J-Game

Learning a new language is a difficult process, especially if the language in question uses a different kind of alphabet you are not familiar with. Hence, oriental and Arabic languages are particularly difficult for everyone else, although the reverse is true as well. Thankfully, we have a huge amount of information at our disposal nowadays, not to mention all sorts of devices that can be used to facilitate learning.

J-Game is a project that aims to help you get familiar with the Japanese language and its alphabet, although in the case of Japanese there are not only singular letters, but also groups that go together. The goal is for J-Game to contain an entire collection of games in the future, each one of which is going to be designed to teach you a certain part of the language.

However, only one game is available at the moment, and it is called Kana Bubble. In short, this is a matching game that has you dragging characters to their corresponding pair, and you get to juggle with Romaji, Hiragana and Katakana. The actual mechanics are very simple, since all you have to do is use your mouse to drag bubbles around, but it is particularly tough because you have to think fast.

Depending on how experienced you are with the language, the game allows you to decide how many pairs to be available, as well as how to combine them. Each mistake costs you one life, and the goal is to gain as many points as possible until you lose all of your lives, or until you get bored. Granted, that doesn’t sound ecstatic at the moment, but the main goal is for you to learn.

In case you are wondering how total beginners are going to handle the matching without know what any of the characters mean, you’ll be glad to know that the game comes with a table detailing every set and letter. Thus, you can read and memorize that before you start playing, and you can go back whenever you need to refresh your memory.

In the end, J-Game is not the most intricate educational game out there, but it certainly has what it takes to get you interested. Moreover, the mechanics are simple enough for everyone to be able to start playing right away.