# Human Japanese HD \| Learn Japanese with your personal sensei-in-a-box™ — user reviews > 136 indexed App Store user reviews of Human Japanese HD | Learn Japanese with your personal sensei by Brak Software, Inc., rated 4.90/5 from 436 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/human-japanese-hd-learn-japanese-with-your-personal-sensei-in-a-box/id419031017/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/human-japanese-hd-learn-japanese-with-your-personal-sensei-in-a-box/id419031017.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 417 · 4★ 16 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 0 ## What do users think of Human Japanese HD | Learn Japanese with your personal sensei? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Excellent for learning Japanese - 👍 Thorough and comprehensive - 👍 Engaging and interactive - 👍 Explains concepts and grammar well - 👍 Includes cultural information - 👍 High-quality audio recordings - 👍 Friendly and personable teaching style - 👍 Effective for beginners and intermediate learners **Cons** - 🔍 Could use more kanji coverage - 🔍 Vocabulary lists can be daunting - 🔍 Quizzes could be more challenging - 🔍 Lack of syncing between devices **Commonly reported bugs** - App not optimized for newer iPad models - Occasional UI issues **Most requested features** - Split-screen mode for writing practice - Flashcards for vocabulary review - Randomized vocabulary quizzes - Dark mode option - Syncing progress across devices ## Newest reviews (16 of 136) ### 5/5 — Easy going Japanese *2019-11-08, version 3.2.1* I find Human Japanese enjoyable to read for beginners. Great for revision, and polishing up before a trip back to Japan. ### 5/5 — Great for grammar and background explanations *2019-11-03* I would strongly recommend this app. It’s a textbook, but with lots of pictures, sound, some video, and links to deeper explanations of the words and sentences. It has animations of hiragana and katakana as well as tips on how to keep them straight. It’s great for initially learning about a topic. The author writes with humor and style. He even takes breaks to provide lessons on Japanese culture to break things up. It feels like a very personal experience. The app is titled ‘Human Japanese’ and that fits very well. The app can’t do everything on its own. I recommend the iphone/ipad app “Learn Japanese!” for help memorizing hiragana and katana. The “Learn Japanese to Survive” game series for PC (on Steam) is another great tool for learning the kana, especially if you like JRPG games. I also strongly recommend a note card program for vocabulary memorization. I use Anki, which is free on PC but available as a paid app on mobile. Finally, I would recommend Duolingo as a secondary source and review tool (but not as a primary source as Human Japanese is MUCH better at initially presenting material. Duolingo keeps me motivated and has an effective way of presenting information that helps you remember, but Duolingo’s Japanese course is very weak on explaining the material it initially presents. When you pair this Human Japanese app together with some other sources for memorization and review, its a super effective combination. ### 5/5 — Excellent Learning Tool! *2019-07-30, version 3.2.1* It’s not often you can sincerely say a language app is worth every penny...but, this one you can. I hope the author made some good money from this because this is laid out better than any learning app I’ve ever seen. ### 5/5 — Simply the best all-around Japanese language tool out there. *2019-07-26, version 3.2.1* I’ve tried a TON of things over the years, and this is just the most thorough and human-readable tool there is. Great information, good interface, audio playback for hearing how things sound, etc. SO worth the money. Thanks, Brak! ### 5/5 — Great! A suggestion... *2019-07-14, version 3.2.1* First of all, thank you for your great content! Now that I have some time to learn a language, this app has been very effective, while also having some personality. One feature that would make a huge difference to me would be the ability to use split screen mode. Please consider adding this. Thank you! ### 5/5 — Human Japanese series is the best language learning program *2019-07-05* I am fluent in Spanish and speak native English. When I started to learn Japanese I tried many different programs. I don’t have access to any tutor led japanese learning classes or any teacher led programs, so finding something where you can truly come to understand the language is difficult. The Human Japanese series as a whole is incredibly thorough and a great way to get deep into Japanese. Its written and organized very well. Its not a cookie cutter program and I’ve tried many others. Name it and I’ve tried it. This is a the single most successful program I’ve seen in learning any language for self-learners. ### 5/5 — A+ conceptual intro to Japanese *2019-01-02, version 3.2.1* Introduces the concepts behind the Japanese language in a clear and concise manner, with excellent examples. Fantastic when coupled with another tool that is more focused on spaced repetition e.g., Duolingo or Memrise. ### 5/5 — High quality *2018-10-21, version 3.2.1* I’ve tried many apps and websites (Rocket and Japanese Pod 101 are great, Rosetta is a useful supplement), and have concluded that no one resource is sufficient. Human Japanese is well-crafted, fun to use, and another useful tool in my box of resources. A great place to learn hiragana and katakana! ### 5/5 — My favorite Japanese language App *2018-09-06, version 3.2.1* It’s simply; it’s comprehensive; it’s easy to use. I love this App! With it, I’ve learned hiragana and katakana and basic communication. I like the audio portion of the App as well. I highly recommend it. ### 5/5 — Learning Japanese? This app is perfect *2018-08-09, version 3.2.1* I was trying to find apps to learn Katakana and Kanji, but also learn not just words but how the sentence structure worked. I couldn’t find any website nor any apps, UNTIL NOW. This app is amazing. I’m learning so much about sentences, how everything is pronounced, and even cool facts about Japan and the culture! The $15 is a lot, but even to me, it’s SO worth the price!!! I’ve tried Rosetta Stone and this app beats Rosetta!!! ### 5/5 — Excellent app *2018-07-20, version 3.2.1* I have been using HJ for over a year and have found it to be an excellent way to learn Japanese. Each chapter has a theme with vocabulary followed by grammar and including example dialog where you can open an explanation of any sentence. Each chapter concludes with quizzes. I would highly recommend it to anyone. ### 5/5 — Absolutely Amazing *2018-04-29, version 3.2.1* I have never seen an app teach Japanese so well! It’s worth the price for sure if you are interested in learning Japanese. This app has helped me so much, as it touches grammar and cultural tips, while testing you to make sure that you remember them. Thank you so much to the developers! ありがとうございます😊 ### 5/5 — Easy to follow *2018-04-18, version 3.2.1* This is good for me. I have trouble concentrating and am able to go over things easily and endlessly. My husband is onto intermediate and is still enjoying the app. ### 5/5 — Probably the best foreign language app ever invented *2018-04-01* I can’t speak highly enough about the care, planning, and ease of use and ease of self-learning this app provides. I am a native English speaker and have been using the app for 3 week and I am completely fluent in reading and writing both Hiragana and Katakana! The cultural and historical information and the design of the app is the highest quality I have ever seen in a foreign language app. The recordings are excellent quality and easy to understand. ### 5/5 — Easily Breaks Down the Concepts *2018-03-24* I like the pace this app goes, but mostly I like the conversational-style of the lessons. I have learned much of the same vocabulary and grammar in other textbooks at roughly the same pace, but HJ breaks it down clearly like no other method does, and it really makes clear all of those little questions a beginner has. Many other methods assume that you really don’t need to know the “why” of certain things, but it helps with remembering things so much better when you have the explanation. The quizzes are perfect for helping you remember both concepts and vocabulary. Very well-designed, well-worth the cost. Thanks, Human Japanese! ### 5/5 — Simply The Best *2018-02-21, version 3.2.1* Thank you for taking the time, talent, intelligence and heart to create such a wonderful learning tool for Japanese. I feel very fortunate. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 2/5 — Well worth the money :D *2012-04-25, version 2.0.2* I'm a year 7 who just started Japanese last term. However, with the help of this excellent app, I already memorized my hiragana, katakana and tons of words. This app is well worth the price ### 3/5 — Content is good, but pacing is not *2017-09-28, version 3.2.1* For the most part I've really liked this app. The voiced content is excellent and the historic information is interesting. I have three significant complaints. First, they don't allow you to hide the romaji(romanizations) of the words, which is incredibly frustrating if you're already comfortable with hiragana and katakana. I find myself constantly trying to cover the romaji with my hands but it's just awkward. Secondly, they cram a ton of vocabulary into each chapter without any guided way to practice, and then only ask ten questions in the chapter and vocabulary reviews, meaning it's easy to get 5 stars and feel confident moving on when you really haven't memorized the whole set of words. Smaller chapters with more frequent testing would easily solve this if there's no better way to enforce practice. Finally for the price charged for this app, there really is no good reason to not have the same app for iPad and iPhone. It's an egregious cash grab and I for one will never pay for it on the iPhone now that I've paid for the iPad bundle. The app is good, but not *that* good. ### 4/5 — Still good for an older app; could be great with refresh and more kanji *2024-04-18* I’ve tried so many Japanese learning apps in the past year. Many now have AI. This one doesn’t and is a bit dated, but it explains the complexities of Japanese so well, it’s still worth $10-$15, cheaper than a text book. It seems like most of the app maker’s resources are going into the Satori Reader app, which is also great. This app is still a good starting point for Japanese, but it would great with a refresh and more kanji. Katakana could also be covered much earlier instead of spoon feeding it. Despite that, I’ve finally found an app I like and intend to stick with. Another plus to me is that it has a completion point; not an infinite amount of never ending lessons. I will need to supplement this with kanji learning on my own, but Wanikani and others make that easy to do. ### 4/5 — Fantastic App. Part of my regular Japanese study. *2019-07-11, version 3.2.1* This is a fantastic application. It introduces the japanese language with context, which allows us to remember vocab more efficiently. The culture notes add extra layers to the language which give us a better understanding of how it is used on a daily basis in Japan. Some things I’d love to see added to this app are - When a large set of new vocab is introduced, it would be great if there was a way to obscure the Japanese words in the table, so we can tap and reveal them as we drill for remembering. Currently I create flash cards of all the words when they’re introduced, and it’s a slow process. What would be an even better addition to this app would be flashcards for all of the vocab in a whole chapter as an option for review at the end of a chapter. (Please add this :-D) It would also be great if we could get flashcards of all vocab up to the current chapter randomised. (To really test that we have learned them) Some other nice additions would be the option of changing the theme of the app to a different colour (I prefer unassuming dark UI’s with white font, as its better on my eyes) All in all this is one of the best Japanese learning apps on the market, and I much prefer it over my text books. Mitchgeek ;-) ### 4/5 — So far so good... *2019-04-08, version 3.2.1* I have just started this app as a supplementary to my private lessons. I have really enjoyed the interaction and the clever structure which reinforces principles. Japanese is not easy and I have used some other apps in the past but this one resonates with me so far. I will review it fully when I complete it. Well worth the outlay. This review is completely independent. Best wishes, ### 4/5 — Amazing App *2018-05-30, version 3.2.1* This app is a amazing discovery as it teaches you the Japanese language in your own pace and with the ability to bookmark pages and make any notes it feels like it’s your own experience. One major thing that I don’t like however is that we aren’t learning the appropriate Kanji for the required words even when we learn the Hiragana and Katakana symbols and it sometimes catch me off guard as I’m used to seeing some of the words as Kanji and not in Hiragana/Katakana ### 4/5 — Great app *2014-12-29, version 3.2.1* Really enjoying the app and approach to learning Japanese so far. The app has a great look and feel to it with some nice cultural learnings as well. Perhaps slightly more content for the price and the ability to sync your progress between devices and lite/full version would make it 5 star worthy. Still highly recommended! ### 4/5 — Elegant *2014-11-01, version 3.2.1* A very elegant design and clear explanations (in non-technical terms) of the major concepts in Japanese. My only negative is the occasional chapter when the reader is hit with an extensive new vocabulary list to learn and not much guidance to help learn it. An inbuilt SRS system or advice about using Anki (or similar) would help. ### 5/5 — I’ve never found a better app for Japanese *2024-12-28, version 3.2.1* I’ve used this for years and love it. The addition of cultural elements on top of learning the language adds depth. I also use Duolingo, but only as an accompaniment. ### 5/5 — Best way to learn Japanese *2024-06-17, version 3.2.1* I found out about this app through a sub Reddit, and I use it with the Anki app for my hiragana and katakana flash cards and Duolingo on my phone. I have found human Japanese makes me understand the language better, and helps me make sentences and questions, and learn conversational Japanese. Highly recommend this app ## Most praised reviews (8 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — This should accompany any learning app *2023-01-05, version 3.2.1* I’ve tried lots of different Japanese learning apps, many of them very good, and I can truly say that this one will help to deepen your understanding and appreciation of the language. This one should go along with any of the others. ### 5/5 — Many out there few deliver *2022-12-26* I have been on off studying Japanese for 14 years now and this is by far one of the easiest to understand and best organized! It is also hard to find apps that will teach you grammar anymore, it’s all pre-scripted phrases to get by. This app actually breaks down the language so you can know it inside and out to be able to actually speak like an educated person! Love it and highly recommend the purchase! ### 5/5 — Not only phonetic learning, but reading as well *2021-10-19* I wanted an app that taught not only conversational Japanese, the kind of phonetic mastery a tourist to Japan would need to order the right sushi and not end up with inappropriately prepared puffer fish, find where the bathroom is, etc., but how to read Japanese as well, so when you’re standing in that Tokyo bullet train station, you can competently find your way to the anime store by reading the signs. This is that app. It starts with hiragana, then katakana then the hardest: kanji. Over 10,000 kanji symbols, derived from Chinese (traditional, not simplified). If you want to really master Japanese you’ve come to the right place. It’ll will no longer be Greek to you. ### 5/5 — High Quality *2021-06-09, version 3.2.1* After trying many apps and websites, I can confidently say Human Japanese is my favourite. This app not only teaches you Japanese in a very intuitive manner, but teaches you a lot about English and language in general along the way. I also found that when learning through Human Japanese, it is genuinely rewarding weather I’m reading for a quick ten minutes, or sitting down for a couple hours. Human Japanese does all this and is genuinely fun as well. This will forever be my first recommendation for anyone who wants to learn Japanese. ### 5/5 — So personable *2021-05-21* It feels like you’re being talked to by a one on one tutor. My only gripe is that the app is not optimized for newer iPads (seeing as though it was last updated 6 years ago), but that being said, the content is amazing. Definitely recommend investing in this (especially since it’s a one time purchase, screw all the other subscription model apps). Also s/o to AbroadinJapan for the rec 😉 ### 5/5 — Astonishing *2020-09-29, version 3.2.1* I’ve never had a penchant for languages - although I’ve always wished I had - but I love Japan, its culture and I am determined to get there and visit the country; so I wanted to learn at the very least the basics of their language. Human Japanese is an intuitive, easy-to-understand introduction (bare in mind, I’ve just started chapter 3 so lots to go yet) to the basics of Japanese, and in many ways has thus far made it easier to learn for me than Spanish! Worth every single penny! ### 5/5 — Perfect resource for Japanese grammar *2020-09-23, version 3.2.1* Human Japanese is so good that I’ve bought it three times across different devices. I’ve always struggled with grammar but everything is explained here so clearly with excellent examples, and the structure of the programme really helps with developing knowledge at a good pace. If you are learning Japanese then I cannot recommend this enough. It is well worth the price! ### 5/5 — Enjoyable and effective *2020-07-11, version 3.2.1* The only app I trust to learn Japanese - the only one in which I don’t need to constantly search up why and how things are written. I love it. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*