I was unable to stop myself at the 7th lesson (it directed me to lesson 4) and made it to 20 at the first day lol

But another thing to say is, that I already knew about hiragana, sentence building and some words. But if you recommend 3 lessons/day it was way too much.

Anyway, I plan to do the first 100 lessons (the others are just vocabulary, as the leas programmer said himself) and then start the game from the beginning.

The reason is to check myself, how much I can remember and if it works good, I’ll get on the last 900 lessons to get some basic vocabulary.

I don’t know the other language coach games, but I am really impressed about it.

The games at the beginning aren’t really fun and it’s cheating to do flash cards while learning hiragana/katakana(the game tells you “ko” and you select “ko”[romaji]), but apart from that it’s really good.

You mentioned stylus detection problems. Well, I had them, too. Someone said that they don’t appear on the normal DS (the non-lite) and they mostly appear with the DS liftet up in the air, like I play. But apart from that (I use sheets to practice kana) the game is perfect.

YOu might not learn fluent japanese, but you learn enough japanese to tell, what you want to tell. The only thing you really lack after playing it, is vocabulary. Problem about vocabulary is, that it is way too much to be placed in a game and has to be learned with “common” methods. (Grab a lexicon)

I love this game and you really get addicted to it.

Xan

My first problem with the verbs is just trying to recognize the difference between ichidan and godan verbs. Even with the game’s advice, I’m still a little unsure of my ability to recognize the two. My guess would be that “hairu” is an ichidan verb and “shinu” and is a godan verb, but I’m not quite sure, and I have no way of asking the video game. I’m also having trouble figuring out when to use the different bases. The base endings like masu, masen, mashita, masen deshita, nai, nakatta and so on just add to my confusion.

Some of these issues may go away with a little more practice, but I’m afraid to practice writing sentences if there’s a chance I’m doing it completely wrong.

The stroke order for the words you mentioned is indeed in the wrong order. My Japanese Coach was made by people who didn’t actually speak Japanese (The programmers anyway), so a few of those issues did indeed get through quality control.

What sorts of things are you encountering with the verbs?

The only problem is that I don’t quite understand the lessons on verbs. Sometimes they’ll say one thing and give an example of something entirely different, or the game will just be downright confusing. I’m killing myself trying to understand what is the game is saying to me. I know verbs and sentence structure are important to knowing the language, and I’m playing this to seriously learn.

I’ve also read that the hiragana for “yo” and “na” and the katakana for “ka,” “ne,” “no,” “hi,” and “wa” are presented in the wrong stroke order. The bad thing is that when you try to write them in the correct order, the “Write Cards” and “Fading Characters” minigames detect it as being wrong, basically forcing you to write the character the wrong way. It’s also bad about recognizing accuracy in in the writing. I know that if I write ろ　instead of る, the game will still count it correct.

The game is fine if you’re aware you’re making the mistakes, but a lot of people might be blissfully unaware of when they’re writing something wrong. In any case, I agree with you on mostly everything in your review (I’m also one of those people that likes the lay down while playing, haha), I just wanted to add my two cents, as well.

There are only 29 lessons to begin with. After those, you unlock the first 100 lessons. The first 100 lessons are themed. After that, there are 900 more lessons (for a total of 1,000), but the last 900 are just Japanese words thrown together without rhyme or reason.

question: i am confused — how many lessons are there? 29? or 100?

most people say 29, but alex you mention 100? could you explain what the confusion about too? thx

I should warn you past Lesson 100, there is no rhyme or reason to the lessons. it’s just ten vocab words thrown together.

I’m hoping that, at some point, someone will finish the game and post a list of all of the lesson titles. I’m deathly curious about what lessons I get to work my way up to!

I’m not anywhere near your level of Japanese (I’m about a Grade 3 or 4 student, based on the last round of Kentei DS I played), but I agree with your points about the wrong stroke order (;_;) and the romaji/kana/kanji spread. I just wish there was a way to, say, turn off romaji or crank the Kanji level up to 11.

Anyway, keep up the reviews!

Oh, and Gordi, when you finish MJC and are in Japan, see about picking up some of the DS games aimed at Japanese people learning their own language. Things like Anpanman’s AIUEO training (drilling kana), Kentei DS (the one from Rocket Co; the IE one is terrible), or even Kakitorikun 1 and 2 (aimed at teaching vocabulary and kana for kids in elementary – a wicked game for us gaijin, because it is *such* a stickler for stroke order). A lot of the educational games in Japan will only cost you 2400 yen or so, so they’re a steal of a deal!

Oh, and Alex, you’re right about the character recognition in this game needing a Japanese person’s touch. Not only are the listed stroke orders wrong sometimes, but the game is *really* bad at detecting characters. Plus, in the one game where you have to write the characters for the romaji word, it doesn’t highlight the character that you need to write, there is no way to erase a stroke once you’ve made it, and it often thinks I’m done writing when I’m only half done (and I don’t write especially slowly). Maybe they’ll bring a native on board for when they develop MJC2. Which they will. They MUST. *grin*

Best wishes in your studies, gentlemen!

Ganbarou!

-ang

The move to Japan is mainly just taking advantage of an opportunity to do something different and exciting. My contract is running out at my current job, and I’d rather move to Japan and teach than find new work in Canada. Chitose can work as a nurse in Japan, so we could do really well for ourselves there.

I’m loving your DS reviews here. Since the system is cross-compatible between Japan and North America, I figure that the DS will be my main gaming system unless we pick up a Wii in Japan.

Based on the reviews on this site (and a few other recommendations) I’ve picked up Civilization Revolution, Digaea DS, both Advance Ward games, The World Ends With You, and Lock’s Quest.

That should carry me for a year or more of train rides and killing time between classes.

MJC came out at a perfect time for me. I was showing off what I’d learned to Chitose yesterday, talking about what day it is, and what day it will be tomorrow… She was really pleased. I’m actually retaining what I learn pretty well, too!

What other DS games should I get?

Why the move to Japan? Work?

The first time I took the test, I did pretty well and the game skipped me up to lesson four. I took the test a second time and deliberately flunked out. I’m glad I did that. There were a couple of words in the early lessons that I was unfamiliar with. It was worth starting from the beginning, for me at least.