Nintendo DS for a Relative Newbie?

[aegd]

I have mastered kana and have about 50 Kanji. Yesterday my husband surprised me with a brand new Nintendo DS. I am really enjoying playing with the hiragana in the chatroom that comes with it, but what games should I be looking at at this point. I am definitely getting a Shogi game and Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten. But is there a game for the relative Kanji Newbie? or even a hiragana based vocab builder for kids?

The latests zelda game actually has furigana for almost all kanji, so it's playable even if you only know about 50 kanji. The dialogue is pretty basic to, so you should be able to understand most of it, and have a dictionary ready if you run into words you don't understand.

"Zelda - mugen no sunadokei" You can order the Japanese version at several online stores.

[BIGmog]

PAdict is actively being ported to the DS as well.

http://ds.bigs.fr/dev_padict.php

-Dusty

[Outkast]

漢検DS２ is pretty awesome for building kanji skills. The game is aimed at Japanese students learning kanji, from a child learning their first on up to kanji that most of my Japanese friends here in Oita cannot read or write. The game is organized into exams, and practices aimed at helping you prepare for those exams, all divided up by level (10 being lowest and 1+ being the highest.) You work your way up through the levels as your abilities increase, and there is a great system for tracking your progress in different areas such as reading, stroke order, pronunciation, etc. utilizing charts that pinpoint your advancement.

Main downside for newer learners is that it's all in Japanese, but it's mostly straightforward. There are also several interesting mini-games that for your non Japanese-native speaker can sometimes be pretty challenging (and one testing the player on the original kanji readings for all the countries in the world, even the ones that now use only katakana script, stumped my Japanese girlfriend who is an Education major...) Finally, there is a useful dictionary that while not giving the meanings of words, is still incredibly useful because it allows you to physically draw in the kanji using the stylus without knowing any reading for it, which then allows you to plug it into a dictionary afterward because it shows you all possible pronunciations.

You might want to give it a shot- it's pretty addicting.

[Andresit0]

漢字そのまま楽引き辞典, kanji sono mama....... i use the ds lite as a dictionary.

i recommend it for any level (even beginners), there are some videos on youtube if you are interested.

[jondesousa]

I got a DS for Christmas and I got four excellent Japanese games/ apps:

1. Tadashii Kakitori Kun (excellent for beginners. lots of fun)
2. Kanken 2 (also good as a starting point, but much more rigorous than kakitori kun)
3. Nazotte oboeru otona no kanji renshuu (much more difficult than the others, but worth a look),
and

4. kanji sono mama rakubiki jiten (excellent dictionary, but really meant for Japanese students learning english. somewhat difficult to use if you aren't very kanji familiar).

I recommend all of the above items. I am looking to get some more games from Japan in a few months after I get through some of these.

[Andresit0]

4. kanji sono mama rakubiki jiten (excellent dictionary, but really meant for Japanese students learning english. somewhat difficult to use if you aren't very kanji familiar).

Actually works great for non familiar kanji students, input in romaji and obtain entries in both hiragana and kanji. hiragana with dashes to read each kanji separately in compound words.

That opinion in point 4 makes me wonder if your points 3 and 2 are consistent. (?)

[jondesousa]

4. kanji sono mama rakubiki jiten (excellent dictionary, but really meant for Japanese students learning english. somewhat difficult to use if you aren't very kanji familiar).

Actually works great for non familiar kanji students, input in romaji and obtain entries in both hiragana and kanji. hiragana with dashes to read each kanji separately in compound words.

That opinion in point 4 makes me wonder if your points 3 and 2 are consistent. (?)

The dictionary was made in Japan for Japanese students who are learning english, but I find that the dictionary is still useful for english students studying Japanese. I haven't spent hours with it yet, but I have spent a bit of time on the other three games.

[steve0]

I like Japanese Games !

[WalterWills]

I have Tadashii Kanji Kakitorikun and I think it's great, but if you're not too good at Japanese (like me) then you'll probably want to use it with a dictionary.

Also, it's important not to think that, just because you scored 100 on writing the Kanji, just because you wrote it's various readings and used it in the example sentences, that you "know" that Kanji...As with everything you have to keep revising until you know it by heart.

[Mr Srippery]

I got a DS for Christmas and I got four excellent Japanese games/ apps:

1. Tadashii Kakitori Kun (excellent for beginners. lots of fun)
2. Kanken 2 (also good as a starting point, but much more rigorous than kakitori kun)
3. Nazotte oboeru otona no kanji renshuu (much more difficult than the others, but worth a look),
and

4. kanji sono mama rakubiki jiten (excellent dictionary, but really meant for Japanese students learning english. somewhat difficult to use if you aren't very kanji familiar).

I recommend all of the above items. I am looking to get some more games from Japan in a few months after I get through some of these.

Can a DS bought in the states play games from Japan, or how do you go about doing that?

[Taurus]

Can a DS bought in the states play games from Japan, or how do you go about doing that?

Yes it can. All DS games are region-free, and they can be played on any DS or DS Lite. So all you have to do is buy the games from Japan or a website (a good one is play-asia) and then stick them in your DS. Simple!

The only thing you have to be careful is if you buy a DS or DS Lite from America or Japan and intend to use it in Britain, because you'll need to buy a different charger.