Bunpo: Learn Japanese

Sky-Delia Talley

4 years ago

So far this app is amazing. I would give a five stars, but I'm only just starting out. The courses are intriguing, because the voices don't sound robotic or forced, correction of errors at the end of the course, and it gives you an introduction of the learning course prior to testing; all which I adore. From Duolingo, Bunpo is more helpful since it's more focused on the differences in hiragana, katakana, and kanji then just basic phrases. I would definitely recommend this app!

A Google user

5 years ago

Overall a good app, to the point that I bought bunpo plus. However, some basic features are missing that really hurt the usefulness. 1. When learning a lesson, there will be audio for each answer. However, when reviewing, that audio is missing for some reason, which makes it much harder to study. 2. Also, while the review feature is handy, there is no option to just test an individual section (i.e. trying to study hiragana or katakana).

A Google user

5 years ago

One of the best apps I've tried for beginners that combines both phonetic, kanji, and romanji learning all at one time. Some of the more popular apps make you dive straight into full kanji learning or create a barrier for learning by forcing people to sight read hiragana quickly early on which are both inefficient for beginning learners. Still have yet to try the review option but I'm sure it is useful for days when you only want to study past lessons.

A Google user

5 years ago

Best app for learning Japanese!!!! I've tried multiple apps for learning including quizlet and writing for memorization. It took me 2-4 weeks to learn hiragana that way as it was very unmotivating. Due to this, I didn't want to take the time to learn katakana or Kanji. I decided to give this app a go. With Bunpo, I literally memorized all the katakana characters within 2 hours. It plays very rewarding ding sounds when you get a question right and the ui is extremely clean! Best app!

Steven C

5 years ago

I like the layout and teaching style of putting explanations to read followed by exercises right after (as opposed to other apps which usually make you access them separately). I've only done the first few lessons so far but the main issue I have is that I felt a lot of their examples were really bad, obscure, or didn't really accurately represent the pronunciation of characters.

Tim “Rochann” Wu

5 years ago

Bunpo is quite excellent of a learning program for anyone that wants to get started on Japanese, like myself. I can't speak for any professional teachers but the teaching process feels structured and smooth. Combined short lessons and periodic quizzes Bonpo is also nice for spontaneous use on the go. Love it. The only issue is the app would crash now and then if I swap apps. Not a huge issue but sometimes I lose study progress.

A Google user

5 years ago

はじめまして。 Honestly, I've never seen an app go so in-depth to explain exactly how each kana sounds. Although I do have two suggestions. 1. It would be nice if I could turn on/off the English sound-outs above words. My eyes just always want to go there before reading the kana/kanji. 2. It kind of sucks that you need an internet connection to use the app. If I could download some lessons for offline learning it'd be really convenient. 読んでくれてありがとう！

A Google user

5 years ago

One of the better japanese grammar apps out there. Incredibly well thought out explanations (in english). The problems move up in difficulty for each grammar point in a logical way. You're more likely to remember them because of this. Also, it let's you look up difficult words in each sentence which alot of apps don't. This app actually succeeds in being better than a textbook because of these things, and that's saying alot because most apps don't come close. EDIT: word lookup function broke

A Google user

5 years ago

I'd like to like this app more. It's got really detailed explanations of grammar points and decent practice too! But the deal breaker is being able to use it offline. I have to use this on the subway, with intermittent internet. For some reason the app freezes during questions, likely during trying to download an audio clip of the answer. Until this app gets better offline support, it just gets a middling review.

Meep Murp

1 year ago

It's genuinely a wonderful app, I have just started to use it and it's really neat. Something I've learned about the duolingo app is that they DON'T teach structure and verb placement all that well so it's really difficult understanding how to word a sentence correctly. However, Bunpo has a section dedicated specifically to structure a sentence correctly and it's AMAZING. It's also very informative and it explains things in detail but it still keeps things simple and easy.

Olivia

10 months ago

It was great when I started learning the basics for german. I took a break because class picked up, come back and I didn't even finish the beginner lessons and the app is now paywalled. I can't review or take any lessons besides the very first 10 vocab words I learned, (keep in mind i made it halfway through lesson 9 of new to the language so it's not like it was so so much). Disappointing.

sixela

1 year ago

I wanted to like this app, and at first I thought the 3 lessons max was a daily limit until I realized that was the max until you hit a pay wall. I've seen from the reviews that not only did it used to be free, but it also teaches good structure. My only issue with it is the pay wall, everything else I experienced was great though.

J C

1 year ago

Introductory lessons were good until the paywall, but I paid up anyway. In learning the actual grammar, I'm coming across too much vocabulary that I havent learned in prior lessons, and it isn't clear if they'll be introduced in future lessons, or if I'm expected to learn the vocabulary on the odd example. I just don't understand why grammar lessons can't incorporate vocabulary the app has taught. I learned various country vocabulary, then end up with completely new words in unrelated lessons.

Kristi Centille

1 year ago

definitely grateful that I had spent some time in Duolingo before starting this. however, it is the perfect addition to what I had started there. this app is challenging and stretching me, but because of the great grammar explanations and the short bites of information, it's easy to learn and practice. there is an opportunity to both speak and write the words

David Schendt

1 year ago

I started out really liking the app. Through the N5 stuff it's pretty good. But once you get towards the end of N5, every new grammar lesson is 75% words you've never seen before. It makes it almost impossible to learn the grammar when you know none of the words. There isn't a way to learn new vocab and the grammar practice is EXTREMELY limited. You get 6 practice examples for each major piece of grammar and that's it. For $40, I'd have expected a lot more practice exercises and whatnot.

Mikayla

11 months ago

I came back to this app after a long break because I remember it being really great, and it was free/mostly free. Imagine my surprise when suddenly there was a big ol' pay wall! Only a part of the first lesson is free. Essentially, the moment you learn some of the characters (not even all), your progress is completely halted. Pay walls can be fine, but the way this one is set up is terrible. I once loved Bunpo, but now I'm deleting it. For reference: I was learning Korean with Bunpo.

Kellie Suttle

11 months ago

I'm using this app to learn intermediate Japanese (N3 level). It has grammar lessons beyond what I learned in four years of college courses. The explanations are clear and concise, and the exercises are well-structured so that they seem easy but also help you get a good initial feel for each grammar point. I strongly recommend this app as a supplement to anyone learning Japanese at the intermediate level.