Learning Japanese: resources I use
various media and software I use to learn Japanese and foreign langages - 09/2022 - #Japan
Intro
A list of software and media I use to learn Japanese, may this give you ideas to find fun material to learn from. This post follows my article on the method I use to learn languages and Japanese in particular.
Resources
Starters (any level)
- If you don't know about space repetition learning (flashcards) applications I recommend you start getting informed.
- Anki desktop application (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- AnkiDroid (Android app that synchronize with Anki desktop)
- AnkiWeb Anki online review of your decks, database of cards from other users (any topics, Japanese, math etc.) take a look at the section"AnkiWeb Japanese decks".
- Anki trick: Make furigana pop ups above kanji in your anki cards
- Jsho (Android app, Japanese dictionary, kanji stroke order, verb conjugation, Anki support: automatically create Anki cards clicking on definitions)
- Google translate (take a photo of kanji find pronunciation and meaning, or find a kanji by stroking it)
- deepl.com AI based translator which usually sounds more natural than google translate.
- Obenkyo (review reading, writing of hiragana, katakana, kanji with hand writing recognition)
- Subadub: Chrome and Firefox plugin. Learn Japanese watching netflix with subadub as it allows you to display subtitles as plain text and copy paste, or simply over the text with Yomichan You can also download the subtitles as a text file.
- Anki decks:
- Favorites:
- Japanese text readers:
(hover the mouse over the words and pronunciation and translation appears in a pop up)- JadeReader (Android, *.txt file input)
- Yomichan browser plugin (Firefox, Chrome, automatically create Anki cards with screenshots, make cards while watching Netflix in Japanese using Subadub)
- Readings:
- Kanji starter 1, Kanji starter 2 by Daiki Kusuya
- Web sites
- forvo.com (word database pronounced by native speakers)
- jsho.org (online dictionary)
- weblio (online dictionary, example sentence more accurate than jsho.org)
Intermediate
Unreal Engine Slate UI examples- My Starcraft 1998: Interactive Terran transcript (you can use your phone to view furiganas)
- Some readings on the net:
- NHK easy (Real NHK news simplified for learners, furigana, word definition)
- Japanese fairy-tales
- Children books (Find second hand books at bookoff)
- About science (comes with Furigana)
- なぜ?どうして? かがくのお話1年生 (1st year elementary school)
- なぜ?どうして? 科学のお話2年生 (2nd year elementary school)
- etc. (in the same series, history facts, fairy-tales etc. the science is the easiest to read in my opinion.)
- About science (comes with Furigana)
- Shadowing series (Japanese conversations with English translation)
- Manga
- Yotsubato Kiyohiko Azuma
(Every day life conversation, yet very cute and fun to read)
- Yotsubato Kiyohiko Azuma
- Tricks to do google search "some words"+grammar
- Youtube channels
- Nihongo no mori (Very thorough lessons, Japanese explained in Japanese)
- 電撃ランキング / dengeki ranking (10mns ranking video with Japanese subtitles)
- Zelda: Twilight princess dialogue analysis
- Podcast
- Bilingual news (News and interesting debate in English
and Japanese)
- Bilingual news transcript (available through android or iPhone app)
- Bilingual news (News and interesting debate in English
and Japanese)
- Transcripts
Advanced
- LingQ (Lots of audio conversation with transcript)
- Reading
- YouTube
- Podcast
- The strange garage of Mr Pete (10mn episodes presenting various outdoor, activities work, history)
- Subtitles (Note: Way easier to find subtitles first and then the video)
- kitsunekko.net (subs for anime)
- d-addircts (subs for drama)
- Japan's Netflix: take a VPN and access tons of videos with Japanese and English subtitles.
- With English translation
Notes
Lessons in Tokyo
List of volunteer class per district (there is an English
button on the top)
Lessons are cheap, often around 500yen per lesson but the quality of teaching is often
average.
If you find a good teacher it's good to guide you through learning grammar.
meetup.com nice to practice and find conversation partners, search for language exchange events. Some events are really informal and not suited for conversation so you might have to try a few of them. Don't expect to find very formal lessons there.
kumon courses more expensive but offer structured lessons.
JLPT N1
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