Smartphone Apps
Why Use Our Apps?
Simply put, our apps for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets are the most affordable, most reliable, based on real science, and are proven to help students learn quicker. Our flashcard apps are a customized version of the best-selling educational app Flashcards Deluxe, which has sold over 100,000 units and been refined to perfection over many years. It is the best and most advanced educational app in the world. It features the most advanced Leitner algorithm on the market, among many other powerful features.
Research Team
Our apps could not have been created without our international team of volunteer researchers who have worked together for over 4 years to create our resources and also write research articles. Many are university professors with PhDs, or full-time professional translators, not businessmen or employees. We all simply believe in this work, and want to make learning more efficient.
Significant Content
Our apps contain well over 100,000 words of content, giving our users significant value for their money. Not only that, but some of our apps have VERY advanced features, including complex algorithms to help students learn more efficiently. You’d be hard-pressed to find more value. Essentially, we produce premium apps based on real linguistics research for non-premium prices.
Advanced Science
Our apps are based on the most cutting-edge linguistics research and neuroscience. Through the Leitner algorithm, spaced repetition, forced production, optimal block size, and the lexical method approach, our apps make learning significantly more efficient…guaranteed. It is guaranteed because our apps are based on real research which has been published in blind peer-reviewed journals by myself and with my team.
The Research
The materials on this site are all based on the most serious and advanced linguistics research. I have published, alone and with my research team, a large number of articles in blind peer-reviewed international linguistics journals, and spoken at countless events on language related research. Thus, there are no gimmicks in our materials whatsoever. We have developed true ways to make you learn more efficiently, and as long as you are motivated to study, you WILL learn quicker using our materials…guaranteed. Read more here.
Low Cost / Ease of Use
Smart Smart is not a normal company. Because of the simple collaboration of a tenured university professor and an independent app developer, costs are kept at a bare minimum. We have a system which universities can buy the apps in bulk for all their new students once a year, and students can log in with an ID and password to release the contents for free to make it simple for them. Students can also buy the apps separately on their own directly from the iTunes and Google Play app stores for only 360 yen each. There are no gimmicks or hidden costs.
The Apps
Smart Smart has apps for language learners of all ages, and even native English speakers. We have a VERY powerful children’s (ages 2-10) language learning app available in 7 languages. We also have a major, very advanced app for learning English vocabulary/phrases which includes over 10,000 phrases and example sentences, with all contents translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. We also have pronunciation apps for these three learner groups. Smart Smart even has a VERY engaging textbook to learn English via modern music for these three groups as well. And much, much more! So, basically, there’s something for nearly everyone! So, what apps are for you? Read more here.
Language Support
Our materials are custom-tailored for 7 groups of learners: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, and even native English speakers. This does not just mean app menus, but significant content (over 100,000 words of English) have been translated into some of the above languages. Providing a translation of target vocabulary, example sentences, etc., is still one of the most efficient ways to learn language, and we provide this for our users right from the start so that they can spend their time learning and less time looking up words in a dictionary.
Online Management and Other New Features
When a university purchases the apps in bulk for their students, they get free access to our special website which allows teachers to track usage (how many minutes per week or in total their students are studying), and allows teachers access to quizzes students submit online. Yes, students can take quizzes right there on their smartphones and submit online and teachers don’t have to grade them! Read more here.
Provide, Play, and Promote
First, we recommend providing the apps to the students by purchasing in bulk. We also recommend having students study on their own for 1-2 hours per week. Usually students have no problem mastering 50 items per week at this rate. In addition, we recommend playing James’ VERY popular original in-class activities (The Group Memorization Method) with the apps’ contents with your students. James has trained hundreds of teachers across Japan on how to do it. Finally, we also recommend motivating students to study with regular quizzes every other week and a final test each semester.
