Learning Kanji with your DS: the Tale of Doko Demo Kanji Quiz

By Spencer . January 31, 2007 . 1:38pm

Learning Kanji with your DS: the Tale of Doko Demo Kanji QuizThere’s something that I love about D3’s Simple series other than the games being really cheap. A lot of times they go on the road less traveled make risky titles like the Origin of caveman where you lead cavemen on mammoth hunts and Demolition Girl which is like playing through Attack of the 50ft Woman. Other times they have educational titles, like their kanji quiz series which has come out on the PS2 and PSP. Flash card quizzes are OK, but the DS is really the perfect system for learning kanji since you can write on the touch screen. I picked up Simple DS Series Vol. 10: The Doko Demo Kanji Quiz to see if it was a helpful tool for mastering kanji.

 

Purchase at Play-Asia

 

Learning Kanji with your DS: the Tale of Doko Demo Kanji QuizIn the Doko Demo Kanji Quiz you hold the DS like a book similar to Hotel Dusk or Brain Age. You start a game by taking a little quiz to determine how good you are at breaking down kanji into hiragana. On the left screen there is a passage and some kanji are highlighted. Then on the right hand side of the screen you have boxes you can write hiragana in. The test switches it up and gives you hiragana on the left and you have to write the correct kanji in the box. Once you’ve made your profile there are three kinds of tests to do: converting hiragana to kanji, kanji to hiragana and a kanji radical test. Then there are four difficulty levels for each test to complete. After you complete a section you’re given the correct answers for all of the ones you missed, so you can learn what the correct answers are.

 

Learning Kanji with your DS: the Tale of Doko Demo Kanji QuizBesides the main tests there are sixteen different mini games that are really drills. In most of the games you’re selecting the correct kanji or hiragana out of a touch screen multiple choice menu on the right screen. However, there are a couple of interesting mini games in the package. In one bouncing simple kanji characters float around and you have to combine them to make a new character. Another has players select a “path” to get from one kanji to another. There are preset kanji on the right hand side and you have to pick the right radicals from the group to get to the kanji on the bottom of the screen. The most hilarious one is where pink silhouettes of pinup girls covering kanji and you have to try and write the character before time runs out.

 

Are you going to actually learn kanji from the Simple DS Series: Doko Demo Kanji Quiz? Probably not. You’ve got to understand the different kanji radicals and more importantly the order of kanji strokes. If you can’t write characters in the correct brush stroke order, the kanji quiz has a hard time figuring out what you wrote. Also you have to already have a firm grasp of hiragana to get anywhere with this game and a good grasp of kanji too  See the kanji quiz isn’t here really to teach you new kanji, it’s more of a refresher to quiz you on which kanji you already know. Through the drill system you might learn some new kanji, but if you’re just starting to get the hang of kanji pass this up.


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  • Kakashi

    Thanks for the review. I’m still a n00b in Nihongo, with only 2 undergradute semesters under my belt, but that was 6-7 years ago. Now i’m taking it again, starting from the beginning. I’d like to find a DS title that is n00b-friendly, so if you find one, please let me know! Thanks.

  • Kakashi

    Thanks for the review. I’m still a n00b in Nihongo, with only 2 undergradute semesters under my belt, but that was 6-7 years ago. Now i’m taking it again, starting from the beginning. I’d like to find a DS title that is n00b-friendly, so if you find one, please let me know! Thanks.

  • Jeff

    I think some developer in the US would be smart to create some language learning software for the DS. Personally, I’d buy Japanese and Spanish carts if they were available. The great thing about the DS is that it doesn’t only have to have games on it, but can also have something more education-oriented like Brain Age and the like (I believe Japan has a bunch of titles that fit this category).

  • Jeff

    I think some developer in the US would be smart to create some language learning software for the DS. Personally, I’d buy Japanese and Spanish carts if they were available. The great thing about the DS is that it doesn’t only have to have games on it, but can also have something more education-oriented like Brain Age and the like (I believe Japan has a bunch of titles that fit this category).

  • Mark

    I would buy a Japanese cart as well. I wish they would make one. I wouldn’t buy a Spanish one though.

  • Mark

    I would buy a Japanese cart as well. I wish they would make one. I wouldn’t buy a Spanish one though.

  • ackeejag

    this look pretty nice. i might buy it if it tells you what the reading for the kanji is. then i can learn new kanji plus practice writing them in something disguised as a game.

  • ackeejag

    this look pretty nice. i might buy it if it tells you what the reading for the kanji is. then i can learn new kanji plus practice writing them in something disguised as a game.

  • Hiba

    THEY DO give you the reading if you mess up, but that doesn’t really help you much if you don’t know the word that kanji belongs to, or what that kanji might mean in English. Like the summery said before, it really is just a review game. If you want to learn kanji, I suggest you do it as you learn the words; it works better because of the way the human brain works. This works because the brain retains things better if the item to be remembered has more information to it, the more information the easier to remember. I.e. we see a fruit we’ve never seen before, we’re told it’s a graphi fruit, we see that it’s red, shiny, grows on a tall tree with green leafs, we eat it, it tastes good, sweet, and has white meat. We’ll likely to remember that fruit’s name, just because of all the sensory input that came with the information ‘Graphi’. Learning Kanji is the same. The kanji has more information when learned with the word they come in. Also, when we think of the word, or say it in class, our brain access that information, making the memory stronger. Because we learned the kanji with the word, when the brain accesses this information, it also accesses all the information that was learned with that word to include the Kanji (Even though we do not realize this most of the time). Therefore, if you learn the kanji with the word and use the word often, you’ll learn your kanji faster than most average people. I have averaged 400 to 600 kanji a semester sense I started in 1010 and now know roughly 1000 kanji after only a year of study.

  • Hiba

    THEY DO give you the reading if you mess up, but that doesn’t really help you much if you don’t know the word that kanji belongs to, or what that kanji might mean in English. Like the summery said before, it really is just a review game. If you want to learn kanji, I suggest you do it as you learn the words; it works better because of the way the human brain works. This works because the brain retains things better if the item to be remembered has more information to it, the more information the easier to remember. I.e. we see a fruit we’ve never seen before, we’re told it’s a graphi fruit, we see that it’s red, shiny, grows on a tall tree with green leafs, we eat it, it tastes good, sweet, and has white meat. We’ll likely to remember that fruit’s name, just because of all the sensory input that came with the information ‘Graphi’. Learning Kanji is the same. The kanji has more information when learned with the word they come in. Also, when we think of the word, or say it in class, our brain access that information, making the memory stronger. Because we learned the kanji with the word, when the brain accesses this information, it also accesses all the information that was learned with that word to include the Kanji (Even though we do not realize this most of the time). Therefore, if you learn the kanji with the word and use the word often, you’ll learn your kanji faster than most average people. I have averaged 400 to 600 kanji a semester sense I started in 1010 and now know roughly 1000 kanji after only a year of study.

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