Tom's Links for Studying Japanese
There are so many resources on the Internet for studying Japanese! These are the best
ones I've found so far, and I hope you find something helpful in this list. Everything
listed here is free to use unless otherwise noted. Links in bold are are
highly recommended. Note: this page has grown a bit out of control, so
please pardon the clutter until I find a better way to organize it!
Last updated: May 16th, 2008
Real-Time Online Lessons
- JOI (Japanese Online Institution) -
An online school offering affordable real-time online lessons focusing on
speaking, listening, reading, and grammar. Headset required. Lessons are
limited to no
more than 7 students per teacher and are conducted entirely in Japanese.
They are about 50 minutes long, held on a regular schedule, and broken down
into different levels: introductory, beginner, intermediate, and
advanced. Lessons are pre-paid, so you buy a number of lessons of
lessons up-front, with a per-lesson cost of around $6.00 (varies a bit depending on how
many you purchase at once). Then you reserve a spot
in advance for each lesson you want to attend. This is all done
through an exceptionally well done web-based reservation system. It's flexible in
that you can attend lessons from the schedule however you like. You can mix and match times, teachers, and levels,
with no restrictions.
I've been taking lessons through this school 5 to 6 nights a week since
February 15th, 2006 and it's been excellent! Most people consider
daily conversation to be an essential part of gaining traction with a
language. But how do you do it without living in a place where that
language is spoken? For me, this helps a lot.
Software
- JWPce
- Japanese word processor for Windows. Excellent built-in dictionary
and kanji lookup capabilities.
- SuperMemo - Very powerful memorization program for Windows based on spaced
repetition using optimal
intervals. Simply put, you can use it to memorize anything and remember it
forever, while spending minimal time on it. Caveats: 1)
It costs $45 for the latest version. 2) There is a learning curve,
although you can safely avoid most of the complexity of the program. 3)
It takes time and thought to input what you want to
memorize in simple question & answer form. 4) You have to review a
small subset of your material with it every day in order to maintain your memory, but
it only takes a few minutes to do the daily review for a collection of thousands of items.
5) You won't remember everything at all times. My current
retention level is 95.3%.
- Project LRNJ / Slime Forest - Learn
hiragana, katakana, and nearly 2000 kanji with this retro-styled RPG for Windows,
Mac OS X, and Linux.
- Dokusha
- Japanese on the Palm. It's a text viewer, bilingual dictionary,
kanji reference, and has a great flashcard system. It's a nice
alternative to a dedicated electronic dictionary if you already have a Palm.
- PADict - Japanese on
the Palm. Has most of Dokusha's functionality and more. Also,
it's open-source and actively maintained.
- KingKanji - Interactive
practice for writing kana and kanji, enforcing proper stroke order and
technique. Best on a Palm or PocketPC, but
you can draw with the mouse on Windows too. It costs $25 to register,
which is required after a 30-day trial.
- LearnKana - Cross-platform
kana drill programs for Windows, MacOS (all), and Linux.
- JEDict - An interface to EDICT that
runs on Mac OS X, comes highly recommended by a visitor.
- Kanji Trainer PenPen - A
Tetris-like game for Windows that has you match up vocabulary in Japanese
with its readings and meanings.
- mikachan - A great
handwriting-style
font including kana AND kanji! (as shown at the top of this page)
Web-based Language Tools
- rikaichan - A
Firefox add-on that gives you mouseover popups for Japanese words.
Absolutely invaluable. A must have.
- WWWJDIC
- Web-based dictionary for words and kanji. It has simple
J->E and E->J word lookup interfaces (try the DoCoMo links), a great
kanji search with links to animated stroke order drawings, verb conjugation
charts, example sentences, and much more.
- Amikai translation
- Automatic translation of text (not just individual words) from J->E or
E->J. Caveats: 1) For J->E, you must use kanji properly. 2)
Machine translation is far from perfect, and sometimes it doesn't work at all
or gives really weird results. But overall I think this system does a
nice job. I use it (carefully) as a sort of spelling and grammar
checker when writing Japanese by having it translate my text to English.
- nihongoresources.com
- A collection of dictionaries (words, kanji, particles, and more), as well
as an extensive grammar guide. Great user interface!
- rikai.com - Read Japanese web
pages (or pasted text) with mouseover popups that tell you the readings and
meanings of kanji, as well as many katakana words. Works with
different browsers and you don't have to install anything.
- POPjisyo.com -
Same kind of thing as Rikai, with even more info but a slight delay between
mouseover and popup.
- Yahoo translation -
Another automatic translation service. Doesn't seem quite as smart as
Amikai, but has a very nice sentence-by-sentence output that will highlight
which words correspond to which words.
- www.google.co.jp - Easily search
only Japanese web pages, making it easy to find interesting reading
material. Also, the number of results for a search can be a useful
indicator of whether or not your search term(s) make sense, or how common
the usage is...
- Hiragana Megane - Adds furigana
(hiragana above the kanji) to Japanese web pages.
- J-Talk conversion - Converts
kanji to kana with very high accuracy - can also show detailed info (i.e.
meaning, frequency) for each compound
Textbooks
- Genki - A good textbook for
introductory students. It's easy and doesn't move too fast. I used
it for two semesters at university and was quite satisfied.
- Minna
no Nihongo (.jp) -
Another good introductory textbook. This one is written in
Japanese. Translation is available separately. I never saw a
need for the translation myself, but I started with Genki.
- Japanese
for Busy People - Some people tell me this is good, others say it's bad
... I haven't tried it myself.
Reference Books
Study Books
Note: These books are in Japanese only, and
only available on order from Japan (as far as I know). All links are
to Amazon.jp. These books have been recommended to me by my teacher.
先生、ありがとうございます！
- 完全マスター2級
日本語能力試験文法問題対策
- JLPT level 2 grammar study book affectionately known to me as 完全マスター.
This green book lists 173 grammar keywords. Each one is broken down
into sections according to meaning, and there are usually 3 or 4 example
sentences for each section. Then there are various problem sets
similar to what you might find on JLPT level 2. These same pieces of
grammar can be found at jgram.org,
but this book has higher quality info.
- 日本語中級読解入門 - 31 chapters of
increasingly challenging reading practice. Each chapter contains a
short 1-2 page text written in kanji with no furigana. This is
followed by a separate vocabulary list (with furigana), then some grammar
and reading comprehension practice questions. I found it quite useful for practicing
reading without furigana.
- 実力アップ!日本語能力試験2級
読解編 - Reading comprehension practice for JLPT level
2. Contains 30 passages of 1-2 pages each, printed with and without
furigana. Each passage is followed by questions that test reading
comprehension. There are also explanations for some vocabulary and
grammar points.
General Reference and Introduction
JLPT
- The JLPT Study Page - Seems
to have the best available vocab lists for levels 2, 3, and 4. Also
covers grammar, kanji, reading comprehension, and has some online quizzes.
- jlpt.info - Online quizzes for JLPT
grammar (and more). You need to sign up for a free account to access
them, and the site is mostly in Japanese.
- Charles Kelley's JLPT
Vocab Lists - Nice online quizzes for level 3 and 4 vocab.
Complete lists linked to WWWJDIC and other dictionaries. Lists of
commonly used words that aren't in the JLPT vocab lists.
Grammar
- JGram - An outstanding Japanese
grammar database. Contains entries on grammar for all JLPT levels,
with user comments and example sentences.
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar
Guide - Extensive grammar guide with good organization and
examples. Well presented and easy to read.
- Japanese for the
Western Brain - In-depth coverage of grammar (and more) with a clear
and refreshing style. Some great travel stories too.
- CMJ
Grammar Online - Test your grammar
knowledge. You must be able to display and enter Japanese text in your
browser.
- Adagio Practice Materials
- Interactive practice from a University of Hawaii course based on the Nakama
textbook. Some great QuickTime videos too!
- Teach
Yourself Japanese - Lots of info here, well organized, with good
technical explanations of grammar.
- Collin McCulley's notes on Japanese verbs
- Covers the various conjugation forms with formation rules and examples.
- Maktos: Japanese Is Possible!
- A series of 32 lessons covering grammar and word lists focused on the
independent student.
Vocabulary
- speedanki.com - Leitner flashcard
review site for vocabulary based on JLPT levels. Very good for
identifying and reviewing vocabulary for specific JLPT levels. Free
registration required in order to make full use of the system.
- kantango - Vocabulary practice
with word lists that can be shared between users. Free registration
required.
Kana
Kanji
- KanjiSite - Practice
kanji recognition online, organized by JLPT
level. Random mode. Detailed info for each kanji.
- University of
Virginia Online Kanji Exercises - Interactive kanji practice based on the Nakama
textbook.
- Kanji Networks - Hyperlinked
etymology dictionary of kanji, specifically made for Japanese. Find
out why kanji look the way they do, and how they relate to each other.
Very useful for resolving memory interference issues.
- Japanese Kanji
Dictionary - An online kanji dictionary with the jouyou kanji.
It's got a very clean web interface and organization. For each kanji,
you can magnify it, see an animated stroke diagram, see example word for the
kanji. Best of all, for the first 240 (at the moment) kanji there are
high quality audio clips in WAV format for the kanji readings AND example
words! Definitely my first choice for audio clips.
- Reviewing the Kanji - Leitner
flashcard review site for kanji based on the Heisig method
("Remembering the Kanji").
- MIT kanji movies - Movies
(QuickTime) of someone using a brush to draw many of the Joyo kanji.
Fairly easy to search.
- Dartmouth kanji
movies - Movies (QuickTime) of someone using a brush to draw various
kanji. Sound clips of the readings too! But poorly indexed.
- Kanji alive - A
QuickTime-based web application with searchable character drawing
animations, stroke diagrams, and sample compounds for each kanji (written in
kanji, English, and even spoken!)
Misc. Reading / Writing
- NIHONGO-JUKU - This blog provides casual reading material
with audio for intermediate and advanced students of Japanese.
So, actually, this is great for both reading and listening. The audio
is in standard MP3 format and is easy to play and download.
- Names in Japanese
- Learn how to write your [non-Japanese] name in romaji, hiragana,
katakana, and even kanji.
- Japanese VAL Balloon
- Intermediate-level reading practice. You may need to manually select
Japanese auto-detect or Shift-JIS character encoding in your web browser.
- Mononoke Hime: Annotated
English Script - The script of Mononoke Hime in Japanese, romaji, and
English all together. Good reading practice!
- Nobumono HP
(Enix
& Square RPG Database) - Written scripts for most of the Final
Fantasy and Dragon Warrior RPGs. Japanese text only. You may
need to manually select Japanese auto-detect or Shift-JIS character encoding
in your web browser.
Listening
Specialized Reference / Articles
Miscellaneous
Humor
Links Pages
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