I am a digital nomad and entrepreneur specializing in the curation of online information focused on the fields of business and travel. I run numerous websites, including MBA Depot, MBA Boost, Management Ideas, dado que and Lengthy Travel. I received my MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
I’m guessing a lot of you know how to type in Japanese (hint: you don’t need a Japanese keyboard), but did you know about all the “hidden” special characters you can type out while you’re in Japanese input mode? You aren’t only limited to hiragana, katakana, romaji, and kanji. There are a score of other weird characters you can use to make your text a … [ Read more ]
Source: Tofugu | Subjects: Language Learning Tips, Miscellaneous
“Crazy for Kanji” provides the context sorely missing from most classes and books about kanji. Jam-packed with exhibits, the book supplies background information, explores fun themes, and challenges readers with games. Novices will gain the basic knowledge needed to grasp kanji, and advanced students will come to understand the system of kanji as they’ve never understood it before.
Students often stop learning Japanese because of kanji. … [ Read more ]
Source: Eve Kushner | Subject: Books
How to learn, and not learn, to speak Japanese
Source: Will Jasprizza | Subject: Video / Audio
Instead of a Japanese language electronic dictionary, Tofugu recommends you get an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Source: Tofugu | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Translate
Bad news everyone. It looks like if you want to be considered as a literate member of the Japanese society, you’re going to have to learn an additional 196 kanji to make it in every day life. A proposal is in (and it seems like it’s going to pass.
Source: Tofugu | Subject: Kanji
The Wide Island View is the webzine written for and by members of The JET Programme in Hiroshima, Japan. Created in November 2006, the Wide Island View began as a PDF newsletter emailed to members every two months. In June 2009, the publication moved online and now posts fresh content every week. Generally speaking, the site is updated every Monday.
In addition to news and info … [ Read more ]
Subject: Blogs
JAPUNDIT is a social bookmarking site that gives you an instant overview of the most popular English language articles about Japan and the other countries of East Asia. Basically, social bookmarking allows members to post links to articles or sites so others can view and evaluate them. In many ways, JAPUNDIT is similar to the popular Digg.com site.
Acceptable submissions to JAPUNDIT include blog posts, mainstream … [ Read more ]
Subject: News / Magazine
MyKikitori is a fun and easy way to practice kikitori (listening comprehension) for beginning learners of Japanese. It is based on the textbook, Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Volume 1. It is FREE and there is no need to sign up for an account. Lessons come equipped with audio lessons and quizzes.
Source: Aiko Sato | Subject: Video / Audio
Let’s Learn Japanese is a video-based Japanese language study course for English speakers produced by The Japan Foundation. It consists of 52 video lessons, divided into two parts (Basic I and Basic II). Each part consists of 26 episodes, and the episodes explain grammatical structures, new words and cultural information about Japan.
According to Wikipedia, the first part (Basic I) was made in the mid 1980’s, … [ Read more ]
Source: The Japan Foundation | Subject: Video / Audio
Tangorin is a free online Japanese dictionary and learning tool combining words and kanji search with example sentences and custom vocabulary lists. Tangorin includes 18 different glossaries and various look up methods.
Editor’s Note: for an interview with the creator of the dictionary, see http://www.tofugu.com/2012/10/10/tangorin-interview/
Source: Grzegorz Bober | Subject: Translate
Draw a kanji in the box with the mouse. The computer will try to recognize it (be careful about drawing strokes in the correct order and direction). The screen will write the top ten kanji which it thinks match your as you enter strokes with the best match on the left and hyperlinks to the entry for that kanji in Jim Breen’s “WWWJDIC.” If you … [ Read more ]
Source: Ben Bullock (sljfaq.org) | Subject: Kanji
PhotoMann has a large ‘collection’ of images of unique vending machines found around Japan. Over 50 of them can be seen here
Source: PhotoMann | Subject: Images
This online dictionary is “based off the Kenkyusha dictionaries. The English entries are good, but the Japanese entries are superb, breaking the word down into all of its potential meanings(including peripheral or metaphorical ones), cross-linking most of the compounds in its definition to other entries and in many cases giving example sentences. It is definitely more useful for intermediate and advanced students… It took a … [ Read more ]
Source: Weblio | Subject: Translate
Tagaini Jisho is a free, open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool that is available for Windows, MacOS X and Linux and aims at becoming your Japanese study assistant. It allows you to quickly search for entries and mark those that you wish to study, along with tags and personal notes. It also let you train entries you are studying and follows your progression in … [ Read more ]
Subject: Translate
zonjineko! is a little Japanese blog teaching…well….Japanese and also featuring photos from the author’s trips to Japan.
Subject: Blogs
This video series (originally TV and DVD) now has a web version. Each episode features two skits (basic and advanced) focusing on a grammar topic, discussion of the grammar and various cultural videos.
The skits and cultural videos are subtitled in normal japanese, kana only, romaji, or japanese + English making them open to many level sets. The navigation is currently in Japanese only but an … [ Read more ]
Source: Japan Foundation | Subject: Video / Audio
The Kansai Japanese-Language Institute has developed this web portal in order to support overseas learners of Japanese. The site introduces all kinds of websites and useful tools which learners can use in their studies.
Each website or online-tool includes a summary of the contents, some basic user instructions and guidelines on how the site could be used to address concrete learning needs, all in a way … [ Read more ]
Source: Japanese-Language Institute in Kansai | Subject: Miscellaneous | Other
This list has been broken up by category, that way you can find the things you’re most interested in quickly and easily (without having to scroll through the entire list). Within each category, I’ve listed resources starting with my favorites and working my way down. Those marked with a tofugu logo () are “Tofugu approved,” which mostly just means they’ll give you a warm and … [ Read more ]
Source: Tofugu | Subject: Miscellaneous | Other
The Japanese learning industry has, for all intents and purposes, failed you. It’s not your fault that learning kanji is like hitting your face on a curb, it’s the industry as a whole. Sure, there are pockets here and there that are pretty smart about it, but they tend to be small and nobody really knows about them. Most likely, you know what your teachers … [ Read more ]
Source: Tofugu | Subjects: Kanji, Language Learning Tips
“Nowadays, Japanese language schools are facing a new era in which their values are being questioned. Within this context, we at Kyoto Minsai Japanese Language School aim to give not only the meaning and information found in words through Japanese language education, but also an understanding of Japanese culture and the ways of thinking of Japanese people and their everyday life, through these experiences our … [ Read more ]
Subject: Schools