My Japanese Coach
by UBI Soft
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List Price: Our Price: $29.82 You Save: $0.17 (1%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $26.99 (click here) Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of My Japanese Coach
Customer Review: absolutely love this "game"
Summary: 5 Stars
Makes learning Japanese fun and easy. It's nice that you can go anywhere and take out your DS and study Japanese. It's a wonderful addition to the other collection of study books that I have, but this I have out more often then the books.Customer Review: Not for Serious Students of Japanese
Summary: 2 Stars
First of all, a little background so you know where this review is coming from: I currently live in Japan and have been studying the language off and on for the past 8 years. That said, I still have a lot to learn and while I can engage in basic everyday conversation, I am far from being fluent. I have many years experience both teaching and learning foreign languages in academic and professional environments.
This piece of software seems to be quite popular with folks who have never tried to study Japanese before, but if you have any sort of training in the language it is a waste of time. If you can read and understand the following sentence, I'd definitely recommend that you save your time and money and don't bother with this piece of software:
watashi wa nihongo wo benkyou shimasu.
I can overlook the minor flaws in kana stroke order, but what is ridiculous is the fact that even if you ace the beginning level placement test with a 50/50 (100%) score, you only get placed up to lesson 11 -- learning overly simplistic vocabulary words like man, woman, and cat. The developers should have made the level placement test more diagnostic so that it could actually accurately assess ones true level. As it is, people with any sort of prior training in Japanese will have spend several days muddling through dozens of boring and useless lessons/minigames in order to unlock the higher levels which may be of actual use.
The game may give absolute beginners a very rudimentary introduction to Japanese, but even the teaching style leaves a lot to be desired and I believe beginning Japanese learners would actually get more out of visiting places like japanesepod101 (a free Japanese language learning podcast site) or buying a basic Japanese textbook like the Genki or Japanese For Busy People series and making flashcards to memorize their kana.
Japanese language training on the DS is a nice idea and I'd really love to see more language training software for the DS be made available in the future. However, "My Japanese Coach" is marred by a frustrating leveling system and a haphazard approach to learning the language.
Customer Review: Excellent Japanese program
Summary: 5 Stars
I am also a student of Japanese, but it has been many years since I have taken Japanese classes. I was fortunate to have a two tutors and only four students, so I learned my Kana well. That is the only bug I have with this game -- the kana strokes are off, and I get so irritated when it buzzes me and I know I am drawing the Kana correctly! But the teacher is a lovely person, and she gets so excited when you do well on your test or games. I enjoy the bits of Japanese information that come at the beginning of each lessons, too -- this is great if you love all things Japan. The games are incredible, because they force you to think quickly, and they are so random. With standard class/teacher learning, there's lessons and there's paper tests. If I had something like this when I first started learning, it is so much better than flash cards or writing endlessly on paper. I also like that it (so far) doesn't bog you down with Katakana...I learned Katakana first, then Hiragana. Since Katakana isn't really used as much (for Foreign word, e.g.), the Hiragana really serves you well. I do wish I was learning a little more Kanji, but I'm only on lesson 11. I will definitely consult my Kanji dictionary, and I recommend, if you buy this game, get a work book for Kana and Kanji and make sure the stroke order is correct (this game can be off). Stroke order is crucial..especially when looking up a Kanji that you don't know.Customer Review: Great Supplement for my Japanese class
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a college student taking up Japanese and I bought this as a way to help me in my class. I also wanted something to help me not forget what I have learned in my Japanese class between semesters.
This was EXACTLY what I needed! This game is relatively easy to follow and has great memorization games.
I would like to remind buyers that this alone will not be your ticket to learning Japanese though!
Customer Review: A Great Study Aid
Summary: 4 Stars
This "game" is really addictive for me, so I don't get out of the habit of studying Japanese. I play at least a little every day. Unlocking new lessons, games, and ranks is a goal that keeps me interested (which makes it more useful than many textbooks), although I find it important to review "mastered" words often too.
The way it teaches the rules about verbs is a little confusing, but in the "Reference" part you can easily find any verb and review a chart of the conjugations (I like that because I'm mostly a visual learner). Like with any language, or perhaps any area of study for that matter, it helps a lot to have a variety of things to practice from, so I sometimes print out physical homework for myself to supplement the verb conjugation part of the game.
Nonetheless, this game is my main form of study as I can't take a formal class and I think it does a really good job staying interesting, teaching vocab, and using the touchpad for kana writing practice. I've tried a few online learning resources and a couple of books, but I usually get bored and feel like I haven't learned anything. But this game is pretty awesome since 1)it makes you want to keep playing to see what you get next, and 2)it uses sound, touch, and visuals to help your memory and drill things in.
I think this game would probably be especially good for tactile learners (learn by doing) and people who have a short attention span (since the lessons are pretty short and you can get right to the variety of games).