iKana for Android

The phrases provided to help you remember are horrible. The worst. Not even worth $1.

This application is a nice study aid for learning the two Japanese syllabaries, Hiragana and Katakana. The application performs as expected with one very minor issue. The Hiragana glyph for 'ri' is displayed as being made with a single continuous stroke [ り ] instead of two different and separate strokes. The feature that illustrates the creation of the Hiragana glyph for 'ri' does so with two strokes. The display of the Hiragana 'ri' glyph is not an application error but the product of the default Japanese font.

I've had the Android version (iKana Touch) for quite a while and have found it invaluable for my Japanese studies. The iKana Touch for Android allows you to actually write the strokes on the screen, and is nothing less than wonderful. This desktop version (same program) does everything the other does except, of course, practicing the strokes on the screen. However, it DOES show you the strokes in a very clear manner, pronounces them, shows you how they can be incorporated into words, and lets you create groups of letters that you've studied and test yourself (speed tests - you can set the times for ultra fast or a bit slower). I must admit that I thought I would never learn this lovely but somewhat alien script. All the more so since my memory is shot. However, constant practice (using this product) has opened up a new world for me and suddenly the letters have come to life. As for the actual language, JPhrases (Android) is stuffed with top notch information/tests/words/grammer and is very practical, while Human Japanese is extremely well written. Both JPhrases and HJ also fully deserve 5 stars and are perfect complements to iKana.

Been using this software for almost a year and have used almost every other software out there that is similar and this is by far the most complete all in one package. The only downside I can see is that it does not teach you Kanji but the compeny that makes this offers another program (not currently in the app store) that does teach Kanji. The software makes it easy deviding the character sets very nicely to make it easier to learn. It also keeps track of symbols you mess up on a lot and lets you focus on the ones that you need to study more. It also gives you easy ways to remember each symbol and advice which is really helpful. I can not think of a way to make this software any better other them possibly intergrating the iKanji app with this so that it would be a complete solution. I can highly Recommend this to anyone looking to learn Japanese. Now don't get me wrong I don't think this would replace software like Rosetta Stone but I think it complaments it very well. For example this teaches about writing and learning the characters much better then Rosetta Stone and it does include words and phrases to learn but is not the best at teaching words or phrases nor do I think was it intended to replace Resetta Stone. What it does do though is make a perfect companion application to teach what Resetta Stone leaves out largely which is learning the Characters which is a big part of understanding Japanese.