I was just wondering...my Japanese friend that has the game says it uses mostly middle-school kanji, and I was wondering what that covers. I've played through her copy a little and can understand parts of it, but obviously since I haven't started RTK yet, my kanji is a little weak (I'm about 650 vocab through kore and do about 35-50 new cards a day).

Anyone have any ideas? I'm getting my copy for Christmas and was hoping to do RTK Lite, or possibly just power through RTK as fast as I can.

Ideas/opinions? Thanks!

PS: No, I'm not a beginner. Thanks. I know I don't need to learn through this. Was just wondering.

I hate to dash enthousiasm but get real : you won't learn japanese with pokemon white. or any color .
If you're really into video game make it at least a visual novel type . Not only will you have far mor content but it s way easier to get the script extracted and SRS it with minimal loss of time


Bottom line the more you read the better you get .

So ,conditioned you have an equal interest and access to all media (which is the real problem : since you're a beginner I guess things like pokemon ,more beginner friendly , are acceptable as a starting crutch ), text rich, easy to SRS media are the one to be favored .

And it's pretty much a death warrant for most of the video game because the very concept of game imply most of the time the mastery of a very limited set of skills that are at the intellectual exact opposite of what a language is meant to be (global perception of the world , construction of a complex reality ). the core concept of pokemon (repetitive battle ) make it unefficient as language learning tool . Not to mention the addictive nature of some genre of game , addiction which is always around the most repetitive aspect of the game (like XP gain in RPG game , score , technique ,etc. )

.Considering you're a beginner I'd say you'd be better off with your favorite mangas .

...I'm a little offended by your reply, which partially comes from I don't understand what the heck you're saying.

I don't plan to learn Japanese with Pokemon White (or whatever). I'm using Kore, All About Particles, and a few other references. I've got about a thousand cards right now. I left out what I'm studying with since I already have a thread based on that, if anyone cares. I read manga (kind of) for fun. I'm not learning Japanese from video games, I promise you that. It's something I enjoy.

I'm not looking to SRS Pokemon, and I'm not really interested in visual novel-type games.

I'm quite "real", thanks.

So basically - nothing you said corresponds to what I asked. But thanks anyways, I guess? I'm just looking for how much kanji is in the game. That's it.

PS: No, I'm not a beginner.

You can change it from kanji to kana at any time in the menus.
The kanji usage doesn't seem particularly heavy, but I wouldn't be able to tell you how many are used. I would guess that any of the 2000 or so main ones are fair game.

Your biggest issue will likely be vocabulary, even though pokemon doesnt use particularly heavy vocab. There will probably be a few thousand different words in there.

nohika Wrote:I was just wondering...my Japanese friend that has the game says it uses mostly middle-school kanji, and I was wondering what that covers. I've played through her copy a little and can understand parts of it, but obviously since I haven't started RTK yet, my kanji is a little weak (I'm about 650 vocab through kore and do about 35-50 new cards a day).

Anyone have any ideas? I'm getting my copy for Christmas and was hoping to do RTK Lite, or possibly just power through RTK as fast as I can.

Ideas/opinions? Thanks!

Even if you knew which Kanji was in Pokemon, you'd have to know the readings and the meanings of the words.

I've been working through KO2001 and while I'm going through kanji systematically, it still doesn't account for all the words that pop up in conversation. It's really not the fact that there's a lot of kanji but rather there's a lot of vocabulary. I don't think RTK or RTK Lite will really prepare you at all.

IMO, just methodically work on it at your own pace. I know, you're dying to gain a complete understanding... but you're gonna have to choose between looking everything up or just going with what you know. There's a lot of native material (manga, drama, books, etc.) I picked up over the course of a year, and every time I go through it, I discover something new because I learned a little bit more.

The other day I was watching GTO Live Action, which I first saw nearly 4 years ago. There's a part where they're going over Onizuka's job application, and I was finally able to read his answers.

"What are your thoughts on bullying?"
"I think it's pretty sad."

nohika Wrote:...I'm a little offended by your reply, which partially comes from I don't understand what the heck you're saying.

I don't plan to learn Japanese with Pokemon White (or whatever). I'm using Kore, All About Particles, and a few other references. I've got about a thousand cards right now. I left out what I'm studying with since I already have a thread based on that, if anyone cares. I read manga (kind of) for fun. I'm not learning Japanese from video games, I promise you that. It's something I enjoy.

I'm not looking to SRS Pokemon, and I'm not really interested in visual novel-type games.

I'm quite "real", thanks.

So basically - nothing you said corresponds to what I asked. But thanks anyways, I guess? I'm just looking for how much kanji is in the game. That's it.

PS: No, I'm not a beginner.

sorry for the beginner , it's always a bit touchy to use this term . I just inferred from what you said about RTK that you just began japanese .
As for the game , I mentionned "conditionned an equal access and interest to all media " and clearly pointed out it's the tricky part . Obviously we're not interested in all type of media . And obviously most language learners don't have an equal access to all kind of media .

Sorry for the tone , I think I used your topic as an occasion to say what's on my mind about video game learning and I had been keeping it for a long time now . It was irrelevant to your question . My bad .

I'm quite fine with looking up kanji each time I come across it...kana just frustrates me so much since there's so many different frickin' meanings for each set of phrases.

I have around 50% understanding right about now in kana version...but it gets so frustrating not being able to recognize simple words that I'd recognize in kanji. Plus some of the screens disappear so fast I can't read them. I've tried core2k in kana and almost chopped my head off because SO many words are similar/the same and without kanji to distinguish, it's painful.

Vocabulary worries me a little, but mostly what's used in conversations. Attacks/menus/etc doesn't bother me much at all, since I've played tons of Pokemon before and enjoy it. The one reason I'm leaning towards kanji is that I'm /learning/ all my vocabulary in kanji, so I'll recognize it better that way, though I do a pretty good job of knowing my vocabulary in kana and recognizing what it means.

Basically: ...I have no idea what I'll pick. =D I'm leaning very heavily towards kanji despite it making it more difficult.

ghinzdra Wrote:sorry for the beginner , it's always a bit touchy to use this term . I just inferred from what you said about RTK that you just began japanese .
As for the game , I mentionned "conditionned an equal access and interest to all media " and clearly pointed out it's the tricky part . Obviously we're not interested in all type of media . And obviously most language learners don't have an equal access to all kind of media .

Sorry for the tone , I think I used your topic as an occasion to say what's on my mind about video game learning and I had been keeping it for a long time now . It was irrelevant to your question . My bad .

Sorry. =/ I had a really bad day, so I'm a bit touchy. I just chose not to put what I've been using since I didn't want to post it in every thread I started since it's offensive to some people. I may not do RTK at all - I haven't decided yet. I was mostly thinking of using it to learn the way to write them, since it would make looking them up so much easier.

I have mostly manga to study from, since I'm nowhere near novels yet, but manga w/furigana I can do somewhat okay in - not nearly my Pokemon comprehension, hah.

EDIT: Just played through the intro in kanji, and I'll probably play it in hiragana and let my eyes burn, I guess. Least at the beginning, since I don't know all the kanji (though I recognized more than I thought I would, yay). I'll probably start a modified version of RTK after finals are over and start working on my kanji comprehension.

Thanks, guys. =)

I don't think it would be too hard. If it's Junior High School level then 800 or so should be enough. If you can get the gist then it's enough.

Video games are all good as side learning opportunities. It's not super efficient, but, then again, if you were a real Japanese kid would you not play it? May as well enjoy it, if Pokemon floats ya boat. In TL = FTW.

Cranks Wrote:I don't think it would be too hard. If it's Junior High School level then 800 or so should be enough. If you can get the gist then it's enough.

Video games are all good as side learning opportunities. It's not super efficient, but, then again, if you were a real Japanese kid would you not play it? May as well enjoy it, if Pokemon floats ya boat. In TL = FTW.

That's what my friend was insinuating, I think...about 800-1000. She's busy...doing nothing (her best skill) and hasn't gotten back to me yet (I'll have to hunt her down at school tomorrow, since she'll very likely bring her pokemon). She would know since her level is native-fluent (she's half-Japanese, was born there, went to kindergarten there but has been enrolled in a special Japanese-only school since elementary school, etc).

PS: ...I love pokemon! =D I just want a shot to play it in its native language...that and I hate the English names.

Go for it. What you will be doing is a form of interactive learning that all Japanese speakers and pretty much every speaker does in a language from day one. I played all my Old Nintendo games in English of course, gamboy etc.

Did I know what a "metroid" was, or what "a healing elixir" was in some RPG when I was 8? Not necessarily, but through continued exposure in a fun way those words stick in your system. I think playing through Pokemon White you'll get a bunch of words and phrases stuck in your mind solidy. (I'm guessing, attack, defend, retreat, charge, element, etc etc etc).

Win-win situation as a part of interactive learning while you are studying with another system.

野生のギュウジュースが飛び出した！wwww

I played the game for a short while, I don't own it, but Pokemon games use a lot of dialect stuff so perhaps learn a few things like "やろ". I played Crystal in Japanese back in the day when there wasn't kanji in games. XD

Good luck and have fun!

gyuujuice Wrote:野生のギュウジュースが飛び出した！wwww

I played the game for a short while, I don't own it, but Pokemon games use a lot of dialect stuff so perhaps learn a few things like "やろ". I played Crystal in Japanese back in the day when there wasn't kanji in games. XD

Good luck and have fun!

It's nice to have a background in the games because I can pick a few things up via what they're supposed to be. =) I'm super excited for it, and just want to make the most out of it that I can.

I just realized that this game is supposed to be remolded after America -- hmm... I wonder how that would affect the language. Anyhow, good luck.

I was going to respond to the second post, but since that debate is outta the way...

To answer the topic, I have no idea how many kanji are in the games, and I have about 320 hours logged in. I do know that there are some words like Kaifuku written in kanji on one screen and in kana on the very next though.

I am on Frame 1360 now, but was on 800 when I started the game. I pretty much kept the text setting on Kanji and didn't look back, and it's helped me recall kanji like crazy.

I played previous games for longer and could found that my reading speed in kana went way up, that's pretty much my goal with leaving the kanji on instead of off. I tried to go back to kana only once, and it just didn't feel right.

PkmnTrainerAbram Wrote:I was going to respond to the second post, but since that debate is outta the way...

To answer the topic, I have no idea how many kanji are in the games, and I have about 320 hours logged in. I do know that there are some words like Kaifuku written in kanji on one screen and in kana on the very next though.

I am on Frame 1360 now, but was on 800 when I started the game. I pretty much kept the text setting on Kanji and didn't look back, and it's helped me recall kanji like crazy.

I played previous games for longer and could found that my reading speed in kana went way up, that's pretty much my goal with leaving the kanji on instead of off. I tried to go back to kana only once, and it just didn't feel right.

I've used the kana version before and it just hurts my head. -wince- I may just do the kanji version and suffer. I'm not going to understand tons this first run-through anyways, right?

Phew. Game should be here on Monday...so excited!

The more you read them kanjis, the more you will get used to them. Which you will eventually have to do either way in order to progress. Plus, it seems the game would be a huge motivating factor in doing this, so why not? I say go for it!

I remember the wait for my copy of Black to arrive, like 2 weeks after release. Couldn't almost do it, then the day it came I played for 20 minutes and just feel alseep. Was tired, but just burned out from the wait. Didn't play much that day, matter of fact, I think I reviewed kanji more that week than playing the game....

And yeah, I figured if I couldn't understand the word in Kanji, I really wouldn't know it in kana, so I just keep it on. Certainly didn't hurt, and like the above poster said, you're gonna want exposure to kanji anyway.

PkmnTrainerAbram Wrote:I remember the wait for my copy of Black to arrive, like 2 weeks after release. Couldn't almost do it, then the day it came I played for 20 minutes and just feel alseep. Was tired, but just burned out from the wait. Didn't play much that day, matter of fact, I think I reviewed kanji more that week than playing the game....

And yeah, I figured if I couldn't understand the word in Kanji, I really wouldn't know it in kana, so I just keep it on. Certainly didn't hurt, and like the above poster said, you're gonna want exposure to kanji anyway.

Yup! In "preparation" (AHAHAHAHAHA) I've been watching Lord of the Rings (...really, it's got a point...I think) and playing なぞっておぼえる大人の漢字練習完全版。 It's a kanji game for adult Japanese people (that sounds awkward, but I've been up 20 minutes and can't think of a better way to say it) and while I can't always understand what's going on, it's a fun way to learn the readings of the kanji. I also pull the vocab out through typing it (the vocab includes furigana to indicate the meaning so you don't confuse similar readings), roughly translate it, and throw it into a vocab deck in Anki as production.

I'm pretty sure (99%) that I'll be getting it today! YAY! So nervous~