Have fun with Google translate
Learning a language is not easy. But it can be fun, spiced with games and comedy videos. Last week I found Google translate on iPhone/iPod touch (also on Android, but see below). You just enter a word or phrase in one language, and it spits out the translation in another.
What’s cool is that the input text can either be typed, or spoken. And what’s even cooler is that japanese (and a few other languages) is on the “say it out loud” list.
Doesn’t help per-say learn the language, and not sure how good is google’s recognition, but I know I had lots of fun trying to say any word I could think of! And picture this: you’re in a random country, need some direction, and find a passer-by who only speaks the local language. Take out your phone, say something, and the device say it for you. The sci-fi days are not too far…
It is also available on Android, but I couldn’t find the say it out loud feature.