Customer Reviews

Human Japanese

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Before buying Human Japanese, I had tried Rosetta Stone Japanese. What a WASTE of time!
To me, this is simply the best place to start your Japanese learning. It gives you a solid foundation in the basics of Japanese writing, grammar, sentence structure, culture, and gets you over many of the hurdles that beginning Japanese learners face.

This product is an amazing deal, in my opinion. For such a low price, you learn so much, you enjoy learning it, and you actually remember what they teach. This software is like a favorite, enjoyable book that you just can't put down.

Some of my favorite features of this program:
- Awesome cultural tidbits and information about Japan and geography!
- Useful vocabulary and phrases and a way to look up any Japanese word that the program uses!
- A warm, inviting approach that makes it HUMAN and not like a textbook.
- The tech support is amazing. The creators are really nice, always trying to improve their software and bring it to new places and levels. They respond immediately.

What's in it for you?
- If you don't know hiragana and katakana, you'll learn how to write it, stroke order, stroke number, and little tips to remember how to write the kana well. If you're like me and already know it, it can give you a nice refresher course!
- Culture, history, geography, and more presented in a way that keeps you interested.
- Nice, clear photographs and clear male and female speaking voices.
- Dialogue that helps you learn to recognize speech patterns, sentence patterns, vocabulary, and learn to read hiragana and katakana at the rate they are speaking, instead of relying on romaji.
- Easy to navigate chapters and reviews. Reviews that include flash cards and the very helpful vocabulary quizzes.
- Compliments books and other learning methods well, and is a great, easy to use reference for anything you need a refresher on - like wa and ga, or what that darn word for kitchen is.

This product is simply excellent. It is a MUST buy. Don't believe me? Try the demo on their website.
I was skeptical, too, but after trying the demo I was absolutely HOOKED.
Top 10 Reviews put it at number 5 out of 11, but in my opinion, it belongs much higher on the list!

Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Human Japanese!

I came into Human Japanese with some experience with other software learning products as well as books. I must say this is GREAT learning software. Many competitive software products either spend too much time on memorizing phrases or random vocabulary, focus too much on pedantic grammar rules, or make little or no attempt to present the written word in Japanese. Human Japanese is, in my opinion, the BEST in integrating the spoken with the written word. You will learn plenty of grammar but it is presented in a user-friendly way. You will get lots of vocabulary, and you will be recognizing sentences in kana before you know it. But importantly, once you have worked your way through the lessons you will find that your confidence is way up. There is quite simply an excellent balance between phrases, grammar, vocabulary, and the written word. And you cannot ignore the price. Software that is ten times the price is not necessarily better. If you sincerely want to learn Japanese and put the time in to the lessons, you will make rapid progress and will really surprise yourself. I am totally self-taught and I must say that the Human Japanese lessons are the closest I have ever had to a personal tutor walking me through the lessons at my own speed and with a real interest in my learning. Good luck!

This is a great CD software for someone who wants to learn the language or maybe to use to review the basics or vocabularies. It does show a fairly good details how the grammer works and explains brief culture of Japan along the way in the lessons. This way you get an idea what Japan life is like. The best feature I like this is option of listing to native japanese speaker speaks either a word or sentence. This will help tune your accent to sound like real japanese. Also I like how it explains the lesson in a simple and casual manner. Not very technical to the point your head hurts or needed a teacher to explain. If you cannot afford Rosette Stone yet (which I also recommend), this is software to start with. By the way, you need internet to use your program to verify verification.

Human Japanese is a truly superb introduction to what from the outside seems a daunting task---learning an Asian language. Instruction in grammar and usage in this CD language program is congenial and clear. Words, phrases, and sentences are in clickable format with instant, clear, and repeatable hearing of essential Japanese vocabulary. Cultural notes add to the over-all excellence of the program. With a reasonable price and rapid and courteous customer support, Human Japanese instructs and satisfies.

I got Human Japanese as a demo from its website. Within a week I knew I had to purchase it, and it's one of the best programs I have on my entire computer.

HJ eases you into the Japanese language, beginning with the hiragana alphabet. It doesn't just show you the character, it demonstrates HOW to write it, with proper stroke order. Also, you can click on any Japanese characters, and it will pronounce them for you very clearly. There is even a quick demonstration on how to pronounce words properly as opposed to the "foreign" way.

There are many quizzes as you progress through the hiragana and katakana to help you remember. (Although I also made my own flash cards to assist me - that was enormously helpful.) You will also learn Japanese vocabulary and grammar in an easy-to-understand way.

It is now June of 2008 and I can confidently write all of the kana, as well as write and properly pronounce many sentences. It's inspired me to try to find Japanese pen pals, and makes me want to visit Japan as soon as I can!

This is a very, very user-friendly program, and makes learning Japanese very rewarding and easy, even without a classroom.

I bought this because of the price and the reviews. I had taken part of a semester of Japanese at the city college and boy was I disappointed. I have a good deal of language learning experience and I just felt like the teacher I had was making it way too complicated (although I think she was trying to make it easier in her defense). It really isn't all that difficult of complex a language. It's simply mysterious because of the writing system and grammar differences.

Here's my advice. Take the hiragana and write down the first ten characters. Repeat repeat repeat until you can do it from memory. Then add ten more. Repeat procedure. You will have all of your hiragana and katakana down in no time. Honestly, a couple of days would suffice if you really want to learn it quickly. Once you have that down, you will feel like you have your feet on the ground and the rest will not be so scary. If you would like to practice, you can google "hiragana practice" or something like that and find quite a few little quizzes or games, etc. That's a good way to keep it current.

Anyway, Human Japanese is exactly that, human. It's not going to treat you like a robot student and try to program you with information. Expect to be told digestable amounts of information. It will obviously be quite different than English, so just accept it and move on. Things will start to come together before long and you will find there are some things you actually understand. This is encouraging. Now and then, bits and pieces of cultural knowledge will come up to break up the lessons and keep it from getting boring. This is all done in a very friendly way, as if you were learning from a gentle tutor who just wants you to enjoy learning and eventually understand. Honestly, this is how it should be.

Also, customer support is very friendly.

I wanted to learn Japanese but couldnt take a class for it because our school doesnt have one. So never having had prior experience in japanese I had no idea what to look for. Sure I started by looking at Rosseta Stone Rosetta Stone Version 3: Japanese Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion, but it cost wayyyy too much for me. So I started looking around on amazon. I found Human Japanese and was leary at first but after reading the reviews I decided to try it. I've had it for a little more than a week and I've already learned a lot. This program does teach you Japanese but it takes it from basics. It also gives history about how the language started, no there are no quizes on this lol. But this is a great product for any one! FIVE STARS!!