Kana Mind

Zeh Fernando

About this app

Are you studying or learning Japanese? Do you want to be able to read words in Japanese aloud?

Well, you're in luck! Kana Mind is a completely free educational game that helps you practice recognizing the symbols used in Katakana and Hiragana, the first two alphabet styles used in the Japanese language.

But it is not a simple matching or "flash card" game! It uses an intelligent, adaptive memorization algorithm focused on teaching the character combinations, and measuring the player's success with each pair. You will progress at the right pace for you, regardless of whether you're learning the language, or just practicing what you already know!

Do you want to achieve 100% proficiency in the Kana? You will do so before you even realize it!


OTHER FEATURES

• Two modes: learn reading and/or writing recognition
• Learn the complete Hiragana and/or Katakana alphabet
• Store multiple player profiles
• 3 different romanization styles: Hepburn, Nippon-shiki, and Kunrei-shiki. Pick from what your country/school uses!
• Groups of characters can be toggled on or off for more focused exercises
• Free application: no ads, no personal user data collection, no in-app purchases

Read more about the motivations behind Kana Mind here:
http://zehfernando.com/2011/kana-mind-a-mobile-air-application-to-help-you-learn-japanese/

If you have suggestions, questions or bug reports, please send an email to zeh at zehfernando.com. And thanks so much to our kind reviewers for comments and suggestions!

Ratings and reviews

This app only does recognition of the kana but it does it well. I know most of the hiragana but still get tripped up by a few and have just started on katakana, I like how it teaches the same letter for each kana at the same time, helps me make connections with similar shapes. Definitely a great addition to your learning Japanese toolbox, especially if you want to do it fast, you may end up dreaming about kana but you'll remember them.

Great learning app. There's no time or attempt limits. It's fully offline. No ads, microtransactions or data collection. This also means your battery lasts longer. Suggestion: add a history of the last 10 or 20 letters with a note if the letter was Hiragana or Katakana. Another suggestion: setting to practice only one alphabet at a time.

A highly efficient starter app for reading kana. Doesn't clog my old phone, easy to use. Eventually you'll want to learn to write it and kanji as well. Most Japanese names, places, events, etc use kanji. Still you definitely need to recognize kana before you learn kanji so I recommend this app for that.

What’s new

* The profile selector makes a distinction between "practice" and "learn" profiles with additional messaging
* Fixed font sizes and the scaling of some display items
* Fix maximum aspect ratio (removes black bars on bottom on some devices)