JAPELAS: Supporting Japanese Polite Expressions Learning Using PDA(s) Toward Ubiquitous Learning

It is very difficult for overseas students to learn Japanese polite expressions because these expressions change in a complicated manner according to context, for instance, hyponymy, social distance, and the formality of the conversational situation. Moreover, the notion of social distance in Japan often differs from that in the learner's country. This difference may result in misunderstanding by overseas students. Therefore, it is very important for Japanese language learners to learn the social situation in Japan in order to use polite expressions properly. We have implemented a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based language-learning support system for Japanese polite expressions learning, called Japanese polite expressions learning assisting system (JAPELAS).