"My Japanese Coach" just released for the Nintendo

[Taurus]

(iKnow.co.jp is the other main tool that I would point at for this. Scanning through 10 items in a few seconds to find a particular answer tends to help you improve a bit.)

This probably isn't the right place to ask, but what exactly is iKnow? Is it basically spaced repetition vocab learning, or is there more to it than that?

[wccrawford]

This probably isn't the right place to ask, but what exactly is iKnow? Is it basically spaced repetition vocab learning, or is there more to it than that?

Yeah, but it has a nice interface as well, plus a some 'community' features. The main thing they bring right now is the interface and lots of vocab.

I'm really beginner at Japanese, so it's been a great help to me already, and I'm not even done with the first 200 vocab.

[jkid]

Taurus-san,

This video: http://www.iknow.co.jp/intro/overview/ gives a nice overview of the site features.

[Taurus]

Arigatou!

[ellywirda]

my first post.... still browsing through this forum...

currently taking japanese class... and doing the DS thing.. and self learning (slowly)through "colloqial japanese" book....

someone said that the verb bases method taught in the DS is confusing....

what is the best/right way to learn it....? any links/ url..? TIA

[Taurus]

I just got confused when the verb forms were referred to as base 1, or base 2 or whatever. I think it makes much more sense to refer to the -masu form, or the dictionary form, or the -te form - because you know from each of those names what the form is.

Having tried a couple of textbooks, I think the Minna no Nihongo series, from 3A Networks, is a really good introduction to Japanese, and I think it follows a fairly logical order. It starts off with the -masu form, so that you can immediately start communicating with strangers, then on to the -te form, then the dictionary form and so on.

I think other people on here think it's absurd to start with anything other than the dictionary form and I can understand that perspective (it is a little bit counter-intuitive to work back from the -masu form of a word to get to the dictionary form), but I think each approach has advantages and disadvantages.

[ShiroiNeko]

The font size is so small as to make some hiragana and kanji very, very difficult to read.

Ten ten and maru are difficult to tell apart
The two top lines on き are so close they look like one thick line
The horizontal lines on に are so different in thickness I initially could not identify what it was !!
Kanji - some of the more complex ones appear like an random ink blob.

This problem spoils an otherwise reasonable product.

Is anyone else having trouble with the fonts used?


FierceCat oo00OO ( Grr...Ffttt )

[stevesayskanpai]

What spoils this product is that theres no way to skip levels, so even an intermediate learner will have to spend hours getting to a point where he can actually learn something!

The programmer claims theres a cheat- but to be helpful won't tell us what it is. If anyone does find out what it is please post it!