JPN App Review: Mindsnacks
A Japanese vocabulary building app.
Difficulty level: beginner | intermediate | advanced
Options
Japanese only: ☐ Yes; ☑ No
Free: ☑ Yes; ☐ No (indefinite trial version; paid version available)
Interaction with others: ☐ Yes; ☑ No
Available on: ☑ iPhone/iOS; ☐ Android; ☐ web
Internet connection required: ☐ Yes; ☑ No
Score: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
More details: mindsnacks.com
This is an app that @jibunstudies has often recommended to people, and since her Japanese is more than ‘pretty good’, I figured I’d check the app out and see what the fuzz was about. Since she’s in Japan and being exposed to new content all the time, I wondered what use she could possibly have of this; a basic vocabulary builder? Turns out Mindsnacks is an incredibly broad app suitable for beginners and intermediate level learners alike; not just of Japanese, but of the several languages the offer.
After downloading the app, here’s what you see. (Excuse the disgusting photo quality; I promise that’s a screenshot and not a picture I took of my phone’s screen with something else; like, a toaster.) The Mindsnacks app is free to download and explore so you can figure out if you want to pay for additional lessons. The locked games above are unlocked as you master more words/earn more XP points, so those will come naturally! The only thing you really need to pay for is a wider range of words to learn, and the first free lesson is more than enough to figure out if this is something you want to spend money on. (For me personally, it only took about 5 minutes of playing around to be convinced.)
In (1), you can see (part of) the full list of available lessons (50 total!), and in (2), you can see what a lesson looks like once selected. When viewing the details of a lesson, you can basically review all the info you will be quizzed on in the games at your own speed - take a look at the ‘card’ for “eye”, for instance: Both the visual representation, the English translation, and the pronunciation written in hiragana, kanji, and romaji is right there. This is what makes the app great for both complete beginners and more experienced learners looking to review the basics: On the main screen (depicted at the start of the post), you choose whether the games will quiz you in romaji, kana, or kanji. Just tap either of the icons to switch the setting as you desire! There are over 800 words to learn in the Japanese version; mostly nouns, but a handful of verbs and adjectives are thrown in there as well.
If you’re stuck on what to do next, check out (3); the ‘Quests’ tab. You only have one active at a time so you won’t get overwhelmed. (It’s the Duolingo Owl’s nicer cousin.) They’re there to encourage you to try out new games as you unlock them and improve the skills each game trains you in.
The games are all timed in some way - either by having a time limit or through speeding up the pace of the game - making Mindsnacks great for practicing reading and recognizing words very fast. I find it a really great way to get some practice in while commuting, especially since no internet connection at all is required to use the app.
Final comments
This app is fun. Like, really fun. I was really impressed by how wide a range of students of Japanese they cater to, and the visuals are cute and easy to understand. I said this in my last app review too, but I’d use this app to teach children. As I’ve no children to teach right now, I’ll just use this every day and improve my much-used everyday vocabulary, which I really need to do.
Disclaimer: This review is written by me for fun, and is not associated with or influenced by the people behind Mindsnacks in any way.
