[A.Russell]

Thanks for your input, it's good to hear the negative side, too.

After four years of "blood, sweat and tears" at university learning Japanese, I knew a lot, but could barely speak a sentence. After coming to Japan and practicing with friends, at work, and in bars I quickly became fluent. Really quickly. I could see improvement week by week. So for me personally, "blood sweat and tears" didn't do nearly as well as immersing myself in the language in a real and useful environment, and was a heck of a lot more enjoyable, too.

Things that are difficult to learn never seem nearly as hard to me when I enjoy them and am motivated to practice. I hope this game will provide that sort of motivation and enjoyment for others and make the task of learning a whole new language a little less arduous.

I do not recommend learning entirely by playing video games. They are another tool just like books and videos, and one that a growing number of people are beginning to feel is under exploited.