I was considering buying a DS lite, but after doing some reading people say that all of the advanced functions on the DSi provide great tools for learning a language. I was just wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with this and what methods you actually employed.

I was actually wondering if I should buy a Japanese version, but since it is region free, I don't really see the point other than getting that much more Japanese, but I would probably screw up the settings or something not understanding it. I'm pretty excited about pokemon black and white though..haven't played a pokemon game since red and blue, and the Japanese version being released 6 months prior to the American version is a great incentive to learn more!

Hello Hologen.
I imported a Japanese DSi 6 months ago. I did a lot a lot of research in preparation but here are the basic facts:

1) DS, DS lite, DSi, DSXL (and possibly the future one to be announced on the 15th) are ALL region free when it comes to cart-based games. The only region-locked games are the ones bought though the online store. (The game selections differ greatly actually.)

2) DSXL comes with a few free games; the screen resolution isn't any different than DSi. Oh and the Japanese name is DSXX not DSXL

3) Japanese DS's are easy to understand. (ほんとうに!) They use a lot of English and have lot's of furigana. There are a few words which you will need to look up but it's nothing near as hard as reading a book.

I reccomend you buy a DSi or the new DS (3D HD graphics supposedly) in Japanese. I bet there will be a price drop for DSlite and DSi after they announce the next DS.

Here are some games I reccomend:
ルーンファクトリー3 (Harvest-moon/JRPG mix with lot's of audio dialog)
すばらしきの世界 (Like Kingdom Hearts but original)
太鼓達人『たいこたつじん』 (Japan's Rockband)

(DSi/DSXX only)
かっぱ道 (You draw paths and the kappa follows you...it's worth the buy!!)
楽引辞典『らくびきじてん』(there is a cart-based version that includes English dictionary as well but the online version is $25 less and includes no audio or English...:<)

They have lot's of 漢字 programs for the DS. Kanken games, gradeschool level 漢字 or just handwriting etc. They are great tools. There's also a game with 100 stories from Japan.

I hope that helps. Ask any questions you may have. ^__^

Great post gyuujuice! I didn't know they were coming out with a new model. It will definitely be worth waiting for that to come out, as you said I'm sure it will cause a price drop in the other models. Of course it might just tempt me to buy the new one! Doubtful though, I typically don't buy new high value items. Especially with electronics like this, consumer demand often leads them to release it while it still has some bugs. Always a good idea to wait and read reviews, etc.
I didn't know they had region-locked games being released in Japan. I definitely think I'm going to go ahead and get a Japanese version. It's just that much more motivation to learn!

I realized awhile back that like ALL of my favorite video games are originally Japanese, and it's exciting to think about how language works and how unique it always is, that you can't ever really translate something fully the way it worked originally in the first language. So it's going to be a really nice payoff to play all my old favorite games, understanding them in Japanese, the way it was meant to be in the first place! Just gotta keep at it.

I agree. Games may have the same gameplay but they have different tints or flavors to them depending on the language. You can't translate culture.

I played Crystal in Japanese (it was pretty hard to read the かな...) and it's funny because the pokemon names are just a lot more transparent. And there are a lot of dialects as you travel through the Japan.

I bought a DSi LL a while back from Japan. While I've have some fun with it, I can't really say it's been 'educational' at all. I'd get the same from playing free PC games, or reading books, or watching TV or... Just about anything.

And BTW, it's 'region free' only for DS games. DSi games are -not- 'region free'. If you want to play Japanese DS games, you can buy a DS or DSi from any country. If you want Japanese DSi games, you need one from Japan.

Right, but I think it's easier to label "DSi games" as "online downloadable games" since that describes where you can get them.

Haha, Pokémon B&W is making everybody rush their japanese learning.
Let's exchange Friend Codes when we get it!

About DS's, I have both the Lite and DSi, so I can tell you some things.
DSi is much more "final product" than Lite, it looks (and actually is) more poweful and robust, Lite seems a little hurried, it's software is kind of annoying (after you change date, time or alarm, you've got to turn it off and on again to continue using it, and it doesn't have too much to do besides gaming), but it's pretty good too IMO, maybe just not worth the very little economy you can make.
When it comes to gaming, DSi has better and a little bigger screen, better backlight, better sound and better buttons, the batteries last a little less, the touchscreen is a little better, it has no entry for GBA games.

Also, DSi is pretty f***ng sexy if you ask me, my Lite looks like some kind of makeup box or whatever, and DSi's finish is not fingerprinting glossy like Lite's

But that's just me.
Sorry about my poor language, I hope I can get my japanese better than my english.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention the coming 3DS, but I see it was already mentioned.
I don't think there will be much of a price drop after it's release. You can see by DSLite, it got just a little bit cheaper from it's release, some years ago, until today, even with DSi and DSLL's releases (at least here where I live, can't say for USA/Europe)

gyuujuice Wrote:(DSi/DSXX only)
楽引辞典『らくびきじてん』(there is a cart-based version that includes English dictionary as well but the online version is $25 less and includes no audio or English...:<)

Since you said (DSi/DSXX only), I'm not quite sure if this comment is going to count, BUT:

The regular DS, (lite, etc...) there are 2:
楽引辞典 and
漢字そのまま楽引辞典

I am going to assume you were referring to 漢字そのまま, because it actually has Handwriting recognition for kanji. Just simply 楽引辞典 isn't worth it, now that 漢字そのまま is around (and has been for a long time).

It has 明鏡's 国語 dictionary, and then ジーニアス for it's J-E E-J needs.
I may note that a lot of "学生" denshi jishos come loaded with ジーニアス instead of anything better for JE EJ, which is kind of a shame spending so much money for such a dictionary.
As a DS soft and considering the price, it's an excellent dictionary!

there is also anki ds if you end up buying a flash cart (something you should do anyway).

gyuujuice Wrote:Right, but I think it's easier to label "DSi games" as "online downloadable games" since that describes where you can get them.

For the moment. That will change.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/first-...e-surfaces

with the 3ds or whatever (supposedly) due within a year, I dont see many more dsi exclusives coming out.

"For the moment. That will change.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/first … e-surfaces"

Oh yeah I forgot about the one exclusive DSi game. :\

I'm just wondering how difficult it will be to play the japanese games, even after I understand the interface and everything on the DS itself, that's just the start, and I'm still very much a beginner so I don't know how practical it would be to play the Japanese games. I'm sure it would be frustrating to pay 50 dollars for a game and have to refer to a dictionary so much that it wouldn't be enjoyable. Or if the text just scrolls across the screen without pausing I would probably miss a lot. Actually, I don't even know how I would look up Japanese words in a dictionary if they aren't written in Romaji! That's something I've thought about, as for "sentence mining" Japanese subtitles in movies and stuff, how would I do that?

A few DS games contain furigana, so you can use that to look up words (taken that you know kana). You could also use the Kanji Sono Mama DS dic and draw the kanji to get the reading etc., though that does require you having two DS's or switching between two games all the time..

As for the games, focus on buying games where the text is not relevant to the gameplay. Aka something where the story is told in text, but where you do not need to understand the text to be able to play the game.
For instance, if you like strategy games you could buy Advance Wars or Fire Emblem. Both have a story told in between and during missions, but you can still perfectly play the game without getting the story.

Games you want to avoid are games where the actual gameplay is text based, or where you need to get hints out of the text. Professor Layton games for instance are pretty much impossible to play if you don't understand what is being said in the puzzles, unless you enjoy a trial and error sort of approach.

As a beginner, you should ideally pick games from the first type. Try to still pick games who are heavy on text though, playing JP Tetris is still fun but not really useful for learning.
Once you are more advanced, you can move on to games from the 2nd category.

Based on what you wrote I think you should buy 太鼓達人（たいこたつじん）. There are multiple versions. Like Rekkusu says you should focus on games that text isn't needed. You could play this game if you didn't know a word of Japanese and who doesn't like music games?

I would think Fire Emblem would be pretty text heavy. But I haven't played it before. :B

Yeah that is good advice. I haven't really made a list of games I'd like to play (as I haven't even ordered the DS yet) but one that I would like to play for sure is the death note Kira game. I haven't read any reviews or anything on it, but I just really like the idea of having to use deductive skills to solve problems and figure things out. But yeah that sounds like it would be pretty impossible for me to play the Japanese version! So it's kind of a shame to have to play a game like that in English. So I guess I might hold off on it.

I just wanted to say that I just won an auction for a dark blue japanese DSi with allegedly less than 1hour of total use for $96 including shipping and handling. I think that's a pretty decent buy. It was my first time ever doing an actual auction instead of buy it now. So when there was only 1 minute left I had my max up higher, and people kept bidding and I was like "No stop! You're just making me pay more money!" lol but it only went up 10 bucks from where I put my first bid.

If anyone reads this and has any other game suggestions, I'm all ears!

I would really reccomend Rune Factory 3. Your'e free to do whatever you want but there are a lot of kanji. But I really like the voice acting. (This isn't too common in DS games.) I didn't understand the stats when I started my file though. lol. To me, if I don't understand the Japanese used it motivates me to learn so it doesn't bother me.

Since I bought a Japanese system I have been continuesly surprised how much English there is.

I'm really pumped for 二の国. It's produced by ジッブリ, the people who made Totoro. (sp?)