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Never3ndr's Learn Japanese to Survive! Hiragana Battle review

Feedback on Never3ndr's Learn Japanese to Survive! Hiragana Battle review. 5 replies.

Jason Venter Staff Apr 29, 2016
I'm interested in learning Japanese, but flashcards and such bore me to tears (I found while taking Spanish in high school and then again in college). So this seems like it could be useful, plus I have the Rosetta Stone program for Japanese and some other software and books. If I can just find the time, I might be able to finally learn it... and make this game part of that process. Thanks for the informative review!
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world
Skylar Yoshioka Apr 29, 2016
You're welcome! I honestly am not very good at learning foreign languages so I appreciated combining one of my favorite things (video game RPGs) with one of my least favorite things (studying / memorizing). I'll still occasionally go back and run through an area or two to stay refreshed.
Jeremy Davis Apr 29, 2016
This is pretty interesting. How many characters and/or words does the program cover?

I'm studying Korean now, and I've been pleased with how rapidly I've been able to learn vocabulary with flashcards. I use the Anki program and follow the method described in the Fluent Forever blog and book to create and study new cards. It's certainly a grind, but I'm not sure a more efficient method is possible. But a game would definitely be a lot more fun!

I'm actually going on a trip to Japan this summer and wanted to know some basic phrases (and maybe even reading) for getting around. I might just check this out. Thanks for the review!
Finally! A signature!
Skylar Yoshioka Apr 30, 2016
You learn all of the 46 hiragana characters and their modified versions (an additional 25 characters). I am not sure how much vocabulary you learn (numerically), but it is pretty minimal. I wouldn't actually recommend this as a prep (or crash course) for a trip to Japan as you will need to learn more spoken Japanese rather than anything written. Also, the phrases and vocab you learn are really too minimal to really do much with.
Skylar Yoshioka Apr 30, 2016
I should also say that in Japan hiragana is pretty much only used for the endings of words, kanji is typically used for the root of the word while katakana identifies words of foreign origin.

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