Kids and students of Japanese have it rough. There are tons of kanji characters that can make things like reading comic books or playing video games hard, if not impossible. You've got to memorize them! Comics geared at children put phonetic furigana characters above the intricate kanji so that children can read them. But try doing that on a DS screen. Too small! Nintendo has a clever solution which reader Matthew pointed out and Japanese learning site Naruhodo covered: in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, players use the stylus to click on kanji in message windows. While touching the unknown characters, the reading will be displayed in phonetic furigana. That way you can see how to read the kanji, turning Phantom Hourglass into a study aid. Nice feature, Nintendo. Brian Ashcraft

New Zelda Game Helps [Naruhodo!]

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