くずし字学習支援アプリKuL‪A‬

    kuzushiji learning application

    As a learner of Japanese, are you the go-to person for your friends and family for all those "what does this Japanese say?" questions? Nine times out of ten, the text they're asking about is some totally illegible cursive Japanese that even most native speakers couldn't read, am I right!?

    Enter くずし 字学習支援じ がくしゅうしえんアプリ, which translates to "Kuzushiji Learning Application" — "KuL‪A"‬ for short. Kuzushiji is the name for those scribbly cursive characters, and this app is designed to help you learn to read them. In the app's "Learn" section, you can read about the basics of kuzushiji, as well as drill yourself on recognizing hentaigana (variations of hiragana characters) and cursive versions of kanji. The "Reading" section provides opportunities to put your kuzushiji knowledge to the test and read real-life ancient texts, with the help of modern Japanese transcriptions, of course. The app interface is available in both Japanese and English, although some parts of the app are still in the process of being translated.

    I certainly only recommend this app if you've got some significant Japanese learning experience under your belt already. You really don't need to learn to read kuzushiji ever, if you don't want to. That said, if you're interested in reading pre-Edo texts in Japanese, then this app will help you reach that goal!

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