iPhone Application: Zen Nihongo

[Gianz]

Hi guys,

I'm the developer of Zen Nihongo and one of the founders of Snow Saru [ site still under construction ]. Zen Nihongo is a flash-card based iphone/ipod touch application designed to aid us in studying Nihongo.

I included contents according to JLPT specifications. The current focus is on kana (for beginners), Kanji and Vocabulary. Soon, I'll be adding cards for Japanese grammar as well. If you're interested, please check it out here (iTunes link). If you do have any comments and suggestions, please don't hesitate to send me a private message or a mail at . Thanks!

[ChrisClarke]

I haven't tested your application, so the following suggestions are made based on the screenshots. If your app already incorporates these, awesome.

Is it possible to change which side of the card is shown? Like Front (Character), Back (Reading), or Random?

I think the app would have an advantage if it put the words/kanji in sentences. It should be able to be configured when to show it though by user. General vocab with context sentences would be nice too.

I'm currently using StudyArcade to study Hiragana, and although its the most promsing flash card / SRS app I've tried so far, I really hate that the characters are so small on the screen. I like that your app actually has them at a decent size.

Good work!

[ryowarrior18]

Can we make our own cards and add them to existing decks, or create our own?

I would really like that addition (if it doesn't have it already) because I use multiple sources for vocabulary, and I don't think the JLPT uses the ones I wish to learn.

[Gianz]

First of all, thanks for your interest in my app.
@ryowarrior18: I already sent a reply to your mail. But just to reiterate for anyone reading this thread, adding of cards is currently not supported by I intend to include it in the next version.

@ChrisClarke: Thanks for your suggestions. Right now, it doesn't have an option to swap the front and back card. I wasn't able to include it in the current version due to technical and design issues. However, I'll be sure to add it in future versions.
I agree that it would be very useful to provide sample sentences for each kanji/vocabulary. I just don't have enough resources to include that on the first release. The kanji deck, however, shows all kanji compounds that are included in the vocabulary decks. That's something I think.

Again, thanks for your interest guys. I really appreciate it. I'll be sure to take your feedback seriously.

[MichaelMcDonald]

Hi,

I bought Zen Nihongo to try it out, as I'm addicted to all Japanese apps for the iPhone. I really like the idea and the design, the use of compounds for vocabulary, the 1-5 grading scale instead of just yes or no, and the possibility of sentences in future updates. For some reason I thought there would be sound clips, too; perhaps this could be another future feature?

So far I've been a little confused as to why it keeps offering up bizarre on readings when reviewing Kanji. For example, for 赤, the only on reading offered is シャク, whereas セキ seems to be much more common (not one example word used the シャク reading, for example). I think it would be better to focus on the more common reading and perhaps leave out the lesser-used ones. At least on JLPT level 3 Kanji, it was more the rule than the exception that the on reading was quite uncommon.

All in all, a nice application with a promising future. Thanks!

[untmdsprt]

Hello,

I've locked this topic as I have made another similar topic a sticky in this forum. Please continue posting your comments/questions into the sticky.

Thanks!

http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/vie ... php?t=4133