Floatingweed5 wrote:

I wonder if there is any language learning potential in the new voiceover feature in the ipod shuffle. (Essentially it speaks the name of the artist and song title to you in any of 14 different languages - including japanese).

<snip>

I'm sure the process could be easily scripted by someone with a bit of technical knowledge.

Could make for a useful tool... especially if the feature was written into future software updates to the phone/touch.

I wrote an app that will do this (I think, what you want, anyway):

http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=2850

If you use VW Paul as the voice it is pretty spot on. After a while you forget it's a machine. I've been using it a few days as background audio when I'm on the bus etc and it's really helping to make my stories stick.

Ipod Touch 2G can now be jailbreaked!!!
Do it now for more japanese learning possibilities

You have to jailbreak your ipod touch, then you can use iComic (it works really great btw). And then some other steps to be able to put files onto it. At least, this is how I done it, there might be other possibilities. But the jailbreaking is worth it anyway, for a lot of other cool options...
If you want more detailed instructions please send me a pm with your e-mail with what you want (and if you have 1G or 2G) because I'm not sure if I can just say it in this forum.

@ichigoichie
Have a look at the app StudyArcade
I don't know it myself pretty good but I think it's better than iAnki

Nukemarine wrote:

Am I missing something? I installed BonJour, SyncDocs, Air Sharing, the apps above for Comics, etc. but the wi fi downloading is the show stopper. Did I miss a step, or is it my laptop?

I don't know what's wrong, so I can't help you, BUT you don't need to jailbreak your ipod touch if you want to use icomics. I use it without problems and I don't use a jailbroken one.
You don't need wifi to transfer your comics onto your ipod. A normal usb cable will do. Just download a program like DiskAd

Hey shakkun, you said you took screenshots of the comics you viewed in iComic to create pictures.

How did you screenshot using iComic?

ichigoichie wrote:

But it's possible to transfer the media manually, isn't it?!
Otherwise it doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, you transfer your media folder manually via WinSCP.

Ryuujin27 wrote:

Hey shakkun, you said you took screenshots of the comics you viewed in iComic to create pictures.

How did you screenshot using iComic?

Hold down the sleep button on the top left and then press the round Home button. The screenshot gets saved to your photos.

Last edited by shakkun (2009 March 14, 2:35 am)

shakkun wrote:

Hold down the sleep button on the top left and then press the round Home button. The screenshot gets saved to your photos.

You, sir, are a lifesaver!

Also, as far as the file transferring: for those with a Mac, get Cyberduck and save yourself some headaches

Last edited by Ryuujin27 (2009 March 14, 1:03 pm)

Gengou Flashcards, currently $6 for a limited time

From the japanesepod101.com folks.  This app has lots of promise.    Basically, it is a flashcard program using audio and visual inputs.  In study mode, you see some pictures and hear a word that relates to.  You flip the card to read the english and see the kanji - in ridiculously small type.

In test mode, it's multiple choice... you hear the word spoken, and have to touch the picture of the thing you are hearing. 

The premade cards are fairly worthless.  They are very basic vocabulary, mostly nouns, such as vegetables or fruit names.  Some of the photos don't make sense at all. 

Where this app gets fun is that you can quickly make your own cards.  You can add photos from the phone's photo library, or take a photo from within the app, and audio via the built in mic.  Great use of iphone's hardware: camera and microphone. 

So, yesterday while riding the the tozai line, I was able to take photos of the kanji signs at the station and stand under the speaker on the train to record the announcements - viola - kanji practice including A/V.  Another use would be to take photos of every sign you see around town, and when you corral a poor native speaker, have them read the signs into your mic in one go.  You can make fairly long audio recordings, for sentences, paragraphs or longer.  For example, I could read aloud and record this entire paragraph.  You can leave space for sentence shadowing if you like. 

The one big problem I had was that about half the time I took photos from within the app yesterday, the app crashed - halfway through creating card...erasing any text I had typed in and any recorded sounds.  For now, I will simply add photos from the photo library and hope they fix the bug. 

The biggest downside of this app, of course, is NO SRS - drats, foiled again.

Bottom line, a FUN and easy way to learn.

Jarvik7 wrote:

吾 着on't 見ee why you'd 要eed anything 他ther than iDic (or kotoba if you 着on't have any EPWING files) and iAnki/anki mini, plus maybe a 写opy 之f gflash if you want to cram.

..and they're 皆ll free!

Where to get EPWING files and do you have a favorite?

Been using Kotoba for a while now, and for the most part I am quite happy with it, except for the lack of history or bookmark features and example sentences. 

New app out there, Gengo Japanese Talking Dictionary $20 seems to have some great features, but I am waiting to hear some more reviews.  Uses Jim Breen's edict.  It is put out by the japanesepod101.com folks.  As a reviewer on itunes pointed out, they seem to be throwing out a bunch of apps to see what sticks.  So far, this looks like the most complete dictionary/japanese learner's tool out there.

120,000+ word dictionary
over 100,000 samples of native audio pronunciation
feature to record your own voice and compare to the samples using iphone's mic
130,000 example sentences from Eijiro
stroke order diagrams
history and bookmarks
some sort of flash card system
Seems to have some sort of radical search feature

Anyone interested in the "Japanese" app, it is currently on sale for $13 instead of $20.  The promised major update is many months delayed

As I stated in the previous post, it's not EDICT as a dictionary itself that is appealing - but the features that make it more useful as a study tool.  The professional dictionaries in the app store are mostly directed at ESL or advanced japanese learners, if I am not mistaken. 

Currently, I use Kotoba when I am out and about in Japan, and it is sufficient for that moment, but I don't end up retaining much of what I learn because I don't have a convenient method for bookmarking or reviewing what I've looked up on any given day. 

I don't mind paying $20 for an app that meets my needs and makes my japanese study easier - even if it is just a glorified edict parser. 

Thanks for the info regarding eijiro example sentences.  Source matters.