DS as a language tool

Tokyo's Joshi Gakuen all-girls junior high school is cool enough to adopt the Nintendo DS as a language teaching tool in its facility, and nearly everyone's behind it.

USA Today describes the scene of 32 seventh-graders using the system's touch screen to spell words like "hamburger" and "cola", which the handheld responds to in an electronic voice.

The title they're playing is part of a widely used Japanese public school textbook series, according to software maker Paon, which made this DS English program. As part of the agreement for adopting the systems and games in its school, the facility will receive 40 Nintendo DS' and free software to go along with them.

12 year-old student Chigusa Matsumoto says "It's fun. You can study while you have fun."

The teacher Motoko Okubo says she's never before seen the "enthusiastic concentration" the students have shown while playing learning this way. Principal Tsuneo Saneyoshi said the prospect of bringing games into the classroom received mixed reactions among teachers, some of whom still feel they may just serve as a distraction. Perhaps though after realizing the enthusiasm and effectiveness of it as Okubo-san has, their minds will change. Vice principal Junko Tatsumi says though there was no opposition from parents:

"It wasn't that difficult a decision for us. We thought it was a great idea."

Now, discovering all this got me thinking why language games aren't popular like the brain training games are popular on the DS. Personally I find language to be a very frustrating thing to grasp onto, but I think with the rights tools, such as this one, it would be a cinch, considering.

Well, I did some minor research and uncovered a small line of titles developed by Sensory Sweep Studios and released last year under the names 'My French Coach' and 'My Spanish Coach.' According to the company, 15-20 minutes a day with one of these game will make you fluent in no time. Checking GameStop's website, both titles are backordered, which says just how in demand they are, and rightfully so. There's also 'Spanish for Everyone', which seems hilarious, but has a good premise too: you play a kid who travels south of the border and learns Spanish along the way.

So, companies have been all over the DS pet games, why not language games? Translators are in no short supply in the industry after all. There are roughly 250 'families' of language alone; this is no small area to cover, people. I just can't believe noone has made a Japanese language game for English speakers yet; it would sell like hotcakes (do they still sell well?).