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I’m still beginning my education in Japanese and I don’t expect to actually be doing this any time soon, but i’m curious about what people think about using games as a study option.
There are a few games I really want to play that just don’t have an english release (Valkyria Chronicles 3 & Clannad VN for example) and i’ve been considering importing them and playing them when I think i’d be able to. I’m worried about a game like Valkyria Chronicles though, as its a military setting, the language used might be quite different from normal – but Clannad is a school-based VN, so I imagine it wouldn’t be too bad.
What do people think about using games to study, and does anyone know of some games with easy language?
-Seltox
I’ll agree with you that military games are more likely to use technical terms, but I wouldn’t rely on the characters in any games to speak the way normal people do. I reckon it’s worth setting them as a goal, and they ought to be a good source of vocab, but I wouldn’t rely on them as a learning material.
Apparently, though, the Pokemon games are fairly easy to study from, since they’re got furigana (and a kana-only option). If I recall correctly.
As Joel said, pokemon would be good to use, especially if you’ve played them before since you’ll have an idea of what the game is trying to explain to you. I learned a lot of vocab from Emerald, since I already had an idea of what the menu buttons said in English, and a lot of katakana is used for some pokemon names in later generations. Good practice for reading and learning new words.
I think Clannad would also be a good option, since it is a high school/life based game. You should get a lot of formal/informal speaking in dialogue. If I recall correctly, they also use voice actors, so you’ll get some tidbits of listening practice too.
Ah yeah, the Pokemon games. Of course. Can’t believe I didn’t think of those :P I played the Pokemon games during the first generation (haven’t for a few years now, but it’s still fond in my heart).
Thanks for the opinions!
Have you seen my bear tibbers? :(
Joel, they don’t have furigana. They have a kanji on/off mode, though. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MPGBJQcT-ac/0.jpg <-this doesn’t show furigana. Just so Seltox knows before buying. :)
I will recomand digimon world re digitize for PSP, it has furigana and it is easy to read (though the furigana can be small and hard to read some times) I am still locking for more games with furigana that are my type, see also this..
http://www.jrpgclub.com/community/thread-39-post-746.html#pid746
http://www.giantbomb.com/furigana/92-7369/games/
The native version of the Animal Crossing series, known as どぶつの森 is incredible for picking up sample sentences. There’s almost zero kanji in the first one for the Nintendo 64, and in the later titles, hiragana is resting above every kanji throughout the game. As long as you have a good handle on the various particles/sentence enders, you’ll find yourself quite pleased with how much you can pull out of conversations with the towns folk! I usually just play with a dictionary plopped out on my lap, looking up and writing down anything I have trouble with.
The downside is Nintendo’s notorious region-locking tendencies. The Nintendo 64 version will require you to either purchase a Japanese N64 (costly and unrecommended), or physically alter your Nintendo 64 to allow it to fit foreign cartridges (incredibly easy and tons of guides on the ‘net for how to do so.) The GameCube version(s) will require a JPN GameCube, or a special disk which you can also look into. Chances are, you own some form of a DS (if you don’t, they’re like fifty bucks on craigslist/ebay, and it has such a rich back catalog!). The DS does not have any form of region locking, thus the Animal Crossing title for DS is fully playable and portable!
Hope this helps, good luck!
Evan – Thanks for the heads up! I didn’t realize we could buy Japanese games for the DS. I love Animal Crossing and now I’m going to have to order it. :)
Cassandra
どぶつ or どうぶつ? Only the former doesn’t seem to be in my dictionary, while the latter means “animal”…
Members of AKB have been talking a lot about 「どうぶつの森」 so I guess that is what he meant to say.
Ahhh, sorry, guys. Yes, I absolutely meant 「どうぶつの森」 Apologies, 1,000 times around.
But yeah, after spending some time with the Nintendo 64 version, I can’t recommend importing it enough. It’s especially interesting if you’re used to the English-language GameCube version; it’s distinctively more “exotic” in features and aesthetics. I used to gaze at my issues of Nintendo Power covering screen shots of 「どうぶつの森」/”Animal Forest” for N64 as a wee chap, wild-eyed with thoughts of what this incredible game could possibly be like. The feeling of being able to understand the animals, and reading things and saying, “yes! I understand you!” makes me live my 10-year-old’s fantasy!
You don’t need quite so many as a thousand apologies. =P
I’ve been pondering trying to get a hold of the DS version of 二の国, now that the English translation has been cancelled. Not too sure how well I’d manage where a professional company just threw up their hands and went “stuff the fans, this is just too hard!”
Me? Bitter? Noooo…
Not sure if this thread is still alive but I’ve been playing Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch on PS3 and I think that would be a good one to look into. It’s rated E10+ (everyone 10 and up). Most of the dialog (I read the English subs) is very simple so i imagine the Japanese is about the same. It’s made for 10 year olds after all. I’ve been playing for over 19 hours and I think I’m going to switch to Japanese audio soon. Just for fun. I consider myself a beginner in the language so maybe just listening more will help.
noone mentioned “Zelda no Densetsu – Mugen no Sunadokei” ? It is for DS,it cames with kanji & furigana (when you hover your pen on top of the kanji) & is also legal to download it & use it on pc trough a DS Emulator,if you have the original cartridge :)
Also Chrono Trigger for SNES, it’s awesome bacause here http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Retranslation.html you can find the Eglish translation next to the original Jap text next to the fan Translation with also some explanation of many phrases,so great material for study :) This too is legal to be downloaded with a snes emulator,if you have the original cartridge & console ;)
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