iPhone apps for learning Japanese + poll

[MichaelMcDonald]

This has already been discussed a bit around the forums, but I wanted to start a discussion of the different iPhone apps out there and who's using them. Also curious to see who's using an iPhone out there to listen to Jpod or access the website.

After getting an iPhone when they came out here in Finland in July, my iPod has been collecting dust. I listen almost exclusively to Jpod's podcasts on my iPhone going to and from work & while walking the dog, and at the same time I use several different iPhone apps for learning/studying Japanese. I actually wish my morning commute was longer so I'd have more time to listen and study!

So far I've bought/downloaded the following apps: Lingolook Japan Flashcards, Kanji Flip, wwwJDic, MyWords-JP and Japanese Flip. Of these, the Flashcard program is pretty limited in usefulness. Japanese Flip (from the maker of Kanji Flip) is my new favorite, great vocabulary builder. If you haven't tried it yet, I strongly recommend it. Of course MyWords is great, too - it's funny how you can recognize vocab words from various past Jpod lessons. Kanji Flip is good for concentrating just on Kanji. The wwwJDic is an easy way to look up words or Kanji (it's especially fun to draw them with your finger using the Chinese input method); although it requires an internet connection, it's loads pretty fast.

http://japaneseflip.com/index.html
http://kanjiflip.com/index.html
http://www.japanesepod101.com/iphone.php
http://cslmedia.org/iphone/

So, what Japanese apps are you using on your iPhone/iPod touch, and which ones do you like the most?

[wccrawford]

As there was no 'still not sure', I picked 'not interested'.

I use a tablet PC for my studies. I haven't yet set up for the kanji entry via the digitizer, but it's been working great for itunes, anki, and some video games I use to study with.

[MichaelMcDonald]

Another thread told about another great app, 'Japanese'. Check it out here:

http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/vie ... php?t=3485

or here:

http://www.codefromtokyo.com/japanese

Highly recommended!

[johnpa]

I have an iPod Touch which I use mostly to watch music videos and read news articles. I wish I was good enough to read Japanese news feeds, but I'm not. Maybe it's kind of a stretch to call it a learning tool, but I do learn a few things from karaoke videos.
Other than that... "Japanese" is handy when I'm not sure about a particular conjugation. "Longman Japanese" is a good source of sample sentences. And "Jishobot" is good for looking up words that I don't know the Kanji for. I just wish there was one dictionary that did it all.

[jexe]

Hey, I'm the author of the Jishobot iPhone app. I'm actually a JapanesePod listener as well, and wrote Jishobot initially to help me out - key in words that I don't understand while I'm listening to the podcast, and bookmark them to review later. Any feature ideas for future revisions, feel free to PM me!

Aside from Jishobot, have to agree that the "Japanese" app is also comprehensive and awesome. Kudos to the developer.

jx

[keiko8]

hello , I was wondering how would i type Japanese on the itouch? because some programs like "kotoba" requires you to type in japanese kana but my itouch has only a qwerty keyboard

[johnpa]

hello , I was wondering how would i type Japanese on the itouch? because some programs like "kotoba" requires you to type in japanese kana but my itouch has only a qwerty keyboard

Go to your "Settings". Pick "General". Scroll down to "International". Pick "Keyboards". Click on "Japanese" and you have a choice between "QWERTY" or "Kana".

For Kanji... After you've gotten to "Keyboards", scroll down to "Chinese (Traditional)". Then pick "Handwriting".
Unfortunately handwriting recognition is not so good on the iTouch. Even simple characters like 日 get misrecognized with correct stroke order.

PS After you've installed the keyboards you want, you can select them by clicking on the little globe symbol in the lower left corner of your touchpad.

[tricycle222]

I just got my iPod touch and happened to see the posts about entering Japanese on the iPod touch back in October. Johnpa's reply is clear enough. I also use Kotoba! and am amazed at the power of this dictionary app. Using the Japanese keyboard works well if you know the pronunciation, but the great thing is that one can just "draw" the character and it will recognize it from the Chinese dictionary. I am no calligrapher but I haven't found a character that it did not recognize yet.

With MyWords-JP I can't record since I only have the iPod touch, but I have more than enough access to recording at JapanesePod101.com I am a little disappointed that once the day is over there is no way to access the previous day's words if you missed them, (I didn't have internet access one day), but I don't expect to miss a day very often.

I also highly recommend "Japanese Flip", if you are not a beginner with Kanji. I have drawers of flashcards I made 20 years ago that I can now discard. I love just "flipping" through the cards with my thumb. I can use my left thumb while I eat breakfast in the morning with my right hand.

Take care, Tom Rike

[unquiet]

I’m the developer of a iPhone / iPod Touch Japanese study app called Japanese Flash.

It has over 145,000 words categorized into 180 study sets and includes progress tracking so you study what you don’t know rather than waste time repeating the same words.

We think its a great way to study vocab in specific areas that you usually can't study as a group. For example, there is a Sumo Terms set for when you are going to a tournament. Or Kansai Ben before your next trip to Osaka. And it's all offline so you can use it on the train or airplane no problems.

We are working on a new version right now which will add example sentences as well.

Check it out here: http://japaneseflash.com
App Store Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/japanese-flash/id367216357?mt=8

Good luck on your Japanese study!

--
http://longweekendmobile.com

[pitto]

I'm a Japanese major and had a hard time getting fluent in katakana, therefor I made a nice iphone app to get better in katakana. It's a puzzle game with a time limit and it's called Kata-Touch, feel free to download it. I'm also making a Hiragana version soon.

[richardsmith4042262]

All these apps are OK (or in some cases just bad). They are all aimed at getting you to a low beginner level. By far the best iPhone apps available for learning Japanese are:

1. Ankimobile - SRS app which syncs with AnkiOnline and the desktop Anki to give you the perfect iPhone study tool. I use this any time I have a spare 5 mins, I just pull out the iPhone and answer a bunch of cards in Anki. It's so efficient and configurable.

2. Japanese Sensei Deluxe - this app has 10,000 vocab items with accompanying sentences, with audio for both the vocab and the sentences. I use this to initially study new vocab, then add it to Anki to continue with long-term study.

3. Japanese is a good J-E dict for beginners, and then Daijisen/Daijirin are good J-J dicts for intermediate and advanced learners.

I guess it might be useful to use a different app when you're a real beginner, if you just wanna learn the kana for example, but after that most apps (except the ones I listed) are pretty useless. I'd be interested to see if anyone else knows of any good internediate/advanced learning apps.

[seifip]

Please also check out the educational review game NihongoUp. It doesn't teach (as it's a supplement to the online Japanese lessons at NihongoUp), but it's a fun way to review what you already know, whether it's kana, kanji, vocabulary, particles, counters, or even transitive verb pairs. If you're interested, batni recently tumblred a review of the game...

[untmdsprt]

I use a 32GB 3GS iPhone for my studying.

I have:
Kotoba
Anki - paid version
Tae Kim's guide
a few kanji flash card apps
a JLPT flash card app

I've also sorted out Jpod into the different seasons/levels and listen to those while riding the train or doing housework.

Next purchase will be iBunko.

[Satelle]

In addition to others listed I use Japanese My Way for the Kanji writing drills.

However, what I have found to be especially cool is using the TOIEC apps by Smart.FM, yeah, that's right!! I am going backwards, using an English learning app. As some might know, their Japanese learning app has been extinct for a while so I tried out the TOEIC apps (built for Japanese English learners) and I have to say that it was a great choice. I have the 'CORE2000' goals (general English) and the 'TOEIC完全版' and I am learnign through observing the vocab and sentence translations. I am coming across many useful expressions and love the fact that all vocab items get 2 example sentences. I am learning many new constructions through these apps.

I would advise that if you want to use the CORE2000 goal, you should have lower intermediate level reading comprehension, and for the TOEIC完全版 an intermediate level at the very least.

[wakaruapp7943]

I developed an application for iPhone and iPad to read Japanese (Web or text file) while having a dictionary to quickly find the meaning of an unknown word.

I originally developed this application because I thought I did not read enough Japanese because of the pain of having to constantly lookup in the dictionary for unknow words. So, my level had dropped significantly after the passage of JPLT.

Now, using this app, I read Japanese on my iPad every day and I really enriched my vocabulary. (Of course, I may have a biased opinion because I'm the developer of the application: D).

The application is called Wakaru and runs on iPhone and iPad.
There is a video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/WakaruApp to get an idea and a site that details the features.

Sorry to pollute the topic with * commercial * post, but I really think Wakaru may be useful to anyone wishing to advance in Japanese.

The direct link to the AppStore.