SakeSaySo vs NihonGO Dokusho
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
SakeSaySo
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Japanese language and culture with SakeSaySo - a personal guide through the intricacies and delights of comprehending Japan. Born from a personal quest to navigate the language and culture, SakeSaySo was born from a lack of existing tools and features that I craved. Provided, free of charge, free of ads, free of tracking. Key Features: - English-Japanese Dictionary: Over 180,000 entries rich in cultural context and real-world usage, guiding you through the nuances of Japanese communication. - Seamless and Free: Your journey into Japanese culture is uninterrupted. No costs, no ads โ just pure, unadulterated learning. - Offline-first: Your learning journey is uninterrupted, available wherever you go, regardless of internet connectivity. This comes at a slightly slower app start and larger bundle size. - Animated Kanji Learning: Visualize each stroke with animated kanji characters on vocabulary pages, enhancing your understanding and memorization of kanji. - SakeScript Customization: Craft your learning path with SakeScript, our open-source format that allows you to customize learning content, making your experience as unique as your taste in sake. Custom content repositories supported. - Daily Cultural Insights: Engage with Japan through daily news and cultural anecdotes, providing both language knowledge and a glimpse into contemporary Japanese life. - Practical Language Decks: Create your personal learning decks with vocabulary and sentences, preparing you for genuine conversations beyond textbook dialogues. - Effective Flashcards: Employing spaced repetition for durable memory retention, making learning both efficient and enjoyable. - Export your learning decks to Anki, ensuring your progress is portable and accessible across different platforms. - Import decks from Anki and the 'Japanese' app, making it simple to integrate your existing resources into our platform. Each kanji, each phrase, opens a window into the rich world of Japanese life and thought. We are here to facilitate your exploration, providing tools and insights for a deeper understanding of Japan. Participate in a collaborative environment where language enthusiasts and cultural explorers converge. Share, learn, and contribute to a community that values authentic experiences and mutual growth. Join us on this adventure of cultural and linguistic exploration, one insightful sip at a time!
NihonGO Dokusho
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Read your way to Japanese fluency. NihonGO Dokusho is a story reader built for intermediate learners: real, natural Japanese โ and every word, kanji, or grammar point you don't know is one tap from its card. โโ READ โโ Original stories in natural Japanese, written for learners who've finished a beginner course. Turn furigana on or off. Turn per-sentence English on or off. Open a word-by-word breakdown behind any sentence. Three text sizes, plus day and night themes. Every chapter and scene is titled in English, so you always know exactly where you are in the story. โโ TAP โโ Every underlined word is a card, drawn from a library of 7,700 vocabulary words, 2,200 kanji and 600 grammar points. In vocabulary mode, tap a word for its meaning, reading, and example sentences โ which link on to their own cards. Switch to kanji mode to open any character with its stroke order, radicals, and a memory hint. Grammar points open from the sentence breakdown. Conjugated words resolve to their dictionary form automatically. โโ LISTEN โโ Every sentence and every scene is read aloud in a clear, natural-sounding Japanese voice โ real recordings that download with each book and play offline, not a robotic device voice. Listening Mode plays hands-free with full controls on your lock screen and Control Center โ skip, pause, and play from your headphones like a podcast. โโ REMEMBER โโ Every vocabulary word you tap is saved to your study notebook โ the word, its reading, and its meaning. The notebook shows just the words due for review: clear one you already knew and it spaces out over days; reveal one you'd forgotten and it comes back soon โ until it's simply known. โโ YOUR LIBRARY โโ A complete original novel โ 25 chapters across five free parts โ plus two companion editions of the same story: a plain Japanese edition with no study aids, and a full English translation. Read the study edition first, graduate to the plain Japanese, or check the English when you must. Each book downloads with a single tap and works fully offline. Your reading position, settings, and notebook sync across your devices through your own iCloud. โโ PRIVATE BY DESIGN โโ No ads, no accounts, no tracking, no analytics. Nothing leaves your device except the books you choose to download. Part of the NihonGO family, alongside NihonGO Dominos (the vocabulary game) and NihonGO Manabi (the textbook course) โ three apps, one shared, frequency-built card library, so what you learn in one is what you meet in the others.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: SakeSaySo at every 9 days against NihonGO Dokusho's monthly. SakeSaySo also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
SakeSaySo ships an update every 9 days, NihonGO Dokusho monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SakeSaySo | NihonGO Dokusho |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days โ better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 โ better | 15.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 197 MB | 669 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | KYODO TECH LIMITED LIABILITY CO. | JUERGEN WOLFGANG HAMMER |
In-app purchases
SakeSaySo
No in-app purchases
NihonGO Dokusho
No in-app purchases









