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There are an absolute ton of Japanese language learning resources out there, but it can be hard to wade through them all and figure out which ones are actually any good or useful.
Hanging around the forums the past year or so I’ve noticed that a lot of users recommend the same resources on a regular basis, and I started collecting these for my personal use.
It’s rare now that I hear someone recommend something I haven’t heard of, so I figured now would be a good time to share my list. ^_^
Now this isn’t meant as an all inclusive list of all Japanese resources available, just the ones that I have personally seen recommended by users on the Japanese forums I use (mostly Textfugu and WaniKani). That also means I don’t personally recommend or endorse most of these, as I haven’t necessarily used them myself. The one’s that I have used and think are good I have marked with an (*).
I’ve mostly listed resources that are absolutely free. The one’s that aren’t I’ve marked with a ($). Any resources on this list that require payment are here because they are highly or often recommended on forums (with the exception of the audio courses at the end of the list). Enjoy:
Textbooks($):
Genki* (Japanese Language Series)
Japanese for Busy People* (Japanese Language Series)
Remembering the Kanji (Kanji Series)
Remembering the Kana (Kana Series)Kana Learning Tools:
Real Kana* – http://www.realkana.com/
Drag-n-Drop* – http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html
Easy Japanese – http://easyjapanese.org/kanaquiz.htmlGrammar:
TextFugu (Tofugu)$* – http://www.textfugu.com/
EtoEto (Tofugu)$ – http://etoeto.com/
Imabi* – http://www.imabi.net/
Tae Kim – http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/
Visualizing Japanese Grammar -
http://www.gwu.edu/~eall/vjg/vjghomepage/vjghome.htm
JGram – http://www.jgram.org/
Stack Exchange (System to ask questions about Japanese) – http://japanese.stackexchange.com/Japanese Practice:
WaniKani (Tofugu)$* – http://www.wanikani.com/
Anki* – http://ankisrs.net/
Lang-8 (writing)* – http://lang-8.com/
Skype (speaking) – http://www.skype.com/en/
(Use Lang-8 to find native Japanese Skype partners)Vocab:
Core 2k/6k Optimized Japanese Vocabulary (Anki Deck) -
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1102215805Online Dictionaries:
Jisho.org* – http://beta.jisho.org/ or http://jisho.org/
Tangorin – http://tangorin.com/
Tanoshii Japanese – http://www.tanoshiijapanese.com/dictionary/
Romajidesu – http://www.romajidesu.com/
ALC – http://www.alc.co.jp/
Weblio – http://ejje.weblio.jp/
JLPT Dictionary – http://www.jlptdictionary.com/
OCJS – http://www.yamasa.org/ocjs/kanjijiten/english/Alternate Dictionaries:
Verb Conjugator* – http://www.japaneseverbconjugator.com/
Sentence Dictionary – http://tatoeba.org/eng/
IT terminology (inJapanese) – http://e-words.jp/
Advanced (Business/Industrial/Scientific) Terminology – http://www.kotoba.jp/Japanese Learning Games:
Syndorea – http://syndorea.behemyth.com/
Slime Forest Adventure (Kana/Kanji) – http://lrnj.com/
Digital Dialects – http://www.digitaldialects.com/Japanese.htm
Kana Invaders (v1)* – http://learnjapanesepod.com/kana-invaders/
Kana Invaders (v2)* – http://easyjapanese.org/invaders.htmlBrowser Extensions:
Rikaisama (Firefox Deluxe Version)* – http://rikaisama.sourceforge.net/
Rikaichan (Firefox Standard Version)* -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rikaichan/
Rikaikun (Chrome Standard Version) – https://code.google.com/p/rikaikun/Japanese Culture:
Tofugu (Tofugu)* – http://www.tofugu.com/
Chokochoko – http://chokochoko.wordpress.com/
What Japan Thinks – http://whatjapanthinks.com/
Metropolis – http://metropolis.co.jp/
Wow Japan – http://www.afachan.asia/wowjapan/Japanese Newspapers
English:
The Japan Times – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Japan Today – http://www.japantoday.com/Japanese:
Asahi – http://www.asahi.com/
NHK – http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/
NHK Easy – http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/ (easier version of previous site)
Rocket News 24 – http://rocketnews24.com/Native Japanese Exposure:
Easy Reading Children’s Stories – http://hukumusume.com/douwa/index.html
Fengyunzhibo – http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/space/japan.htm
Niconico – http://www.nicovideo.jp/
TBS Newsi – http://news.tbs.co.jp/
B! – http://b.hatena.ne.jp/
4Gamer.net – http://www.4gamer.net/
Livedoor – http://www.livedoor.com/
Sanspo – http://www.sanspo.com/
KotoBank.jp – http://kotobank.jp/Youtube J-vlogs (Japanese video blogs):
Bobbyjudo – http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUDjZZt5vFib4QIot82bUbg
CulturalExchangeChan -
http://www.youtube.com/user/CulturalExchangeChan/videos
Kyarorin – http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGjMgcbgLpH8KO5fVl1ywkw
Micaela* – http://www.youtube.com/user/Ciaela
PDR – http://www.youtube.com/user/PDRKabushikigaisha
QuickRhino* – http://www.youtube.com/user/QuickRhino
Rachel and Jun* – http://www.youtube.com/user/MyHusbandisJapanese
Sharla in Japan – http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLfbmGhvu7xTHXktmMWdfvwImmigrating to Japan:
Turning Japanese – http://www.turning-japanese.info/
Additional Resource sites:
Nihon Shock* – http://nihonshock.com/
Renshuu – http://renshuu.org/
About.com* – http://japanese.about.com/
LearnJapanese.com – http://www.learnjapanese.com/
Japanse From Zero – http://www.yesjapan.com/
123Japanese – http://www.123japanese.com/
Nihongo Resources – http://redesign.nihongoresources.com/
Irasshai (Video Lessons) – http://www.gpb.org/irasshai/japanese-i
Live Mocha – http://livemocha.com/
Remembering the Kanji Forum – http://forum.koohii.com/index.php
Google (Japanese Version) – https://www.google.co.jp/
Fluent Future – http://www.fluentfuture.com/learn/japanese
JapaneseClass.jp (RPG text style learning) – http://japaneseclass.jp/
Japanesepod 101$ – http://www.japanesepod101.com/
iKnow (Smart.fm)$ – http://iknow.jp/List of free Japanese Audio Books:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6241&PN=1&TPN=1Added because many people ask about them:
Audio Courses($):
Pimsleur
Rosetta Stone
(Read these first)
http://www.tofugu.com/2009/12/01/alternatives-to-rosetta-stone-japanese-i-e-should-i-buy-rosetta-sto…
http://www.tofugu.com/2012/10/17/language-professors-hate-him-pimsleur-his-method-and-talking-fast/A similar list compiled by Koichi (Tofugu):
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/04/06/tofugu-100-best-japanese-learning-resources/-Cheers
PS: Please post a response if you found this helpful or if you have any sources to add (that you have personally found really helpful, not just heard about) or ones on the list you think are bad (please justify hate though). ^_^
Awesome. I was blown away by http://www.imabi.net.
纏めて下さってどうもありがとうございました。
Yeah, I plan on moving to that once I finish with TextFugu. ^_^
The owner/writer of the site also hangs out on the WaniKani forums under the name Seth3.
Added:
Native Japanese Exposure:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/ (easier version of previous site)
http://b.hatena.ne.jp/
http://www.4gamer.net/Online Dictionaries:
Tanoshii Japanese – http://www.tanoshiijapanese.com/dictionary/
And a section for “Alternate Dictionaries” meaning resources that are dictionary like, but not the same as classic dictionaries. Which now includes:
Verb Conjugator* – http://www.japaneseverbconjugator.com/
Sentence Dictionary – http://tatoeba.org/eng/The last one looks really cool, but haven’t used it yet properly. ^_^
Added:
Textbooks($):
Remembering the Kana
Grammar:
Stack Exchange (System to ask questions about Japanese) – http://japanese.stackexchange.com/Alternate Dictionaries:
IT terminology (inJapanese) – http://e-words.jp/
Advanced (Business/Industrial/Scientific) Terminology – http://www.kotoba.jp/Japanese Culture:
What Japan Thinks – http://whatjapanthinks.com/
Metropolis – http://metropolis.co.jp/
Wow Japan – http://www.afachan.asia/wowjapan/Native Japanese Exposure:
Livedoor – http://www.livedoor.com/
Sanspo – http://www.sanspo.com/
KotoBank.jp – http://kotobank.jp/Immigrating to Japan:
Turning Japanese – http://www.turning-japanese.info/
Additional Resource sites:
JapaneseClass.jp (RPG text style learning) – http://japaneseclass.jp/
And a new section for Japanese Newspapers which now includes:
Japanese Newspapers
English:
The Japan Times – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Japan Today – http://www.japantoday.com/Japanese:
Asahi – http://www.asahi.com/
Also rearranged the categories and added some labels.
-Enjoy!
Stack Exchange – http://japanese.stackexchange.com/
Looks particularly good.
Also added Memrise under Japanese Practice, should have been there from the start, must have accidentally deleted it in editing.
Imabi looks pretty sweet. Never seen it before but will definitely try to use it at some point.
Also, how are you editing your original post? I thought the edit button went away after about 20 minutes or something. Maybe it’s changed so that you can edit posts any time now :D
You can only do it to the OP of a thread you create.
There’s a little button { Edit } at the bottom left of the screen. Took me ages to notice it. ^_^
Added:
Online Dictionaries:
Weblio – http://ejje.weblio.jp/Browser Extensions:
Kitsune (Firefox IME) – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kitsune-14082/Native Japanese Exposure:
Erin’s Challenge (Video with Text) – https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/Is etoeto a grammar resource? I think about etoeto as reading, listening and speaking practice.
Michel Thomas Japanese (http://www.michelthomas.com/learn-japanese.php) is an okay audio course. Not as painful as Pimsleur. The only issue is that I sometimes find myself modeling my speech after one of the students instead of the native speaker. It’s not amazing but it’s exposing me to some basic vocab and I do occasionally find myself making the same mistakes as one of the students, so the corrections are nice.
Most libraries seem to have a complete copy of it (at least in the silicon valley area) so it’s freeish. Although the same goes for pimsleur.
On Youtube I like:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Gimmeabreakman/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/komori841/videosThese are kinda language learning, but seem to be more focused on cultural notes. I especially liked komori841′s “how I learned english” video as I’ve been using that technique to sound out japanese grammar.
Also a question: I’ve started using anki a lot for vocab. I tend to just pull the jpod word of the day and audio into a new card each day, but I’m not sure how effective this is as there seems to be a bunch of words I don’t ever see myself using. Are there any sites where I can look up a word and, hopefully, native speaker audio that I can download (kinda like rikasama except where I can download the audio)?
Is etoeto a grammar resource? I think about etoeto as reading, listening and speaking practice.
No not really, I just put it there as it was supposed to become the intermediate continuation of TextFugu. It never got there though, so I’ll move it when I have time to check it out properly and see where it should go.
Most libraries seem to have a complete copy of it (at least in the silicon valley area) so it’s freeish. Although the same goes for pimsleur.
If you’d said it was really good, I’d add it.
On Youtube I like:<br>
http://www.youtube.com/user/Gimmeabreakman/videos<br>
http://www.youtube.com/user/komori841/videosThese are kinda language learning, but seem to be more focused on cultural notes. I especially liked komori841′s “how I learned english” video as I’ve been using that technique to sound out japanese grammar.
Thanks, I’ll check them out. ^_^
Also a question: I’ve started using anki a lot for vocab. I tend to just pull the jpod word of the day and audio into a new card each day, but I’m not sure how effective this is as there seems to be a bunch of words I don’t ever see myself using. Are there any sites where I can look up a word and, hopefully, native speaker audio that I can download (kinda like rikasama except where I can download the audio)?
Something like that would really be the holy grail of Japanese language learning, so no I haven’t seen anywhere that has that.
The beta version of jisho is starting to include audio files from WaniKani, but that’s still really limited.
Added:
Vocab:
Core 2k/6k Optimized Japanese Vocabulary (Anki Deck) –
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1102215805The beta version of jisho is starting to include audio files from WaniKani, but that’s still really limited.
That’s pretty awesome. Hopefully they’ll get audio for all (or most of) the the common words.
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