"But that's because everything is inverted in Japan!"

Could you elaborate please? I thought for sure the device got it wrong.
(You're probably joking but I just wanted to make sure. )

gyuujuice Wrote:"But that's because everything is inverted in Japan!"

Could you elaborate please? I thought for sure the device got it wrong.
(You're probably joking but I just wanted to make sure. )

Well, they drive on the wrong side of the road and stuff. Yes, that was a joke

[Katsuo]

I see the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary has just been released today.

And it has a "Special introductory price - one day only" of 1,800 yen.

(I have no idea what tomorrow's price will be.)

Katsuo Wrote:I see the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary has just been released today.

And it has a "Special introductory price - one day only" of 1,800 yen.

(I have no idea what tomorrow's price will be.)

This is awesome news!

I would heartily recommend the Bloomberg app for reading business news in Japanese (and hence learning business related words). You just have to customise the news categories you're interested in in the settings and you're away.

cjane Wrote:I'm looking for a good Japanese vocabulary app for my iPod Touch and I came across this new one:
Japanese Sensei (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/japanese-...34304?mt=8)

I've downloaded the free version to try it out. Anyone using it?

Hey, yeh I've downloaded the full version of Japanese Sensei, and it's awesome.

I do 2-4 lessons a day whilst on my commute, and I'm finding the words are really sticking! I guess it's because it drills you regularly, plus the audio and sentences are excellent - this is perfect to up your vocab before diving into the sentence method.

I bought full version on offer for £6 - if it's still that price, total bargain (though obviously try the free version first)

In case no one else has noticed, the new 1.3 version of 大辞林 has a really good built in kanji handwriting recognition panel now.

[Katsuo]

Yes, it's great. Wish it was a bit bigger though (4.0 cm wide, but only 3.0 cm tall) because I have big fingers.

Katsuo Wrote:I see the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary has just been released today.

And it has a "Special introductory price - one day only" of 1,800 yen.

(I have no idea what tomorrow's price will be.)

Just looked and this app is a whopping £14.99, is it really worth this much???

CJ

Depending on your ability, I'd say no. It looks like it has a nice interface, but you're a lot better off with 漢字源 if you can read the definitions.

Katsuo Wrote:Yes, it's great. Wish it was a bit bigger though (4.0 cm wide, but only 3.0 cm tall) because I have big fingers.

is there any way someone can make this one of the available keyboards in any application? it is insanely better than the built in chinese one.

by the way Spirit was just released if anyone was waiting for a 3.1.3/3.2 jailbreak

makurabin Wrote:is there any way someone can make this one of the available keyboards in any application? it is insanely better than the built in chinese one.

Nope, it's an integral part of the application. It uses a standard (commercial) recognition library though so one could be made if one got ahold of it or managed to decompile the app (the same lib is also used in some DS software).

[Katsuo]

Those studying Chinese: The Smart Xinhua Chinese Dictionary has just been released and is free for 72 hours.

I'm not studying Chinese myself, so don't know whether the above app is useful or not.

[Katsuo]

Tae Kim's guide to learning Japanese is now available in app form.

Edit: Note that iOS 4.0 or later is required.

Katsuo Wrote:Tae Kim's guide to learning Japanese is now available in app form.

Edit: Note that iOS 4.0 or later is required.

What do you guys think of it so far?

My dissatisfaction comes from tapping the kanji to get the reading, but having to scroll all the way down to the bottom to find the reading. Is that just something on my iTouch, or does it happen that way to others, too?

[Katsuo]

nohika Wrote:My dissatisfaction comes from tapping the kanji to get the reading, but having to scroll all the way down to the bottom to find the reading. Is that just something on my iTouch, or does it happen that way to others, too?

I get the same on my iTouch. I doubt that's what the programmer intended.

A more serious problem (for me, at least); I've just upgraded to iOS4 and it seems to have messed up incremental kana search on all apps (Daijirin, Wisdom, WaEiWa etc).

Katsuo Wrote:A more serious problem (for me, at least); I've just upgraded to iOS4 and it seems to have messed up incremental kana search on all apps (Daijirin, Wisdom, WaEiWa etc).

Yes, this is a BIG problem for Japanese learners. Whether it's a bug on Apple's part, or by design, is the question. Would seem a pretty big overlook if it's a bug, so I'm willing to bet it's by design. Really PITA!

[Katsuo]

WaEiWa have updated their app and fixed the incremental search. Unfortunately Daijirin and Wisdom are still waiting. The problem mentioned above with Tae Kim's app has also been fixed.

Whoa, quick question about the AnkiMobile App!

I have an iPod touch, but I don't really have access to wireless internet anywhere. I can only put stuff on my iPod via my computer. Can I sync decks, and put decks on my iPod, and all that jazz, through my computer? Or can I only do it with wifi?

@Tzadeck -- It syncs up with AnkiOnline servers so, if you don't have some sort of internet access through your iPod, there's not a lot you can do.

If you have your iPod Jailbroken, you can access the files and sync them up, but I haven't tried this so I don't know how that works, or if you can.

On the other hand, didn't they have some Anki for iPod ere it was approved by Apple? Of course, this would also include jailbreaking your iPod. I'm afraid I can't tell you how that one works though.

only through wifi as far as i know

Asriel Wrote:If you have your iPod Jailbroken, you can access the files and sync them up, but I haven't tried this so I don't know how that works, or if you can.

I used to "sync" AnkiMini by overwriting my decks using SSH, which requires WiFi and a reinstall every time you do it... I'm not sure if there's a USB method.

I bought a cheap £15 router when I got my iPod to avoid these sort of problems. You get a lot more out of your device when it's connected to the Internet, so it's worth making the investment, if Anki alone isn't enough to convince you.

I just got my ipod about a week ago, was wondering if anyone knew of any good monolingual dictionaries for it?

daijisen (大辞泉) and daijirin (大辞林).

In terms of dictionary content quality, most opinions I've read say daijirin is better.
In terms of interface (note: I have an iPad), daijisen is better because it has it's own
custom kanji handwriting recognition. It's really awesome and accurate.

Apparently many japanese apps use the handwritten Chinese IME for
handwriting recognition. Obviously, it is missing kanji that japanese use,
but chinese don't. YMMV)

Daijirin's interface is really weird (actually i think it won a design award).

Personally, it might be better to buy both.
Maybe there are words in one dictionary, but not the other.

For people with iPads, daijisen is better hands down. It's interface
was updated for the iPad, whereas daijirin wasn't.

[Katsuo]

chamcham Wrote:In terms of interface (note: I have an iPad), daijisen is better because it has it's own custom kanji handwriting recognition. It's really awesome and accurate.

Since the May update the Daijirin has also had its own handwriting recognition. Are you saying that feature doesn't work on the iPad? It's fine on my iPod Touch (though the drawing area is a bit small).