Japanese Language Software

Hi

Apologies if this question has already been asked in the past, but is there a general consensus on the best language software available to help learn Japanese?

There is little reliable info on the various review sites - would be interesting to find out what people think?

Thanks
Andy

As nobody seems to be replying with suggestions for software, I can at let you know my experiences with learning games and online training: I have used some "games" on my Nintendo DS for kanji training, used online learning tools like http://www.renshuu.org/ but in the end the best for me were old fashioned study books and plenty of them :-)

I am finding the apple app "istart japanese: very helpful and easy, outside apple I might say human japanese 2.0

I have used japanesepod101.com for years.

It was started by a guy named Peter Galante, who is East Coast American, but was fascinated with Japan and studied the language, later moving to Japan.

He seems to be one of those guys who manages to succeed because he doesn't know something is a crazy idea, so he just jumps in and does it, but his enthusiasm is contageous.

When he started up it was just him and a couple Japanese pals, who sounded like they thought he was a little crazy. Back in the old days, it was mainly survival courses in short podcasts.

It has advanced and grown exponentially over the past 7 or 8 years, and now has video podcasts, and help for those doing the JLPT exams, etc.

Check out the site and give it a try. I don't know about everyone, and I've only learned to a level to allow me to understand what's going on when I travel to Japan, but I'm personally a big fan, and can vouch for the teaching methods.

I absolutely LOVE Human Japanese, It is totally worth the money and has worked for me 100% www.humanjapanese.com. It takes a purely human approach to learning Japanese. You start with the reading and writing and then move forward from there. I believe it was created by 1 guy. I would recommend it to anyone. They also have android and iphone apps.

I also recently tried www.livemocha.com which is free and it seems pretty good too.

I hated Rosetta Stone

there is no software that is good enough to teach you Japanese effectively and quickly all by itself. The famous language software Rosetta Stone is absolutely terrible for Japanese and only teaches the basics.

You should use multiple teaching materials in conjunction with each other.

Use a JLPT vocab list to learn vocabulary and kanji:
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/jlpt5/

Textbooks and other resources for grammar:
-Minna no Nihongo is the most comprehensive textbook in terms of grammar
-Japanesepod101 is great for grammar and listening practice
-when your Japanese gets better, you should use the Kanzen Master series textbooks for JLPT preparation, even if you don't plan to take JLPT. This series is absolutely amazing.

Basically the only software I would use is Anki, which is a flashcard program to help with memorization. You will find tons of positive feedback for this program online (and it's free).

The most important thing is to PRACTICE EVERY DAY! Good luck with learning Japanese!

Also here are some quick grammar lessons with great explanations:
-http://www.animeyume.com/site_features/liljapaneseguide.html
-http://thejapanesepage.com/grammar.htm