Is there any recommendation of apps that is for practicing speaking or pronunciation?

5 comments

1. Not an all in one app, but talking with people is the best practice in my opinion. When you’re by yourself, talk to yourself out loud, or record yourself talking on any voice recorder app and listen back to it, or shadowing.

   These are apps I’ve tried for output practice. I haven’t tried italki cuz I don’t have that kind of cash, but I’ve heard it can be good!

   Hello Talk for corrections on writing and finding an exchange partner to voice call (Tandem is also an option, but I haven’t used it much) There’s a bit of an art to finding a consistent exchange partner, and results can vary, but if you can make it work, it’s really awesome! Hello talk: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hellotalk Tandem: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tandem

   Shadowing (I used podcats at .5 speed for this, but there are other resources out there too). (What is shadowing? The first few minutes if this video explain: https://youtu.be/enARZ7BUqBU)

   Paid option: Sail App $15 a month for unlimited conversations with volunteers (if their schedules online with what your availability is) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.helte.android.sail

   Google keyboard: Voice typing has been a key component of doing written output quickly. It’s also a slight feedback on my accent, because if even Google keyboard can’t understand what I’m saying, I might be extending a long vowel wrong, or not putting in the っ in the right place.

   EDIT:
   Also, pronunciation practice:
   You can read this article to check your understanding of the mouth shapes necessary in order to pronounce Japanese sounds correctly
   https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-pronunciation/

   There’s also the pitch accent course by Dogen for more advanced learners (haven’t tried it personally):
   https://www.tofugu.com/reviews/dogen-japanese-phonetics/

   And of course, listening. Lots and lots and lots of listening will improve your speaking and pronunciation. Nihongo con Teppei is my favorite podcast and he has an essentials podcasts for very beginner learners, the beginner podcast for upper beginners, and an intermediate podcast as well.
   Essential podcast:
   https://open.spotify.com/show/3oFmPwJy2QgsJFKoOVKQib?si=u0_RsaV6QE2nFxBdeY21Fw

2. First of all, I don’t recommend to use Duolingo if you want to practice speaking or pronunciation.
   Because it just teaches you some words and grammars while playing the games.

   I remember I left some comments below your last post.
   Am glad to know my recommendation is working!

   日本語を勉強しましょう❣

3. I believe the Todai news app lets you do that

4. Below is my favourite pronunciation program, one relatively thin book. The audio and some PDF pages are free at the link. It is easy and focused.

   [https://www.ask-books.com/978-4-87217-741-1/](https://www.ask-books.com/978-4-87217-741-1/)

   Rosetta Stone had a nifty program which recorded one’s pronunciation, then provided a visual of the sound with a grade. That seemed like a great idea but I don’t think that worked so well in reality.

5. One of the drawbacks of an app is that machines aren’t really very good at correcting you. I’m using an app called Mango which lets you record yourself and compare vocal waveforms to the native speaker, but all I’ve seen that do is make sure the timing is right and not anything else. I think Rosetta and maybe some others offer the same feature. They can dress it up as much as they want and pretend it’s machine learning or whatever, but it’s still just not great.

   I also have an old set of Pimsleur tapes I’m using, and that’s similar. You listen and repeat, and it breaks words into chunks to help pronounce. I really like it, but it’s slow paced and can be expensive for what it is.

   But ultimately those apps just come down to shadowing like another user said, so you don’t necessarily need a single app for that, and can do it with whatever material you enjoy.

   Best practice is with a human who is able and willing to correct you.