Comme ça du Japon

It’s been almost a year since I have stopped posting here on Comme ca du Japon. To be honest, I was waiting for some kind of 予兆 (YoChô) “an omen” for the end of this recession in order to restart writing. Sure enough, all the major media outlets did serve us their dose of Prozac on the smallest opportunities; however nobody had the gut to let the champagne flow. Indeed, the newly assigned deleguates 亀井 (KameI) “Kamei”, in charge of reviewing the privatisation of the Japan Postal Service, was barely brave enough to mention it at a press conference. So, if apparently nothing has changed why would I write this post in the first place?

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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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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“.

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