Which type of Japanese are used in video games? which ones to learn?

[mecharmor25]

I am planning to learn Japanese, so that I can understand what is being said and written when it comes to imported and untranslated games and anime.
The problem is, there are different set of Japanese characters used in different scenarios.

Do you remember to name(s) of the set(s) of Japanese characters that are used in websites, anime and video games??

Do novels and mangas use another set of Japanese characters also or the same characters as in video games??

[eternal11]

It isn't so much different sets, it's just different alphabets. Like for Japanese words, you can use hiragana or kanji, but for non-Japanese words, the Japanese use katakana and use the katakana syllables to best sound out the word. For example, restaurant in Japanese would be written as re-su-to-ra-n in katakana. Depending on the word, you will use a certain alphabet.

[Proto]

Errr... well... here is a lil explanation of the 4 character sets that Japanese uses:

Romaji: its our occidental alphabet usd for Japanese. Mainl used by lazy foreign studenrs who wont bother learninig proper Japanese Also scattered used for some foreign words.

Hiragana and Katakana: A set of redundant characters which represent a syllabe each one. There are 46 of each one of them. Hiragana is mainly used for national japanese words, specially prepositions, articles etc. Katakana is ued both for foreign words and words whose kanjis are deprecated. Hiragana were originated from the populace and Katakana from priests.

Kanji was a set of charactrs inherited from the ancient China when Japan didnt have an alphabet of its own. Kanji's character arent letters nor syllabes, they are ideograms. Each ideogram represents an idea, and can be read in different ways, either when they are alone(onyomi) or where they are writen in conjuction whith other kanji(kunjomi) There are more than 70000 kanjis

Most childish games rely on the use of hiragana and katakana, and some basic kanjis, since they are the easiest to read. However, in games which are aimed to a more mature audience, be ready to read loads of kanjis.

Dont worry, in class you will learn anything in a gradual and easy way. Its not as bad as it sounds (its worse )

PS: they arent really alphabets since they arent letters. They are more like syllabarius and ideograms

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[Demigod]

Most Japanese games I've played contain a nice mix of all 3 character sets (hiragana, katakana, and kanji). Hiragana is used for grammar, katanana is used for foreign words (and special occasions like emphasis), and kanji for nouns (you can use hiragana as well). I am not aware of any other character sets (I don't really count Romaji as a Japanese character set) and I believe it's the same for games and novels.

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[eternal11]

Depending on the audience, the game will use that particlarly character set in abundance as opposed to another game with another audience in mind.

[l3illyl3ob]

although the 70,000 kanji character set sounds intimidating, really the average japanese adult only knows a few thousand, iirc.

[Proto]

1000 for the turist, 10000 for the average japanese, the 70000 for the wise men IIRC

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[chillypacman]

THey tend to follow katana font as it focuses on sharp angles much easier for computer regeneration...

You can always learn their mega alphabet of about 6000 characters...

[Proto]

Did you read a word of what i said? Kanji is not an alphabet... geez...

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[Phoenix]

Proto said what was needed to say, as about what sillabaies you need, I'll say the 4 of them, hiragana, katakana, kanji and romanji. Every piece of written text uses them, sometimes you'll find more kanji, a bit of hiragana, some katakana an almost nothing of romanji. In your fisrt stages of study, you'll be focused in hiragana only helped with some romanji, eventually katakana and at last the kanjis.

In order to be able to read a japanese newspaper, you should know about 2000 kanjis more less, it is also the amont needed if you're planning to study something in Japan.

Don't panic, even japanese themselves have a hard time learning Kanjis, as Proto said only old wise persons know over 40000 kanjis.

[Kraelis]

Proto said 70k for the wise.

I like Kanji more. But then, I biased since I know some Chinese. Westerners often have trouble with this the most.

You can try buying a Japanese-English dictionary, you know. I have yet to see a Kanji conversion dictionary, though. Most just convert Hiragana/Katakana. For starters, try playing the games that have Kanji, BUT also put in the hiragana/katakana equivalents. that can help you get on the road to learning it.

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[Proto]

Biased towards Kanji... ppptff... i have to learn over 30 new kanjis(not very difficult fortunatelly ) for my next exam and i Im already struggling...bleh

I cant say I dont like learning Japanese but Kanji isnt exactly the best part of it, at least IMO

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[Demigod]

I think kanji is good in that it can clarify the language and remove ambiguity. When I read Japanese text with kanji in it I can get the meaning more quickly than if it was in hiragana. Of course that's if I know the kanji characters that are on there. The Korean language often times incorporates chinese characters (Koreans call it 'hanja') in newspapers and other publications, although you only really need to know Korean to speak and write the language well (unlike in Japan).

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[Katsuya]

The following are common terms that appear in lots of games.

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[Player-X]

I finished Onimusha 3 a few minutes ago and found that it's not that hard if you know chinese most of the useful words are in Chinese

[Phoenix]

I recall playing my first games in japanese, they were Dino Crisis 2 JAP and Golden Sun 2 The lost age,also in japanese. I had a hard time figuring out the plot but after a while it was kind of straight forward gameplay.