Graduate School Admissions
Download APU’s Free Japanese Language App!
TOBIRA Survival Edition
Learning Japanese is essential to live and study in Japan, and APU encourages all international students to familiarize themselves with introductory Japanese before enrolling. The "TOBIRA Survival Edition” app was developed to be an interactive, fun way to learn Japanese for incoming students with no prior Japanese knowledge to smoothly transition into Japanese language learning at APU! The app utilizes quizzes, handwriting practice, and voiced examples to learn Japanese in a game-like way, making the process of learning more interesting and engaging.
This app is now available for all incoming English-basis students, who will be required to learn Japanese once they start studying at APU. APU strongly recommends using this app to practice and gain as much insight into the Japanese language as possible before enrolling.
However, this app is not limited to only APU students and can be downloaded and used by anyone looking to start studying Japanese!
App Overview
This app is based on the Tobira (Survival Edition) textbook developed by APU’ s Center for Language Education instructors. There are sections on writing, reading, and listening comprehension, which include the following topics: Japanese alphabets (hiragana, katakana, kanji), numbers, telling time, Japanese currency (bills and coins), dates (days of the week, months), basic self-introduction, etc.
| Release date: | July 29, 2020 |
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| Update: | Updated on March 27, 2021.We have added Part 2 "Dialogues for Different Situations". Now containing more practical Japanese phrases for different situations! We have also included explanations of key phrases and exercises allowing you to simulate the role of the speaker. |
| Price: | Free |
| Target audience: | Anyone (Strongly recommended for all English-basis students enrolling at APU) |
| Device compatibility: | iPhone/iPod Touch, Android smartphone
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| How to download: | Search for “TOBIRA” in the App Store or Google Play Store |
| System requirements: | iOS (iOS 11 or above), Android (Android 8.0 or above)
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Comment From the Contributing Editor of the App
Go to the store now!
The first version of the “TOBIRA Survival Edition” app has been completed. This app was created to help introduce Japanese to those with little to no prior knowledge of the language. Before the establishment of APU twenty years ago, there were few Japanese textbooks geared toward university students who had no experience studying the language. As a result, the Tobira textbook series was developed specifically to assist incoming APU students who were to learn Japanese for the first time. The Tobira textbook series starts with the “Survival Edition” that is used to prepare students before enrollment. Next, are the “Foundation” textbooks—broken into Part 1 and Part 2—which introduce the Japanese necessary for everyday student life. This is followed by the “Intermediate” textbook, which serves as the bridge from learning Japanese used in everyday conversation to that used in academic lectures. Lastly, comes the “Pre-Advanced” textbook, which delves deeper into academic Japanese. The textbook series was given the name “itsutsu no tobira” (five doors) to illustrate the hope that each of the five textbooks would act as a door to the world of Japanese for students.
The development of the “TOBIRA Survival Edition” app began with a want for people all around the world to also be able to access a door to the world of Japanese. What was once a physical textbook has now been transformed into an app that serves as a door that can be opened anywhere in the world. I sincerely hope that this door will invite people everywhere to explore the world of Japanese.
Professor Akiko Honda,
Director of the APU Center for Language Education