すごい (Amazing)! – Human Japanese Review

I’m planning my first trip in over ten years to visit family in Japan, and I got this app to brush up on my knowledge, since I have very little formal training and haven’t really practiced the language for…well, over ten years. (Gulp!) I’m half-Japanese but mostly grew up in the United States, so other than living in Tokyo for a couple of years and visiting Japan several times throughout my childhood, I haven’t had much occasion to speak Japanese. Human Japanese has proven to be an excellent crash review course, and more than that, it’s helped me understand some fundamental concepts of Japanese grammar that I never learned before. What’s unique about this beautifully designed course is that it explains the Japanese language from a native English speaker’s perspective, so you can understand the reasoning behind the very different Japanese grammatical structures rather than just memorizing rules that don’t make sense. This really helps with retention. Also, the course gradually builds on your knowledge; each lesson uses examples with vocabulary and kana (hiragana and katakana, the two syllabic writing systems indigenous to Japan) you learned in the previous lesson as well as teaching you new vocabulary and kana. Another fantastic feature is that nearly every word and phrase featured in each lesson is accompanied by an audio sample spoken by a native Japanese person, so you can learn correct pronunciation and also practice your listening comprehension. I also got the Human Japanese Intermediate app, which as I understand teaches some kanji (the ideogram-based writing system Japan borrowed from China). I am excited about continuing my language learning with Human Japanese and highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to review or learn Japanese for the first time. I feel confident now that by the time I go to Japan, I will be able to communicate on a basic level and enjoy some small talk with my Japanese relatives.
Review by alysonwrites on Human Japanese.