Will Jasprizza offers this informative and useful blog focused on topics relevant to learners of the Japanese language.
Editor’s Note: Inactive for many years but the archives should still be useful.
Source: Will Jasprizza | Subject: Blogs
Here is a Kanji dictionary geared for the serious learner or for anyone with a curiousity about the historial etymology of the characters. The dictionary covers the 1945 Joyo Kanji.
Each entry is organized as follows. The character; the number of strokes, ON reading(s), KUN reading(s), ancient forms (where applicable) and the etymological explanation. Present-day meanings in Japanese are in boldface. As is customary … [ Read more ]
Source: Lawrence J. Howell and Hikaru Morimoto | Subject: Kanji
Charles Kelly, Aichi Institute of Technology Professor and the man behind Charles Kelly’s Online Japanese Language Study Materials, has grabbed 900 photos of real life Japanese signs and stuck them on the web so people outside of Japan (or people in Japan who can’t pry themselves away from the computer) can practise reading them. The photos don’t come with translations (you have to do some … [ Read more ]
Source: Charles Kelly | Subject: Miscellaneous | Other
365日物語 (365 Days of Stories – my translation) is a series of three minute readings from the book of the same name. Each episode ties into a historical event linked to the same date – I listened to episodes about Mary Shelley’s publication of Frankenstein, Churchill’s take on the Iron Curtain and how Franklin Roosevelt was never photographed in his wheelchair. Very easy on the … [ Read more ]
Source: Sofia Podcasting Studio | Subjects: Multimedia, Video / Audio
At 140 pages this is a wonderful collection of set phrases for all manner of situations. Set phrases? Shouldn’t I just say things in my own words? Well, a lot of the time, no. The blurb on the back explains:
“Words don’t exist in isolation, to be placed willy-nilly in grammatical slots by a speaker exercising absolute freedom of choice. Rather, words come in neatly bound … [ Read more ]
Sources: John Brennan (Translator), Sanseido | Subject: Books
Will at Nihongojouzu thought it would be fun to insert examples of sound words (onomatopoeia) into an account of an average day in the life of an Assistant Language Teacher in a public school in Japan. This way readers can see immediately how to use these nifty word devices in context.
Source: Nihongojouzu.com | Subject: Vocabulary / Phrases
Is your audio cupboard looking bare? You may be interested in this cache of listening goodies. mp3japan is an archive of mp3 files from the NHK audio series “Basic Japanese for You” and “Brush Up Your Japanese” which are only available in streaming form on the NHK site. 100 and 50 episodes respectively, 3-4Mb per episode. Knock yourself out. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
Source: mobile.hack | Subject: Video / Audio
KanjiGymLight is a Java based application for reviewing the 2042 kanji introduced in Jim Heisig’s book Remembering the Kanji. It is designed to aid in kanji review via either 56 pre-set lessons or using the Heisig numbers. KanjiGymLight comes in a laptop/PC and a Palm version, needs the Java Runtime Environment and all you need do is register to download it.
The interface is straightforward … [ Read more ]
Source: Jim Heisig Vittorio Klostermann | Subject: Kanji
Bite size pieces of intermediate Japanese for your ears 神田Podsayings is a daily podcast featuring Japanese sayings with brief explanations, which at 30-60 seconds per episode won’t spoil your listening appetite. The site is all Japanese, but nothing a judicious application of rikaichan or LiveDictionary can’t fix. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
Source: 神田 Podsayings | Subject: Video / Audio
This book is a clearly laid out and well explained collection of idioms. The main part of the book devotes a page per expression to a wide variety of common Japanese idioms like とことんまで (to the bitter end) and しらぬ が ほとけ (ignorance is bliss). Each page contains a sample two line dialogue incorporating the idiom, an English translation of the dialogue, a paragraph explaining the idiom, … [ Read more ]
Source: Mizue Sasaki | Subject: Books
A podcastin both English and Japanese, geared mostly toward beginners (based on my very limited sampling).
Source: TalkSushi.com | Subject: Video / Audio
Dictionaries are like fibre – necessary, but not often consumed on their own. Why? Well dictionaries are boring. They have a set order, few if any pictures and they are written in school marmish seriousness.
But not the Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten ことばつかいかた絵じてん (Words in Use Picture Dictionary – my translation) by Sanseido – this guy is FUN. The first hint is the colorful cover – any … [ Read more ]
Source: Sanseido | Subject: Books
The purpose of the site is to help people learn “real, live” Japanese as a living language, through real-world examples.
Source: Eric Jackson | Subjects: Blogs, Language Study
JapanesePod101 is a well put together podcast aimed at beginner level students of Japanese. Each podcast is approximately 10 minutes long and just right for people starting out because:
-the lessons focus on one main concept and drill it solidly
-the lessons are very easy to understand
-even simple words like きれい are broken down and spoken slowly ”き れ い”、which is perfect for beginners
-the skits, despite being cheesy, provided good … [ Read more ]
Source: Erklaren Co. Ltd. | Subjects: Multimedia, Video / Audio
A group blog that touches on pretty much any aspect of Japanese learning, depending on the whim of the authors.
Source: Various | Subjects: General, Language Study
Another excellent podcast, but this one is aimed at intermediate and advanced students of Japanese. While Learn Japanese mixes wry English commentary with samples of Japanese conversation, Nihongo-Juku is an all Japanese affair. Narrator Rieko discusses common mistakes and areas of improvement garnered from her efforts teaching her American husband to speak Japanese. The material is relevant and practical – for example, how to accept … [ Read more ]
Source: Rieko | Subject: Video / Audio
Samurai Kanji is a 2042-kanji flash-card application for PDA’s (PalmOS, SymbianOS, or Windows CE) intended for drilling after studying James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji I.
What primarily makes this kanji flash-card application different from other, similar applications is that the kanji are divided into the same lessons that Heisig uses in his book. The user can then choose which lessons to drill on as the … [ Read more ]
Source: Robert Baruch | Subject: Software / Tools
Jonathan Waller put together some useful resources to help him study for the JLPT exam and offers them for download on this site. Included are vocabulary and kanji lists for each level.
Source: Jonathan Waller | Subject: JLPT Exam
Not only does this podcast have the coolest title image ever it features some of the most laid back yet instantly useful Japanese lessons around. The lessons contain real samples of language as actually used by Japanese people plus commentary by host Alex Brooke, who is obviously having a good time recording the material – a point which makes the whole thing so much easier … [ Read more ]
Source: Alex Brooke | Subject: Video / Audio
A short but useful post by Will at Nihongojouzu.com about describing unknown Kanji via their radical.
Source: Nihongojouzu | Subject: Kanji