Kanji practice apps for iOS

ThomasW24

ThomasW24

Looking for recommendations for good Kanji practice apps for iOS. I like KanjiDraw because it lets me practice drawing the Kanji on my iPhone or iPad, will give me a customizable level of hints when drawing the Kanji, will provide lists of words using the Kanji, does both read and write quizzes, and lets me create my own groupings of Kanji’s for bite sized practice sessions (examples are numbers, days of week, body parts, etc.). It is also somewhat possible to search for the Kanji you are looking for without going through the whole list. The biggest drawback is the limited number of Kanji available.

Kanji Star has a more extensive library of Kanji and also uses the Kanji in words and allows write practicing. But you are stuck with the default groupings (mostly by grade level or JLPT level)and cannot create your own lists for practice. And to find the Kanji you want to practice, you have to read through each of the lists to find it. Scrolling through 2134 Kanji to find the one you are looking for is tedious to say the least.

Anyone have any experience with something better?
ClaudiaR27

ClaudiaR27

wanikani.com  (They have a huge list of other sources as well.)
kaniwani.com

I think these work on iOS.
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

As above wanikani works on iPhone but it is slow releasing lessons which might be frustrating if you want to cram or feel that your progress is above their entry level. It is useful once you get to a level you have not gone past.

Personally I like to keep a small notepad in my front pocket at work and have some Kanji I want to practice and when I have spare time I just write them out. It seems to be working doing it the old fashioned way for me.
ClaudiaR27

ClaudiaR27

Yes, it does start out slow, but I promise it gets crazy after a few levels.  I also write out the Kanji in a binder for easy reference and practice.
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

I have tried wanikani for a few months now. It is good but I feel I need to revise offline in order to remember it like write down the Kanji as I learn it. It sinks in better that way. I have got to level 21 with wanikani but even then I do not feel competent with Kanji I supposedly know but still cannot write upon memory.
teacup

teacup

You can produce printable practice sheets by pulling your info from https://www.wkstats.com and pasting it into https://write-kanji.tomaszoledzki.pl/

It requires a little work but it's worth it if you want writing practice.

eta: I should have specified that this requires a wanikani account.
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

I am not sure what you mean by account if it is any different from a yearly subscription to the site. I will have a look into it none the less and see what I can do. I have seen lately that the wanikani site seems to have mistakes in its Kanji or omitting meanings that should be there which is not good when JLPT requires such knowledge to pass their tests. Its not a big thing but its just proof to use multiple sources as well to gain knowledge.
teacup

teacup

Accounts are free, though to move beyond level three kanji study requires payment. Once you have a wanikani account, you can make use of the other sites linked above.

If you think a translation has been omitted from an entry you can add it yourself by clicking "+ADD SYNONYM".
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

Yeah its a handy tool that add synonym button.

Kanji appears to be very complex with meanings that may not be so literal to a single word depending on what part of the world you come from. Translating to English is bound to have indirect results for words that differ from country to country. I like it but it is something you need to keep an open mind with the way it is written and used. It could be more poetic than direct.

Example 無敵 muteki comes across in all translations as invincible. In a semi literal sense you could translate it to mean "nothing" "enemy" or no enemies. Therefore the poetic form is if you have no enemies you are invincible. I like that style however what I like to do is add things like no enemy as a synonym for invincible just to get my line of thinking in how the Kanji is composed and the idea behind it.

That aside it is not what I was referring to with mistakes. I will get into that another time but I really enjoy the Kanji. I think that website did definitely help me with the recent N4 test.
Ramsey-P

Ramsey-P

The obenkyo app gives you thousands of kanji and is totally free
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

Do you have a link for that like is it just for device of PC based. The benchmark is around 2,000 Kanji to be proficient in Japanese. Around 2,100 are said to be in common use.
teacup

teacup

Is this the obenkyo app you're referring to?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Obenkyo&hl=en_US
toru e

toru e

For iOS, I use iKanji touch, which lets you follow either JPLT mode by level or 常用漢字(じょうよう かんじ)[common use] mode up to high school level (as a point of reference, JPLT N1 is roughly Grade 6). I use the latter mode and couple it with James Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji", since I found an accompanying deck for it for Anki.

I also paid for the in-app purchase to activate the writing feature which gives you the animated stroke order of the Kanji. I strongly recommend writing out the Kanji in pen/pencil and paper though (or white board and markers) instead of just following the strokes on the application. I've found the muscle memory to be totally different.
Tony-S10

Tony-S10

Yes I totally agree with writing. Any Kanji that I actually bother to learn the stroke order for and then put pen to paper and write out several times over a period of time I have no problem remembering at all and can instantly read. It is definitely totally different. If I do not learn the stroke order and how to write it then I can easily make mistakes on complicated Kanji that look similar even if I know the radical setup and sequence the writing it is the thing that makes the difference.

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