1. "Voulez-vous...?" not "Vous voulez...?"

Yes. Interested.

Posted at 10:12AM on May 16th 2007 by jonnymoose

2. I for one am very interested in these games however there is something I just don't get. Let's do the math shall we?

DS owner likes games.

+

Lots (if not most) of Games come from Japan.

=
DS owner likes Japanese games.

Therefore Japanese language game that would help DS owner have access to more games only makes sense to me.

What the heck? Why isn't this made already?

I am hoping actually that a lot of the big language text book publishers like Berlitz or Tuttle pay attention to the DS. It is a very viable medium for language study because that touch screen input makes the experience more interactive. Plus you take it with you so when you have time you can review a lesson or do a quiz. That is much easier than carving out an hour 2 after work or on the weekend to study.

Posted at 10:20AM on May 16th 2007 by Miko

3. Um, what about "My Japanese Coach"? When was the last time you imported a game from France or Spain?

Posted at 10:24AM on May 16th 2007 by Sancroff

4. I totally agree -- I'm not interested in a language game until it's a language game that can teach me to read Japanese.

Posted at 10:34AM on May 16th 2007 by ambient

5. In Ubisoft's defense, they do already have employees that speak French and Spanish -- they do not have offices in Japan. That doesn't absolve the industry at large though. Nintendo of Japan is DROPPING THE BALL, yo.

Posted at 10:47AM on May 16th 2007 by ambient

6. Agreed about the Japanese one, but I'd like to have an Italian one. I admit I'm being difficult.

I like the word coach one though. If it does turn out to be as you say.

Posted at 11:49AM on May 16th 2007 by Ewa

7. I've been wanting a german vocab trainer.

Posted at 12:11PM on May 16th 2007 by mrbloko

8. I will definitely be all over these! I am very excited!

Posted at 12:26PM on May 16th 2007 by Troy

9. @#1 - I wasn't sure about that, because I've seen both constructions, so I decided to go with the one I was taught. I assume the other form is more casual? I don't know... see, I need My French Coach.

Certainly, there is a demand for Japanese language training, but French and Spanish must be easier, even if we ignore the fact that Ubisoft DOES have employees all over the world who speak a myriad of languages. Now, I say, just give it time. If these are coming out, the dogpile-onto-the-DS effect will bring more language trainers.

Ewa: I seem to hear of a lot of people lately who want to speak Italian! I'm not sure you're being that "difficult" at all on that one -- it seems to be in high demand. German as well. But again, I expect we may see a lot of these, particularly if Ubi's titles have any success at all.

This is rare for me to say, but if they seem good, I may get both, having spent some time studying both of those languages. The man of the house, though, he's definitely in the Japanese club... he's been studying the language for years and is constantly on the lookout for new ways to help him expand his knowledge, and I'd love to be able to get him something like this. I imported one of the Japanese-for-Japanese trainers, but it's pretty advanced....

Posted at 12:27PM on May 16th 2007 by Alisha Karabinus

10. Both "vous voulez" and "voulez-vous" are technically correct, but judging from context, it would actually be better to say "voudriez-vous acheter" or "acheteriez-vous" or "est-ce que vous acheteriez" because "would you buy [yada yada]?" sounds better than "do you want to buy [yada yada]?"

Posted at 1:06PM on May 16th 2007 by MDJ

11. If there was a japanese teaching one, i'd be game!

Posted at 1:42PM on May 16th 2007 by ArashiUzumaki

12. I'll wait until an Italian and Portuguese version come out.

Posted at 2:03PM on May 16th 2007 by 3cubedminus3squared

13. vous voulez acheter Mon Entraîneur Français

is the slang way to say "you wanna buy my French coach?"

Do you want to buy my French coach?

would be : Voulez-vous acheter mon entraîneur français?


Still, the best way to say it is : Will you buy my french coach?

-> Allez-vous acheter mon entraîneur français?

:)

Posted at 4:24PM on May 16th 2007 by CC

14. Furansu-go mo Oranda-go o kudasai!

My boyfriend has the travel bug and I'll be needing both those languages soon.

Sure I'd love to learn some Japanese too, but I'm a cynic and I don't expect they'll make that available.

Posted at 4:30PM on May 16th 2007 by Karga

15. I've had always the opinion that educational games are a great way to learn languages. I learnt far more things in my English class (I'm a native Spanish speaker) when we played any kind of game than when the class followed the traditional boring lesson scheme. I'd love to have language training games for the DS, particularly in the German and Japanese versions :)

Posted at 5:02PM on May 16th 2007 by MeLeNaS

16. I don't need the spanish, because is my mother languague and i fully know about this :D

I will try the french =D... my girlfriend speak french and i want to learn from the DS and she.

Srry for my english >.

Posted at 6:07PM on May 16th 2007 by Javier Silva

17. Can't wait my French would always use some practice.

Posted at 10:32PM on May 16th 2007 by tothetracks

18. Learning Japanese is not easy. I have spent HUNDREDS buying dozens and dozens of books. I would LOVE anything on the DS that made it more like a game... hell, even a concentration-style game with matching tiles for kana and kanji could help recognition of kana, radicals, and full kanji and move along from there!

For now I move along oh so slowly with the best thing I have found so far - I bought a bunch of books intended for 5 year olds off of eBay (including a Japanese original of the classic Everybody Poops! I had no idea it was even Japanese originally... also got Everybody Farts ;)

Posted at 9:54PM on May 17th 2007 by otakucode

19. Hey, if we just make more topics in which I throw down some French, I may get all the training I need right here!

That'll really help when I'm doing homework next semester... >.>

Posted at 3:49AM on May 18th 2007 by Alisha Karabinus

20. I just want the Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten with an English interface and a sub-$50 price tag. Those Japanese dictionary devices are really expensive, and I'd like to use my existing DS (with touch screen) rather than getting one of those.

Posted at 1:03AM on May 21st 2007 by JC Fletcher