Japanese learning game

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#1

Version 0.1

Hi there,

as I’m learning Japanese, I need something to challenge my newly acquired knowledge.
I use the excellent Anki daily, but that’s not enough. I need much more repetition.

Hence my little serious-game proto.

For now, given you already know your hiraganas, it will make you read them a lot faster. It’s very efficient.
Hiraganas and katakanas are easily learnt, so for the very next version, I want to have kanjis, and improve the game aspect: art, rewards, exploration, etc…

It’s made with JavaFX 2.2, so you’ll need the latest java7

#2

I don’t know Japanese, but it always helps to have a local or worldwide high-score board. Competition is everything :smiley:

#3

I really should practice my katakana…

#4

Yes, competition is important.
I’m not planning to keep an online ladder or anything, BUT the player’s performance stats will be kept and shown in a hopefully fun way, so the player/student knows where he/she stands compared to the former him/her. The stats will be kept in a SQLite database. I played with the sqlite4java library, it works like a charm.

In the same chord as spaced repetition algorithms, I need my game to challenge me on the things I keep forgetting, and less on the thing I know well.
Also, people completely new to Japanese like you should be able to play it/learn with it. So every time a new Japanese character is introduced, it will be shown first.

Katakanas are on the way.
I added the 2136 jouyou kanji last night in the game’s database, along with their “on” and “kun” readings, plus their English meanings.
Next I must code the logic to choose the right ones for the player’s level and current state of knowledge.

#5

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There’s nothing new online yet
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Here is an old screenshot. The new version has also a graph of probabilities of appearance of each character

808×634 25.5 KB

Coming along nicely.
We can now practice all the hiraganas, katakanas and 2136 official jouyou kanjis, complete with on, kun readings, plus their main English meaning.
The user can choose which ones to practice.

It works really nicely for me. My kanji retaining rate increased noticeably when learning new ones.
It’s now in my toolbox: the perfect companion to anki.

I think I’ll sell this little thing for a small fee, like $15 or $20.
With a free version of course, where the user will be able to practice the hiragana, katakana, and kanji grade 1.

I’ll post version 1.0 soon, I have to finish the last tweaks.

#6

I will also work on the “art section” for version 1.1, to make it more “kawaii” (cute in Japanese).

I just want to code all the main features first, coz’ I need them badly.