This is really hard to use for languages that don't use the Roman alphabet

[RachelK]

I am a student of Japanese and was really excited to learn about this
product. Unfortunately since this program doesn't show me how to
pronounce these words (and no, I don't want audio, just the
pronunciation in romaji (Roman letters phonetically spelling Japanese
words) or furigana (Japanese characters phonetically spelling the
words)) there's not much use I can get out of it yet. Is phonetic
spelling in the works for Japanese, Chinese, Russian, etc?

As a side note, I don' t know what translation service you are using
but I wonder if you could look into using whatever Google uses? They
seem to be slightly more accurate.

Thanks!

[Nicola Robinsonova]

Hello,

We are planning to add pronunciation as soon as we can. We know that
we need this feature. For people learning English it's impossible to
guess at how a word might actually sound.

For the time being, try using this link to hear the sound for your
word list:
http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_tran_example.php?clients

We are planning to buy a developer license from this company so that
we can add sound to the Learnit gadget, but it will cost thousands of
dollars. As a new web 2.0 startup we're running on caffeine, not cash!

The word lists are translated by an automatic program at the moment.
Our very first priority will be to have qualified translators check
the word lists.

Many thanks for your comments. We'll work on it.
Nicola

[dani...@gmail.com]

Hello Nicola,
I have the same problem as RachelK: I too chose the Japanese language,
and am not particularly interested in hearing through audio the
pronunciation of words. What I really would need is the words written
in romaji (as RachelK said: Roman letters phonetically spelling
Japanese words).
In your post you didn't seem to answer this concern, so I'll repeat
RachelK's question:

Is phonetic spelling in the works for Japanese, Chinese, Russian,
etc?

Without adding the audio feature, that is

Thanks in advance, and by the way, I really like the concept behind
this project and really want to start using it regularly.
Best,
dani

[Nicola Robinsonova]

The answer for romaji is similar to the answer I can give for
languages which are in less common use:

When will the language I teach be available?
That's really up to you. The more people ask for a language, the
higher a priority it is, so we will add it as soon as we have funds
available for a translation. If your language is rare, it can be added
more quickly if you join our user group and help edit the list of 1000
common words in your chosen language.

So, please think about whether you're willing to join a user group for
Russian, Chinese or Japanese learners.

Many thanks,
Nicola

[Nicola Robinsonova]

Good news!

We have found a translator who is checking the Japanese words. She has
also offered to input the Romaji, Kanji, Hiragana & Katakana.

I will let you know as soon as it is up and running.

Best wishes,
Nicola