Kanji LS Touch 4+

Mixed feelings

I am so happy someone finally used the touch screen's potential in a kanji learning app for English (and other language) speakers. However, there are some things missing that really hold the app back.

The following features are currently missing as of March 5th 2009:

-1- Searchable database. I want to be able to type in the reading or the actual kanji and bring up a specific kanji for practice.

-2- Custom lists. I want to be able to study only the specific kanji that are going to be on my next quiz usually.

-3- Examples and compounds. Without these the program fails in matters of teaching reading comprehension and introducing new (unfamiliar) kanji.

As much as I like this app it is only fun for a while and then I have to go back to programs such as Lima Sky's "Kanji" which have the above features as I don't have time to study anything less specific than my own course content.

Summary: Considering the price and competition, this program does not currently accomplish as much as it should, but its innovation, ease of interface, and unique drawing test method entitle it to no less than four stars.

Thank you for making this app. I will modify my review and rating as updates become available.

Needs work

Maybe it was good at the time it was developed over 10 years ago or if it was free. I got this app because of the option to take a test by drawing the kanji to answer instead of typing. However, when you submit your answer it has you push the next stroke button to compare yours to theirs and then you decide if you got it right or not. This too too long even with the most simple kanji and can only imagine the pain it’ll be when doing the 10+ kanji. Considering it’s paid and the Japanese learning innovation these days from other websites and apps, I would have at least expected it to tell me if I got the answer wrong and try again. I would happily change my review if it improved and it helped my study, but at this point I feel I’m better off looking at an image of kanji stroke order and using paper and pencil

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the feedback. It's not necessary to skip through all strokes. You can also base your correct/wrong decision solely on the kanji itself. Most users actually do that. Only if you are unsure about the order you can skip through the individual kanji.

The reason why I let the user decide, is to avoid false wrong/correct judgment by the app (and subsequent bad ratings: "App sometimes judges my correctly written kanji as wrong"). No matter how good an algorithm you use, this can never be avoided. Every user might have a different point on the threshold of what is still correct. For instance stroke order: Some users might still see their answer as correct even if their stroke order is slightly different from the text book order. Also some advanced fast drawing users might already adapted a certain handwriting style. This style might still be readable by a person and technically correct but judged as wrong because the strokes are to far of the reference strokes.

Amazing and Efficient

This application is excellent in nearly every respect! It provides pre-made grade level based sets for learning the kanji characters, and allows you to make your own subsets or custom sets using the characters as well. The stoke order feature is also superb, and works very beautifully and naturally when used on an iPad with a stylus. Before finding this application, I, like many others I would assume, had relegated myself to using archaic and clumsy flash cards for the readings and definitions of characters. Now I'm infinitely more efficient in learning the characters and readings, and don't have to worry about if the information I'm teaching myself is accurate!

This application takes much of the headache out of what can be seen as the most daunting aspect of learning Japanese, and is absolutely worth the $12 price of admission. My only minor complaint is the color scheme and look of the application. However, in this case function is far more important than form, and should not in any way be a deterrent from purchasing this wonderful application!