New App Aims to Teach the Basics of Japanese in Just One Day

[Maura]

Japanese is supposed to be one of the most difficult of all languages for Westerners to learn, but now an Irish company called Wukomi Media has devised an iPhone and iPad app called Dr. Moku’s Hiragana Mnemonics, that it says will enable you to learn the basics of Japanese in just one day. The creation of the app is actually based on a really sweet story, as Project Developer Richard Christy came up with the idea after meeting the love of his life, Amaye, on a business trip to Japan three years ago. Richard vowed to learn the Japanese language as quickly as possible, and was helped by Amaye who explained to him that the complicated Kanji can be spelt with a simpler alphabet called Hiragana.

“Once I knew that Japanese could be broken down for children I decided that I could break it down even further for impatient thirtysomethings like me!” says Richard, who now speaks fluent Japanese. "Hiragana, is the crucial gateway to the Japanese language, the very first thing you need to learn. Initially we hoped for a working understanding in one day. But we were delighted to find it could be even less. One 12 year old girl in the test group learned Hiragana in about 30 minutes".

Seems like a great idea for anyone lucky enough to be going to Japan on business or for a vacation. Anything that can make the signs there a little less mystifying would come in very handy!

If you’d like to give Dr. Moku’s Hiragana Mnemonics a try, click here for the free Lite version: Dr. Moku's Hiragana Mnemonics LITE for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

or here for the $2.99 full version: Dr. Moku's Hiragana Mnemonics for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Source: Wukomi