Poorly Conceived
At the menu page of this Genji Kanji app, you get to choose a lesson, starting with Lesson 3. If you try to scroll up to Lesson 1 or 2, you see the message “Start by mastering the words in Set 1 and 2. Genki Lessons 1 & 2 contain no kanji to be learned.” I tried everything but could never access Lessons 1 & 2, or the words in Set 1 and 2. Oh well.
Let’s start with Lesson 3 then. It is divided into Set 1, 2, 3 and 4, but 3 and 4 are greyed out. I will click on Set 1 which becomes highlighted. Nothing else happens.
At the top of the screen are two buttons: Kanji and Reading. Let’s click on Kanji. Still nothing happens.
At the bottom of the screen are two buttons: My Deck and Check. Let’s click on My Deck.
Now I see a blank box at the top of the screen. In the middle of the screen is the word “one.” At the bottom of the screen is the word いち。 There are two ways that I can interact with this screen. If I touch the blank box, the kanji character for “one” appears in the box. So what? I haven’t learned anything by doing this.
On the other hand, if I click on a button at the bottom of the screen, showing a circle in an arrow configuration, again I see the kanji for “one.” Again, I haven’t learned anything.
At the top of the screen are three pronunciations for “one”: いち、いっ、ひと。If I click on them, nothing happens.
At the bottom of the screen are two icons. One looks like a deck of cards. If I click on it, a “mnemonic hint” appears on the screen consisting of a fat index finger protruding from a hand. This is the way that I am supposed to remember “one."
The second icon at the bottom of the screen looks like a brush. If I click on this, I come to a screen titled Stroke Order, which shows a horizontal line in the middle. If I click on the Play button at the bottom of this screen, the software draws the line from left to right. I still haven’t learned anything.
OK. Let’s go back to the first screen, where Lesson 3, Set 1 is still highlighted. This time, instead of clicking MyDeck, I will click Check, the only other choice. This takes me to a screen called "Remember the kanji?" In the middle of this screen is a word consisting of two kanji. There are furigana at the top of these kanji, but the one on the right is represented by an empty box. The kanji on the left is し, and the one on the right (which is hidden) is かい, judging from the furigana above the box. If I click on the empty box, the kanji かい magically appears. So what? I still haven’t learned anything that I couldn’t have learned from any dictionary.
This app is pointless. What are they trying to achieve? I would like to offer some advice to the developers. If you want to teach Japanese to gaijin (foreigners), please get some gaijin involved in your development process. Ask them what works for them.
When gaijin try to learn kanji, the first thing we want to know is what each kanji looks like, how it is pronounced, what its meanings are and how it is used in sentences.
The second thing we want to know is whether you have any good mnemonics to help us to remember the kanji. There are at least three kinds of mnemonics that are helpful: a) you can give names to the subcomponents of the kanji and make phrases with them (of course, this doesn’t work with simple kanji like いち); b) you can find English words that are pronounced in the same way that the kanji is pronounced and make phrases with them (for example, I have one itchy dog); and c) you can show similar kanji side-by-side so that students learn to recognize the differences between kanji that look very much alike.
The third thing that gaijin need from an app like this is a chance to practice reading the kanji you are trying to teach them. This means that you have to show the kanji all by itself on the screen. No hints are allowed! If you show a hint, like “one” or “いち,” the student doesn’t have a chance to find out whether or not he or she can get the correct answer. You are spoiling the learning experience with those hints.
I am sorry to be so critical. I can see that you spent a lot of time developing this. Please try again and think about what your students need before you start working.
Let’s start with Lesson 3 then. It is divided into Set 1, 2, 3 and 4, but 3 and 4 are greyed out. I will click on Set 1 which becomes highlighted. Nothing else happens.
At the top of the screen are two buttons: Kanji and Reading. Let’s click on Kanji. Still nothing happens.
At the bottom of the screen are two buttons: My Deck and Check. Let’s click on My Deck.
Now I see a blank box at the top of the screen. In the middle of the screen is the word “one.” At the bottom of the screen is the word いち。 There are two ways that I can interact with this screen. If I touch the blank box, the kanji character for “one” appears in the box. So what? I haven’t learned anything by doing this.
On the other hand, if I click on a button at the bottom of the screen, showing a circle in an arrow configuration, again I see the kanji for “one.” Again, I haven’t learned anything.
At the top of the screen are three pronunciations for “one”: いち、いっ、ひと。If I click on them, nothing happens.
At the bottom of the screen are two icons. One looks like a deck of cards. If I click on it, a “mnemonic hint” appears on the screen consisting of a fat index finger protruding from a hand. This is the way that I am supposed to remember “one."
The second icon at the bottom of the screen looks like a brush. If I click on this, I come to a screen titled Stroke Order, which shows a horizontal line in the middle. If I click on the Play button at the bottom of this screen, the software draws the line from left to right. I still haven’t learned anything.
OK. Let’s go back to the first screen, where Lesson 3, Set 1 is still highlighted. This time, instead of clicking MyDeck, I will click Check, the only other choice. This takes me to a screen called "Remember the kanji?" In the middle of this screen is a word consisting of two kanji. There are furigana at the top of these kanji, but the one on the right is represented by an empty box. The kanji on the left is し, and the one on the right (which is hidden) is かい, judging from the furigana above the box. If I click on the empty box, the kanji かい magically appears. So what? I still haven’t learned anything that I couldn’t have learned from any dictionary.
This app is pointless. What are they trying to achieve? I would like to offer some advice to the developers. If you want to teach Japanese to gaijin (foreigners), please get some gaijin involved in your development process. Ask them what works for them.
When gaijin try to learn kanji, the first thing we want to know is what each kanji looks like, how it is pronounced, what its meanings are and how it is used in sentences.
The second thing we want to know is whether you have any good mnemonics to help us to remember the kanji. There are at least three kinds of mnemonics that are helpful: a) you can give names to the subcomponents of the kanji and make phrases with them (of course, this doesn’t work with simple kanji like いち); b) you can find English words that are pronounced in the same way that the kanji is pronounced and make phrases with them (for example, I have one itchy dog); and c) you can show similar kanji side-by-side so that students learn to recognize the differences between kanji that look very much alike.
The third thing that gaijin need from an app like this is a chance to practice reading the kanji you are trying to teach them. This means that you have to show the kanji all by itself on the screen. No hints are allowed! If you show a hint, like “one” or “いち,” the student doesn’t have a chance to find out whether or not he or she can get the correct answer. You are spoiling the learning experience with those hints.
I am sorry to be so critical. I can see that you spent a lot of time developing this. Please try again and think about what your students need before you start working.
Show less
Needs a Trace Function
If you're using Genki then this app is alright. It gives you all the kanji from book books, with each one including a brief animation showing stroke order, along with all the Kanji words and some mnemonics to help remember. As a general Kanji app though it's missing a key feature: the ability to actually trace each Kanji with your finger/stylus.
Show less
Great app but glitchy
Very helpful but the app crashes every time you X out of a flash card.
Climb Kanji Mountain
I love this app!
Please continue your good work Japan Times😃
Please continue your good work Japan Times😃
no spaced repetition
the 4th screenshot looked to me like the app used some kind of spaced repetition system to study kanji. it does not in any way. it’s just the digital equivalent of analog notecards. it’s 2015 - anyone who studies any language knows what spaced repetition is, and knows it’s essential to memorization. thus, deeply disappointing. also, really weird menu system - totally confusing and unintuitive.
Show less
Really Solid Kanji App
This application greatly assists in learning the 317 kanji of the Genki books. I was surprised by how colorful, organized, and fluid the app is, as most of the kanji apps out there are either buggy or boring, and this app keeps things challenging. Of all the kanji apps out there I greatly recommend this app. It's good quality and provides you a smooth experience to satiate your love and learning for kanji!!
Show less
Not great
Please add the romanji!!
Excellent supplementary kanji flash cards.
Let's face--flash cards are a pain. Sure it helps to write them down, but motivation simmers to an all-time low when flash cards need to be made.
Enter: The official GENKI flash card app. Excellent word usage and examples, clear kanji strokes and pictures, and a great way to organize them by chapter.
My only gripe--and it's hardly one, seeing as I have my textbook and other supplements with me at all times--is that you can't simply search through the items at will; you have to go through in a quiz-like fashion to view them. Same goes for the other GENKI app for vocab. Alas, the student should at least have some idea of the words in order to search for it via textbook, google, or Jisho.org.
Enter: The official GENKI flash card app. Excellent word usage and examples, clear kanji strokes and pictures, and a great way to organize them by chapter.
My only gripe--and it's hardly one, seeing as I have my textbook and other supplements with me at all times--is that you can't simply search through the items at will; you have to go through in a quiz-like fashion to view them. Same goes for the other GENKI app for vocab. Alas, the student should at least have some idea of the words in order to search for it via textbook, google, or Jisho.org.
Show less
No quizzes
This app is great for studying but I don't get why there are not test in here with multiple chose to see if you actually remember the kanji. A bit expensive for an app with out games or quizzes.
No stroke order
I can't believe that there is no stroke order included in a kanji learning app.
