Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubiki Jiten: Anyone have it?

[justjustin]

Hey, I just stumbled upon this game/app for the DS (even though... it was kinda released a year ago). As you can probably tell from the name, it's an english-japanese, japanese-english and kana-kanji dictionary-- that, of course, allows you to write everything!

And at only 50 bucks (as opposed to 300 or so for ), it seems like a good deal for anyone dedicated to learning Japanese. So, has anyone else tried this, or do you own it? Is it helpful, worth the price, etc.?

I'm considering picking it up-- I've taken a semester and a half of Japanese already, and plan to continue, of course... the full two years, then hopefully study at Tsukuba University for a year.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji_Sonomama_Rakubiki_Jiten

[michiyoyoshiku]

*points and laughs*

weeabo

[Discoalucard]

Yeah, what a loser. Who wants to learn Japanese anyway?

....

Please post more constructively in the future. And if you're going to attempt to insult someone with one of the most retarded non-words constructed by the wisdom of the internet, at least spell it right.

On topic - looks neat. I remember reading about that one of these, either this or a similar product, had really bad recognition, rendering it useless. Might want to Google for other feedback though.

[savagepencil]

So it's primarily a dictionary, instead of a babelfish, right? I wonder how those things handle idioms and the vagueness of Japanese.

[Malroth]

Hm, that does seem neat. It'd be even better if it could handle translations that actually make sense, though creating something like that would be really difficult.

[justjustin]

Tch, you're right guys, what was I thinking?!-- learning Japanese is just a waste, and it won't benefit my future plans whatsoever.

But seriously.

Hm... Yeah, I read that for this one in particular you must draw the strokes of the kanji in the correct order. Which, actually, is a good thing because drawing them in the correct order helps when memorizing the kanji. And even if you don't draw it flawlessly, it gives you a few (say 10 or so) to choose from according to what you scribbled out.

And... I dunno if this makes a difference or not, but this one was published by Nintendo and is part of their Touch! Generations lineup. More credible? Who knows...

And michi, I'm sure you didn't mean that in the pejorative sense... or you better not have... *shakes fist menacingly* even though, you know, weaboo's kinda negative to begin with.

Anyway, I'll keep checking this out.

[michiyoyoshiku]

there are like...........30 of these things.

there's also one if you want to learn korean.

[justjustin]

Much like any dictionary, this would not be helpful in figuring out the ambiguities of a language. This would just serve as a resource and is definitely not a translator. You couldn't just pick this up and be like, "ha ha suckerz, I know Japanese!"
The point of this app, really, is just that it's easier to draw kanji on the DS touchscreen than look it up in a fat kanji dictionary (which is a hassle if you don't know how to pronounce it).

It looks like a useful tool though, so I think I'll pick it up.

[michiyoyoshiku]

yeah there are a TON of these things

Link time

www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-hw-49-en-70-1s11.html
www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-hw-49-en-70-1rku.html
www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70-1mvm.html
www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70-198v.html
www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70-1i50.html

take your pick

[justjustin]

I'm just gonna cross my fingers and hope the one I just bought (Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubiki Jiten) will be the most useful out of all of those.

[gesutaaru]

As a fellow weeaboo, I own this. It was recommended to me by a friend. It's pretty awesome, actually. I used it to replace a $200 electronic dictionary, my friend used it to replace his $350 one. The only downside to it is that, from what I understand, it's got one of the weaker JtoE dictionaries. However, it was the same dictionary that was in the $350 dictionary, so it can't be that bad.

It's not something I use every single day, but when I do need it, it's really handy and easy to use. Also, if I can't get an English definition for whatever compound or kanji I'm looking up, I can always take the reading to Jlookup, which, despite requiring a local PC, is still a million times easier than counting strokes or radicals or some other nonsense.

EDIT: Also worth noting is the fact that only one of the items Michiyoyoshiku linked to is actually a dictionary. The only item that was a dictionary is the one in question by the op; the others range from math training to test prep(on kanji, but still, they aren't dictionaries).

[justjustin]

gesutaaru; thanks for the input! I feel much better about my decision now that I've heard good news from someone who actually owns it. Nice to know I'll be saving a few hundred bucks this way.

[ReyVGM]

What is weeaboo?

[ahnslaught]

No clue, but it's probably something that describes all of us, to a certain extent. Just get over it - we're all nerds here; haven't we gotten over the making fun of people thing already?

[Deleted]

Weeaboo

Someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture/Anime, etc. and attempts to act as if they were Japanese, even though they're far from it. They use Japanese words but usually end up pronouncing them wrong and sounding like total assholes. You can find alot of these friendgots clogging up the forums of Gaia Online, hanging out in the international aisle of the supermarket, or crowding the manga section of your local bookstore. Synonym of wapanese.

I told that weeaboo girl over there that Inuyasha sucks. She slapped me across the face and proceded to cuss me out in Japanese.

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=weeaboo&defid=952612