Japanese Dictionary Apps

There are a number of Japanese dictionary apps available for smartphones. Here we pick out two of the best – one for iPhone and one for Android.

Japanese Dictionary iPhone and iPad Apps

By far the best Japanese dictionary app I’ve seen for iPhone goes by the name of kotoba. It works offline, so once the large download has completed, you won’t be running up any data bills. The English-Japanese dictionary works in both directions and it comes up with many suggestions for close matches to your search. If you are online, the examples are enhanced.

Kanji information is included (including stroke order and direction). Also verb conjugations are given in great detail.

When I had an iPhone, this was my absolute app of choice for all things Japanese. Absolutely invaluable. In fact, when I gave up my iPhone contract, I used to carry it purely to use kotoba.

A fantastic application – and free of charge too.

Link : Kotoba at the App Store

Japanese Dictionary Android Apps

I’m eagerly awaiting the release of kotoba on the Android Marketplace – I really hope that happens. But in the meantime, there’s an app called JED which, if not brilliant, is at least reasonable.

It seems to have most of the same features as kotoba, but is somehow lacking on the useability front. The examples are slightly lacking, and the kanji stroke-order display is pretty clunky.

But, if you have an android phone, at the moment, I believe JED will be your best bet.

Link : JED at the Android Marketplace