Learn Japanese Today

Alright, so San Francisco is pretty much fantastic. That’s why it’s taken me so long to post. It’s the kind of place that lends itself to long bike rides, beautiful views, overwhelmingly large lunches and afternoon naps. Definitely my kind of place.

I really haven’t had a free second until now to post, but this morning I seem to be awake well before my friend Andrew who I’m staying with (maybe because my internal clock is 2 hours ahead), and I’m going to take advantage.

Anyways, on to today’s tip.

Play Japanese video games.

This doesn’t mean beat Pokemon in English for the 4^th time, nor does it mean play those language-learning games that are thinly-veiled flashcard programs.

What I mean is that you should play the same kind of games you normally do, except in Japanese.

You like Pokemon? Of course you do. Everyone likes Pokemon. So rather than beat it in English again, go download a Game Boy Advance emulator and some Pokemon ROMs . Seriously though, this site will let you search for ROMs by country. It’s really great for finding ones in Japanese. If you’ve never used an Emulator before, click here .

Or if Pokemon’s not your style, take advantage of all the other emulation resources on the web. Excluding the current generation of game systems, you can find almost any game for any system for free on the internet if you look long enough. And most of them in Japanese.

And if you don’t want to deal with the whole download process, you can buy games straight from Japan for all your favorite consoles from Play-Asia.com . Keep in mind, most systems other than the Nintendo DS and the PC have region codes, so you’ll need a Japanese Xbox to play Halo in Japanese. But you should definitely look around the site, you’ll find something you like.

But why am I recommending this? What does it matter what language you play a video game in?

First of all, this is another thing in the long line of daily activities I like to modify to include Japanese training, like watching Japanese TV and reading a Japanese book before bed. If you change what are essentially wasted hours playing video games into Japanese study as well, you don’t need to feel as guilty about playing because you’ll know you’re learning as well.

The big thing though, is that playing video games in Japanese, specifically ones with stories that have text on the screen (no Halo), will REALLY help your Japanese. When you have to figure out a puzzle in addition to figuring out the instructions it adds an extra level of challenge, and this can really motivate you to try and figure out what people are saying based on the words you know. This is AMAZING for your survival Japanese, where you just have to go off what you think the person means and hope your right. I mean, if you can survive Final Fantasy 7, you can probably survive a trip to the konbini.

And it’s fun. The addition of language can make simple games like Pokemon more challenging and exciting. Some sections of games are dull, but when there’s Japanese to figure out, you’ll have more vested interest. It makes for a great gaming experience.

And if you’re not a gamer, don’t worry. This post is for you too. Maybe you never got into games because you thought they were a waste of time, and you were probably right. But playing games in Japanese is really helpful, so find something that looks simple and just give it a try. I’ll recommend some games down the road to help you out.

Alright, that’s it for this week. I’m about to go to a diner that apparently serves pancakes the size of frisbees. Yum.

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