1. Midori - JPY1500 on iTunes
This app is only available for Apple iOS devices and can be purchased on iTunes for about $10-15, or JPY1000-1500.
The BEST Japanese-English dictionary app in existence. Search any word in Japanese or English and it will give you the kanji, pronunciation in kana, definition, example sentences with English translations, and all the various conjugations for using it in various types of sentences. You can look up a word and actually know HOW to use it in a sentence. I haven't gone a single day without relying on this app in the year and a half I have been here. Best $15 dollars you will ever spend in Japan as a foreigner.
Other handy features are:
1. You can insert an entire passage/paragraph to translate and it will break down every word for you so that you can see how the word is being used and learn to use it yourself. It isn't like google translate where it just translates sentence for sentence (sometimes inaccurately).
2. You can draw kanji on your touch screen and search their meanings that way. It's good for if you are with a Japanese speaker who can write it in for you and speed up the search. Why would you want to do this instead of just search the word by typing it in? There are truckloads of homophones in Japanese. homophones are different unrelated words with completely different meanings and kanji's which have the same pronunciation.
This app is only available for Apple iOS devices and can be purchased on iTunes for about $10-15, or JPY1000-1500.
The BEST Japanese-English dictionary app in existence. Search any word in Japanese or English and it will give you the kanji, pronunciation in kana, definition, example sentences with English translations, and all the various conjugations for using it in various types of sentences. You can look up a word and actually know HOW to use it in a sentence. I haven't gone a single day without relying on this app in the year and a half I have been here. Best $15 dollars you will ever spend in Japan as a foreigner.
Other handy features are:
1. You can insert an entire passage/paragraph to translate and it will break down every word for you so that you can see how the word is being used and learn to use it yourself. It isn't like google translate where it just translates sentence for sentence (sometimes inaccurately).
2. You can draw kanji on your touch screen and search their meanings that way. It's good for if you are with a Japanese speaker who can write it in for you and speed up the search. Why would you want to do this instead of just search the word by typing it in? There are truckloads of homophones in Japanese. homophones are different unrelated words with completely different meanings and kanji's which have the same pronunciation.
2. World Dictionary - JPY600 on iTunes
For most languages which have a phonetic script only, it's easy to just read a word and know its pronunciation to then look up the meaning. With Japanese and Chinese, each word has its own character! So if you don't know it, you won't even be able to read it - any unfamiliar character you come across is just a bunch of scribbles to you which may make for a really cool tattoo if you're into that sort of thing.
When I got here I couldn't even work my TV remote because they had Japanese kanji characters for everything! With this app, you can use your phone's camera to read and translate text on the fly!
It will show you the pronunciation of the word in hiragana, and the English translation. SUPER handy!
When I got here I couldn't even work my TV remote because they had Japanese kanji characters for everything! With this app, you can use your phone's camera to read and translate text on the fly!
It will show you the pronunciation of the word in hiragana, and the English translation. SUPER handy!
3. iKanji - JPY600 on iTunes
Excellent app that will teach you kanji in by order of JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) levels or school levels (as kids in Japan learn kanji at school). It can teach you and test you on everything you need to know about kanji and the lessons can be broken into lots of 20 characters at a time or more if you're up to it. Great app to use your commuting time on the train productively.
It teaches you the Kanji meaning in English, stroke order, various readings (pronunciations). And yes a single kanji character can have multiple readings that are completely different to eachother. You see, it wasn't painstakingly difficult enough having to remember thousands of different symbols and characters - one for every word. So the inventors of the language decided to confuse us even more by making us learn several different readings for each character with no consistent rule as to how and when each of the readings are to be used.
4. Line - FREE
This is THE most popular social network in Japan besides facebook. Absolutely every living organism with a smartphone uses this app, except for the technologically challenged who shouldn't bother having a smartphone anyway. It's an instant messaging/chat application which runs entirely off your internet. It also has call and video call capability so if you're on an unlimited internet data plan, then that means free text, voice and video communication with anyone with a smartphone, anytime.
The internet speeds here are FAST. Even without connecting to a wifi network, you can do video calls with excellent call quality. You can even video call on skype (or Line if you manage to convert them) with your family and friends overseas.
5. Google Maps - FREE
Do I really need to explain why you need this? Your in a foreign country where you probably cannot read signs and where there are no visible building numbers anywhere nor any consistent pattern as to how buildings in an area are actually assigned numbers.
One very handy feature is it will also give you routes, cost and time schedules for taking public transport. Just type in where you want to go, from where and when. It plans out the entire journey for you.
Excellent app that will teach you kanji in by order of JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) levels or school levels (as kids in Japan learn kanji at school). It can teach you and test you on everything you need to know about kanji and the lessons can be broken into lots of 20 characters at a time or more if you're up to it. Great app to use your commuting time on the train productively.
It teaches you the Kanji meaning in English, stroke order, various readings (pronunciations). And yes a single kanji character can have multiple readings that are completely different to eachother. You see, it wasn't painstakingly difficult enough having to remember thousands of different symbols and characters - one for every word. So the inventors of the language decided to confuse us even more by making us learn several different readings for each character with no consistent rule as to how and when each of the readings are to be used.
4. Line - FREE
This is THE most popular social network in Japan besides facebook. Absolutely every living organism with a smartphone uses this app, except for the technologically challenged who shouldn't bother having a smartphone anyway. It's an instant messaging/chat application which runs entirely off your internet. It also has call and video call capability so if you're on an unlimited internet data plan, then that means free text, voice and video communication with anyone with a smartphone, anytime.
The internet speeds here are FAST. Even without connecting to a wifi network, you can do video calls with excellent call quality. You can even video call on skype (or Line if you manage to convert them) with your family and friends overseas.
5. Google Maps - FREE
Do I really need to explain why you need this? Your in a foreign country where you probably cannot read signs and where there are no visible building numbers anywhere nor any consistent pattern as to how buildings in an area are actually assigned numbers.
One very handy feature is it will also give you routes, cost and time schedules for taking public transport. Just type in where you want to go, from where and when. It plans out the entire journey for you.
Handy tip: if you search for something in English and it doesn't come up, try searching for it in Japanese. Even if the name of the location is non-japanese, often times they come up when you search them in katakana.
