Dr. Moku's Hiragana App for iPhone
Having trouble reading Japanese? Learning a new language is easy, as far as speaking. But many times it's difficult to learn to 'read' a new language. Especially if the characters used are not ones you are familiar with. Hiragana is one of the 3 forms of Japanese writing (Also, Katakana and Kanji). This application will help you memorize the various Hiragana characters! It really works too!There are two features for this application. You can study the characters, or take the quiz (There is also a "how to use" area). Though there are many characters available in this free application, it does not provide tricks for learning all of the characters unless you upgrade (For a fee). Fortunately I have found that (Because all the characters are in the quizzes) you can use the same method to create your own way of remembering the Hiragana not provided tricks for in the free version.
So let's look at the tricks and Hiragana they provide... You can view the characters manually or automatically. Auto play will show the character and play the audio. Manual will allow you do sort through them at your own pace.
On the left you can see how they get you to remember the character. This is actually an old trick I learned back in the 90s from a free Japanese class they provided in Georgia at the time. You use the character to draw a 'picture' of something that makes the same sound as the character itself.The one on the left is "u" (oo). So they drew it as a "Dude with the food". This will help you remember the character's sound.
The character's provided in the free version are U, E, O, Ku, Shi, So, Na, Ni, Hi, Fu, Ra, Ma, Mu, Ya, Wa.
Clicking the audio icon in the top right corner will play the sound so you know you are pronouncing it correctly.
Once you feel like you have a good handle on the characters, try the quiz. You can do either Easy (10 questions), Hard (20 questions) or Master (All characters). Now when I say "All" I mean, even the ones not provided samples for in the free version. Not just "all" the free ones.One at a time it will give you a character and 4 choices. Click the one you believe matches the character they show. They will let you know if you got it right or wrong. If wrong,it will show you the correct answer briefly, before moving on to the next character. At the end it will let you know how many you got right.
No matter how many you get right, Dr. Moku will say "Not Bad". He'll assure you that you are doing well, and tell you that you need more practice. However, if you get all of them correct he will be overjoyed! He'll tell you that you did "Perfect" and let you know that you did well. Below are screen shots of both of these.
Some of the tricks I used for characters not given tricks for. Ho as a farmer holding his garden hoe. He is an arrow pointing up like the symbol for a man (AKA "He"). N looks like a fancy letter N. There are more, but I'll make you figure out your own tricks for memorizing the characters.
One problem I did find is that when you start a new quiz, sometimes it will quit out of the quiz and go back to the menu for no reason. This can be annoying. So this application wont get a perfect score. Otherwise I had no issues with this application. It's cute, fun and useful. It really is an effective way to learn to read Hiragana.
If you want to learn more, they also have a Dr Moku application available for learning Katakana and one for Japanese Essentials.
Rating: 4.5/5
- Free
- Category: Education
- Updated: Aug 18, 2011
- Version: 1.05
- Size: 24.0 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Bob Byrne
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