Umi - Language Learning

Update to the below review: I’m beyond happy with this app, even though there are still a few glitches with clips here and there it is clear that there is a lot of intention and work behind this app. As far as I can tell the update has helped a lot to fix the issues I mentioned, plus the report feature for bad clips is really helpful. I believe this app, while potentially a bit tough as a first introduction to a new language, is a fantastic way to make natural language learning more accessible, and works fantastically as a complement to watching media in that language - having it broken down into segments like this where you are focusing on one or two words but still absorbing the other parts of the sentence - context-appropriate vocabulary is a game changer for me as I always found the “memorize this category of words” to be difficult when it was time to speak. And, most importantly for me, getting more comfortable with pronunciation and comprehension of more natural speaking. Bravo to the team behind this program, and thanks for the care you put into it! … (Original review) I love this app, it’s absolutely incredible particularly for when you have the base of a language but haven’t practiced in a while. Only thing that dropped it down a star was that it’s been glitchy (sound/video not playing, not counting progress when I’ve completed something, etc.) I will continue to use the app and plan to pay for it, but will not be choosing a longer-commitment option because I believe this glitchiness may cause the app to be more frustrating in the long term and I want to be able to cancel if this is the case

I love that someone has actually taken the time to actually write out the subtitles and put it to audio that lets you slow down the speech or replay it over and over again until you hear the right words. I took a bunch of Japanese but after not using it for a super long time, I’ve forgotten a lot of vocab and kanji. This app has been excellent for helping me relearn old vocab and learn new ones school never covered. That being said, having taken Japanese up to the advanced level before, there are definitely some mistakes I’ve spotted in the app and clips. Some of the videos clip just a little too early. Others have the wrong furigana/reading in the “subtitled” section (but will show the correct reading in the vocab section at the bottom). I know my listening isn’t great but it’s not THAT bad. 手数 was showing tesuu when the clip clearly said tekazu. And while in in the intermediate level currently, I haven’t seen a ton of stuff for teaching grammar or like, various levels of politeness. So if you’re using this for Japanese - you might have to take some of it with a grain of salt. And just know that you can’t go around repeating necessarily all the words the way you learned it here. I definitely think this is a great tool and has huge potential - hence the 4 instead of the 3 - but there are still some critical things that need improvement to make this a 5 star language learning app. If it were just UI issues that would be one thing, but I’m not sure I’d be confident using this without having already learned the foundations.

I downloaded this app as I had seen it advertised and we just booked a trip to Japan. I’ve always loved watching anime and would love to be able to understand while I’m watching as well. The way this system immerses you into the learning process is actually really surprising. I’ve done a lot of different language apps before and this is the first one where I feel as though I am picking it up extremely quickly. I absolutely would recommend this app to anyone looking for a different method to how many of the other apps work. Along with that I was having an issue with the app and wrote into support. To my surprise the CEO emailed me directly within the day and made things right. Along with that they were incredibly responsive. Really just made me like this app even more!