I did it! I finished the game! I’m actually off to a rather slow start this year. Which is good? I guess it means I’ve spent more time being productive than playing games as it’s the first game I’ve finished in 2016. At this rate I might only manage a third of the games that I completed last year! It’s also kind of exciting as it’s the first time I’ve attempted to play through something in a different language. How’d that work out?
Well, I suppose I have one final word to add into my vocabulary before I review the process. And that’s the one in my leading image: ロード中 or “Loading”.
ロード － is katakana and is the word “load”
中 － is kanji and is a suffix that means “during”
ロード中 － ロードチュウ － uncommon – loading;
| 中（ちゅう） | 4 strokes. JLPT N5. Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 1 | during (a certain time when one did or is doing something); under (construction, etc.); while | Kun: なか、 うち、 あた.る | On: チュウ |
Now. How did this experiment go? Well, there’s two ways of looking at it.
1. Brothers was a really beautiful game. Aesthetically it pleased me greatly, and it was fun to play. It was short, not challenging, and was basically the break that I needed. Forcing myself to do a few hours of kanji / vocabulary study before I allowed myself to indulge was probably a good experience and I enjoyed the process.
2. What little translation that was in the game, was not professionally done, was confusing even with what little knowledge I have of the language, and probably wasn’t a good way to start trying to learn the language.
What do I mean by that? Well, that single word for example that is in the leading image: ロード中. From what I can tell, is not a common (maybe not even a correct) word. It appears in google translate, but neither of the other two dictionaries I’ve tried. And if I search for it online, I don’t see it used in too many locations. ローディング appears to be much more recognized as the way to write “loading”. There were a few other instances such as the language menu, and the usage of “Big Brother” which … doesn’t mean “older brother” but is more like 1984’s Big Brother. Whoever did the translation for the game should probably not get more work translating games considering how off it is, and how I as a virtual novice am able to point it out.
And that’s disappointing because it means I really should avoid the other games in my collection. Just as the games I grew up with had terribad Engrish – I should expect that anything I play now that is Japanese Translation, will likely be terribad.
So do I recommend the game? Very much so. Do I recommend using it as a method of language study? Well… I have familiarized myself with looking up kanji in the dictionary, and I have begun to learn some of these exotic letters. But I’d have to say no. Don’t do it the way I did.
What’s next for my learning? I’m going to back off a bit on the pace that I was studying Japanese. I will be unable to visit Japan before the end of this year (at the earliest) so I don’t need to be cramming at the expense of all other hobbies. I’m going to keep at it, but not ferverously. I’ve got to get back to the gym at lunch and do some more Pimsleur. I’ve got to finish the remaining (~100) words in Influent. And then over the next couple of months I hope to pick my way through Human Japanese.