App Aims: Build A Japanese Vocabulary In A Flash

Reviewer’s Comments
iStudy: Japanese Vocabulary is in a word: simple. Two screenshots would tell you everything that this application does. It has two main functions: Study and Test. Both functions are virtually the same with one difference. They both randomly display one common Japanese word at a time (a total of 428 total words) in both written Japanese and romaji (phonetically spelled out in English) in the top half of the screen. In “Study Mode”, the bottom half of the screen shows the English meaning. In “Test mode” the only difference is that the English meaning is first hidden until you tap the screen to reveal the meaning. If you got it right (on your honor system), you either click a “Correct” button or an “Incorrect” button at the bottom and it moves onto the next word. After going through all 428 words, the application provides your score, the time it took to complete the test and then allows you to either study or retest the missed words. There’s one unforgiveable shortcoming with this app. There is no way to save your progress. Unless you have a lot of time and patience to go through all 428 words, one at a time, you will get tired of repeatedly studying the same words just to get to the words you don’t know. Another thing to mention is that the application displays the English meaning only as the literal translation. There’s no context to the words, no examples of how to use it, no categorization, and so forth. Lastly, one thing we would liked to have seen is the option to study it in reverse. Display the English meaning and make you guess the Japanese word.

If this description of the program is what you’re looking for, then you should buy it. As this is the first release of this application, there should be major improvements coming. For only $1.99 it’s an inexpensive way to learn some basic Japanese vocabulary and the flashcard functionality of testing yourself has promise.

Check out our iPhone 3G review, music and movie download reviews as well as our other iPhone App reviews to help you get the most out of your iPhone. If you’d like a more intensive learning experience, be sure to stop by our Learn Japanese Software reviews.