The Hentaigana App for Android

This app was so hyped up in certain circles when it came out that I think a lot of people imagined more. It clearly involved a lot of work, so I think it will remain foundational for the field, which will hopefully continue to release apps and other 21st century learning assistants. That aside, though, as a flashcard app, it's kind of... disappointing? The card flipping and sliding method is frankly annoying and finicky. It's cool to use touch screen functions, I guess, but it means it's never visually clear how to operate the flashcards outside of the tutorial. I'd rather have something like the usual flashcard app interface where it's just tapping to flip and then tapping how right I was. I'm also unclear on how this app works in terms of showing the cards? Is it SRS or just following what we say when we swipe to the left (or is it to the right? Are the cards I've finished Tinder guys I like or Tinder guys I don't?) There's no data on how "learned" a character is unlike most Japanese flashcard apps and I'm not quite sure what is being "reset" when you reset the app in the settings. It also doesn't allow customization of card sets to the degree I would like, like certain jibo rather than the full set for one syllable. I think there were serious efforts to make the app look good that are great but some parts were misfires. The opening screen needed a graphic designer and the background "papers" are pretty but a little distracting.

This app essentially serves as a set of "smart" flash cards for cursive hentaigana characters, the various kanji characters used as kana, or phonetic characters. In a way this teaches a very obscure skill, since many students read classical texts in printed versions. But reading hentaigana is essential for anyone who wants to read original sources. The app is also beautiful, with the characters appearing on decorative paper grounds of the type that the original texts would have been written upon. Many thanks to all the creators of this wonderful tool!

So excited the English version is finally here!