Online Resources
The web is full of sites that claim to be able to help with learning Japanese but some of them are littered with mistakes and wrong or out of date information. Here are some sites that should prove genuinely useful.
The web is full of sites that claim to be able to help with learning Japanese but some of them are littered with mistakes and wrong or out of date information. Here are some sites that should prove genuinely useful.
Learn Japanese: Tae Kim's Guide
It's not yet complete but Tae Kim's aim to make this a "complete guide" to learning Japanese looks as though it could really happen eventually. Not only does it run through the essentials of Japanese grammar and vocabulary logically and thoroughly, but it doesn't stick to polite Japanese like most textbooks. And the whole thing is free. |
Pera Pera Penguin
This collection of 100 short Japanese lessons ran from 1999 to 2011 as a column in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper. Each lesson concentrates on a particular set of expressions, vocabulary or points of grammar in conversational Japanese. It's not for complete beginners but great for post-beginners and intermediate students. |
Erin's Challenge!
Video lessons for beginners and upper beginners from the Japan Foundation. Each lesson has a theme, such as asking permission or discussing interests and they are backed up with exercises on developing vocabulary and practising key phrases. This is definitely one of the best free sites for learning Japanese. |
JapanesePod101
This site started in 2005 as a free daily podcast with lessons at beginner to upper intermediate level. It's still free to join but to get the most from it you need a paid subscription, giving access to the massive archive of audio and video lessons and supporting PDFs. Still very good but not really free now. |
Nihongo Master
This new site is quite interactive, with drills, quizzes and a lively community blog. It has a very nicely presented J/E dictionary and kanji dictionary, based as usual on the EDICT and KANJIDIC data. A few typos are in evidence but it looks very promising. There is a free trial and limited free use afterwards but you'll need to pay a monthly subscription for the full package. |
NHK World Japanese Lessons
Fifty Japanese lessons, originally broadcast on radio by Japan's national public broadcasting corporation, are available for free download on this site as mp3 audio and pdf text. Each 10 minute lesson follows the progress of Vietnamese office worker Cuong as he gets to grips with Japanese in his new job in Tokyo. |
Learn Japanese Adventure
This is a bit different from the usual Japanese learning sites, as it was set up by a software engineer from Singapore who developed a passion for the Japanese language and passed all the levels of the JLPT in successive years. He provides free basic and intermediate lessons, together with learning tips and advice based on his personal experience. |
Maggie Sensei
A dog called Maggie is the teacher in this blog, which covers a range of lessons and topics from beginner to intermediate level, from formal Japanese to slang and from schoolchildren's expressions to business Japanese. There are videos, sound files, a colourful layout and plenty of humour: all in all a great way to learn Japanese. |
Kanji Damage
Instead of the traditional methods of learning and remembering kanji (like working through the school grades), this site adopts a "radicals and mnemonics" approach similar to that used by James Heisig in the "Remembering The Kanji" book. It covers most of the joyou kanji in a logical way with readings and compound examples. Some may find that the ultra-casual American English of the narrative text helps to lubricate the dryness of the task too. |
Tatoeba
This multilingual dictionary covers 129 languages and features example sentences rather than simple translations of words. The Japanese/English part of it is huge, providing a great resource of real-life examples of the language, not just bare definitions. There's a slight catch though: because it's a completely open project, to which anyone can contribute, there are inevitably some mistakes and quite a lot of duplication. Even so, it's extremely useful. |