[New Product] Learn Chinese with DS

Gakken Co.'s Chinese-learning software for the Nintendo DS portable game player will be in stores July 10.

The "Chugokugo Zanmai DS (all day Chinese)" language-learning software covers basic to advanced Chinese grammar, conversation, pronunciation and vocabulary.

Developed in cooperation with a Chinese education institute established by the Chinese government, the grammar mode consists of 70 basic sentence patterns, and the conversation mode comes with 600 basic, travel and business conversation examples. The mouth movement animation in the pronunciation mode helps you to learn four tones, vowel and consonant sounds, and in the vocabulary mode, 400 commonly used words are included.

The software is equipped with a "tone monitoring" function that allows you to record your voice using the player's internal microphone and then graph out the pronunciation waveform to compare it with a native's voice. The function can be used in conversation, pronunciation and vocabulary modes.

The suggested retail price of Chugokugo Zanmai DS is 3,990 yen, including tax.

For more details, visit Gakken's Japanese Web site at www.gakken.co.jp or contact (03)3726-8124

by Minami Iijima staff writer
The article appeard in March 11 issue of The Japan Times.