Human Japanese

by Brak Software

Product Features

• Over 1800 recordings of example words and sentences by native speakers
• Animations of every Hiragana and Katakana character
• Teaches the core engine of the Japanese language, not just vocabulary
• Instantly searchable dictionary of vocabulary words and grammar terms
• Review quizzes and games

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.2 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• ASIN: 0615179088
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 9, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #9 in Software > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages
  • #14 in Software > Language & Travel

Product Description

Product Description

Human Japanese is software for Windows PCs that presents the Japanese language from square one in a warm, engaging tone. It packs more than 1,800 recordings of vocabulary words and example sentences, an instantly searchable dictionary for vocabulary words and grammar terms, and dozens of interactive reviews. While other products focus on memorizing vocabulary, Human Japanese draws the student into the real mechanics of the language, while maintaining a warm tone and a sense of humor. The goal of Human Japanese is not just to turn out students capable of repeating canned phrases, but to lay the foundation for real linguistic and cultural understanding.

Product Description

Human Japanese is software for Windows PCs that presents the Japanese language from square one in a warm, engaging tone. It packs more than 1,800 recordings of vocabulary words and example sentences, an instantly searchable dictionary for vocabulary words and grammar terms, and dozens of interactive reviews. While other products focus on memorizing vocabulary, Human Japanese draws the student into the real mechanics of the language, while maintaining a warm tone and a sense of humor. The goal of Human Japanese is not just to turn out students capable of repeating canned phrases, but to lay the foundation for real linguistic and cultural understanding.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

138 of 138 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning a foreign language with a human touch, January 19, 2008

By 

Lee W. Hericks "culture lover" (Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Human Japanese has an elegant, yet simple user interface that walks users through a storybook of learning Japanese. The lessons are simple, yet effective, and contain lots of cultural and lingual information one could only discover by living in Japan. I'm teaching English in Japan, and I even learned things I hadn't realized yet.

The style of writing is warm and has a conversational tone that keeps me reading. That's something I think is really important when learning by book or even software. It reads like a really knowledgable and interesting....friend. The easy-access reference on the side let's you look up translations without jumping out of the lesson. That's really convenient.

I've tried the declan software and the rosetta stone software and it's all about vocab and phrases or trying to make you remember the words through pictures. Just reading the introduction chapter of Human Japanese really shows how much the makers of this software care personally about teaching the fundamentals of Japanese. The other companies just make software for learning many languages to make money.

And I've just got to mention: all the Japanese words in the text can be clicked on to hear the pronounciation. It's really nice. Also, there is a customizable review game for Japanese numbers. It's awesome. The Japanese number system is pretty simple, but listening to big numbers in any language is a pain. The game will generate random numbers in the range you want and read them in Japanese and quiz you.

If you are starting Japanese or if you want a really inexpensive software that helps you build some vocabulary and hear real Japanese pronounciation, this is it.

85 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary, December 19, 2008

By 

J. L. Ross "N Igmatic" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Human Japanese (CD-ROM)

About me: a freshman in college, took three years of Japanese in high school and now am taking it at my university.

If you're just getting into Japanese, this is the best $24.95 you'll ever spend in your learning endeavors. It's essentially a sensei-in-a-box. The format is like how I was taught--you learn the writing while learning grammar while learning culture, but in a fluid, logical way. Short of taking a class or getting a tutor, this is the best way to learn Japanese. I even suggest it to those in beginning Japanese classes. It is an excellent supplement.

The writing style is genuine and interesting, and it almost feels like the conversation of a close friend. It compels one to read further and takes away any sense of learning as a chore.

Rosetta Stone is a poor excuse for a language-learning program. It's essentially a vocabulary building program with no actual thought to teaching the workings of a language. Not to mention that the aesthetics of this program are FAR superior than Rosetta, despite Rosetta's hefty price tag. Continually amazes me.

Simply the best language-learning program around.

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the Human Japanese 1...but not much changed., April 8, 2008

By 

piepiepie75 - See all my reviews

My first experience with Human Japanese was the very first version released. It was a simple program that, while not very attractive to look at, presented Japanese in a simple way that anyone could really understand.When I heard that there was a Human Japanese 2.0, I rushed to get the demo and eventually the full version.

Well, first let me talk about Human Japanese in general. As the name implies, the program tries to teach you Japanese in a "Human" way. Without fancy terminology or complicated explanations, but rather doing it in a way that a tutor might teach you. Giving you little hints to remember writing, or making silly acronyms to remember concepts, this program tries to do things like that. It certainly is refreshing to see that kind of teaching being used in a computer program.

Human Japanese 2.0 is broken up into 40 lessons, some focused on grammar while others try to steer the reader towards learning new words and expressions along with writing. At the end of each lesson, there is usually a quiz to test your knowledge of the things learned in that chapter. These can range from small multiple choice quizzes, matching games, and an "Endless" type quiz which tests your vocab.

Stuck in between every seven or so lessons are chapters devoted entirely to culture. These small 4-7 page bits are a treat to read. They talk about things like Geography, Prices in Japan, and Bathing among other things. Many more of these for Human Japanese 3.0 would certainly be nice.

The changes from Human Japanese 1 are certainly noticeable at first glance. The interface is changed from the plain white background of 1.0 to a nice background with shades of green and silhouettes of trees. There is now a small search bar on the right side of the screen to look up any vocab term that has appeared in the program. There are also visual aids added to the lessons which, while probably not amazingly helpful, do look nice.

Unfortunately, the changes from Human Japanese 1 are mainly visual. Although there are now 40 lessons, they are mostly just each of the 20 lessons from the previous version split into two lessons. This means that most of the 40 lessons are identical to content in the last version, although they tend to have a bit more meat on them (They are a bit longer, and most have a few extra vocab added).

The interface change is nice, but when making Human Japanese 3.0, I'd urge them to take the time to make up more lessons to further the readers knowledge.