The first steps.... [Lingolook Japanese App]

I'm learning Japanese.

By my self.


It all started because I was asked to work in Japan last year. I was the only non-Japanese person on the project and, although I had a translator with me all the time (she was amazing and deserves some sort of medal) I felt as though I was letting people down on a regular basis.

So I was determined to learn.

In this post I'm going to wind back a little bit to before I worked there.

I started with an app. I got a Lingolook Japanese app and got stuck in.

The app is well structured. The phrases are divided into categories so you can access what you need and the phrases are written in English, romaji (Japanese phrases written in Latin letters) and in Japanese script (hiragana, katakana, kanji). There is also audio for all the phrases.

The app was easy to use and I learned a couple of useful phrases (hajimemashite, はじめまして; and sumimasen, すみません for example) through listening to the audio and looking at the romaji. In this respect it was a great intro to Japanese. The app helped me to understand the way in which the different sounds are pronounced in Japanese. It gave me better access to other learning materials.

That said, I think this app is best for tourists rather than long term learners. The range of phrases is driven by the emergency situations a traveller might find themselves in. If the situation were dire, you could always just let the app do the talking.

But the app gives you no help with the grammar and structure of the sentences. And there's no way to break up the sentences.

A good app, but it's usefulness was limited. That said, it was reasonably priced and, when I was in Japan, I knew I had instant access to a range of basic phrases. Not to play into people's ears, but to remind me of what I needed to say.

It was a decent beginning.