Customer Reviews

Learn Japanese Now! 9.0

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

 

 

I like this program. It should not be the only aid used in learning Japanese, though. It DID help my pronounciation a bit. You can hide the translation boxes to see what you do or don't understand while the program plays.

This program does NOT use Japanese syllabry; it uses Romaji instead. When playing the games or quizes you have to spell romaji correctly. I wa never good at the type of romaji they use (ie I prefer to use "o-" rather than "oo"). It has a characture chart, but there are better ways to learn Hiragana and Katakana.

All the dialogs are good, though. They do not teach grammer, or explain verb conjugation. For these reasons, it is best to be studying another way and use this program as a passive review, or practice.

...AGAIN, use his to supplement your studies only.

This software was a complete waste of money. The layout of the software is very confused and there is no guide for the user to follow. The biggest problem with the software is the sound quality. The recordings are so noicy that I got a pain in my head after just a few minutes. The speaker are frequently cut short a few ms or the recording start or stops with a *pop*. The amazingly poor sound is combined with a really unclear voice from the speaker. (The girl sounds like she has some thing in her mouth) I saw PowerJapanese at a freinds house but it was unavalible. So I got this... I will now start looking for PJ in the used section.

This language software is far and away the best product I've found for learning Japanese. I am currently in Japan and this software has helped me much more than any of the books I had bought. The interactive aspect as well as the opportunity to listen to native speakers has made it indispensible. My only criticism is that it doesn't give you the written Japanese to look at as you learn the words, it just shows you the romanji which is of no help over here when it comes to reading the language.

All in all, it's a bargain given the results you will get from it.

I gave this program a fair shake, and overall I'm quite unimpressed. One of the program's key features in my book is the ability to say a word and have it judge you based on sound, pitch, etc. Great in theory, but imagine my surprise when I found out I could say anything at all, such as "Cheeto" and still get a perfect score so long as I mimicked the speaker even a little. This program also does very little to teach grammar rules.

Basically, if you already know some Japanese and you're just looking for a vocab builder, it might be worth getting it cheap. You can cheat the speech system, but if you really do try and read the graphs, you can tell if you're actually getting it right or not. It's a sub par tool, but a tool none the less.

I work for a company that gets large amounts of business from severl Japanese companies. Japanese Now was able to help me learn how to speak to my company's clients but also taught me a valuable skill. At the start I learned the basics through the program and learned situational dialogues as well. Many games and activities are featured and allow for practice and review which is crucial in learning and retaining a new language. One of the best features I saw was being able to check if your pronunciation of a certain word(s) is right. Japanese Now also allows for you to practice real conversations that have real world implications. This language learning tool is irreplacable to me and I would recomend it over any of the other language learning software.

How does a person rate a piece of software like this? It has some amazingly innovative design to aid a person to speak with a good accent. It also has some attrociously designed ease of use features.

Ultimately, if you can get through the tiny buttons that you have to get your mouse over to go to the next phrase or play the current one, with no real keyboard equivalent of being able to go back a phrase and play, or go forward one phrase and play, then you'll probably really like this software. This whole program is plagued with buttons about a quarter the size of a dime that you have to get your mouse over so you can access the feature. Those little buttons are annoying, what can I say?

Is the software buggy? Yes. Badly? No. If you happen to be on a newer mac with OS X, you'll note that there isn't OS 9 on your system. So, since the kana syllabery is only OS 9, that won't work. And the grammar word processor only works on PCs, so you might start feeling like all the extras went out the window... and they did.

On the other hand, maybe it's just me, but it seemed like they took the little back a phrase button out of the version 9.0. Since, OS X runs 8.1, you'll have the little back a phrase button if you're on OS X.

The good news is that it works with the iBook internal mic. Isn't it nice when language software works with internal mics on laptops? It just makes things so much easier.

If you are just starting to learn a language, I'd suggest you wonder over to Eurotalk Talk NOW series. And if your willing, immerse yourself into a World TALK afterwards. This Transparent software does work, and they did spend time on innovative methods towards accuracy in testing inputted speech. The problem is that they didn't spend time on making their software simple and a pleasure to use on a daily level. Eurotalk stuck to the basics. They just tried to make easy to use software that was a pleasure to use, using proven methods. This software has bells and whistles and bugs. Eurotalk doesn't have bells and whistles and they don't have bugs. I'm into the bugless one at the moment. I've bought both and installed both and use both. It's just the Eurotalk is so much less annoying.

In reality, you should probably own both. Eurotalk series will help you understand the language much quicker and more efficiently than Transparent series will. However, Transparent series will make you understood better in your own speech than Eurotalk series will. Still... better to understand what they are saying, than the other way around. Both is the best though (-= .

Japanese Now is really good software to learn Japanese with. It is very helpful and I recomend it. This software offers many various ways to learn or practice Japanese and all the features are great. EXCELLENT BUY!!!!!!!

Transparent Language really has put together a great language learning program with its Language Now series, but the one I am writing about, Japanese Now, I am very fond of. This program takes a unique approach and uses immersion to teach you Japanese. It targets the important language skills of listening, speaking, reading & writing, and vocabulary & grammar. This program makes great use of technology using video, audio, and voice recognition all to help you learn and improve your language skills more efficiently. Transparent even goes to extra lengths by including additional content online such as articles in Japanese, word-of-the-day, and more to help expand and continue your learning. Japanese Now gets a 5-star rating because it brings language learning to its best for the PC.

This software is very confusing to use. The layout and navigation is not user friendly. The program was not helpful for learning how to speak and carry a conversation unless you are already fluent. In which case, why would you need the learning software? I am at an intermediate level Japanese. I didn't like this product. The Power Japanese and Rosette Stone Japanese softwares were much more helpful in furthering my language studies.

This program is so great!!! Not only does it allow you to learn Japanese but you can go at your own pace unlike many other ways to learn a language. My favorite feature is the interactive conversation practices which simulate a life like conversation between you and the computer. The amount of Japanese that is attainable through this is incredible. The practice games are all very fun and enjoyable. Good product and great buy overall!!!!!