My Japanese Coach review: My Japanese Coach

After entering your name and gender, the first thing My Japanese Coach asks you to do is a test to determine what level of knowledge you already have. Having lived in Japan in the long distant past, I skipped straight to "Toddler" level and started at Lesson 9. This meant I was presumed to have the basic grasp of everyday words and numbers etc.

8.5

My Japanese Coach

The Good

Audio function helps with pronunciation. Tracing stroke order help with writing for Hiragana and Kanji.

The Bad

Tourists can find simpler phrase books and reference tools. Need to really master the word and phrase set before you can move on.

The Bottom Line

Although pitched as a guide for tourists, My Japanese Coach is better suited to those who want to build a more extensive vocabulary to regularly interact with Japanese speakers.

Each lesson in My Japanese Coach introduces words, grammar and phrases, audio (listening and speaking) and writing. It's recommended you use headphones to get the most out of the experience as you listen to the audio clues. The listening and speaking function is a great way to work on your pronunciation. The writing option — where you trace the characters before having to write them blind — gives you the opportunity to learn the stroke order, first for Hiragana, and later for Kanji. There is a reference library and options which allow you to be lazy and have all characters translated to Romaji (phonetic transcription of Japanese in Roman characters) if you wish.

Each lesson starts with an overview of a tourist destination (eg, Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics paradise) and then goes into the words and phrases to be covered in that lesson. There are quiz-style games that you must complete to get to the next level. These start off with only a few options, and unlock more types of games as you get more proficient. Within each lesson level, you're required to complete a certain number of points before moving onto the next level. This ensures you really master the word and phrase set (for reading, writing and speaking) before moving onto more complex options.

The lessons and games mix up English, Romaji and Hiragana meaning you get a chance to translate back and forth, to recognise how the word will be written in Japanese, or the Japanese pronunciation of English words eg, Beer = Beeru or Coca Cola = cokakora.

All the games teach you how to put your knowledge into practise and to actually learn from each lesson. Although My Japanese Coach is pitched as a guide for visitors to Japan, if you're on a short tourist stay, there are probably simpler phrase books and reference tools out there. If you're planning on staying a while, however, or regularly interacting with Japanese speakers, this is a great tool to build up your vocabulary and speaking abilities. As a lapsed Japanese speaker, I found it an excellent tool to refresh my knowledge and have fun at the same time.

Note: Ubisoft also has similar Language Coach titles available in Chinese, French and Spanish, all priced at AU$29.95 RRP.