Cooori is proud to announce a new feature to its online Japanese language learning system, the ability to listen to sentence audio. On top of the existing pronunciation audio available for words, the system now allows users to listen to native Japanese speakers read full sentences. This oft-requested feature is available now on over 2000 sentences, and Cooori will work hard to add more sentence audio.

Look for the audio icon next to a sentence. If there is an icon, you can listen to a native reading. Try to repeat the speaker's pronunciation to practice your own pronunciation and make a stronger word connection in your brain. As Cooori builds up its audio library look out for more audio-related learning exercises in the near future.

Being such a young and new Japanese language learning system
we are proud to say that we already have several extremely loyal users. We call these users our "super users".
These users are dedicated Japanese learners, who are working
hard to gain fluency in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
One of these super users is Lorenzo.

Lorenzo is a university teacher and has been living in Tokyo for several years. He has tried and tested the classical ways of learning Japanese, like taking Japanese classes and Japanese courses but gave up on it in 2009 since it was very expensive and time consuming.

Lorenzo heard about Cooori two months ago. Since then, there has been no turning back, he's totally hooked on Cooori. In his own words he likes learning Japanese with Cooori because; "it works very well for me. I access Cooori sometimes 4-5 times a day, but only do up to 15 minute sessions at a time."

We asked Lorenzo if he'd be willing to have a chat with us and share his experience of the Cooori system as it could be helpful and motivating for other Cooori users.

This is what Lorenzo had to say about the system.

I sometimes use the system up to 2 hours a day!

Arnar: How often do you sign in to Cooori?
Lorenzo: Over the last couple of months, almost daily. I use it during lunch breaks, in the coffee house. I never use it for more than a 15 minute session. But I do multiple sessions during the day. Up to 2 hours a day.

Arnar: If you had to name three things that you feel make Cooori unique what are those three things?
Lorenzo: The translations and the kanji highlights. Those are killer features for a language learner. I trust the algorithm. It is working really well. I also like how the system encourages me.

Learned 400 new words in less than one working week.

Arnar: How many words have you learned using Cooori?
Lorenzo: I have increased my vocabulary to 400 words, 800 cards in total, since the system teaches both sides of the word, i.e. from English to Japanese and from Japanese to English. I have used it on average for 30 minutes a day for two months so in total about 30 hours which is less than one working week.

It felt great when I reached my goal!

Arnar: What is the most helpful thing about Cooori?
Lorenzo: The methodology of the flashcards. It is teaching me the word through various ways. From English to Japanese, from Japanese to English, the usage of the word in a support sentence, listening to the pronunciation. It is also very helpful for motivation to be able to set goals and be able to view my progress in the charts. It felt great when I reached my goal.

Arnar: How do you feel that you have benefited from using Cooori?
Lorenzo: I have been able to build up a solid vocabulary fast. Taking a lot of my vocabulary from being passive to active usage.

Handle all situation on the iPhone and more grammar.

Arnar: What would you say is lacking in the system?
Lorenzo: How to conjugate verbs. The grammar aspect still needs work. Also, I want to be able to use the system on my iPhone in the subway system in Tokyo where there is no constant connection.

Arnar: If you had to make improvement suggestions for Cooori, the system, website, customer service, tutorials or anything else? What would those suggestions be?
Lorenzo: Add grammar support. Improve the user interface for iPhone and iPad. There are some bugs when I use the system offline in the train.

Arnar: Would you recommend Cooori to a friend?
Lorenzo: I have already have recommended it to several friends. When Cooori offers English to Japanese learners then I will be happy to introduce it in my university.

We thank Lorenzo for being a great "super user" and wish him the best of luck in his continuing journey of studying Japanese!

Thank you Lorenzo & happy learning!
On behalf of the Cooori support team, Arnar

We here at Cooori, the Japanese online language learning system, are very thankful for our incredibly creative and ambitious users, so we thought we'd dedicate this blog to you all.

From day one we’ve always wanted our users to feel like they are a part of the Cooori team and that their opinion and input is valued and welcomed. Which is why we set up a site where they can vote for new features or suggested improvements to better our language learning system. All feasible features or suggested improvements to the online language learning system are added there and Cooori users vote for the ones that they like the most. The features/improvements that get the most votes are the ones that our team will focus on.

Some of the features that our users have suggested are:

• Faster card review for the flashcards.
• Methods to monitor progress i.e. our new progress charts, that can be found in My Progress.
• Goal set up and monitoring. Goals are a big part of language learning and the ability to set up your own goals and monitor your progress is a drive that can help many achieve more.
• The ability to delete a card.
• More varied options for the Japanese online learning themes.
• Several bugs have also been spotted by our users enabling us to correct them swiftly.

All of these features have been added to our Japanese language learning system and there are several more in the pipelines, so keep the suggestions coming.

Now that we are in our last stages of beta testing we feel that this time to thank you all for your invaluable input we hope that you’ve enjoyed helping us as much as we’ve enjoyed receiving your help.

Please keep those braincells working hard and continue to share your brilliant suggestions with us and never hesitate to take a little credit for the wonder that is Cooori.

Again many thanks, we truly appreciate it and intend to make Cooori the best language learning system it can possibly be.

We are often asked why flashcards in our Japanese language learning system do not include every possible definition of a particular word.

For example, for the word 会う (あう) why do we use "to meet", instead of "to meet; to encounter; to have an accident; to have a bad experience" as used in the EDICT dictionary?

The answer lies in the purpose of Cooori's system. The online language learning flashcards are not necessarily meant to teach every possible meaning and use of a particular word, but rather to give a strong starting point for using the word. Trying to teach every possible definition, both common and obscure, from the very beginning would only make it hard since you will try to force yourself to memorize every little detail. Allowing you to make the connections between definitions yourself, rather than presenting all possible definitions, avoids redundancy that could clutter the associations with other words in your brain.

In the case of 会う, we feel that "to encounter" can be derived from "to meet". We think that making that connection yourself makes the imprint of the word stronger than if we had told you to memorize both definitions from the start.

We also strive to make every one of our flashcard word definitions unique. In other words, every word must have a definition that is unique to it. Once again, this is to reduce confusion in your brain, and to make it easier to recall words when the system asks you for the word making remembering words, and therefore language learning, extremely efficient.

In a system that doesn't have unique definitions when a student is shown an English definition of a word and asked to identify its Japanese equivalent it is possible to have multiple "right" answers which can confuse the student. For example, in a system where 友達 tomodachi, 友人 yuujin, 親友 shinyuu and 仲良し nakayoshi are all defined as "friend," if a student is given the definition "friend" the student will not be able to know which Japanese word the system wants him/her to identify. In Cooori, the online language learning system, a user would be asked to give the Japanese word for "friend", and the user would be able to answer tomodachi because yuujin (friend (formal)), shinyuu (close friend) and nakayoshi (good friend; buddy) all have unique definitions.

This approach may be confusing for users that have already made connections through other learning methods. However, once you get used to it we know that it will make remembering much easier.

Cooori is a Japanese language learning software company dedicated to improve language learning. We combine cutting edge computer technology with the most recent and reliable scientific knowledge in the fields of brain research, cognitive psychology to produce a revolutionary method for learning languages online. We are currently busy working on releasing a Japanese online learning system for English speakers that is built upon the following core values:

• Focus: We are fully dedicated in our mission and to make every day count towards our goal of bringing a better way of mastering online language learning to the world.
• Joy of Achievement: We believe that pure joy is always connected to true achievement. Mastering a new language is never easy, but by focusing on efficient methods of learning languages, we make learning a new language a more fun and fulfilling experience. Our joy is bound to the achievement of our customers.
• Respect: We respect the complexity of learning a new language, and the dedication and discipline it takes. We have been there ourselves. Therefore, we are always mindful of our responsibility to deliver a top-rate product for our customers. We respect our customer’s commitment by delivering an outstanding service.

This blog will keep you posted on updates on our products, and development news. We will also use this blog to explore interesting features of online language learning and language learning softwares that would be of interest to our users.

We also want to use this blog to answer your questions and get your suggestions for new features. Check back often, grab the RSS feed, or sign up for an e-mail alert to see our new entries as they are posted.