A Better Way to Study Kanji (1)

There's a million ways out there to learn kanji. Some people will tell you to throw a poster up on the bathroom wall and study whenever it's "convenient" while others focus on the importance of mnemonic devices. As for myself, I've often taken the "hard" road and opted for the brute-force method of rinse and repeat. As far back as my high school study days, I spent a lot of time writing out characters. I started with hiragana and katakana. I wrote and I wrote. Then I wrote some more. And you know what--it worked! I had the kana down pretty quick.

Then comes the behemoth-like enigma known as kanji. It sends chills running down the spine of many a student of Japanese and is the source of great controversy when it comes to learning methods. My six years in Japan (and 14 years studying the language) have taught me one thing about kanji: you can't learn them in a vacuum. This should come as common sense to most people who have spent a lot of time with the language. Kanji didn't pop out of nowhere. It's changed and grown along with the spoken language and the rest of the written language. Some characters come straight from China. Some have undergone some changes. Some were made right here in good ol' Nippon, too.

One thing I've always kept in mind is the components that make up a kanji character. With thousands upon thousands of characters to learn, the number may as well be infinite. But the components, my friends, are much more finite. They're also a lot easier to remember.

Let's look at a few characters. Some you may know. Some you may not.
設　投　股

At a glance, they might look a bunch of random characters tossed together. Many students of Japanese might approach these characters one by one, trying to remember them like "Okay, so first I draw four horizontal lines...then a square...then this hump sort of thing followed by a couple strokes that look like a table." Frankly, it's going to be pretty hard to tackle a few thousand (or even a few hundred) characters like that.

A closer look (at the right side) will show that they all have something in common: a ル on top of a 又(また). This little guy has a name, and not surprisingly, it's called るまた.

Did a spark go off yet? Now that you've got a name for part of the kanji, you can file that in your brain. るまた= ル on top of 又. That's a lot easier to remember than the above mess, right? Just categorize these pieces the same way you do あ(the character)=あ(the sound). It's easier than you think.

But where do I get started? How do I learn the names for all these pieces? Well a good place to start is a site like this or this that has a list of radicals. (If neither of those sites meet your fancy, just trying googling 部首 and 一覧 and see what pops up.)

Radicals, or 部首 in Japanese, are the components of a character that are traditionally used to classify them in dictionaries. Knowing the different radicals will give you a good working knowledge of the components that are out there to learn. For example, the below characters all share the common radical.

汗　泳　消　海　油

The radical is called sanzui and is the first three strokes on the left side. Just being able to recognize that this is a common component (and one that has its very own name!) will help expedite learning and systematize memorization.

Look forward to more on radicals, and other kanji components, in upcoming articles!

Brush Up on Your Brush Strokes

Lacking confidence in your writing skills? Worried that your kanji look like chicken scratch? Aggravated that you know how to write a character, but can't write it well?

Then look to DS美文字トレーニング on the Nintendo DS for all your artistic needs. In comparison to the majority of kanji software out there on the market that test your writing skills for tests like Kanken, DS美文字トレーニング allows you to dot your is and cross your ts by learning the ins and outs of how to write kanji like a pro. For somebody like myself who was just considering some formal lessons that would round out to about 30,000 yen (about $300), this software package is a timely--and economic--alternative.

As you practice writing characters, you'll be shown the proper angle to draw strokes, how to line up radicals, and how to preserve a sense of balance. With over 3000 characters (including hiragana) packed in to practice, it looks like you'll be able to make good use of this software for quite a while.

DS美文字トレーニング also comes with some extra features like a dictionary showing the origin of kanji and how they've changed over time. You also get a cool brushlike stylus. Everybody's a winner.

DS美文字トレーニング hits shelves on March 13, 2008.

Tokoton 2 Review

Tokoton 2 is a follow up to IE Institute's first kanji game, Tokoton. The sequel is largely unchanged from its predecessor but adds a couple new features here and there.

The game features two main options. The first is a 漢字チェック where you can take a 20-question quiz to test your ability at the different levels of the Kanken exam. Depending on how many questions you get correct and how quickly you solve the problems will determine what sort of orb you receive as a prize. Rainbow orb seems to be the best. You are tested on 4 different subjects from the test (writing, reading, four-kanji idioms, etc) with 5 questions in each subject. My first reaction here is that 20 questions is far too few to give yourself a good idea on how you would do on a real Kanken test, which has over 100 questions. I think you (and the makers) are a little optimistic to think that your performance on only 20 questions would be a good mark for how you would perform on the exam. The 20 questions don't even begin to cover all the different subjects that the test entails, a common feature found in Rocket Company's Kanken DS series.

The rest of the software is pretty straightforward. You can test yourself on the various reading and writing components of the Kanken exam at your leisure. These include 書き取り (writing), 誤字訂正 (correcting incorrect kanji), 送りがな (okurigana), 筆順 (stroke order), and 部首 (radicals). There are quite a few more areas, and you can test your skills from level 10 (the lowest) to level 1 (the highest level). The problem with these tests, though, is that once you've chosen the area you want to study and the level you want to work on, you only get to work on a 5-question set of problems. Once you finish these up and receive your score, you go back to the main menu--after waiting for a good 5 seconds of loading time that is unforgivable this late in the Nintendo DS's lifetime for a text-based game.

The small number of questions and irritating load time make the game a bit hard to handle in long sittings. If you just want to pop out a quiz or two while you wait for the bus or train it can be nice, but using it long-term for heavy study is not recommended.

The game contains a joyo kanji dictionary and four-kanji idiom dictionary, but these are mostly rendered useless by poor implementation.

The joyo kanji dictionary can only be searched by reading, number of strokes, and the level it appears in the Kanken. You can view the radical and number of strokes for a character, but the stroke order is strangely not included.

The stroke number and level searching is fine, but the reading search function is heavily flawed. You are only able to search for a kanji via the first character in its reading. So for example, if you wanted to look up 漢 (カン) and find out its radical, you would have to input カ and then scroll through ALL the kanji whose readings that start with カ until you reach カン, which appears near the bottom of the list. Since Kanken DS 2 included a search function where you could input the exact reading or even the character itself, it's surprising Tokoton 2 failed to do so.

The four-kanji idiom dictionary suffers the same sad fate as its little brother. The idioms can only be searched by reading or level, and the readings are based on the first part of the first character's reading. So let's say you wanted to look up the meaning of 弱肉強食 (じゃくにくきょうしょく), survival of the fittest. You'd have to input し and then search all the way down to the idioms starting with しゃ and じゃ. While this may be borderline usable by somebody familiar with many idioms and looking to just tweak their understanding, it makes it impossible for beginner and intermediate users to get much use of this.

Frankly, the proverbial ball was dropped on both dictionary functions. The kanji dictionary is painfully inferior to Kanken DS 2's dictionary.

There's also one boring minigame that you can unlock. I played it once or twice. It's not very fun.

So Tokoton 2 offers flimsy tests of your Kanken level, short quizzes bogged down by long loading times, and useless dictionaries. It's hard to think of who I would recommend this game to. Since the level tests aren't very accurate with only 20 questions covering just a bit of the test, I can't recommend this to people prepping for the test. Five question quizzes with five-second load times are aggravating for any gamer and make it difficult to study for more than a few minutes at a time. The dictionaries are not useful in any way whatsoever.

Tokoton 2 proves to be a rather lackluster game far into the life cycle of the Nintendo DS and outclassed by most if not all of its brother and sisters. Give this one a pass. I only played it long enough to write this review.

Upcoming Kanji Games

Remember those days back when there was only one or two kanji games on the market? Well, it looks like they are over. We've even got sequels out already in the form of games like Kanken DS 2 and Tokoton 2. Are we heading for market saturation? I hope so. Without all these kanji games, I would have nothing to do with my Nintendo DS. Let's take a quick look at some upcoming games.

なぞっておぼえる大人の漢字練習 完全版 is the sequel to なぞっておぼえる大人の漢字練習, which we reviewed here at Naruhodo! The first game is one of the best kanji games out right now, great for intermediate learners up. The first game paid careful attention to teaching each character within the Joyo set one by one, focusing on writing and readings. The sequel appears to use a similar format and has added an additional 316 characters, bringing the total number of kanji in its curriculum to 2261. It will also be loaded with loads of great features such as models showing the proper way to write each character and a useful light dictionary function. Looks to be packed with minigames as well. You can even change the color of your writing. Very slick.

なぞっておぼえる大人の漢字練習 完全版 comes out November 22nd.

読めそうで読めない漢字DS looks to reinforce the diminishing kanji ability of native speakers due to the expanding use of electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. With machines writing kanji for us, many of us have forgotten characters that have our ancestors turning over in their graves. The title looks to feature a number of drills aimed to help you remember how to read and write characters used in daily life and more difficult ones. (But somebody really needs to teach these guys how to make a user-friendly website.)

読めそうで読めない漢字DS comes out November 22nd.

陰山メソッド 正しい漢字かきとりくん 今度は漢検対策だよ！ is a follow-up to 陰山メソッド 正しい漢字かきとりくん, which received a good amount of praise. The first game focused on teaching elementary school-level kanji and was extremely approachable even for low-level learners. The sequel, as the name suggests, turns its attention from elementary kanji to Kanji Kentei training. I haven't been able to track down the official website, so I'm not too certain of the details, but from screenshots the game is looking pretty nice and even seems to contain a dictionary with definitions.

陰山メソッド 正しい漢字かきとりくん 今度は漢検対策だよ！ comes out November 29th.

まる書いてドンドン覚える　驚異のつがわ式漢字記憶術～基礎学習編～ aka Tsugawa Method DS: The Basics is a follow up to まる書いてドンドン覚える　驚異のつがわ式漢字記憶術. Tsugawa Method DS featured a simple mnemonic device for remembering how to write troublesome kanji. All you had to do was draw a circle around the parts of the character you had trouble remembering. Then you spent a moment concentrating on it, after which you'd be able to write the character with no problem. The first game featured mostly difficult kanji, making it hard for low-level learners to get much use out of the software. The Basics, however, will feature kanji taught in the elementary and junior high school curriculum, making it much more beginner-friendly.

まる書いてドンドン覚える　驚異のつがわ式漢字記憶術～基礎学習編～ comes out December 6th.

Looks like there's a game for almost any learner in this batch.

Newest Edition of Kojien

The long-awaited next edition of Japan's most famous dictionary, 広辞苑 (Kojien) is on its way. The Kojien 6th Edition will be released on January 11, 2008, ten years after the release of the 5th edition.

The sixth edition contains 10,000 entries over its last incarnation, totalling in at 240,000. And you thought the only word for delicious was おいしい?

Kojien is also packing modern terms such as ニート, ブログ, and うざい into its pages with this version.

Kanji Show for Kids

漢字だいすき (I/We Love Kanji) is a television program that airs on NHK. While it is aimed at children, it contains a lot of useful information that any student of Japanese can appreciate. Each episode, about five minutes in length, concentrates on a single kanji such as 光 or 自. The origin of the character and its various uses and pronunciations are covered in a simple format.

Check out the first one below along with links to further episodes.



Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5

More Tokoton 2 Details

As reported in an earlier article, IE Institute is releasing a sequel to its first Tokoton Kanji Kentei prep software this winter. A few more details have been released, and it looks like Tokoton 2 will be packing some excellent features.

-47,000 questions
-A joyo kanji dictionary with 2,230 entries (meaning it's not only joyo kanji, albeit its name)
-A 四字熟語 (four kanji compound idiom) dictionary
-The most absurdly long title of any game (anything!?) ever created:
財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会公式ソフト 250万人の漢検 新とことん漢字脳 47,000＋常用漢字辞典 四字熟語辞典

Now that's a mouthfull!

Plus, if you preorder at Amazon, you can get a nifty case for your DS Lite.

Kanken DS 2 Review

I should have known that the only way for kanji software to surpass Kanken DS was for Rocket Company to tag a "2" on the end and release a sequel. They managed to take everything that worked in the first game, and combined it with a few polishes to create a masterful title that is an invaluable study tool.

The main feature of the game is in preparing users to take the official Kanji Kentei, a test taken by millions of people in Japan and worldwide. The test is covered in the game by taking mock tests or reviewing sample questions.

There are two types of mock tests, a 15 minute quick test, and a 60 minute test that reflects the exact format of the real examination. These tests are great for gauging your ability within a certain level and fantastic practice if you plan on sitting the test in the future. The 15 minute test is useful if you're just going to kill some time on the train or when you want to take a break from work or other studying. The 60 minute version is a good "test-drive" before taking the official test as the scoring, format, and time limit are exactly the same. Unlike the original, Kanken DS 2 allows you to take any test at any time. This means you can not only test your knowledge of the basics but can also take a peek at the higher levels and more difficult questions.

When you're done testing your level, you can review old or new material via a huge selection of sample questions. These questions are split up by Kanken level and by topic. These topics include 読み取り(reading), 書き取り(writing)、部首(radicals), 音訓(on/kun reading), and more. While these are the same problems that appear in the tests mentioned above, these problems allow you to practice in sets. Say you want a set of reading problems from level 5. All you have to do is select "level 5" and then "reading". Once you've finished, you can check your score before heading on to your next set of questions. One of Kanken DS 2's best features comes up here. Any problems that you miss during a review set are stored by the game, allowing you to try them again at any time. They'll stay stored until you get them right, too, which is great for those tricky questions that you keep on missing again and again.

Sometimes I like to re-take the questions I miss immediately, but it's great to have the option of knowing I can go back a week later on a set of questions I totally bombed on, and check to see if I've made an improvement.

Kanken DS 2's biggest improvement is the inclusion of a kanji dictionary featuring the 1945 joyo kanji . You can access the dictionary from the main menu allowing you to search for a character by writing the kanji or the reading. The other awesome feature is that you can view the relevant dictionary entries whenever you miss a problem during a practice test or sample question set. This lets you immediately review a kanji or two (in the case of a compound) that you failed to answer correctly. The dictionary allows you to check the readings, radicals, stroke counts, and stroke orders of all the joyo kanji. Even though the dictionary doesn't contain definitions for the characters, it's still a fantastic tool for reviewing most of the information the Kanken tests you on.

When you're done testing and going through sets of problems, you can also relax with a generous collection of kanji-based games. The games give you a chance to show off your kanji prowess in a variety of challenges revolving around reading, writing, stroke order, radicals, and more. The radical game features ninjas. If that doesn't convince you to pick up the game, I don't know what will. There's also three games to unlock, adding to the fun.

The game also keeps track of your progress as you advance in levels and tackle each of the 44,000 problems featured on the game card. You can check how many problems you've cleared or how you're faring in the different testing areas at each level. In the first Kanken DS, your stats seemed to reset every now and then, rendering the feature useless. Luckily Kanken DS 2 picked up on the problem and always gives you an up-to-date, overall report.

I should also mention that input recognition is fabulous. It's probably one of the most accurate pieces of software on the DS. I have almost no problems inputting hiragana, katakana, or kanji. Almost any time the game detects the wrong character, it's a mistake on my part. Just be sure to watch your stroke order with the kanji! Writing out a character, no matter how perfectly, with the wrong stroke order will baffle the software. Some people complain about this, but I think it's a great way of forcing learners to buckle down and learn the stroke order--it's important.

The game is wrapped up in consistent production values and (fairly) decent music, making Kanken DS 2 a fantastic title all around. If you're looking for software to test your kanji skills from start to finish, then you're going to want to pick up this title.

And did I mention the kanji game featuring ninjas?

Pick up your copy here at Amazon.

Kanken DS 2 released!

Kanken DS 2 hit shelves today. This is the latest kanji training game from Rocket Company. Check out a demo version on their website by clicking where it says 漢検DS2/英検DS 体験版.

In the meantime, check out the commercial featuring sexy doctor Ayako Nishikawa.




Check back soon for an in-depth review!

Nintendo DS to hit primary school classrooms

In the past, I have reported on Nintendo DS software being used in junior high school and university classrooms. Starting soon, two titles from Rocket Company will be showing up in the primary school classroom as well.

Students at the Notre Dame Elementary School (Kyoto) will be using Kanken DS 2 and Eiken DS as supplementary learning materials. Kanken DS 2 is, of course, the sequel to Rocket Company's bestselling Kanken DS, featuring quizzes and games based on the Kanken exam.

The Eiken, or Test in Practical English Proficiency (実用英語技能検定), is a test administered in Japan in which learners of English can gauge their proficiency level.

Notre Dame plans to use this opportunity to test the effectiveness of Nintendo DS software in the classroom. Both Notre Dame and Rocket Company will use the data collected to work towards creating new software and materials. They are also aiming for implementation of Nintendo DS-based learning across the country.

You can find more information in the official press release here.

Kanken DS 2 and Eiken DS go on sale September 27th.

via Fuji Sankei Business