Just got this from Playasia but couldn't find a First Play thread so a little first impressions review. First things first the box cover is pretty horrible...
Anyway on first loading you advised its best to listen to headphones for the maximum learning experience. The next screen asks by text what is your name in both Japanese and English which you enter using a onscreen keyboard. Your then asked if your a Man, Woman, Boy or Girl and then aks you where are you from? with a flag for America, Canada, France and for the other 99% of the earths population a world globe
You then do a placement test to determine your ability and thus lesson level with 3 minutes to answer as many questions, if you get two wrong the test ends. The initial test features listening, reading text (hiragana) and guessing japanese word meanings ie whats Japanese for January etc. Once your time is up or you make two mistakes in a row your placed according to your ability. I seemed to start on lesson 9 with pronouns ie Those, You, Me etc with my rank conferred as Toddler!
In the lessons you get a screen with words presented to you to learn which you can do so by either listening to the pronounciation, speaking or writing the hiragana text (theres an option for kana but at my level its blocked out!) Your then given some advice on how and when to use the words and in what context. Your then given a game to make to test that you have learnt the words presented correctly either through multiple choice, crossword, flash cards etc. You get points which then enable you if you accumulate enough to progress to the next level. If you make a mess out of the quiz it won't allow you to progress.
The lessons and the game are presented by a animated female charachter wearing a blue kimono, I'm not sure she actually even looks Japanese nonetheless her accent is Japanese. Some of her animations are a bit cringe worthy especially when she jumps in the air in jubilation. One thing you will want to do though is turn off the annoying title music which sounds more Chinese than anything else and the annoying selection sound.
On the main options page you have selections for learning (lessons), games - multiple choice, hit a word, word search and fading charachters. Reference which consists of the players status/ability, dictionary in Japanese and English with spoken words and hiragana/katakana text. A spoken Phrasebook with some useful words such as Do you have any money? Do you have any sisters? - which maybe of use for picking up girls!
The last option is a sketchpad - nuff said.
One thing I seriously dislike is the "saving data" screen which seems to pop up almost everytime you navigate back or forth even though there is no data to save, plus we dont need to know this anyway - even if you select credits the saving data screen comes up!
My initial first impressions are therefore its not a bad piece of software, it will certainly help you learn but it could do with some 'polishing up'
Anyway on first loading you advised its best to listen to headphones for the maximum learning experience. The next screen asks by text what is your name in both Japanese and English which you enter using a onscreen keyboard. Your then asked if your a Man, Woman, Boy or Girl and then aks you where are you from? with a flag for America, Canada, France and for the other 99% of the earths population a world globe
You then do a placement test to determine your ability and thus lesson level with 3 minutes to answer as many questions, if you get two wrong the test ends. The initial test features listening, reading text (hiragana) and guessing japanese word meanings ie whats Japanese for January etc. Once your time is up or you make two mistakes in a row your placed according to your ability. I seemed to start on lesson 9 with pronouns ie Those, You, Me etc with my rank conferred as Toddler!
In the lessons you get a screen with words presented to you to learn which you can do so by either listening to the pronounciation, speaking or writing the hiragana text (theres an option for kana but at my level its blocked out!) Your then given some advice on how and when to use the words and in what context. Your then given a game to make to test that you have learnt the words presented correctly either through multiple choice, crossword, flash cards etc. You get points which then enable you if you accumulate enough to progress to the next level. If you make a mess out of the quiz it won't allow you to progress.
The lessons and the game are presented by a animated female charachter wearing a blue kimono, I'm not sure she actually even looks Japanese nonetheless her accent is Japanese. Some of her animations are a bit cringe worthy especially when she jumps in the air in jubilation. One thing you will want to do though is turn off the annoying title music which sounds more Chinese than anything else and the annoying selection sound.
On the main options page you have selections for learning (lessons), games - multiple choice, hit a word, word search and fading charachters. Reference which consists of the players status/ability, dictionary in Japanese and English with spoken words and hiragana/katakana text. A spoken Phrasebook with some useful words such as Do you have any money? Do you have any sisters? - which maybe of use for picking up girls!
The last option is a sketchpad - nuff said.
One thing I seriously dislike is the "saving data" screen which seems to pop up almost everytime you navigate back or forth even though there is no data to save, plus we dont need to know this anyway - even if you select credits the saving data screen comes up!
My initial first impressions are therefore its not a bad piece of software, it will certainly help you learn but it could do with some 'polishing up'
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