PSP, being a portable platform, can be very helpful assistant in learning on the go in short bursts. I used to have it loaded with Pimsleur Japanese Course, but this is something that one can do on a regular MP3 player. What such device would not be able to do, however, is to have a regular Japanese study program on it and this is where PSP can prove a useful companion. The program I'm talking about is PSPKanji, and while I've written about it some time ago, in the meantime the new version has popped up and it adds some new features.
As far as I know, the first Kanji study tool for PSP was Kanji Trainer Portable. It had two little problems, though - it was Japanese program not available in Europe or States and it wasn't free. PSPKanji was the homebrew community's answer to Kanji Trainer Portable - a free and open-source software that could be used for memorizing Kanji. When I first described it, the program was still missing a couple of useful things that were added later on.
Now, in version 2.3, PSPKanji allows for custom lists loaded from XML files, displays Kanji stroke order, works on M33 firmware and PSPLite, Kana quizzes were added, language support has been extended and a number of bugs have been squashed. Honestly, it's hard to find something to add, except maybe wishing for spatial repetition algorithms, but this would be quite a big thing to implement, so let's not exagerate and be happy with what we have - and we have a lot of options to boost Japanese study with PSPKanji.
The funny thing about PSPKanji is that despite its name it's not PSP-only software. It can be downloaded from SourceForge in a PC or even Mac version. With all due respect to PSPKanji's creator, though, I think that on these two platforms there is a choice of more interesting programs, both in terms of user interface and possibilities they offer. This does not mean that PSKanji is a bad piece of software - it is a competent homebrew program that shines on PSP, but hets overshadowed on regular computers by the likes of Anki and Mnemosyne.
Overall, if you have a homebrew-enabled PSP and a thing for Japanese, you owe it to yourself to try PSPKanji. Its developer, Aion, has done a good job, coding useful and nice-looking language study tool for the PSP crowd. Visit PSPKanji homesite (don't get scared at pure html, though), downloaded and play with it a bit - I am sure you'll like it.
As far as I know, the first Kanji study tool for PSP was Kanji Trainer Portable. It had two little problems, though - it was Japanese program not available in Europe or States and it wasn't free. PSPKanji was the homebrew community's answer to Kanji Trainer Portable - a free and open-source software that could be used for memorizing Kanji. When I first described it, the program was still missing a couple of useful things that were added later on.
Now, in version 2.3, PSPKanji allows for custom lists loaded from XML files, displays Kanji stroke order, works on M33 firmware and PSPLite, Kana quizzes were added, language support has been extended and a number of bugs have been squashed. Honestly, it's hard to find something to add, except maybe wishing for spatial repetition algorithms, but this would be quite a big thing to implement, so let's not exagerate and be happy with what we have - and we have a lot of options to boost Japanese study with PSPKanji.
The funny thing about PSPKanji is that despite its name it's not PSP-only software. It can be downloaded from SourceForge in a PC or even Mac version. With all due respect to PSPKanji's creator, though, I think that on these two platforms there is a choice of more interesting programs, both in terms of user interface and possibilities they offer. This does not mean that PSKanji is a bad piece of software - it is a competent homebrew program that shines on PSP, but hets overshadowed on regular computers by the likes of Anki and Mnemosyne.
Overall, if you have a homebrew-enabled PSP and a thing for Japanese, you owe it to yourself to try PSPKanji. Its developer, Aion, has done a good job, coding useful and nice-looking language study tool for the PSP crowd. Visit PSPKanji homesite (don't get scared at pure html, though), downloaded and play with it a bit - I am sure you'll like it.
