iKana

Teach yourself Japanese phonetic script

Are you studying Japanese and looking to take the pain out of learning Hiragana and Katakana? iKana is the fun and easy way to learn these phonetic alphabets with tools to help you memorise, read and write both.

Flash Cards

Memorise each character using the intuitive flash card interface. See how to write each character, easily browse each set of kana and make notes to help your memory.

You can fully control many aspects of iKana's interface using the Apple Remote control that ships with many Macs today. Change flash cards and character sets without needing to use a mouse or keyboard.

Speed Recognition

Improve your reading speed by quickly identifying the correct kana in this multiple choice test against the clock. Choose the kana set, number of questions and answer time to tailor the test to your needs.

iKana tracks your results in the Speed Recognition test and uses them to guide you as to which characters you need to practice more by highlighting them in the flash card interface.

Word Romanization

Reinforce your knowledge and help expand your vocabulary with the Word Romanizer test. Read the kana and write in the corresponding Romaji.

The Japanese words are sourced from a built-in dictionary of 360 simple words spelled in a mixture of Hiragana and Katakana. The dictionary is user editable so you can put your own words in too.

Requirements

Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5
Apple Remote (optional)
Apple Japanese fonts*

* These are usually installed with the operating system but you may need to re-enable them if you use font management software.

Vocabulary Practice

You can further practice your kana reading skills and learn Japanese words using the new Vocabulary Practice module. Using a flash card like interface you can quickly create and browse vocabulary sets. Words can be added from the dictionary or imported from tab-delimited word lists.

The vocabulary interface is fully controllable via the Apple Remote.

Add your own

iKana makes it really easy to create your own flash cards, duplicate and modify the supplied sets (Hiragana & Katakana). This means you can expand iKana to learn kanji and even other alphabets, or simply create smaller sets of kana to focus your attention on.

Full screen

New in iKana 1.6 is the ability to view kana flash cards full screen. Ideal for use with an Apple Remote in a class room, lecture hall or even just comfortably from your sofa if you hook your Mac up to a big screen TV.

The kana are rendered using the beautiful Japanese fonts supplied with your Mac so you won't be squinting at horrible jagged bitmap images even if you're viewing on an HDTV or large monitor.