English of the Dead teaches Japanese to the living

by David Hinkle { Jun 27th 2008 at 4:15PM }

As if the English of the Dead game itself wasn't appealing enough, those with a mind to learn the language of the Land of the Rising Fun can make strides with Sega's DS title. It may not be as full-fledged as a product aimed specifically at teaching English-language natives the language of Japanese, but it's surprisingly useful.

You see, there's this mini-game included with the title that has zombies running about, with English words above their heads. You, the backpack-wearing son-of-a-gun, are then presented with three different words in kanji, one of which matches the English word. Pretty neat, huh?

Gallery: English of the Dead

Tags: english-of-the-dead, japanese, kanji, language, sega, trainer, zombies

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Foodie_Monster @ Jun 27th 2008 4:36PM

Too bad that learning kanji on it's own will do you little good. The only way to learn a language is the way you learned your native one: You speak it first, then you learn to read/write it and, in the case of Japanese, then you learn the intricacies of kanji. This won't help you unless you are trying to memorize Kanji and are on at least a post-beginner or intermediate level of Japanese.

Almadi @ Jun 28th 2008 4:12PM

So SEGA are the new CAPCOM?

Eyedunno @ Jul 20th 2008 10:59AM

"The only way to learn a language is the way you learned your native one: You speak it first, then you learn to read/write it and, in the case of Japanese, then you learn the intricacies of kanji."
The only way? All generalities are false. I learned Japanese writing and speaking at the same time (we started hiragana on the very first day, and started kanji a month or two later), and I'm glad I did.

It would be funny to watch a Latin class following your great language-learning wisdom. "Okay class, you're never going to actually speak this language, but you have to learn to do so, or else you'll never get anywhere at all." Or how about Japanese students who learn Chinese classics. They never learn to speak Chinese either, so how can they possibly read the stuff?!