This topic contains 5 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by 
-
Posts
-
Hello Everyone!
My name is Malia, I live in Brooklyn, NY but I am originally from the Seattle, WA area. I am so happy to finally embarking on this journey to learning Japanese.
I’m third generation (Sansei) Japanese American and while I had quite a lot of exposure to cultural experiences like dressing up in a kimono, folk dance and tea ceremony activities the language part was sort of left behind.
My main motivation to learning is a big trip back to Japan this year. I also wanted the ability to enjoy Japanese video games. Also to avoid the disappointed/confused looks I get from native Japanese speakers when they realize I don’t speak the language.
I recently started playing a few japanese video games with furigana and even though I have to translate most of the story just the repetition of seeing the kana and kanji over and over again has made my reading ability so much quicker and keeps me engaged.
I’m only in Season 2 so much more to go! I’m ready the tackle the Kanji Kaiju, what a scary monster it is!
Yays! ようこそ！
Welcome to your journey and to textfugu!What kind of Japanese video games would you like to play?
Its cool you’ve starting with games with furigana. The truth is, lol, that while playing 真・女神転生 [しん めがみ てん せい] – an older Famicon game never released outside of Japan (although there is an English patch online for it) – I’ve had to look up a lot of words. But to be honest I have learned a lot of grammar and words surprising me a little.
Do you have an iPod or iPad or something similar (android)? If you do, you should see if you can get the app “imi wa?”. It is what I use a lot of time looking up new words. Also, on an Apple device you can add a Chinese keyboard which will let you draw out Kanji (this usually use if I can’t identify any radicals on the jisho ‘find kanji by radicals’ page).
You probably already know, but jisho.org is an amazing online dictionary. If you see a 熟語（じゅくご）, that is, a word compound which has two or more kanji, if you know one of the kanji in it you can use it to find that word which uses the kanji you do not know.When are you going to Japan and for how long?
I got back from a foreign exchange trip this June and it was amazing!
Definitely something to keep you motivated to study for! :DGood luck with your studies! 頑張ってね！
毎秒は一世一代。ようこそ!
It sounds like you already got a nice foundation for learning Japanese. I’m curious. Do your close family speak Japanese?
You said Japanese video games have helped you. Which have you played?Good luck from me too.
-
This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by
Cimmik.
こんにちわ!
The game I am playing the most right now is Youkai Watch 2 or 妖怪ウォッチ2 for the Nintendo 3DS. This game is massive and has creatures and monsters in it which some come from old Japanese folk tales which I love.
I will be in Japan in December for two weeks. I haven’t been back since I was 13. This will also be my first time in Tokyo so I am super excited.
Both my parents were raised in homes that spoke little english. My mom says she can understand Japanese when it is spoken to her but she can’t really speak it properly and my dad seems to be fluent but I didn’t know that until I had an exchange student in junior high and he started talking to her at the dinner table. Imagine my surprise my mom said my jaw about hit the dinner table.
I will check out that app today!
thanks for the tips!
No problem! :D
And do you know, does the 3DS have a region lock on it, or are some games region free?
毎秒は一世一代。The 3DS system is region locked I think the regular DS is not. Most of the games are region specific but Pokemon X / Y have a language selection are the start. That is the only 3DS game I know of that will allow you to change the language.
-
This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.