From: Arose323 AOL COM Date: 26 sep 2002 Subject: Re: Promoting Shogi overseas (was: HABU INTERVIEW (revised)) --part1_17a.f4482a1.2ac3f1d7_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mark, > And what about Shogi game sets with the pieces in something understandable > for the common man? I bought a used set on eBay, that is long since no > longer available (by Game Brothers or something like that). Ah yes, the Games Gang set. Complete with board with light and dark squares. I do still have mine somewhere, packed away ready for our upcoming move. Not only does> it have Romaji letters, but also errors to indicate the > available moves. I understand that, eventually, one should be able to > recognize traditional > pieces, but as an introduction, it would seem better to have such sets > available. There are two schools of thought. Some prefer to dive right into the kanji - I've known some chess players who will say, "Did you learn chess with pieces that had arrows and letters on them?" When I taught my students, I just gave them the sets with the kanji, a translation key (just look at the top kanji for now!) and a watchful eye. With kids, they don't know any better! ;-) And for a lot of them, they really liked knowing something that none of their peers did. My thought is, "whatever works." My first set was the Games Gang one, and I've worked with a number of beginners on "westernised" sets. If the kanji is a stumbling block to them gaining interest in the game, I'm all for removing that stumbling block. And yes, when they eventually get hooked on the game, they are naturally curious about the kanji. Sal > > Mark :) > --part1_17a.f4482a1.2ac3f1d7_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mark,

And what about Shogi game sets with the pieces in something understandable
for the common man?  I bought a used set on eBay, that is long since no
longer available (by Game Brothers or something like that). 


Ah yes, the Games Gang set. Complete with board with light and dark squares. I do still have mine somewhere, packed away ready for our upcoming move.

Not only does
it have Romaji letters, but also errors to indicate the available moves.  I understand that, eventually, one should be able to recognize traditional
pieces, but as an introduction, it would seem better to have such sets
available.


There are two schools of thought. Some prefer to dive right into the kanji - I've known some chess players who will say, "Did you learn chess with pieces that had arrows and letters on them?" When I taught my students, I just gave them the sets with the kanji, a translation key (just look at the top kanji for now!) and a watchful eye. With kids, they don't know any better!  ;-)  And for a lot of them, they really liked knowing something that none of their peers did.

My thought is, "whatever works." My first set was the Games Gang one, and I've worked with a number of beginners on "westernised" sets. If the kanji is a stumbling block to them gaining interest in the game, I'm all for removing that stumbling block. And yes, when they eventually get hooked on the game, they are naturally curious about the kanji.

Sal


Mark :)


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