Japanese Language Resources

Yuricse wrote: Japanese Verbs (http://ww8.tiki.ne.jp/~tmath/language/jpverbs/index.htm)

Cost: Free
Registration: None
Description: This is a website that provides a nice explanation of Japanese verb tenses and usage. I found this most helpful after I learned the basic conjugation of verbs. It provides a more detailed analysis than many online sources. The home page has many more links that you may find interesting.

It's very helpful..
Arigatou :*

okay i found these amazing elementary school kanji books at the japanese equivalent of the $1.00 store. it's in 6 books *1 per elementary grade. so basically if you follow these book you will probably learn 40-55% of the kanji japanese kids learn by age 12. it gives the kanji stroke order, writing practice, the kun' and on' readings for each kanji and 5 example words or phrases (helps with vocab and memorization). and a few excercises . it is the easiest and most complete way i have found to learn kanji yet. now for the downsides. it's 100% japanese but it has basic hiragana. you WILL need a japanese-english-english-japanese dictionary for sure. in fact i not only use my dictionary but i also use the iphone app "kotoba" (called imiwa? now). another translation app and this japanese-english nintendo DS game/dictionary that allows me to write the kanji or kana if all else fails. most of my time is spent trying to translate the example vocab...can be annoying but worth it. you will probably need additional kanji practice sheets, because the book doesn't offer enough writing practice. and now for the biggest issue. i want to share it with you guys. actually that was one of reasons i was so excited to find this. i can scan the books no prob. the problem is japan has really silly copy write/ piracy laws, and i'm a foreinger and i'm a sensei. not a good combination to take the risk of getting in trouble, going to jail for yrs and paying ridiculous fines before they deport me. lol. so if anyone has suggestions for how i can share this great find with they rest of you please PM.

I found an app for apple devices to learn kanji and its awesome. It's a flashcard app but it's the best one I've found. I generally hate flash cards but this one is awesome. It's called stickystudy. There is a free version that only gives grade 1 kanji and words...that is about 600 words (kanji compounds) and 103 kanji. It's a colored coded system that works well. I've been very lazy with studying Japanese but in 2 days I've memorized 70% of jlpt N5 kanji in either Japanese reading, English translations or both. I'm so impressed that I bought decided to buy the full version. It's ¥700, not sure how much it will cost in other country app stores. Together with writing practice I hope to make a lot more progress in the next few months than I did in the last year.

In my experience JapanesePod 101 is the best you'll get for audio lessons. There's Pimsleur but the Japanese taught in that is rigid and very formal stuff that you won't even be using unless you're a business man. In my opinion, you can supplement audio lessons with "real" audio, i.e. podcasts, drama cds and Japanese talk radio. Why? Because even if you don't understand it, listening to Japanese being spoken at its natural speed is much more beneficial to you than any audio lesson. I used JapanesePod101 myself for quite some time but they speak way too much English in their lessons and rely too heavily on grammar. I believe in learning from context and that's what worked best for me. JapanesePod101 relies too much on the "why" and not the "how," if you know what I mean? They spend too much time explaining why you say certain things in Japanese when ultimately you just need to know how to say things and when to say them.

This article here explains what I'm trying to get at:
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/why-you-should-keep-listening-even-if-you-dont-understand

And why learning grammar isn't necessary:
http://learnjapanesefaq.com/why-learning-japanese-grammar-isnt-good-frogs/?utm_content=buffer29a28&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

Good luck with your studies!

I think http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html has some audio (and video) lessons as well as written ones. I haven't used them so I can't tell you whether they're good or not, but they might be helpful.

boutux wrote: i'm using the Genki I text book to study

Everything you said, but Genki is also the only textbook that genuinely made me smile. Some of the dialogues and illustrations are really cute.

I also recommend Genki very much! It gives you a very good foundation of both grammar and vocabulary, and I found that after Genki I and half of Genki II I could without trouble start learning Japanese from just reading and watching things in Japanese and looking up words. Moreover, if you are really motivated you can get Genki I done in just a couple of weeks because it has very easy grammar explanations and such.

For beginners I really recommend learning from games and manga, especially shoujo manga because it is generally more dialogue-based and often has furigana over the kanji. My first manga in Japanese was Hana Yori Dango, and it is incredibly easy! For games I think the Ace Attorney series is great because it is text-based, and as long as you learn words like 'murder-weapon', 'evidence' and 'trial' it is easy to understand. Even though some things might look discouragingly difficult at first, if you understand at least the main plot, or more generally understand the story, it is a good level (or at least that is my motto).

Dramas and variety shows are good too(without English subtitles!). In variety shows people sometimes talk fast, but they usually partly put subtitles when people speak, which is useful if you have trouble hearing. My favorite are しゃべくり００７, 笑っていいとも, and ダウンタウントーク.

I also recently found a very good youtube channel that explains grammar and vocabulary in Japanese!
https://www.youtube.com/user/freejapaneselessons3