Beautiful and effective
A near perfect iPhone app.
Beautiful design, excellent functionality. All iPhone apps should be this nice.
The best App I have purchased on iTunes
As someone who has purchased/downloaded 78 Apps (with 12 or so being Japanese language related), I feel I can really speak with some authority on the quality of this App. Additionally, as an American studying Japanese, so I was looking for an App exactly like this.
The other reviewers, while making constructive suggestions (as they should) they really did NOT adequately express how absolutely phenomenal this App really is.
1 - The design is flawless. Super clean, super-well organized. Beautiful to look (for Kana flashcards I mean).
2 - This App provides all Hiragana & Katakana combinations, but lays them out in 3 sections for each type, this makes them really easy to study.
3 - Not only are the Kana laid out in a group, you can then study them individually - one Kana character on each card accompanied by the appropriate English sound, two common vocabulary words AND the ability to listen to the Kana pronounced by a native speaker!
As if that wasn’t enough, you can “flip” the card over and practice writing it, view the stroke or take a quick quiz called “speed test” which gives you a chance to practice what you learn.
I have to respectfully disagree with the reviewer who said these are not really “flashcards” since they show you the answer, he's actually wrong - the cards provide you a clean, easy method to view and study Japanese Kana, and then give you a very unique style of quiz in order to test you “flashcard” style.
This is by far my favorite App! Great job!
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Excellent
Easy to use and very useful. The sound quality is ok to good and the writing practice tool is very very good. I have most of the Japanese teaching apps for the iPhone now and this one is by far may favorite. Thank you very much.
Terrific... but it might not be what you expect
This is a great looking set of flashcards. The sounds are clear and the stroke animations are easy to follow. The faces of the cards are large so you can get a good look at the intricacies of the strokes. However, these really aren't flashcards to help you learn the Kana sets. The characters and their Romaji meanings are both on the front side of the flashcard. The stroke animations are on the back. So it's not really helpful for those who want to practice memorizing the meanings. There's a speed test that does quiz you on the Romaji but the right answer (along with 3 wrong ones) are located just below it... plus, as others have pointed out, there's no way to limit the time.
So if you're looking for a great looking set of cards, pronunciations, and the chance to test your writing strokes, this is a great app. But if you're looking for cards that you can sit back, relax, and test yourself with the meanings, these aren't it.
It would be great if the developer could add the option to use the flashcards in a variety of different ways.
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nice.
I like this app. I like that I can now study my kana on the train. or in the living room. I think $4.99 would have been a better price, but still not a bad app for the price.
Great app (really a 3.5 star app due to the bugs.)
This is for people trying to learn hiragana and katakana, and for people like me that just like to have a good review from time to time.
PROS:
1. Good speed test.
2. Flip a card and get the stroke order.
3. Sound included for pronunciation. (good for beginners of Japanese)
4. Ability to write kana.
CONS:
1. Speed test seems endless (should be able to set number of questions)
2. There is an option for "Recent wrong answers", but my wrong answers didn't store from my test, so it's empty.
3. Katakana Youon and Hiragana Youon Writing test doesn't work. Looks like a bug.
4. A true writing test doesn't provide a guide to follow. This is more like a writing trace. And to learn you have to write these things over and over from memory. Remove the guide and get some way to recognize kana.
Can't wait to see iKanji on here!
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Love this App
This is great I have been checking iTunes everyday since I read about it on the developers blog. Thank You Rory
Perfect for intuitive learning
Now I'm lazy. Although I can understand many words and sentences already, I have my trouble getting to learn any kana at all. A few weeks ago, I was still sitting on the same 10 or so that I recognise but even then I often mixed them up. I bought the desktop equivalent of this app and very quickly picked up more. Not by looking at them and memorising them, but rather by using the speed test which lets me just perceive the shape and (probably) visually store the character.
Now I can't sit down and write them all again and again or just look at them and get it. Either it's not my learning style or I just dreaded school too much. ;) Either way this is perfect for me and so far one of the neatest looking and best structured apps out there. Especially being able to write the kana is amazing. I would hope to see some of this functionality added to the desktop versions (which are also well worth their money, especially on an advanced level). Admittedly it'd be awkward with a mouse but I and possibly many other use a stylus or have one handy. Now that you have the functionality it can't be that diffuclt can it? ;)
I find learning like this quite addictive.
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Finally!!
This is exactly the Japanese app I've been waiting for - a full featured kana teacher. A little pricey, but polished and well-done. Thanks!!
Amazing :D
I love this app on OS X, and I love it even more on the iPhone. Being able to draw the characters on screen is great! Well done Rory!
