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Japanese Language Learning Resource List

I have real trouble sitting down and studying kanji, but what really made a huge difference for me was ankiweb.net.

You can find already made decks (donated by users) that contain all the kanji, grammar and vocab you need for the JLPT tests for FREE! You can download them to your online account and study them on your phone while travelling to work, sitting on the toilet etc. This one I downloaded for N2, Nihongo So-Matome N2 Kanji - AnkiWeb

I wish I had found this resource 10 years ago, I would have passed N2 by now!
 
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If you are looking for an individual learning app; 'Duolingo' is very good, for an app to connect with others around the world ie. native speakers, 'Hellotalk' can be useful.

For an interactive DVD, the ones from www.realjapaneselesson.com are really good but they're like $20 or so, I can't find any good free ones

I have also found children (or adults, depending on your level) shows on youtube are fun to watch, just type cartoon network (in katakana) in youtube search and you can find a lot of good shows
 
Whoa, thanks for sharing guys. I've tried to not miss anything already listed already and was surprised to see that NHK web news easy wasn't suggested.


Honestly for learning Kanji, staying up to date with news or just reading in general, this is one of my go-to sites. The level isn't super hard, but, recently with the covid 19 information, I've been learning a lot of new kanji and vocabulary.

Also, for anyone interested in a podcast, for intermediate learning, my friend and I have started a channel. The first series will be describing 100 pictures such as;

1. Someone who looks like Rocky is running in a park.
2. 4 cats grouped together are on a perch.
3. A girl is reading a science magazine on a train.
4. A man is carrying a surfboard beside traffic lights with a button.
5. Parents are arguing in front of their children.
6. 2 towers and 1 temples reflection is on a lake.
7. A daughter is being pulled by her father cycling a bike beside cherry trees.
8. A man is in the middle of his swing playing golf.
9. 3 women are jumping into the sky above the grass.
10. A man is holding a cigarette in his mouth, cutting stone at work.



Good luck learning guys, it's a long never-ending road.....but it's fun!
 
Hi guys,

I am building a website for people willing to pass the JLPT. I gathered on it kanji, vocabulary and grammar lessons.
This is under construction but in the end, the site would also host some audio and video material as well as a virtual simulation of the JLPT test.
I am also thinking about opening some posts on the blog section later in July for sharing with you some casual expressions, and some details about the Japanese language that you could catch only by living in Japan (which is luckily my case) and that actually does not appear in any book.

If you would like to have a look at these resources please find the URL here:


Also, in the end, I would like to build a community of Japanese learners and to adapt the site to the needs of the community so if you have any idea or any functionality you would like to see on the website that could improve your learning experience, please feel free to contact me.
 
I tried duolingo and it's not that good for me? Mainly since it was on random characters. I'm gonna check at the other apps here for the phone.
 
I have a ton of books, but since I learned about SRS study, I never opened them again.

The ease of use, together with the perfect timing to repeat something, makes that I learn and remember things much better.

Most aspects of Japanese study have an SRS system available:

Kanji: Wanikani
Vocabulary: Torii SRS
Grammar: Bunpro

If you are serious about it, you can sustainably learn 2000 kanji with Wanikani in about one year.

Best thing about the programs above is that they offer free trials, while torii is completely free anyway. Should you wish to continue, then expect to spend around 10-15 dollar per month. I good deal I would say for something so effective. Buying books with the same amount of content would cost you easily 100-200 dollar in total.
 
Hi guys,

I am building a website for people willing to pass the JLPT. I gathered on it kanji, vocabulary and grammar lessons.
This is under construction but at the end, the site would also host some audio and video material as well as a virtual simulation of the JLPT test.
I am also thinking about opening some posts on the blog section later in July for sharing with you some casual expressions, and some details about the Japanese language that you could catch only by living in Japan (which is luckily my case) and that actually does not appear in any book.

If you would like to have a look at these resources please find the url here : JLPT Matome

Also, at the end I would like to build a community of Japanese learners and to adapt the site to the needs of the community so if you have any idea or any functionality you would like to see on the website that could improve your learning experience, please feel free to contact me.

May I ask out of interest how you intend to set your website apart from the rest? There are currently a ton of websites doing this already in some way or another, so I think you need some USPs to draw people to your site.
 
Stumbled upon this odd new gem called Japanese Language Decode. I was using the Japanese Picture Dictionary previously, but stuff was just not sticking in my head. Found this thing, and was like "Oh well let's see what it can do". Thought I would be out of some spare cash at first, but surprisingly, this software had things clicking. It can do retesting of those things that you forgot. Have been totally absorbed by it this past week. Helping me tremendously, to the extent I might take a shot at the JLPT eventually.

After using it for a few days, saw there was a video about it too. The video kind of explains it, but I don't think it does the program justice. This software has all kinds of goodies in it.

 
Hi Jezinn and welcome to the forum.

I am glad to hear you are studying Japanese. Have you learned hiragana and katakana?
 
Hi Jezinn and welcome to the forum.

I am glad to hear you are studying Japanese. Have you learned hiragana and katakana?
Yes. Was exposed to the kana way before buying Japanese Language Decoded. Used videos on YouTube like Learn Hiragana, and stuff like that.

But you know, the kana and kanji are just so numerous. It goes on and on (even Japanese can forget them), so for me, needed something to help me memorize. Also, I'm not the type to be having all kinds of random books, printed out papers all over, or lots of pdf files laying around. You know, like to the learn the kana, go over there. Kanji books over here. Phrase book in that other place. I like simple, and rather mostly have a single go to. So using software works for me.
 
Jezinn,

I am glad to hear you are doing well with ひらがな and カタカナ. As for me, I chose not to master ひらがな when I was a beginning student of にほんご. (I felt learning it was too めんどくさい.) Instead, I wrote everything out in ローマじ. But later, when I was suddenly forced to stop using ローマじ and only use ひらがな, I suffered terribly. (I almost failed the first semester of にほんご because I hadn't mastered ひらがな.) I am glad to hear this will not happen to you.

By the way, I am sure everyone here can use ひらがな, so feel to type in ひらがな when you want to write out a にほんご の ことば.
 

Hadamitzky Kanji Posters


Hadamitzky is a well-known German publisher of Japanese language materials, textbooks, and bibliographies. On their website, they offer free Kanji posters for download:

See updated post below.


These posters are also available in French, German, and Italian; they can be printed in A0 or A1.

 
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Hadamitzky Kanji Posters


Hadamitzky is a well-known German publisher of Japanese language materials, textbooks, and bibliographies. On their website, they offer free Kanji posters for download:

These posters are also available in French, German, and Italian; they can be printed in A0 or A1.

Pretty cool, and it's all free too.
 
Looking to start learning about the Japanese language I collected many recommendations online due to accepting all leads and opinions.
I recommend learning Hiragana and Katakana first if you haven't already as it is quite necessary, and can be quite satisfying to read, in my opinion.

For immersion, I like to listen to Japanese music on YouTube and try to pick out things that I recognize. I watched a lot of Japanese live streams. Twitter can also be helpful if you follow Japanese speakers, as it has google translate built-in, however, as I'm sure you probably know, don't rely on google translate, it sucks, especially for Japanese, I've found the translator linked above to be better, but it is still of course not 100% accurate.

I have garnered a few resources:

Dictionary: jisho.org

Translator: deepl.com/translator

I haven't used this site much myself yet but have heard quite good things about it: marshallyin.com

For Kanji: wanikani.com/ also apps.ankiweb.net/

Good luck to all you guys who are learning Japanese.
 
Hey!
My friend just started a YouTube channel for teaching Japanese, and you can also find her on Instagram or italki for private lessons. If it's ok I'll leave her information here and if anyone's interested you can contact her directly or just give a quick like or subscribe ;)


Thanks for your time!
 
Learn Japanese fast and effectively - Kanshudo
 
Mr Hadamitzky has updated his free Kanji posters (see post #87 above).

English

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Kanji-Poster no. 1 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with On and Kun Readings (K&K) (1.3 MB; 2019, 4., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 2 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with On and Kun Readings (79 radicals) (1.3 MB; 2019, 4., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 3 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with their Meanings (K&K) (1.2 MB; 2019, 4., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji-Poster no. 4 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with their Meanings (79 radicals) (1.4 MB; 2019, 4., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 5 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with Reading and Meanings (K&K) (1.3 MB, 2021, 2., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 6 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with Reading and Meanings (79 radicals) (1.5 MB, 2021, 2., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 7 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with two Readings and Meanings (Aiueo) (1.3 MB, 2021, 2., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 8 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with two Readings and Meanings (K&K) (1.3 MB, 2021, 2., rev. Version 2022)
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Kanji Poster no. 9-1 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with two Meanings and Readings (A–L) (1.1 MB, 2022
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Kanji Poster no. 9-2 EN: The 2,136 Jōyō Kanji with two Meanings and Readings (L–Z) (1.1 MB, 2022)
 
I like many of you want to learn Japanese, but also like many, i had no idea where to begin. This thread is intended to solve that problem of "where do I begin and how do I advance?". I would like to create a running list of all the best resources, textbooks, apps, tools, and everything else that could be useful in the process of learning Japanese.
The way this will work is that anyone can post a resource here, and I will add it to the list. When you submit your item for addition, you should include a brief but detailed description of what the tool is, how to find it (for example a link or download if applicable), and why you recommend it. Also, if it is software or any application, please specify the platform(s) it is compatible with. If your tool is useful, I will add it into the list. Hopefully we can create a truly great reference point for everyone to use and learn from. If you like my idea, please feel free to give me some reputation. The community greatly appreciates your contributions.
The List:
Note: If you have something that does not fall under any category I will be glad to add a category.

Textbooks/Study Guides/books:
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar: Seiichi Makino, Michio Tsutsui: 9784789004541: Amazon.com
I would recommend it to anyone serious about studying the language. Don't bother to buy the Intermediate and Advanced ones, they seem more like anecdotes than anything else. That is, unless your planning on publishing or something.

Japanese Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary
It's useful for beginners all the way to advanced and will teach important things you didn't know you should know

Handbook of Modern Japanese Grammar
An excellent reference material. Probably not so useful to beginners, though.

Learning Methods/Strategies:


Websites:


macaronics.com
It'll send you a regular translation assignment by email, with a sentence in Japanese to translate into English.
There's furigana for each word, and if you highlight a particular word or phrase with your mouse, it will look up its meaning for you in the same window.

Learn Japanese | Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese
Tae Kim's grammar guide was a neat start for me, after I did Remembering the Kanji by Heisig. Heisig seems to be very unpopular on these forums, though.

Games:


Mobile Applications:

(Android) My favorite Android app is Kana Mind. It shows you the kana and you have to choose the corresponding romaji sound. It has a proficiency tracker and can tell you how much you've learned. It also doesn't let you move on until you are proficient in the ones it's teaching you.
(Android) A great Android app is Kana By Hand. It let's you try to write kana on your device's screen and tells you your accuracy. It shows stroke order as well and will even teach you a few words.

(Android) If you are planning to take the JLPT, the Android app JLPT Words will teach you all the necessary vocabulary for levels 3-5 in kana, kanji, or romaji. You can quiz yourself and there is a dictionary included in the app.

Quizlet (‎Quizlet: Learn with Flashcards)
You can download flashcards here for almost everything, very useful.

Software:
May I recommend an App too? It is called MemoWord and works with flashcards as well, but it is much more convenient in use (at least for me), though it`s not as well known as Quizlet. And I`ll share a promo code my Korean teacher gave me: Studyland. it gives you premium access for one month
 
I made this app to help people read any Japanese that they already have at hand.

It can scan a bunch of stuff like books and websites and then you just tap on the word on the screen to get definitions, an example sentence, and make Anki-style flashcards.

It's free for a few tries, but you need a credit card to sign up for the full service.

 
I made this app to help people read any Japanese that they already have at hand. It can scan a bunch of stuff like books and websites and then you just tap on the word on the screen to get definitions, an example sentence, and make Anki-style flashcards. It's free for a few tries, but you need a credit card to sign up for the full service.

I'd suggest adding your app to our review section with as many details and screenshots as possible:

 
have you guys used the KLC graded reader?

it's avaiable as part of "kanji study" android app and it's pretty useful. I started using it yesterday, and it was not expensive for what it is

Highly reccomend it!

More information here:


the ebook with the first 100 kanjis is free for you to test
 
have you guys used the KLC graded reader?

it's avaiable as part of "kanji study" android app and it's pretty useful. I started using it yesterday, and it was not expensive for what it is

Highly reccomend it!

More information here:


the ebook with the first 100 kanjis is free for you to test

I have to give them my personal information just to download a PDF file? I don't think so.

I suggest everyone stay away from this website.
 
I have to give them my personal information just to download a PDF file? I don't think so.

I suggest everyone stay away from this website.
it's pretty common to ask for an email to provide an ebook for marketing sake, if you don't feel like giving off your real email just create a temporary one and register

anyways...

I'm using an app called migii jlpt, has any1 used it before? it's pretty complete and it prepares you to all levels of jlpt
I signed for a year and I'm loving it.

here is the link for android
 
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