Kotaku
I'm learning English. Well, I think I am, or rather, I suppose I am. With the spate of "brain games" released for the Nintendo DS, also came the inevitable English game. Called Eigo ga Nigatena Otona no DS Training: Eigo Zuke ("DS Training for Adults Who are Bad at English"), the game is TOEIC-approved and was released this past January, but Mrs. Bashcraft didn't decide she wanted to learn English until yesterday.
For one reason or another, Japanese people feel compelled to learn English. Some say the "English fad" has faded, but Eigo Zuke has been a huge seller. Japan-centric site Mutant Frog Travelogue has an excellent post up tracking the state of the billion dollar English business in Japan.
If you are familiar with Brain Age, then Eigo Zuke's layout shouldn't come as a surprise. It's almost exactly the same, minus the floating head of Prof. Kawashima. The misses had a crack at it all day yesterday, and she said it was challenging. She scored high enough to leave the country, but only on vacation. For short periods of time. Good for her.
So, I decided to take a look at it. Eigo Zuke focuses on reading, listening, spelling, pronunciation, etc. I raced through and *duh* pwned the crap outta it. The handwriting recognition was most impressive. The original brain age had excellent Japanese handwriting recognition, but Brain Age's sometimes felt a bit wonky. That's not the case with Eigo Zuke. The irony.
Can someone learn English via the DS? Any software that can decipher my serial killer scrawl no problemo gives hope.
