New Japanese games at the LRC

Recently I have been working with David Shultz and John Beals at the Language Resource Center to expand our range of available software for Japanese language practice, and one of our plans has just come to fruition. The LRC has just ordered four Nintendo DS game systems. Legend of Zelda anyone?

Seriously, though, why DS? Well, for one thing DS software is non-region specific, so software purchased in Japan can be used on a device purchased in the US. For another, the DS is HUGE in Japan so there is lots of available software. Also, the input system for the DS is a stylus you use to write on the screen, meaning you can write kanji, etc. directly onto the screen and have it be recognized. And finally, Japan is years ahead of the US in using game systems in innovative ways, creating software for non-gamers, etc. The range of software available for the DS in Japan is massive, including everything from cooking instruction, to readings in world literature, to home finance... to Japanese practice.

Yes, even Japanese people have to practice their Japanese and their kanji too. Among the dozens of “kentei” official certification exams every year are the Nihongo nôryoku shiken (“Test of Japanese Proficiency,” aimed at foreign speakers of Japanese), the Nihongo kentei (“Goken” – “Certification Test of Japanese Language,” aimed at native Japanese speakers and focused on proper language usage) and the Nihon kanji nôryoku kentei (“Kanken” – “Certification Test of Japanese Kanji Proficiency”), each with multiple levels from Novice to Expert. You don’t take a standardized test and get a certain score, as with the SAT or ACT, but rather you attempt a certain level of the exam and either pass and then move on to the next level, or fail and try again next year (much like Japanese university entrance exams). Sometimes these tests are used in the same way the SAT or ACT tests are used in the US, as a test of ability in certain fields that is independent of individual schools (even going down to elementary school level). And sometimes they are a requirement for certain professions. But sometimes, people just take them to see how good they are... and that’s lucky for us, since there are hundreds of DS games available to practice for them. Most of them are aimed at native speakers so they tend to be a bit high level and assume a certain level of Japanese (such as some kanji readings) that may not be there for second language learners, but I think they’ll be both helpful and fun. Here are the ones we’ve purchased for the LRC:

Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun: Kondo wa Kanken Taisaku Dayo!
(“Correct Kanji Writer kun – This time the challenge is Kanken!”)
The first Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun DS game was aimed at elementary school students, and focused on the “general use” kanji. This follow up is, as the name suggests, expanded to help users practice for the Kanken, the Kanji certification test. The game has levels to help study kanji appropriate for the Level 10 exam (1st year of elementary school) all the way up to Level 2 (high school graduate level kanji). It helps the user learn the correct way to write the kanji and then tests using quizzes, mini-games, etc., with the user writing in the correct kanji directly with the stylus. The program checks both the kanji itself as well as the proper stroke order, something which is often lacking in second-language learners but which is REALLY important to making your kanji look right. I couldn’t find a review of this new version, but a review of the old one is here.

Kanken DS2
Not as creative a title, but the same basic aim as the one above. This is one is much more oriented toward the exams themselves, and are divided up into the same types of categories that the test is, including reading, writing, radicals, and on/kun readings. This game also includes a kanji dictionary, and since even unknown kanji can be written using the stylus it can be easier to use than our other dictionaries, though it only includes the 1,945 “general use” kanji and is thus not as complete as a full dictionary. There’s a review of it here and you can watch the Japanese TV commercial for it on YouTube.

Hissatsu Kung Fu: Kanji Dragon
All the excitement of an old kung fu movie, combined with the thrill of kanji acquisition. As the son of a martial arts master, you must use your family’s secret weapon, the Kanji Fist, to defeat those who would destroy your dôjô. Defeat your foes by writing the correct kanji, the correct reading of a kanji, a synonym or antonym of a given kanji, the proper radical, etc. The kanji get harder as the foes get stronger. This might be a game that’s better suited to kanji review rather than learning new kanji, but the game system should keep it interesting. The main promotional site is all in Japanese, but it’s interesting and here’s a review in English.

Nihongo kentei DS
While the other three above are focused on kanji, this one is more general, as a preparation tool for the Test of Japanese Proficiency (Nihongo kentei). It does include kanji, but also grammar, vocabulary, definitions, formal speech, etc. Like the Kanken study tools, it is also divided by level, from the Level 6 exam (mid- to late- elementary school level) up to Level 1 (college graduates). The questions are quite challenging but hey, isn’t that why you’re studying? I haven’t found an English review of this one, but you can take a look at the Japanese official site if you like.

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
What, you thought I was kidding when I said we should play Legend of Zelda? Well, it’s not quite that easy of course. This is the Japanese version. And if you want to get through this Zelda, you’re going to have to do quite a bit of Japanese reading. Luckily, the game includes an automatic kanji lookup, which lets you view the reading of any kanji. Check out this video of how it works. Even if you’re just wandering around the world confused, at least you’ll be improving your language... hmmm... just like living in Japan.

For now we’ve ordered four devices and four copies of each game. And for now, I won’t be trying to integrate them into the curriculum... they’re just for extra practice. But please try them out, and let me know what works, what doesn’t, what you like about them, etc. If it turns out they’re useful, we may start expanding the collection.

Japanese Program Growing

Well, there have been a few exciting developments in the program, though none that affect current students immediately. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there were a couple of the things I thought needed to happen with first-year Japanese for the program to really start growing... and they're both about to happen!

First, I got approval from our department chair to add a section of JPN 101 to the schedule for the winter semester next academic year. Then, if enrollments are strong, we will continue the pattern by adding a section of JPN 102 to the following fall and offer both JPN 101 and 201 in the following winter. Being able to take lower-level Japanese in either semester rather than only on a fall-winter track adds much more flexibility to the program. First, it allows better integration with study abroad programs, which generally proceed at twice the pace of our program and thus make study for a single semester difficult. Also, it allows more flexibility for students who either end up dropping the course mid-semester or who aren't quite ready to move on to the next level of language study. Retaking a semester immediately rather than waiting a full year is a much more appealing option for most of these students, and increases the likelihood that they will stick with Japanese rather than switching to one of those easy ahem... I mean European languages. Getting the third year of language was important, but this increases the chance that we can keep those third-year classes filled.

Second, we will also be offering JPN 101-102 during the spring and summer semesters next summer. This is the other half of the same equation, allowing students who don't decide to take Japanese as freshmen the chance to get in at the "ground floor" and continue as though they had done so. Now, whether these classes actually get taught next summer depends entirely on enrollment numbers, and it took German five years to build enough of a base to offer summer courses regularly. Still, I think there's enough interest to make it a possibility... and if nothing else it will give me a better sense of just how much demand there is for it at this point. Eventually I want to be able to offer 201-202 during the summer as well, making it possible to jump from first- to third-year from one year to the next, but that's a bit more difficult in terms of staffing. With only two Japanese faculty, that means both committing to spring and summer classes every year, which just isn't going to happen. Once we have three full-time faculty members, though (hopefully beginning with the 2012-13 academic year), it's a possibility. Not a huge incentive for those of you who are already studying here, but all part of building a sustainable program.

One last thing I have been working on recently is planning a faculty-led study abroad program to Japan. I've mentioned to some of you that such a program probably wouldn't be offered until the summer of 2011, and that's still the schedule we're looking at, but there have been a few developments. First, I have been doing a bit of research into our study abroad partners, and will probably be going to Japan to observe them in more detail either this December or next summer. But one thing that has become clear is that the three programs approved by the Padnos International Center do a pretty good job of fulfilling our summer language study abroad needs already. All three have summer programs in place, in which the equivalent of a year of study at Grand Valley can be completed in 8-10 weeks. Most of the forms I could imagine for leading a group of students to Japan myself to study the language would have been less efficient, less flexible, and more expensive than the existing options. But rather than discard the faculty-led program model altogether, I decided to think out of the box a bit. I still need to do a lot of the legwork, but here's what I have in mind:

I would coordinate with one of our partner institutions to use their facilities to teach a course in Japan during our spring semester. The course would be taught in English, so it would be open to all GVSU students, but it would take advantage of the setting. For example, I might teach a course in traditional Japanese theater, accompanied by trips to view live performances. Or I might do a course such as "Literature of Kyoto" or "Historical Culture of Tokyo" including trips to important sites, participation in local workshops, etc. After the course is complete, students would then have the option of either going back home or staying on at that school to study language during the summer semester. Students would get the equivalent of a full year of language and, unlike any language course I could teach myself, Japanese could be taken at any level depending on the level of individual students. As far as I know, this "hybrid" model of faculty-led study abroad has never been used in the past, but both our department chair and the director of the Padnos International Center are excited about it. We'll have to see how things go as I get deeper into the project.

So, as I said, not much of this willl impact our current students in the short term... but at least I'm excited about it.