ESRB says 'konnichiwa' to My Japanese Coach

by David Hinkle { Jul 8th 2008 at 3:30PM }

Following the listing that was found on Gamefly, the ESRB has revealed the above listing for My Japanese Coach, yet another language coaching title. Searching for My Chinese Coach comes up empty, but at least we can all be pretty certain that My Japanese Coach will be releasing to North America. We're totally expecting to hear about it next week at E3.

Tags: coaching, esrb, language, my-japanese-coach, trainer, ubisoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

supa_s @ Jul 8th 2008 3:50PM

YAY! Finally, learning my fav language on my fav handheld! oh and *cough* it's ChinesE

David Hinkle @ Jul 8th 2008 4:00PM

Ah, thanks for the heads up.

LocalToast @ Jul 8th 2008 4:05PM

It's about time. I'm sure a lot of people were pleased with Spanish and French, but I know a ton of DS users want to learn Japanese most of all.

I'm starting to learn Hiragana and some basic phrases, so by the time this comes out, I'm hoping to really get into the language.

Synch @ Jul 8th 2008 4:34PM

YES. I'm sold. I need a way to keep up with my Japanese other than locking myself in my room to read Naruto (with the English version to the side to help with vocab.) I can't afford a tutor anymore, so I'm definitely going to have to pick this up.

claris @ Jul 8th 2008 4:52PM

Well, as an EFL/ESL instructor and student of Japanese, I'm pretty skeptical that Ubisoft can do a good job with this. I'm expecting a bunch of generic flash cards and dialogues, no better than anything you can find on the $5 PC software spinner rack. I'm totally *hoping* to be wrong, of course. (And yes, isn't it funny how Japanese hardware and software companies, and companies who produce software for Japanese systems, somehow FAIL TO NOTICE that their audience is really interested in JAPANESE stuff? It drives me crazy.)

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 9:12PM

I don't think any virtual language game or software can replace or even compare to real instruction, provided your language instructor is a good one. And I have only had one bad Japanese sensei out of the 8 or so during my academic career. I am completely there with you and the skepticism.

RootiePatootie @ Jul 8th 2008 4:59PM

I too am hoping against hope that this is a good, possibly even great (given restrictions of the platform) language coach. I'm a real beginner with this language but want to move forward. I'm also hoping to see this series come out in more languages. My personal hope is for German and also Russian.

RootiePatootie @ Jul 8th 2008 5:00PM

Oh, and wouldn't it be great if it came in Latin and Greek?? but I'm not holding my breath.

Kimiko @ Jul 8th 2008 6:00PM

Latin and Greek on the DS? *lol* Now that's anachronism..

Zealot @ Jul 8th 2008 6:23PM

I would SO buy a My (Ancient) Greek Coach. I took a semester of it in college and, having since forgotten most of it, really miss being able to read ancient epics and histories in their original tongue. It's probably less likely to ever exist than My Klingon Coach, though. At the first question that goes something along the lines of "is this word a.) neuter first declension noun, dative of instrumentality, b.) male second declension noun, genitive of dependence, c.) female second declension adjective, nominative predicate, d.) irregular neuter third declension noun, first person singular present indicative active verb", 99% would be on the used racks at Gamestop immediately.

Zealot @ Jul 8th 2008 6:33PM

Somewhat interested. I seriously doubt that these games could be useful for learning the conversational aspects of a language, though, so I'm going to have to wait for opinions.

Okay, here's a weird question: for those who own My Spanish/French Coach, do they throw a lot of stereotypical imagery into the game? Were you seeing cacti, sombreros, and tacos and hearing La Cucaracha/seeing the Eiffel Tower, cheese, and berets and hearing French accordion music all throughout the games? I know this was the case with Spanish for Everyone, but I know nothing about the Language Coach games.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 9:09PM

My Spanish Coach was surprisingly mature. It had a nice interface and design and the only "stereotypical" stereotypical imagery was a Latina teacher as your guide. The Coach games are pretty nice if you want to learn the basics, like the basic vocabulary (numbers, nouns, verbs) and some basic verb conjugations. But other than brushing up on something, it really doesn't replace real instruction.

iruka @ Jul 8th 2008 7:03PM

Yay! more fun ways for me to add up on my Japanese and Chinese/Mandarin vocabulary ^^

Mr Khan @ Jul 8th 2008 8:28PM

Could be a good supplement for Japanese language classes in fall

Though i could imagine these projects being much more ambitious, two phonetic alphabets for Japanese, as well as a 2000+ symbol group (though only 1,945 are needed for high-school graduate understanding of the language), aside from having to learn the language itself.

kittykatlaura123 @ Jul 9th 2008 9:54AM

I hope to be taking Japanese this fall so this would be a great partner for them. Either that or a good introduction for taking it in the spring.

日本語喋る人 @ Jul 11th 2008 7:02PM

People will buy it, realize how hard Japanese is and, sell the game.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 9:06PM

Haha, another person perpetuating the idea that Japanese is hard or an impossible language to learn. It is a great language with easy pronunciation (as long as you can pronounce Spanish okay) and pretty simple grammar patterns and notions. It doesn't have a bunch of exceptions unlike most romantic languages (see: le fran�ais ) and is very neat and phonetic. People will sell back the game because it is an ineffective teaching tool for in-depth language learning, not because Japanese is hard.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 13th 2008 9:02PM

Aww, man...Not something else to encourage people to turn to video games and/or anime in order to learn Japanese. I'm tired of people saying they know Japanese and then spout off a random sentence they memorized from Naruto or Bleach. If you're really serious about it, take a class. And don't whine about money; community college courses are plenty affordable. I guess if you really have a passing interest, though, these kind of games are a good idea. Better than the alternative.