Learn to write kanji ?

Kanji Kiokujutsu

http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches...83560.html

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Here's the website for まる書いてドンドン覚える驚異のつがわ式漢字記憶術.

Interesting title where you circle with the DS pen, parts of the kanji that give you trouble. The idea is to concentrate on parts of the character. As such it promotes remembering by components, which is a good thing. Not much more to say yet as I have spent little time on it.

Another interesting title is 一度は読んでおきたい 日本文学100選 DS. Appears to be a compilation of 100 novels for reading directly on the DS.

Hissatsu Kung-Fu Kanji Dragon
必殺カンフー　漢字ドラゴン
This one is kinda like "Typing of the Dead" in Japanese. You have to quickly write down either the kanji or the kana (writing/reading), to beat opponents.

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There's a good detailed review of Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu at Naruhodo! blog.

"Nazotte Oboeru(...)" is probably one of the best kanji software on the DS so far. It's my favorite along with "Kakitori Kun".

I wanna know how they come up with the names for these things. I mean, まる書いてドンドン覚える驚異のつがわ式漢字記憶術?? Are you kiddin' me?

Anyway, that 100 novels software looks awesome. 34 yen per book is quite a steal.
The 漢字記憶術 game looks fascinating. Circling difficult parts of kanji is an interesting gimmick, though I'm not sure how much help it would be to a Heisig disciple.
Currently mulling over what to buy as my next kanji software. 財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会公式ソフト200万人の漢検 とことん漢字脳 has been a bit disappointing, being incredibly dry and a little sparse on questions, but I can't say it hasn't been helpful, because I'm pretty sure it has.
Will probably go with 漢検DS next, as that has been gettingsome positive reviews and goes beyond the joyo-kanji.

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By the way, has anybody figured out the "kanji logic" puzzle from Nazotte Oboeru(...) ?

I can only switch squares on and off, the 1's in the rows/columns never seem to change no matter what I draw in the grid, I'm really... puzzled.

Anyone planning to buy Kanken DS (as I just did, foolishly), hold your horses! Kanken DS2 is set to come out at the end of September and it's supposed to be everything the first one is, and more. The new one includes:

40000 questions (first one had 25000)
１級、準１級 questions (the first one stopped at ２級
a 常用漢字 dictionary
a price tag that's about 400 yen less

As I mentioned, I just bought 漢検DS and my initial reaction is that it's not as good as 200万人の... I'll post some of my thoughts later. Perhaps the sequel has improved on some of the flaws of the original.

ファブリス Wrote:By the way, has anybody figured out the "kanji logic" puzzle from Nazotte Oboeru(...) ?

I can only switch squares on and off, the 1's in the rows/columns never seem to change no matter what I draw in the grid, I'm really... puzzled.

Hi Fabrice, I have that, you take reference from those numbers on the left and above so as to figure out which squares you need to activate in the 15x15 grid to draw a kanji, for example the 1st puzzle is 一, the 4th is 山.

I hope that helps.

I'm trying to decide what to get. I have 漢字そのままDS楽引辞典 and I like it a lot. Most useful dictionary I ever bought.

Does 正しい漢字かきとりくん have a really hard time recognizing your writing? I read the reviews on Amazon.co.jp. A lot of people complain that it counts it wrong when it's right.

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Christoph *sees the light* thank you!

PrettyKitty Kakitori Kun's kanji recognition is a bit rough, however if you know the proper stroke order, and you do enjoy writing the characters I'm sure you will like it. Other titles tend to be too forgiving and sometime even accept your kanji even before you finished drawing it (Nazotte Oboeru..).

In its defense, Kakitori Kun is the only one that does "tapered" ends on the strokes, which allows you to do the hooks. It also scores your handwriting on balance and curves. The characters you write with the pen can look quite nice on Kakitori Kun. The problem becomes more apparent with the complex characters, which become difficult to draw properly when you are on a bus or tram; where the dictionary software for example, would be forgiving and recognise the character. Those few cases where I was sure about the characters and it would give me a "?" instead, I try the character again by swapping the stroke order where it is not so obvious. Sometimes I redraw the character more centered on the grid and it works.

If you put the KanKen and other language (speed reading, style/vocab) software by the side, Kakitori Kun and Nazotte Oboeru are the best two options for kanji writing and kanji reading I think?

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There are also tons of English training games on the DS. Has anyone found one of those to work really well for Japanese learners?

For example this one looks interesting On the multiple choice question you have the Japanese translations.

It's really all or nothing. Some cool quiz games for example I have found unfortunately useless for learning because of the imposed time limit, and the fact that you can not check what the correct answer is This is from the point of view of a beginner. But from and advanced Japanese learner's point of view, I guess ANY good DS Japanese games is valuable practice..

In Kakitori Kun's defense, it's designed for children, unlike most kanji trainers, and thus emphasizes penmanship, or at least that's what I got from it.

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This title looks promising for beginners : 文章読みトレーニング. Lots of sentences where you have to pick the word that fits in, or pick what grammar construct it corresponds to. You can also see the correct answer and explanation after you gave a wrong answer!

I "recieved" that 文章 game last night. It is really really basic. stuff for 1st grade elementary school students. But I agree that it could be very useful. I am hoping that it helps improve my reading speed/

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yorkii If you're after reading speed there was at least one title just for that, I can try to find the name if you like. There was short texts, a question and multiple-choice answers, so you had to comprehend quickly what the text was saying. Definitely not for beginners.

that would be great. I'd be interested in seeing that too.

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Was easy to find after all, I posted the link in the previous page (the SokuDoku game)

thanks a lot. ill have a look into "acquiring" it.

Ah, do you wear an eyepatch for night vision, too?

New homebrew:
DS KanjiDict v0.1

http://palib.info/forum/modules/newbb/vi...8&forum=10


eh, it is working great, the engine recognise the kanjis very well! But you need to follow the proper stroke order it seems. If you read the .doc he explains where it comes from.

(press L to clean the write pad)

Learn the Kana:

http://www.nintendomax.com/index.php?topic_id=6451

it is really good. You can test yourself in different manner as you see fit.


Another one:

http://www.nintendomax.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6414

both are useful

I tried out the new Kanken DS 2 yesterday, and I'm pleased to say it has made a number of improvements over the original. Allow me to elaborate:

The obvious
The new game has twice as many questions as the original - about 44,000 in total.
The game includes level 1 and pre-level 1 (the original only went up to level 2)
A joyo-kanji dictionary is included. For each character it provides the on- and kun-yomi, radical, stroke count and a stroke order diagram. Not tremendously useful, but the nice thing is that when you get a question wrong anywhere in the game, it gives you the option of looking up the relevant kanji on the spot.

Other improvements
The first time you use the game, you are given a 20-question level-check test (all 書き取り) that decides your target level. But unlike the original, all levels are selectable from the beginning, regardless, and you don't have to unlock them two days at a time (boy was that annoying). When you select the test or training mode from the main menu, the level select screen is centered on your target level, showing the level before and two after, so you don't have to scroll over from level 10 every single time.

Repeating a training session - previously you would be returned to the main menu after every small training session, and have to go through 3 menus and a bunch of scrolling to repeat the same training. This game provides a 再挑戦 button so you can repeat the same training immediately.

Reviewing - from what I can tell, this game keeps track of all your wrong answers for every level and section, and you can retry them at your leisure. The original only kept track of the wrong answers from the most recent training session.

Graphs - this game keeps track of your performance for every level on the radar graphs and you can view your stats for any level at any time. The original would only keep track of your current level and delete it when you leveled up or down. Also, the graphs show only sections that are tested so there aren?t big notches in the stroke order section on higher levels, for example.

Writing recognition is improved. Hard to tell to what extent yet, but it's not recognizing my おs as むs anymore, and no matter how I try to write エ, it no longer reads it as ヱ. そ still comes up as と quite often though.

Other changes
There is a completely new, blocky font that isn't as attractive as the old one in my opinion, but is easier to read. Also the writing area is quite a bit bigger.

Half-tests are no longer available. There is the option of taking a full test or a quarter test now.

I was thinking of picking up a Nintendo DS for kanji studying and this thread shows how versatile it can be. Do you guys use a DS or a DS Lite? Are the games interchangeable between the two systems?

What would you recommend as a good game for someone who has finished RTK1 but has a relatively low vocabulary / grammar skill level?

JimmySeal Wrote:snip

JimmmySeal, thanks for the thorough review. I will pick this up.

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The DS Lite should be fully compatible with the DS, it was a revision which improved, among other things the quality of the screen. Some shops might still sell the original version but you should buy the Lite one.

Hint: when you get it, check out the "level of brightness setting", and set it to lowest of the four. Unless you're outside in the sunshine, you will find it is plenty enough, and your battery will last longer.

I'm in a similar situation so I would recommend you either the Kakitori Kun game, or the Nazotte Oboeru, or both. Kakitori kun is great if you can put the learned vocab in a flashcard program, then you will remember things for a while. Even without extra flashcards, I learned quite a bit for Kakitori Kun, some readings are easier to remember than others, the same goes for compounds, and those come almost for free while you are "playing" it.

Nazotte Oboeru has many more fun games, including one where you have to write kanji based on a list of components/primitives. This one is fun after RtK.

I like to switch between both games, as the kanji and readings come in a similar order, (based on school program I guess?), but not exactly the same, so you get more review and memory testing that way.

文章読みトレーニング is really nice too. As the title says, it gives you plenty of reading practice. For example sometimes you have a very short excerpt, and questions about it, and it's easy to answer wrong if you're not really paying attention to what you read. Another plus is that it gives you multiple choice answers with adjectives, verbs, and expressions, each time you get an explanation, for the right and wrong answers.

Those are my 3 favorites so far for beginner level.

Kakitori Kun + Yomi Tore would be a great combo. Purely for learning, Kakitori Kun would win over Nazotte, because you can go back over any lesson easily and get exactly the same compounds, and thus if you have the patience, you could put all of that in a flashcard program at your pace.

Jimmy Seal is that a recent release in Japan? Can you give the full title?

I'm just waiting for the day that there's a WWE wrestling game where Hulk Hogans reminds you to "say your prayers, eat your vitamins, and study your kanji".... :-)