Human Japanese

This is a textbook written by someone who has a deep understanding of the commonalities between the Japanese and English language. It’s full of amazing insights and historical context that should make Japanese more intuitively understandable to native English speakers. It will teach you the syllabary (katakana and hiragana), as well as basic grammar for the formal (polite) manner of speaking, and a lot of vocabulary for common situations. There is a second (intermediate) app that gets into informal speech, kanji, and more complex grammatical constructions. A great pathway to understanding Japanese literature would be to use these two apps and then jump into the third app: Satori Reader, as well as WaniKani for more complex kanji. All of the Japanese examples are fully voice acted. It’s important to get used to hearing the language so you won’t sound strange when you try to speak it. Every chapter ends with multiple choice review questions so you can practice what you’ve learned to retain it better. It even encourages you to re-take these quizzes multiple times to master each question, since the choices are randomized each time. I’ve tried a lot of ways of learning Japanese, but these books have been by far the most insightful and useful resources I’ve found. I got a better understanding of the basics by reviewing the material in this book, and I’m loving the intermediate app as well. The intermediate app covers the vocabulary and grammar for a lot of situations that will be useful if you’re traveling in Japan, such as riding trains and speaking to customer service people, and it gives you a great foundation for understanding Kanji which should help when you move on to other resources like WaniKani.

I ve gotten a deeper understanding with the basics than any other application. This app was a friend of mine’s suggestion and he’s currently in Japanese school.

In my opinion, Human Japanese remains unparalleled and my go-to choice in my recommendations to people starting out with the language. All those years ago when I first used the Intro+Intermediate apps, it was my foundation, my staple with my budding Japanese journey. This beats any novice textbook in my opinion. All these years later I found myself returning to Human Japanese to refresh myself with Japanese. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the development team for creating a truly special piece of work, at a fraction of a cost it would take textbooks to attempt to even come close to this. If you're on the fence, just do it, you wont regret it. Always and forever, ありがとうございます。

Why have you abandoned the human Japanese app? I just revisited it and was willing to pay an additional $15 in order to have the iPad version. Complete but, why should I bother? Although it should work for both the iPad and the iPhone, you made us pay twice. OK, I’m willing. Oh wait, you no longer care about this app. It’s really too bad since it is quite possibly the best Japanese learning language app ever. It’s really a pity that you don’t bother to answer any questions in app reviews. Completely incomprehensible.

Self learning Japanese, this has been an excellent addition!

I was referred to the program from a Japanese learning group. So far enjoying the course. He makes things easy to understand. Best course for an awesome price.

One of the best apps for learning Japanese.

If you are an English speaker and want to learn Japanese, BUY THIS APP!!! I took Japanese 101 in college and I enjoyed it BUT, my teacher was Japanese and as such, there was a bit of a bridge to cross for my teacher to relate concepts to us because for her, it was instinctual. This program was written by a native English speaker who sees the problem from our side of “the bridge” and he gives much better explanations and relates it more naturally to us because he is one of us. If you complete this beginner app, you will speak and understand more Japanese than I did after a full semester of college level Japanese. Seriously, buy this. It’s good.

I have to say that this is an enjoyable, informative, and successful way to learn Japanese. Nice cultural and historical insights into Japan, excellent descriptions of hiragana and katakana, good progress quizzes, and perfect progression. Great stuff!

Learned about the app from a mention by the host of “Abroad in Japan,” Chris. He made the point that Duolingo is good for vocabulary and practice but is lacking in areas that “Human Japanese” is very good in. As a user of Duolingo, that critique of it matched my experience. I really like it, use it daily but feel my grammar is not progressing. HJ has lived up to the description. I am half way through the first app using it as a review. The lessons are clear, engaging, with a bit of challenge so you feel you progressing. I see there is an intermediate HJ and the same group produces Satori Reader (wish that was less expensive).