How hard would it be to understand the game not knowing any Japanese?

[Fame]

Thinking after Christmas I might beg parents again to let me buy a JP3DS and import AC:NL.
But I don't know any Japanese, I know hiragana and katana but no kanji. Would it be a good idea or no?
I mean I could always google some things for options and stuff.
Idk, any people with the game who don't know Japanese or somebody who does and can tell me?
Thanks

 

[Haihappen]

If you don't know ANY japanese it would be impossible to understand a japanese game.... duh

 

[ShinyYoshi]

I know the wait for the American game to be released is pretty ridiculous at this point, but the Japanese 3DS' are super expensive to ship over here and if you really don't know any Japanese, you will be pretty much wasting your money. Cause it sounds like you will only use the Japanese 3DS for ACNL and its not like you will understand it anyways. So it will sit around an not get played. But then maybe you could sell it to someone in the US who understands the language. Other than that, it seems useless.
Just save your money now and get the game when you can understand what's going on and enjoy it.

I thought about doing the same thing but I talked myself out of it for these reasons.

 

[Valerie]

I don't know a lick of Japanese, but I am familiar with hiragana and about maybe 20 or so Kanji. I've bought the game and am going to give it a go! The good thing is that the game usually puts important information in a different color (if an animal wants a piece of pink furinture- pink will be in blue; if they want to know your opinion of another villager- the villagers name will be in a different color.)

I intend to use those words as keys to figuring out what to do... This is a great site:
http://jisho.org/
It has a dictionary where you can search by typing in the hiragana, or by looking up words by their radicals (the different parts that make up the Kanji). By doing so I've been able to translate screen shots and such- and while I'm sure I don't have the meaning exactly right- it is close enough to give me an idea.

The way I see it- by playing the game this way and looking up Kanji I don't know (most of them, lol) It will be a good brain exercise.

Here is a list I've made of some Kanji I've seen pop up on videos and such- very incomplete at this point- but I intend to expand it as I play: In parenthesis are the meaning of each Kanji- and my interpretation of the compound word in game context.

船着場 Wharf/ harbor (ship arriving at place)
役場 Town Hall (service place)
地図 Map (earth drawing)
商店街 Downtown (dealing store street)
広場 Plaza (spacious place)
村長 Mayor (village leader)
釣 Fishing

 

[Roxer9000]

Well you can play game blindless in another language and I have a Japanese dictionary.....

 

[Valerie]

Here is another good internet page: Wiki article of common Kanji by concept (colors, days of the week, emotions, etc.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kanji_by_concept

 

[CHR:)S]

I thought about it.

But I was like, no way. I don't want to unenjoyably do random crap hardly understanding what I'm doing. Other than that, even if I do understand, I am going to completely spoil the game for myself for when I get the english version.

I am not going to spend hundreds of dollars because I am impatient, and then spending all that money to ease my impatience only makes the thing I am forced to be patient for worse. Lose-lose-lose-lose

 

[Jake]

If you don't know any Japanese I'd say it's near impossible.
I studied Japanese for 3 years so I know a few basics (can read everything but kanji but japanese games give you the option for kanji/no kanji so not really a problem)

If you know hiragana and katakana then I'd say go for it, just chose the option to now use Kanji.

 

[Carole]

It is tempting, but then with my luck I'd buy a Japanese console just for this game, and then the US version would come out in early 2013. It's hard to plan such things with all the uncertainty about release date. If I knew it would be 6+ months before the US release date, I'd probably buy one. But with no idea of when that might be, I am not going to take that risk.

I took a year of Japanese in high school back in 1964-1965, most of which I still remember, and also studied on my own when I was younger than that. So, I might figure out a few things but let's be real - - - probably not most of it. It would still be fun to see the animals and to actually have the game in hand to play with.

 

[Garrett x50 cal]

Not only is Japanese spoke differently from English it has a completely different alphabet. If you want to see how you'd fare playing AC:NL read a Japanese book. Any Japanese book, if you understand it you can play.

 

[ZedameX]

Its a tough call, but I wouldn't import for one game if its a language you don't understand and have no intention of learning. I import to keep exposure to Japanese language in a way I enjoy as much as possible.

Language does make it harder to figure out what is going on at times but I've been playing Japanese games since I was really young so am used to it. I wouldn't consider it "spoiling the game", you just playing it earlier. You might end up laughing at yourself for all the stuff you missed, when/if you pick up an english copy.

Spoiler

like the advice Shizue gives followed by additional fruits / tools etc for free, if you ask for advice just like you are recommended to

With zero knowledge it would be frustrating.

Regarding reading: Most Kanji in this has furigana (small hiragana writing) on top so you wouldn't need to learn Kanji to be able to read this game. But reading and understanding are two different stories.

 

[Liquefy]

If you are familiar with Animal Crossing games, you likely can play the game. The menus are in my FAQ. If you know only a little Japanese, you will miss out on the game's "charm," one of the game's greatest assets. It won't be long before the North American, European, and Australian versions are released.

 

[Toeto]

I played the original Animal Crossing without knowing one english word (I was very young) and that went horrible, but after a while I learned a lot english from the game so.
But Japanese is a whole different language so I would wait for the english version of the game.

 

[Lyla]

I think you should wait, it would only be a matter of months away for a copy in English. I think you would have a lot more fun with the game if you knew what everyone was saying, half the fun is talking to the villagers.

 

[Mary]

I would worry that when the game does come out in English, I would have ruined it for myself.

 

[oath2order]

I'd say wait.

Though, if I had the Japanese 3DS and Japanese ACNL, I'd have my boyfriend who can SOMEWHAT read Japanese, though I don't remember if he knows a lot or what kind.