Several unique terms and phrases describe the features of software we review on this site, some easier to grasp than others. This list briefly defines terms relevant to Learn Japanese Software.

Features

Personal Progress Tracking

This feature tracks and illustrates you how far you have come since you began using the program.

Personalized Learning Paths

This feature allows you to customize the way you learn. You can learn what you want at your own pace. Most software will also advize you about which learning paths meet your needs best.

Additional Internet Resources

The companies that produce Japanese software can include extra learning material on their website to improve the learning experience. This may include everything from grammar, to culture lessons, to simple dictionaries.

Fundamentals

Listening Comprehension

This feature helps you gauge how well you can understand conversations, phrases and words in Japanese.

Pronunciation

Speech recognition technology recognizes what you say, assesses your pronunciation and corrects your mistakes. It also pinpoints and highlights mispronounced words within individual sentences.

Conversation Practice

This tool allows you to communicate directly with a native speaker (real or computer simulated) through the Internet or other methods.

Teaching Tools

Speech Recognition/Recording

Programs with speech recognition or recording capabilities allow the program or the user to compare their voice and pronunciation with a native speaker in order to improve pronunciation. Most programs provide feedback on how accurate your pronunciation is.

Word Recognition Activities

These activities are designed to quiz users on vocabulary. There are many forms; some of the most common are crossword puzzles, word finds, word-picture association and defining.

Culture Lessons

Culture lessons can teach the history of Japan, or it can even get more specific about current cultural differences in accent, vocabulary, food and other similar topics.

Online Chat/Forum

An online chat or forum feature allows users to chat over the Internet with native speakers or Japanese students in order to practice their conversation skills and vocabulary.

Word Tools

Word Translator

This tool allows you to type a word or phrase in either Japanese or English, and then will translate it into the opposite language for you.

Glossary/Dictionary

A glossary is an alphabetical list of words and their meanings or interpretations (glosses) in a various contexts. In the translation industry, a glossary refers to a bilingual or multilingual terminology list; this is often confused with a translation dictionary.

A dictionary is a tool that defines the terms of a language. The terms are arranged in alphabetical order. Usually, a language dictionary will give the spelling, pronunciation, and meaning for each word.

Hiragana

Hiragana is the basis of the Japanese writing system and is largely phonetic. Each symbol stands for a particular syllable, and when you put them together you can pronounce the syllables to create words. Hiragana was originally influenced by Chinese calligraphy.

Katakana

Katakana is one of the three Japanese alphabets. It is not as commonly used as hiragana, instead being used for transcription of foreign words and names into Japanese. It is largely phonetic. Katakana originated as a kind of shorthand for Chinese characters.

Kanji

Kanji is one of the three Japanese alphabets. Kanji is often considered to be the most confusing to foreigners because it is not phonetic. It is derived from Chinese characters that represent a word or idea.

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