you missed for each particular Kanji. So if you missed a reading question for a given Kanji, you will only have to answer a reading question for this particular Kanji and so forth for the writing questions. My only grief with this feature is that the reading question does not take in account the particular reading you missed (chinese reading or japanese reading), Correct answers result in the deletion of the Kanji from the list and increase the number of learned Kanji.

Challenges

There are 6 categories of challenges with an average of 20 sub sections. Each subsection is composed of 2 series of 2 exercises (alternates between reading and writing exercises and between easy and difficult series). Some categories or subsections are not available right away. You need to achieve certain things to unlock them. Except the intriguing fact that there is no trace feature in the challenges, the presentation is exactly the same as "Today’s exercise". To reach the next challenge, you need to obtain at least 70 points out of 100. Here is the list of categories :

• 国語 (KokuGo) "National language",
• 食物 (TabeMono) "Food",
• 理科 (RiKa) "Science",
• 教養 (KyôYô) "Culture",
• 社会 (ShaKai) "Society" (initially locked),
• 物語 (MonoGatari) "Tales" (initially locked).

Sub-sections

There is way too much sub-sections to mention them all so I have sampled some of the most peculiar :

• 色々な性格 (IroIro Na SeiKaku) "Personalities"
• 当て字漢字 (ATeJi KanJi) "Arbitrary translation in chinese Kanji"
• 四字熟語 (YoJiJukuGo) "4 Kanji idioms",
• 寿司 (SuShi) "The name of the Sushi",
• 健康診断 (KenKôShinDan) "Health diagnosis",
• 相撲 (Sumô) "Sumotori"
• 地名 (ChiMei) "Name of places",
• 二頭の兎 (NiTô No Usagi) "Two rabbits"…

Options

There is only one option available in this software. It allows you to choose a BGM or a background ambiance among 10 options. You can also review the different diploma you got from this screen. This conclude the review of the “My training” part of the software !

Simple exam

You can quickly check your level of knowledge of the Japanese Kanji with the simple exam option. This option can be use to demo the software to your friends as they don’t need to create a user profile. The user interface looks the same as the one used in the examination part of the “my training” part of the software. The main difference is that you can choose any level from 1 to 9 and that there is only one set of 20 questions per level. Contrary to the examinations of the “My training” You can also display the answer or access the trace feature during the examination.

Mini Kanji games

There are 6 mini games among which 3 are not available right from the start. With the exception of the first game, all the mini games give you 3 or 2 trials and 1 minute per question. You might appreciate that the answers shows the reading for the different Kanji. The only problem with these games is that there is no way to pause it when the answer is displayed. The next question is displayed only after a few seconds so if you want to write down the answer for reviewing purpose, you better have your pen and paper handy. Here is the list of the games:

• 漢字ロジック (KanJi RoJikKu) "Kanji logic-puzzle"
• 四字熟語並べ (YoJiJukuGo NaraBe) "Align 4 Kanji to build an idiom"
• 日本一週 (NiHon IsShû) "Tour of Japan"
• 合体漢字 (GatTai KanJi) "Build a Kanji from parts",
• 十字漢字 (JûJi KanJi) "Cross-Kanji"
• 日本史漢字 (NiHonShi KanJi) "History of Japan with Kanji "

Kanji logic-puzzle

This one was surely made by a geek. The touch screen displays a grid on which we can draw a Kanji pixels by pixels. In the edges of the grid, there are some numbers that indicate the number of consecutive black pixels for each row and each column. There are 50 puzzles with an increasing difficulty level. This is a great way to take a break between two training sessions.

4 Kanji idioms

The goal of the game is to build Yojijukugo (idioms made of 4 Kanji) from a list of Kanji and a definition. There are 30 questions randomly picked from a large number of questions.

Tour of Japan

This one will test your knowledge of the geography of Japan. You will have to write each of the 47 areas in Kanji. The main screen shows a map of Japan with a particular region highlighted.

Build a Kanji with parts

The goal of the game is to build a Kanji from the displayed parts. There are 30 questions with an increasing difficulty randomly picked from a larger set of questions.

Cross-Kanji

This game is a sort of crossword game but with Kanji. The touch screen shows 4 Kanji in the top, bottom, left and right of a 3 by 3 cross. The center of the cross is empty and must be filled with the correct Kanji from a list of 5 in order to form 4 words.

History of Japan through Kanji

This is probably the most difficult game of the list. The main screen shows a date with an event partially written in hiragana. To score you need to write the hiragana part in Kanji.

The good

Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshû is a well designed software, here are some of its strength:

• The coherency of the user interface and its fluidity helps a lot to squash the maximum out of your time,
• The systematic learning of the set of 1945 Kanji,
• The large and beautiful character fonts,
• The display of the reading for all the Kanji is a time-saving feature when you want to lookup a word in your electronic dictionnary,
• The numerous challenges and the original categories helps a lot to keep coming back to the software,
• The review panel at the end of the exercises and the review option for the Kanji we missed during a test are a must have,
• The use of short sentences that give an idea on how to use a word or an idiom,
• The Tokoton Kanji Renshû feature which is a perfect fit for an intensive training on a particular set or aspect of the Japanese Kanji.

The bad

There are only a few things that are not perfect about Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji for Nintendo DS :

• The fact that the software determines the Kanji before you draw the last stroke. It only happens when you mark a pause before the last stroke but it is quite bothersome.
• The impossibility to pause the games when the answer is displayed makes it difficult to lookup a word in one’s dictionnary,
• The fact that the Kanji dictionnary feature does not have any information regarding the meaning of the Kanji or any example of words,
• The absence of animations for the individual strokes in the trace feature.

Conclusion

Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshû is my favorite Kanji learning software. I think you will love it too. It is packed with a lot of features with a neat and simple user interface and has a large set of questions. The presence of the complete set of the 1945 usual Kanji with their readings and the strokes order drawn in large and beautiful fonts is fantastic. The character recognition does a good job without being too smart which I think is important in this kind of software. It would have been perfect if there were a feedback on the quality of one’s writing (strokes order, shape…) just like in Tadashii Kanji Kakitori Kun. Another major advantage of this software is the review pannel at the end of the exercises and the mode to work on the missed Kanji. I would advise that you use the Tokoton Renshû mode whenever you have a few minutes and just close the lid of the Nintendo DS when you are done to use the sleep mode of the Nintendo DS. Highly recommended !

Your questions, your opinion

If you have a question feel free to write a comment. It might be interesting to share your own experience in the comments too.

Buy Tadashii Kanji Kakitorikun

Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshû for Nintendo DS is available at beNippon, an online shop for all your japanese gear.