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Kanji Senpai?
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This app was mentioned in 21 comments, with an average of 2.05 upvotes
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I will forever recommend Kanji Senpai for Android users because it is single handedly the greatest tool I have for kanji integration, retention, and handwriting.
Kanji Senpai is working for me. It gives you MCQ style questions for meaning, reading and audio(in app purchase). My favorite feature is the writing Kanji questions. The vocabulary order is JLPT based. The app is free but the audio for each level is 2.99$. I am almost done with N4 level vocabulary 14 more to go. It really helped me breeze through Genki. I recommend checking it out yourself.
Edit: I forgot to add that its SRS-based too
I know about and android app that has audio Kanji Senpai
The app is free but audio will cost extra $2.99 usd per section (so it can get expensive). The app is nice though.
The rule of thumb is really - Stick with something, anything.
I used iknow.jp in the beginning and it was ok.
The pros:
- Sentence and contextual context for words
- Graded feedback
- Spaced repetition
- Mobile device compatible
Cons
- No handwriting practice, which is really what you need to learn - productive output
- It doesn't seem to be updated very often, which is both good and bad, but it strikes me as they don't have a plan to actually upgrade it
In the end I finished Genki I, Genki II, and I had stopped iknow.jp for something that supported handwriting kanji (Kanji Senpai) and then just started reading native material in context instead.
From your post I don't think you're going to get much mileage out of iknow.jp, but that's for you to decided.
I just wanted to share that I'm finding the kanji senpai Android app very helpful for learning kanji. It's very straightforward. Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.rodriguez.kanjisenpai.android
I've been using Kanji Senpai for android, I find it helpful because it tests reading, writing and listening. Its organized by JLPT level so that is convenient as well. Its a free app, but if you want the listening for most of the kanji there is a separate fee. I usually use my tablet and a stylus for the writing because trying to write on my tiny phone screen was a pain.
edit: play store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.rodriguez.kanjisenpai.android&hl=en
If you want to try a learning app that also makes you write the kanji (and it does help a lot for learning), I recommend you give it a try to Kanji Senpai. Android only as far as I know, though.
I think Kanji senpai worked like that for me? It slowly goes from showing you to write it, then it just gives you the outline, then the outline goes and you're on your own. It also has SRS.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.rodriguez.kanjisenpai.android
Hay mate, i dont know if it works for you but you might want to try Kanji Senpai, its SRS based, i usually come up with little mnemonics for the kanji, but it worked well for me. I think ita free to try, but it allows you yo actually draw the kanji if thats what you were looking for? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.rodriguez.kanjisenpai.android
I use Kanji Senpai. It actually has you write out the kanji in the proper order. Though it does focus on the vocab side of thing a bit so if you know a lot of vocab already then you might find parts of it tedious. But they have lists (you have to buy the audio for them for $1-$2) for N5 all the way to N1
The best by far has been Kanji Senpai for me. It's oriented towards strokes. You can buy audio packs for $2.99 and buy the time you finish one set you'll be ready to play $2.99 for the others.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.rodriguez.kanjisenpai.android&hl=en
The reason Kanji Senpai works so well for me is that I use it in conjunction with WaniKani. I'm sure you've heard about it on this sub before.
https://www.wanikani.com/
Neither is better than the other, but these have been one of the main reason my reading comprehension is so strong and so far ahead of my classmates because they're being used together.
You just gotta do your reps. 15 minutes of Kanji Senpai a day and WaniKani.
I'd say it mainly depends on the character who's talking and also a bit on the general tone of the game. For example, sora no kiseki games might be a good start because Estelle tends to use a very simple language and vocabulary, making her easy to understand (plus the voice acting if you get the evo version). Good luck with Agate though, and you'll probably feel a bit lost sometimes with the vocabulary that Kloe uses. Similarly, I find sen no kiseki 3 harder than sen no kiseki 1 because the vocabulary the characters use is also a bit more adult, reflecting their own growth (this is often a deliberate decision made by scenario writers). For example, you can find a few cases in sen no kiseki 3 where they use a more complex kanji with the same reading for a word just because of that, and sometimes I even found kanjis from the jinmeijou list (supplementary ones used for names that are beyond the official 2136 kanjis of the jouyou kanji list).
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I would also say that reading is only half of the problem. I can tell you I can read more than 2000 kanji and still have trouble sometimes understanding everything in detail in sen no kiseki 3 (and I mean in detail, not just a vague general / guessed idea). You need really lots of vocabulary, a good base of grammar, reading comprehension and some knowledge of more informal and very formal speeches. Then you need to get used to the way of speaking that each character has. But then again that's if you really want to understand the games in detail (which I think is worth it). If you just want to be able to play through them and get a general idea you can do it with a lot less.
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Now, if you want something a bit more measurable, I can tell you I was able to clear sora no kiseki 1 evolution when my kanji and vocabulary level was around JLPT N3. I wasn't able to read everything, I had to look for lots of words, I often missed details but I could get the general picture. Later I played both zero and ao evolution with JLPT N2+ kanji and vocabulary level and had no trouble understanding in detail for most lines, but sometimes got a bit lost on more complex conversations that sadly often involved plot details. I also played sen no kiseki 3 during the year I was studying the N1 kanji and vocabulary lists and I was able to get again the details of most conversations, but still had some trouble with certain characters, complicated vocabulary and occasional supplemental kanjis. For most of the time I had little to no need to use a dictionary.
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Now that I finished studying the N1 lists I'm also helping someone play sen no kiseki 1 in Japanese, and in general I find it easy to understand the details of nearly everything they say with little to no effort, though I still keep catching a few new words to learn. And in the next weeks I'll be starting sen no kiseki 4. Let's see what I find.
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As for studying kanji and vocabulary, I used the Kanji Senpai app because it makes you write the kanji (although you might get nearly no kanjis to write in the N5 list), jisho as my dictionary and Tangorin to look for use examples of the new words I learned. I tried to do enough reviews in Kanji Senpai to get between 5 and 10 new words every day. That can quickly scale to 40 ~ 80 minutes every day, but at that rate you might get all the way to N1 vocabulary and kanjis in a bit more than 2 years. I cannot stress the every day part enough. It makes a really big difference getting an habit of practicing every single day without exception. That said, what worked for me does not necessarily work for you, so give it a try and decide by yourself what helps you learn and retain better. In my opinion, learning not only to read kanjis but also to write them as you learn them helps a lot.
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Hope this helps!
Not grammar apps but you might find these useful.
Teaches you how to handwrite kanji (N5-N1) with stroke order. Also tests for hiragana/katakana and meanings and you can select which aspect(s) of words you want to be tested on. Paying for the audio is optional.
Free dictionary
Paid dictionary. I strongly recommend you get this app, even though it is expensive for a paid app, it has paid itself a thousand times over for me. I use it every single day especially with android's new split-screen function.
Reviewing anything from vocabulary to grammar to kanji etc based on customised flash card decks.
A reference app where you can review almost all of the essentials.
For when you can't access a PC conveniently, good practice if you use Google's Japanese handwriting input.
Excellent free NHK easy app if you're N5 - N4 level.
As many have said, 70% of a game in 6-7 months is not realistic at all. No matter how good you are with languages. Learning Japanese is more a long-run resistance race than a sprint. There's simply too much to memorize and a limit on how quickly you can learn new kanjis and vocabulary without forgetting what you learned before or mixing things up. Trying to rush it doesn't really help that much.
Also, Kiseki games are not entry level at all. I know people who live in Japan, knew some basic Japanese before, are studying intensive courses there for 1+ years (in the sense of many hours of study a day without doing anything else), and still get easily lost with Kiseki games depending on who's talking. Some characters are particularly hard to understand, and especially in the later games the game scenario writers love to use from time to time kanjis outside the official 2136 list that you probably won't see anywhere else unless you get into Japanese literature.
I'd suggest you to start ramping up Japanese aside of the games, and once you have more or less a JLPT N3 level give it a try to Sora no kiseki FC Evolution. I found Sora games to be easier to follow than the next ones (Estelle also is easy to understand), and the Evolution versions have fully voiced main scenario that will help when you get kanjis you cannot read.
As for tips, I can share a few:
- To learn kanji and vocabulary, if you have Android give a try to Kanji Senpai. Unlike many other apps this one makes you write things, which helps a lot to remembering and reducing confusion between similar characters. The app itself is free and you can pay for extras like audios and sentences. If you see it works for you, getting an audio list can easily be worth its low price and it also removes ads. You can also create your own custom vocabulary lists if you want.
- Jisho works pretty well as a dictionary for quick look ups. There's also a mobile app version.
- To do quick searches of kanjis drawing them I use Kanji Recognizer. I don't know if there's an iOS version. Another option that might help you is to use the Google Translate app in camera mode (not the immediate one, but the one you take a picture and select the text).
- Not to start but for later, once you learn a new word you might want to see a few example sentences where it's used to make sure it means what you think. For that you can check the sentences section of Tangorin.
- There are some apps to learn grammar, but I couldn't find any particularly convincing. Most of them just have grammar flashcards like this, and while flashcards are very useful to learn kanji, they are often a poor choice to learn grammar because you will miss a lot of the context and nuances of use. Better follow some good book or go to class if possible.
And most important of all, be patient and constant. It's far more important to do 30 minutes every day than to try and rush 4 hours once a week. You learn drop by drop. Too much and it will just slide down. Keep it slow and steady.
頑張れ！
It's amazing.
Here Kanji Senpai
I'd also recommend Kanji Senpai. It's a great learning app with well-presented drills.