So last Sunday I go up to Ottumwa to help my mom with some grocery shopping, eat, and stuff of the sort. So while she's at Menard's, I go over to Gamestop
where you can buy and sell used games. Looking through the games, I don't notice anything particually interesting, and all of the playable demos are shut off at the time. Just as I'm about to leave, I look over at the Nintendo DS titles, and behold, there it is: My Japanese Coach. Thirty bucks, a 30 day return policy, I figure "What the hell, I'll give it a shot." After buying it I had three thoughts. My first was "Holy shit, I'm gonna learn Japanese easily." Unfortuately my second thought was "Ah shit, it probably won't work very well." So I get home, pop it in to my Original DS (I gotta get a DSI when it shows up here in the states). It starts out with a mini test to see what Japanese you know already (like yes, no, good, bad, the works) until you miss 2 in a row. Once there, you start out on lessons. Each lesson gives you vocabulary, and gives you the option to see it in Romaji (Japanese with english letters), practice writing the japanese lettering, or speak it into the mic to see how your pronnunciation compares to the actual thing. About 3 days into it and I can count to 15, say the months, colors, and now I'm acutally learning Kana! (A standard of Japanese lettering, which it gave me 2 full lessons so far)So far, this game has taught me more than I've ever been able to about Japanese than I've been able to teach myself. It's not one of those "First memorize these 40 thousand symbols that all look similar before you start learning." It eases you into it later on, and is a lot of fun. Oh right, fun: the more you play, the more games you unlock, all of which help you in getting used to the vocab and writing.
So my final verdict: if you're serious about learning Japanese, this game is for you. If not, there's a
whole series of these Coach games out there (Spanish, French, even Weight Loss and Quitting Smoking!) The price tag was pretty decent, considering what I've been able to learn so far. Oh yeah, my third thought, by the way, was "Holy shit, I'm actually learning Japanese!" New language, weight loss, SAT training, need I say more? Go get one!
