Yomu Yomu Review || The New Sibling of Du Chinese
Learn to Read Japanese with Yomu Yomu
You already know Japanese has three alphabets, right?
That makes reading Japanese appear quite daunting, but fear not.
We’ve found the perfect app to help you improve your Japanese reading skills whilst learning plenty of new vocabulary along the way.
The app is Yomu Yomu.
In this app review, we take a look at Yomu Yomu, introduce you to its basic features and tell you why we love it so much.
DID YOU KNOW || Yomu Yomu is the latest spin off of the successful Du Chinese app.
Yomu Yomu Review || Introduction
Yomu Yomu Review || Pros and Cons
Yomu Yomu Review || Price
Yomu Yomu Review || Lessons
Yomu Yomu Review || Flashcards
Yomu Yomu Review || Summary
Yomu Yomu Review || How to Download
Yomu Yomu Review || FAQs
Yomu Yomu Review || Intro
Yomu Yomu means read read in Japanese. This stays on brand with their other app, Du Chinese, which means read Chinese.
The app essentially does exactly what it says on the tin.
Yomu Yomu is a series of short stories in Japanese that are broken down into categories and levels.
You can choose your preferred level of study and the topics that interest you most and start to improve your Japanese reading in an instant.
Yomu Yomu isn’t just about reading though. There is a very useful additional feature where you can create your study deck of words that you aren’t familiar with.
We’ll get more into that later.
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Yomu Yomu Review || Pros and Cons
Here is a quick look at what we like about Yomu Yomu, and what we think can be improved.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Great app for improving reading skills | Won’t improve your speaking |
| Regularly updated, fresh content | Limited options on the free subscription |
| Built in SRS flashcard feature | Not a huge amount of content compared to Du Chinese (understandable as it’s new) |
| Courses that you can follow |
This is the Yomu Yomu homepage which shows their main features:
- Word Look Up || This allows you to check the meaning of each word along with pronunciation and the ability to add to your flashcard deck.
- Kana + Hiragana || Yomu Yomu gives you the flexibility to change how you read the text.
- Romaji || This is the romanization of Japanese, typically used by beginners of Japanese.
- Pitch Accent || A very smart feature which shows the intonation of each word, allowing you to perfect your pronunciation.
Yomu Yomu Review || Price
You can purchase 3 types of subscriptions with Yomu Yomu:
- Monthly
- 6-monthly
- Yearly
Here are the costs:
| Subscription | Cost (GBP) |
|---|---|
| Monthly | 6.99 |
| 6-monthly | 39.99 |
| Annual | 59.99 |
DID YOU KNOW || A Yomu Yomu is actually half the price of the Du Chinese app
All things considered, the pricing structure leads you towards the annual subscription, which is great value for money.
The 6-monthly subscription makes little sense, given it almost costs the same as purchasing 6 x monthly subscriptions.
With the annual subscription, you achieve a saving of 23.89 GBP
Yomu Yomu Review || Lessons
Yomu Yomu lessons are a great length for quick and convenient study.
Lessons vary in length but typically the more advanced the level, the longer the content.
Beginner lessons normally fit onto one or two pages when using an iPhone.
Advanced lessons would extend beyond four or five pages.
Stories are broken down into the following levels:
- Beginner 1
- Beginner 2
- Beginner 3
- Elementary
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Master
You can study as you wish, jumping between levels until you feel comfortable.
When using Du Chinese you can also browse via topic (culture, current events, life in China, food etc). However, on Yomu Yomu this is not yet possible.
This is likely down to the fact the app remains relatively new and content is still being created.
After selecting a lesson there are multiple ways you can customize your experience too:
- Change the speed of the audio.
- Choose if you want to show the pronunciation.
- Choose if you want to highlight JLPT words.
- Change the font size and font type.
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Yomu Yomu Review || Flashcards
Without a doubt, one of the best features of Yomu Yomu (and Du Chinese) is the flashcards.
In every lesson, any word can be saved by simply holding the word, and then selecting SAVE.
This allows you to build your own, personal study deck which you can very as much or as little as you want.
The deck works like an SRS (think Hack Chinese) and is a great way to build on your vocabulary.
On each flashcard, you will see:
- The word
- The pronunciation
- The meaning
- An example sentence
If you remember the word, hit the smile, if not, no problem, hit the sad face and you’ll be asked to review it again.
The more you review, the better you get – it’s that simple.
Yomu Yomu Review || Summary
Yomu Yomu is a super tool to help improve your Japanese reading skills.
The price for a year is very reasonable and if you are genuinely serious about improving your Japanese.
If you are a more casual learner, perhaps you can try the free version for a little while before deciding whether you wish to make the leap to the paid version.
Typically we recommend downloading a personal portfolio of apps when studying a language.
Whilst Yomu Yomu can help your reading, it won’t help your all-round Japanese skills – although few apps do.
This post below about learning Kanji can guide you to more resources for learning Japanese.
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Yomu Yomu Review || Download
Yomu Yomu can be found on the iOS app store.
You can download it here.
The Yomu Yomu website currently only shows download availability for Apple users. Unfortunately Android users will have to wait.
Rest assured, Du Chinese can be download on both Android and Apple so Yomu Yomu should be available soon.
We hope you enjoyed this review of the Yomu Yomu app. It’s definitely one we recommend to help improve your Japanese language skills.
Yomu Yomu Review || FAQs
What is Yomu Yomu?
Yomu Yomu is an app to help your Japanese reading skills. It is a spin-off of the popular Du Chinese app.
Is Yomu Yomu free?
You can use Yomu Yomu for free, however you only have limited access to the content.
With a paid subscription you unlock access to all subscriptions.
I am an advanced learner, can I use Yomu Yomu?
Yes. This is a big positive about Yomu Yomu.
There are multiple levels from complete beginner, to more advanced learners.
How can I download Yomu Yomu for iOS?
You can download Yomu Yomu for iOS here.
Want More From LTL?
WANT TO LEARN JAPANESE? Check out our online Japanese courses here.
We offer a 7-day free trial to all new students where you can study 24/7.
What about studying Japanese in Japan instead? We’ve got your back. Our Japanese courses in Tokyo can either be taken in small groups of no more than 5 students or individually for a more tailored experience.
We even offer incredible homestay experiences in Tokyo as well.
Come and be a part of this amazing community.