Hello!
I’m going to Japan in vacation for the first time in a few days, even with two years of learning japanese behind me, I do feel a little unsure of how well I’ll be doing when trying to speak with natives.
Do you know great android apps that can serve as offline resources while traveling? A dictionary, collections of common sentences, grammar points summaries, or even specific travel vocabulary?
Apps I could use to quick look-up, or review a bit while in transport or before bed. It could be several differents apps.
Thank you!
Edit: A little clarification, I’m more looking for reviews tools that aren’t flashcards, rather than translation apps.
11 comments
I used Mazii a while back. You can take a pic and have app translate. You only get 3 pics per day for free. But I remember being able to watch ads to refresh.
I would seriously consider google maps and the real-time image translator. They are decent but what can we expect for “free”.
Downsides:
– Require internet connection. I don’t know what tourist options are available for data these days.
– Google maps are not especially reliable; I always double check directions from another source.
– Google’s image translator takes foreign words from an image (e.g. restaurant menu) and “instantly” superimposes an English translation over the Japanese words. The translations are mediocre at best and the errors could be dangerous for important documents, food allergies, etc.
get the DeepL app to translate more accurately
Google Translate. You can enter text either by typing, speaking (microphone), or taking a photo (of a menu, etc). You can install the Japanese language pack so no internet connection is required for typed input, but you’ll still need internet connection for microphone and camera input in order for it to extract the text from the media. Invaluable for communicating with taxi drivers, shopkeepers, as well as reading menus and signs (camera input). Deepl is an alternative to Google Translate, but requires internet for all functionality. The benefit is that sometimes translations are better than Google Translate, but I’ve found this to be infrequent and only for more complex sentences.
A dicionary app like Jisho or Takoboto. Make sure it works offline (Takoboto does, but haven’t tested Jisho). Allows you to quickly find words you’re looking for when trying to communicate, if you’ve forgotten the word.
An E-sim app such as Airalo. Gone are the days when you have to buy a physical sim when traveling. When I was in Japan (3 months ago) I used Airalo to install an e-sim. It gave me 20Gb 4G data for 30 days, so I could travel around without worrying about wifi. They have different plans for different lengths of time, and different e-sims for various countries. I believe it cost around 30USD for 30 days, if I remember correctly.
Google Maps. Self explanatory. Great for train/metro routes and walking directions. I haven’t used any Japan-specific train or map apps, but I’m sure some other people could recommend them, though I was in Japan for a month and found Google Maps to be perfectly fine.
>Do you know great android apps that can serve as offline resources while traveling?
Why offline? Why not get a Japanese data SIM card off of Amazon or something? They’re not expensive.
Akebi is a wonderful dictionary app. It has this really nice feature that can look up words by writing the characters down. It does require quite a bit of stroke order knowledge though.
Kanji study might be helpful
Maybe some practical knowledge is useful for review too?
Checkout this channel from a Japanese guy explaining things in Japanese:
Riding the bus/taxi:
https://youtu.be/MHq3Q6QdaDo
How Family restaurants work (ordering etc.):
https://youtu.be/plm2zhLBnVI
If you can download these videos “somehow” (wink wink nudge nudge) you can review them in the plane.
What the… are you literally me? I’m traveling to Japan also in a few days for the first time, and I’ve been learning the language for about 2 years as well. xD
The apps I’ll be using is google translate (allows you to scan and type things,) google maps (tells you all the routes by train), and suica (to pay for trains).
I’ve prepared quite a bit so feel free to ask me anything.
Good luck!
Yomiwa has an offline dictionary, and even offline OCR for individual words! It was $5 or something, but quite worth it imo.
For food, I recommend getting Tabelog.
Search Tabelog for good places to eat, then use Google Maps or Yelp to figure out any intricacies on how to get there and any etiquette to obey.
Speaking at least a little Japanese is a bonus for accessibility, as many of these better places don’t speak English.