Comme ça du Japon

It seems pretty futile to even try to keep on updating this blog in these dark days. Needless to say, it’s time to invest your time even more wisely to up the ante. I might consider to temporarily change the main topic if the time invested in doing so is justified. See you at the other end of this dark tunnel.

It’s the intention that really matters. If I can appreciate the intention of the person who gave me this CD, I can’t figure out the intention of the designer Nicolas Maternik. This CD produced by Vox Terrae is a compilation of japanese songs for children played by a group of japanese artists. The lyrics and french translations are printed in the booklet but as you will understand by the end of this post, accuracy was probably a second thought. You can listen to one track on the blog “terrier à Tokyo“. Now, look closely at the picture. Don’t you feel that something is utterly wrong with the jacket of the CD?

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

Kanji kentei - Kanji examination

The Kanji-kentei is the official test of the knowledge of th Japanese Kanji. There are 12 different grades (from 10 to 1 and two intermediate levels) with progressive difficulty based on the japanese education system. The software 200万人の漢検 (Ni Hyaku ManNin No KanKen) とことん漢字脳 (ToKoToN KanJi Nô) “Kanji examination for 2 millions, Kanji brain non-stop” was the first software available on the Nintendo DS to prepare for the Kanji kentei (or Kanken in short) (november 2006, IE Institute). It features 7000 questions covering all the levels of the Kanken, from the easiest 10級 (Jû Kyû) “10th grade” to the expert level of the 1級 (IkKyû) “1st grade”. Note that the pre-1st grade and the 1st grade are mixed into on category in this software. Also, a new version titled 250万人の漢検 (NiHyaku ManNin No KanKen) “Kanji examination for 2 millions and 500 thousands” featuring a Kanji dictionnary and 47000 questions has been released on november 2007. In this article, we will review the first version of the Kanken series.

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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.

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