My Japanese Coach (DS) Review

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 12.04.2008

Learning a new language one day at a time.



Title: My Japanese Coach
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Educational
Players: 1
Rated E for Everyone

When the original set of ‘Coach’ titles came out, I was quick to pick up My French Coach. As someone who studied French for eight years, I figured it would help me at least remember some lost words and to brush up on a few phrases I may have forgotten along the way. Needless to say, I was quite impressed and to this day, I still throw it in my DS-Lite once in a while to keep things fresh. Being someone who also has been wanting to learn some Japanese, I made sure to give My Japanese Coach a shot, figuring it could help me pick up the language, if only the basics.

As you would expect, My Japanese Coach follows the same premise as the other language teaching titles. You’ll begin by creating your profile and then taking a brief test so that the software can get an idea of how well you know the language. If you have absolutely no experience with it, you’ll start off as a baby and begin with the most basic of words. If you know some basic stuff, the software will adjust accordingly and not bother with teaching you things you already know. I of course started off as a baby as I don’t know a thing about Japanese. You first learn to say things like thank you (arigatou), bad (dame), yes (hai), and goodbye (sayounara). At least from the get go you’ll be able to say hello and goodbye which will look respectful if you need to say so with a Japanese guest. There are three main things to do while learning new words. There’s seeing the word, hearing it spoken and learning to write it in Japanese characters. After you hear the word, you can also record yourself saying it and compare it to the tutor. The mic seems pretty sensitive in the game so you’ll want to be somewhere quiet. It’s cool to be able to compare it as you’ll quickly see if you need to adjust your pronunciations – an important part of any language. My one gripe with the learning portion of the game is that you’ll often find the game not recognizing your stylus. When you are writing the words in Japanese characters; more specifically characters that require you lift your stylus off the touch screen, the software will at times stop recognizing your stylus and the exercise becomes pointless. I found that writing short characters that don’t require that I lift my stylus turned out ok but again, this is a pretty big deal and basically renders it useless. Not necessarily concerned with writing characters at the moment, I generally stayed away from it but it will be a bigger issue with other players.

In each lesson, you’ll go through this type of training before moving on to the Games portion. You’ll get to play games such as Word Finder, Multiple Choice and Hit-a-Word which help you remember the words you’ve just gone over. You can choose to play the games over and over until you’ve finally mastered each word. Each lesson requires that you get a certain amount of points which are earned from each game, before you go on to the next lesson. As you progress, you’ll unlock new games which can then be played at anytime for any lesson. You can choose to play each game with words you have already mastered or leave it open for any words. The difficulty level can also be set giving you less time to complete a game or harder words.

Graphically the game is pretty basic. The tutor is rendered in 3D as is games such as the Hit-a-Word which features moles coming out of holes but aside from that sort of thing, there isn’t much. Quite frankly, the game doesn’t need more than it offers. The game features a short soothing melody so that it keeps you relaxed. The tutor’s voice-overs are relatively clear and concise while speaking only in Japanese. She isn’t going to help you out in English (at least not vocally) so make sure you read and pay attention.

The 411

My time with the game has proven to be quite productive as I’ve managed to learn a few words, count and introduce myself. I need to play it often so that I don’t forget but the game has done a pretty good job of slowly teaching me how to speak the language. I will say however that alone, My Japanese Coach won’t get you conversing like a pro, but if you just want some basics or if you’re using it in combination with a class, the software will keep you sharp and in the know.

Graphics	5.0	Not horrible, not great but this isn't about graphics.
Gameplay	6.5	Does a good job of teaching you some basics but the issue with the stylus recogniton is a problem.
Sound	7.0	Tutor can be heard clearly and the mic picks up your recording rather well.
Lasting Appeal	9.0	This software encourages you to use it frequently.
Fun Factor	7.0	About as much fun as learning a new language. But that's the point and it doesn't feel boring unless you master it.
Overall	6.9   [ Average ]