Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography is a game where players explore a Japanese city and take photos, using them to make flashcards to practice Japanese.

Edutainment has been a part of gaming for decades, and it’s good to see that developers are still exploring how to make learning fun and interactive; especially with languages. In Shashingo, players will be able to explore and learn vocabulary terms at their own pace. The game’s name is even a portmanteau of Shashin/写真 (Photo) and Go/語 (language).

You can check out the trailer for Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography below.

Explore bright, fictional Japanese streets filled with details and interesting objects to capture with your camera. Each photograph you take will translate the name of the content into Japanese and English so you can learn with your surroundings.

Features:

• A stylised, approachable 3D environment
• In-game photography system
• Japanese audio
• Photo album to store your flash cards
• A game mode that tests your memory
• Beginner phrases and grammar lessons
• Day/Night and weather cycle
• Display romaji, kana, furigana (recommended) or kanji

Create Stunning Photography Based Flashcards

Every photo flash-card you take will be unique to you. The idea behind this is to strengthen the relationship between a word and how you see its physical appearance. In the real world, you can then see such objects and make connections to the Japanese words you’ve already learned while playing Shashingo.

Track Your Progress in the Photo Album

Your photo album is where you keep your collection of Photo Flash-Cards. If you remember them well in Find Mode, they’ll be separated into the ‘mastered’ tab and shown with a gold star sticker. However, if you’re struggling to remember a word in Find Mode, they’ll be marked with a purple exclamation mark sticker, so you know which words you need to practice more.
You can also mark your favourite words & images with a cute little heart sticker to add them to your favourites page.

At the back of your in-game photo album, there are numerous pages of Japanese lessons designed for beginners that will teach you how to speak Japanese and use the vocabulary that you learn in Shashingo. Also included are some key words and important phrases that can help you in your future conversations.

Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography is available now on Windows PC (via Steam), a Switch release is planned soon.

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