For those of you who have yet to hear about this little gem of a DS game, My Japanese Coach is the latest in the “coach” series, which is yet another one of Nintendo’s ploys to ignore the hardcore and sell to the masses. However, this time I’m not complaining, because as you well know, any self-respecting anime blogger or otaku should learn at least a little Japanese in their lifetime – and if they can do it through a video game, then why not?
As always, the usual gaming sources can provide a much more in-depth look at how the game works than a blogger can, but to sum it up, the game isn’t half bad. Basically, you read through a short lesson that introduces a few words to you, play a few minigames (drawing cards for kana, flash cards, whack-a-mole [don't know how they thought of that], etc), and when you “master” all of the words by playing enough minigames, you unlock the next lesson.
Sound simple? Well, it is – and to me, that’s a good thing. Depending on your level of knowledge of Japanese this game will probably be either really easy or really hard; obviously, a person who has actually gone to classes probably shouldn’t be playing a game like this, but to anyone else it should prove to be a useful tool. True beginners might have a little trouble, seeing as basic words are thrown at you right off the bat and kana is introduced within the first 10 lessons (out of, I believe, 100), but practice makes perfect – and I doubt any of us are that amateur anyhow.
On the downside, I don’t believe that the game works as a real learning tool, despite it’s appearances. Discussion has, of course, been going on, and a certain review was posted by an ex-fansubber (not that ex-fansubber) who apparently used to edit for the now-defunct No Name Losers. On a totally irrelevant sidenote, skimming through what is evidently now GipFace’s personal blog and discovering that NNL is actually based in Toronto, I’m struck with a sudden urge to get involved in the translation community, but I neither know how to read Japanese nor how to do any of those fancy techie stuff, so all I’d really be good for is…well, actually, I wouldn’t be able to help out at all. Oh well. I suppose ef will have to remain untranslated until I miraculously start studying Japanese and form my own translation group. …Yeah, that’s definitely not going to happen.
But getting back on topic, as you can see, the game has both pros and cons. From what I’ve heard, it fails to replace or supplement textbooks and classes, but all honesty, who actually expected it to replace them in the first place? I know I didn’t. While MJC (evidently) might not be able to properly teach you Japanese, it does force some basic knowledge into your skull, and it does it a lot better than pretending to learn through anime like all the kids do. If you’re like me and you don’t want to take several hours out of every weekend to go to class, then this game – because yes, it’s still technically a game – will definitely help you out. I’ve hardly played it yet, but I already memorized a few things (albeit irrelevant things), and I know a bit more grammar today than I did yesterday. It’s far from flawless, as I’m sure anyone who actually speaks Japanese can tell you, but hey, it’s a game – and some knowledge is definitely better than no knowledge.
~ ETERNAL
つづく
