428 Posts Found

A Word That Is Not “As You Expect.”

Author: Kanae Nakamine | Source: “Tofugu” | Subjects: Grammar, Language Study, Vocabulary / Phrases

よ is for new information and ね is for shared information.

Authors: Mami Suzuki, Moeko Norota | Source: “Tofugu” | Subjects: Grammar, Language Study, Vocabulary / Phrases

For a trip to Japan, I wanted to be able to read at a middle school level or higher. Here’s how I accomplished that goal.

Author: Matt Anzai | Source: “Medium” | Subjects: Kanji, Language Study

Looking for listening materials for Kansai-ben (i.e. dialect)? Check out Nあ～ Casual Nihongo, a great podcast channel for those who are eager to learn Kansai-ben!

In each episode, the Kansai-ben speaking host, Dai, plays audio of a short conversation in Kansai-ben, and provides commentary on it. These conversations are real, natural conversation, which almost makes you feel like you’re a fly on the wall in an … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Video / Audio

The YouTube word search tool, YouGlish, is now available in Japanese. If you want to listen to a way a word is pronounced in real life — or at least in a YouTube video — you can search a word and pull up hundreds of videos with that term. The videos are cued up to start a few seconds before the word is spoken and … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Video / Audio, Vocabulary / Phrases

The YouTube channel にほんごボックス launched around a year ago and has been publishing content regularly ever since, meaning they already have over a hundred videos to choose from. The intention behind the channel is to help non-native speakers of Japanese become familiar with natural, everyday language. That is, not the kind of Japanese used in textbooks to illustrate grammar points, but the kind you’re most … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Video / Audio

If you’re looking for a podcast that offers authentic, everyday Japanese, we recommend you check out Let’s Learn Japanese From Small Talk! The podcast is hosted by two native speakers of Japanese, and they cover a wide range of interesting topics about modern life in Japan.

One of my favorite things about the podcast is how well the hosts provide vocabulary support for listeners. Instead … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Video / Audio

Can’t get enough Japanese listening materials? Noriko-Sensei’s got your back — she updates her podcast channel, Learn Japanese with Noriko, almost everyday!

What’s special about this podcast channel is how Noriko-Sensei speaks clearly and uses simple words and expressions. She maintains this clarity even while speaking at a natural speed. She doesn’t intentionally slow her speech down like you find in other beginner materials — but … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Video / Audio

とりま, ぱくる, じわる, エモい… how much Japanese slang do you know? If you want to spice up your vocabulary, follow Learn Native Japanese (LNJ) on Instagram for regular doses of slang!

The account is run by two native speakers of Japanese, Dai and Ryo. Each post is a short video of them introducing a Japanese slang word or phrase, from decades-old ones to newer, currently trending … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Vocabulary / Phrases

For the grammar nerds out there, this one is for you! 日本語文型バンク (or “Japanese Grammar Point Bank”) is a collection of grammar explanations and example sentences, created by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL). They create a lot of amazing tools for analyzing and learning about the Japanese language, and this one is quite a gem.

The tool’s content is organized into … [ Read more ]

Source: “National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL)” | Subjects: Grammar, Language Study

It can be difficult for Japanese language learners to find interesting short contemporary Japanese stories to read with English translations online. A novel can be daunting in length and complexity, while children’s stories might not be interesting or relatable.

Enter the literary news site tree, from Kodansha publishers, and their web series, Day to Day. Tree, created with the goal of introducing readers to new Japanese … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Language Study, Reading Material

How To Address and Refer to “Others” in Japanese

Author: Kanae Nakamine | Source: “Tofugu” | Subjects: General, Language Study, Vocabulary / Phrases

This is a cool diagram I found recently that compares the grammatical structure of a fairly complex sentence written in Japanese and English.

Subjects: Grammar, Language Study, Miscellaneous

Do な-adjectives “always” take な? The answer is の (Pun Intended).

Authors: Cameron Lombardo, Moeko Norota | Source: “Tofugu” | Subjects: Grammar, Language Study

When you first start learning Japanese, you most likely start out with romaji. Romaji is using an alphabet you already know to write and read Japanese.

And when you get started out, romaji is great! “Pff, I don’t need to learn kanji,” you might think, “This romaji stuff is easy!”

Slow down there, sparky! Romaji might be easy for a while, but it’s just a matter of … [ Read more ]

Author: Hashi | Source: “Tofugu” | Subjects: Language Learning Tips, Language Study

This site is a basic but useful reading and listening resource. You’ll find short news articles read by site owner Sakura in both a slow and fast speed to suit your ability. There are three tabs for the text. The default tab shows the original Japanese text with popup definitions and translations. Another tab is for a romaji version and the third tab is the … [ Read more ]

Author: Sakura | Subjects: Language Study, Reading Material, Video / Audio, Vocabulary / Phrases

Tatoeba is a large database of sentences and translations. Its content is ever-growing and results from the voluntary contributions of thousands of members.

Tatoeba provides a tool for you to see examples of how words are used in the context of a sentence. You specify words that interest you, and it returns sentences containing these words with their translations in the desired languages. The name Tatoeba … [ Read more ]

Author: Trang Ho | Subjects: Language Study, Vocabulary / Phrases

You can’t learn a language just by studying vocabulary and grammar. There has to be something you give a damn about understanding in the long run. The sooner you grapple with the stuff you love in the original language, the better. Sure, it may feel like beating your head against a wall sometimes but here are some tricks to help, and also some warnings about … [ Read more ]

Author: Linda Lombardi | Source: “Tofugu” | Subjects: Language Study, Video / Audio

Kanji Converter is an interesting online tool that lets you paste Japanese text to convert. Well, there are other options for that, but where this one differs is that you can toggle different display options on and off. For example, you can show furigana or romaji and English translations. You can highlight all the words by part of speech (nouns, adjectives, particles, etc.). Clicking on … [ Read more ]

Author: Gary Ross | Subjects: Language Study, Reading Material, Software / Tools

Learn Japanese hiragana, katakana and kanji, and test yourself by drawing, or multiple choice. This application helps you memorize:

• Japanese syllabary :Katakana & Hiragana, with flash card, keyboard, or drawing recognition
• Numbers, in romaji, Hiragana, or kanji
• 2300+ japanese kanji’s (level 1-5 JLPT or Jouyou 1-7) with stroke animation (source KanjiVG), translation, readings (Source KanjiDict) with flash card and drawing game.
• 14600+ japanese words (in

… [ Read more ]

Author: Atomusk | Subjects: Apps, Grammar, Kanji, Language Study, Vocabulary / Phrases