The Best Japanese Language Learning App for the iPhone
I use Japanese Flip [App Store Link] everyday. In the past, I’ve experimented with various books, CDs, and online/PDA apps. This one tops them all.
Using this single app, you can learn Japanese vocabulary and kanji. These are the two hardest concepts in the Japanese language. Japanese grammar, in contrast is rather simple.
This is a well thought out Japanese flash card program. It keeps track of which flash cards give you the most problems and tailors sessions that focus on your weak points. 6,000 commonly used Japanese words are available in this app. And finally, it’s all wrapped up in an easy to use interface that focuses on optimizing the learning process.
Japanese Flip is a sister app of Kanji Flip, which I’ve also reviewed. Personally, I prefer to use Japanese Flip since you focus on a particular word and not on a kanji that has four different readings. But if you’re a kanji fanatic, you can certainly use Kanji Flip to supplement your Japanese training.
Japanese Flip is not the one app solution that some of you might be looking for. But it’s certainly a learning tool that can be a good foundation for the serious student of Japanese. The finer points of grammar and usage can be quickly picked up through tradition books and conversation.
Prerequisites for this app? Make sure you know all of your hiragana/katakana. Japanese Flip’s developer, Andre Khromov also offers Kana Flip [App Store Link] for those who are just starting out.
Overall, this app is well implemented and its laser focus makes the learning process very manageable. I’m currently on the hard level and already notice my Japanese TV comprehension improving. You can purchase it at the iTunes App Store for $4.99.
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thanks for sharing, tried to find app like this few months back, glad they have it now. going to try this soon
Thank you, I’ve been looking for a good app to use to learn japanese hopefully it will be an ok substitute for rosetta stone which i was looking in to buying until i found out that it cost $500 for the full lesson
Robert,
Rosetta stone is in my opinion a poor resource for learning Japanese. smart.fm is better and is free online. Tae kim’s grammar webpage is also another very good free tool.