#japanese resources

[adhd-languages]

Found a new language practice app!

Polygloss has you describe an image in your target language so another player can guess it. It encourages creative answers. The game works for people of all levels — you can describe simple pictures or try your hand at wordplay.

It has plenty of options and will let you add any language you’d like — tho it’ll probably be more difficult to find people to play with.

[nihongo-de-asobo]

Japanese Bathhouses Guide: Vocabulary

銭湯 （せんとう）is a bathhouse with heated tap water. More common in big cities.

温泉（おんせん）is a bathhouse with fed by thermal springs and the mineral content of the water is usually promoted for various health benefits.

露天風呂（ろてんぶろ）are outdoor baths.

暖簾（のれん）are a type of curtain hung across entryways. At the entrance to a bathhouse, they will typically read 「ゆ」 for hot water. Bathhouses with separate baths for each gender will usually have 暖簾 that read 「男」 or 「女」.

掛け湯（かけゆ）is a smaller pool of water, usually near the bath entrance, where you splash water over yourself.

手桶（ておけ）is a small bucket with a handle, usually placed at the 掛け湯. It is used to splash water over yourself before entering the main bath area.

湯桶（ゆおけ）a wash bowl either provided at each wash station or stacked near the entrance to the bath area.

腰掛け（こしかけ）a stool provided at each wash station or stacked near the entrance to the bath area. Sometimes called a バスチェア.

備え付けの石鹸・シャンプー（そなえつけのせっけん・シャンプー）shampoo/soap provided by the bathhouse

タオル

can refer to a large towel used to dry off after the bath (also known as バスタオル)

can refer to the smaller towel taken into the baths for washing and modesty purposes. These smaller towels can also be referred to as 手拭い（てぬぐい） but this is a type of cotton hand towel which can be used in the bathhouse but is not exclusively used for this purpose.

Bathhouse Etiquette Guide

[inkichan]

YouTube Channels for Kids by JLPT Levels

(⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ resources

こんにちは, Japanese learners! Learning a language is an exciting adventure, isn't it? To add a spark of joy to your Japanese learning journey, here's a collection of YouTube channels tailored for kids. Organized by JLPT levels, these channels offer a blend of education and entertainment for learners at different stages. Keep in mind, though, that JLPT levels aren't an exact science like math – language learning can be subjective in terms of difficulty. However, these resources provide a fantastic starting point and a fun way to explore the world of Japanese language and culture. Let's hop into this delightful world of animated learning and playful discoveries!

Friendly reminder to adjust your way of learning in order to make the most of what you're studying to reach the goal you truly want! read my post about it (ᵔ◡ᵔ)

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴N 5 ╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

— Curious George (N5 level)

— Japanese folk tales/anime series (Japanese audio/Japanese subtitles) from BomBom Academy (N5 level)

— Peppa Pig (N5-4 level)

— Anpanman (N5-4 level)

— NHK education (N5-4 level)

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴N4 ╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

— Cinnamon Roll, Sanrio (N4 level)

— [Anime] Atashin'chi (N4-3 level)

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴N3 ╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

— Sesame Street Japan (N3 level)

— Chibi Maruko Chan (N3-2 level)

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴N2 ╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

— Precure (N2 level)

またね～@inkichan

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴﹕꒰ ᐢ｡- ༝ -｡ᐢ ꒱﹕╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

[ohagiyo]

What I use to learn 日本語! I'll be updating this as I go! So make sure to check in sometime! ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ)

Apps!

Renshuu - Adjustable plan, has flashcards, games, guides, and an interactive community! Overall really simple to use and so fun!

Busuu - Full of ads but has helpful information and an interactive community, no flashcards though.

Websites!

Wanna use Japanese! - It'll show you a few sources/links for the thing you want to practice, whether it be reading, speaking, writing or listening!

Dokusho club - Gives you reading sources!

Tadoku - Also another reading website, with furigana!

Nihongo e na - You choose what category you want to study in, and it'll give you resources! You can also add resources of your own!

Anime & Manga - Can't forget about all my anime/manga lovers!

Minato - For self-study students, they also have a few tutor courses!

Hikidasu - Hikidasu is a Japanese-drama series about Xuan our main character who found herself in Japan for work despite knowing little to none Japanese, embark on a journey of learning with her!

Youglish - Dictionary, plays a video and the timestamp where said word is being spoken so you can pronounce it like how a native speaker would!

Jisho - Another dictionary with examples!

Japanga - 3 in one! Dictionary, Kana and Kanji studies along with radicles!

Nihongoi - Flash cards, vocab, learning thru images, and kanji! All packed into one website covers N5 to N1!

Crunchy Nihongo - I honestly don't know how to describe it, just check it out brah.

Youtube!

Japarrot - Learning Japanese and listening practice in forms of skits!

Let's ask shogo! - Culture!

Kaname Naito - Japanese learning, particles, words, ect.

Comprehensible Japanese - It's in the name, The channel contains gaming content, cooking, unboxing, reading books, all in Japanese with gestures! I suggest watching the unpacking series!

Nihongo Dekita With Sayaka - Much like Kaname Naito, teaches you real Japanese!

Daily Japanese with Naoko - Food, listening practice, and conversation practice!

Nihongo learning - Bite sized comprehensible Japanese videos!

Japanese Ammo with Misa - Like Sayaka, although she uploads frequently(?)

Learn Japanese with Tanaka San - Short skits and listening practice!

Yuko-Sensei - One of THE best teachers there is tbh, explains grammar points, particles, Kanji radicles, and so on!

Leisurely Life Diary - Life vlogs from the country side of Japan! All in Japanese + Japanese Subtitles!

Akane Japanese Class - Vlogs and essential vocab for certain places, All in Japanese!

Anime!

Atashin'chi Official Channel - Slice of life anime in Japanese without subtitles! There are Eng subs though.

美味しんぼ 公式チャンネル【デジタルリマスター版】 - Cooking anime yum

Blogs!

Buchi to Pichi - They're on hiatus so don't expect new content! however their posts are so so helpful for beginners!

Hamusuke japanese learning - Posts 4 verbs or adjectives or some kanji at least everyday or so, they're also the creator Nihongoi!

Japan Words - Calligraphy and words. I mean, what did you expect?

Dokusho club - Did you know that they have a tumblr? yeah, me neither.

Nihongo no tabi - Just someone posting about their journey in japanese and sharing what they find.

Mocha youbi - tes, another study blog they also repost JP stuff.

Nihongo Enthusiast - I have no idea if this is an archived account or something but erm idk just have it.

@moss-sama-sideblog i thought id tag you in this since you looked interested

[greencabarette]

Japanese activities by grammar points

So... I made these for myself last month by assembling exercises from different textbooks. They're about really basic stuff cause I'm just getting started, but I thought they may be of help to someone else and wanted to share! <3

Causative

Causative-passive

Conditional forms (ば-conditional,　-たら,　なら)

Passive

Potential

ので、のに

のです / んだ

Some of them also include an explanation from the book "A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers and Learners" (it's wonderful, i really recommend it!).

[luckydoeslanguage]

🎏Immersion, its quirks, and tips for language learning this way!

its the 5th of May, so happy children's day! 🎏 I got a question in one of my posts asking for some advice on immersion learning! i thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about immersion in general, my current study(?) routine and perhaps give some useful advice! As the name suggests, Immersion language learning is done primarily by consuming media in your target language. Immersion can seem super intimidating to us learners, mostly cause we can't understand most of the stuff available to us. But! its not impossible to start out using immersion right out of the gate. i think people tend to get scared or go "I'll immerse when i get better at my TL!" But the truth of the matter is, your not going to get used to, or better at your target language unless you consume actual content. (in my opinion.)

Honestly, a lot of immersion learning is being able to tolerate that i probably wont understand everything right away. I will someday, but for now i have to be comfortable with not understanding a lot. which is okay! So, what is my current study routine?

right now, my routine consists of:

doing vocabulary cards on Anki from a premade anki deck.

playing about an hour of Animal crossing everyday

watching 1 - 3 episodes of an anime

watching Youtube videos

weekly (ish) grammar done by reading Imabi, and watching Cure Dolly videos on Youtube.

The bread and butter of my routine is learning vocab, and occasional grammar studies. I'm using the core2k/6k deck. which as the name implies, is an optimized vocab deck that contains the most common 6k JP vocabulary. i currently take 5 new vocab cards a day, and try to get my reviews in everyday. my anki deck has contributed a lot to me being able to immerse so early in my language journey. learning and then reviewing new words everyday lets me recognize words in my immersion. As time has gone on, i can recognize more and more words, and even some words I haven't encountered yet in my deck. Immersion, while still uncomfortable, (especially with complex media) is the other side of the coin. i try to spend double the time i spend on anki, immersing. Mostly because i enjoy what I'm immersing in, but also because i get more out of it the more time i spend immersing.

"that's all well and good Lucky, but what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn this way?"

Well! first of all, and this is very important:

Be comfortable with ambiguity. you may not be able to understand some, or maybe most of the thing you are immersing in. that's okay! Your brain is already looking for patterns to see in your TL, and is growing more accustomed to it. I got a lot of headaches in the beginning, i still do actually. but i know that's my brain working hard! (take a break if you get a headache!!)

Second, and probably just as important:

Follow your interests. make immersion fun! whats the point of immersing if its torturous?! I'm a lot more likely to continue immersing in something if i actually enjoy it. there are a lot of easier anime to immerse in, but if I'm not having fun, I'm not going to learn anything. you should do the same! even if its too difficult to understand. I'm currently watching someone on YouTube play a dating sim, and even though its waaaay above my skill level, I'm really enjoying myself watching it! I've even recognized some words i know. whole sentences, even.

Third:

Be Consistent! This is probably advice you've already heard, but it bears repeating! even if you do something small like listening to a song in your TL, that's immersion babyy :) consistency is key, above all.

Lastly: Track your Immersion. a problem with immersion is it can feel like you are going nowhere. tracking how much time you spend doing an activity, (watching videos, reading, etc) is a great way to make immersion more tangible. lots of people reccomend toggl, but i personally use polylogger. its built with language learners in mind, and is stupidly easy to use. i also keep personal logs in an online diary, as well as here on my blog to measure my progress. it helps!

alright, i think thats everything i have to say for now! if you've made it to the end of this long post, hello! and thank you <3 hope you've had a good day so far! I will leave you with some links to more reading on the subject under the cut, they go into more detail than i have here.

take care for now! またね！

this article by Refold about tolerating ambiguity:

The Moe ways guide to immersion:

Making the leap to Immersion, Video by Cure Dolly:

[gisatako]

Yomujp.com a website really useful for reading in Japanese, that has content divided into different levels is going to become a paid website.

The stories or articles until the end of July are freely accessible, but from August 1st, one has to register as a member and pay a monthly fee of 500yen to read them.

[onigiriforears]

AI: Friend or Foe? | Vocab

Hi friends! I've been trying to broaden my horizons by reading Japanese news articles about topics I wouldn't typically read or talk about in Japanese as an attempt to learn new words.

Today, I read Hiragana Times' article entitled "Are robots enemies or friends of humans?" It was a brief article that mentioned how in the West we view A.I. and robots as a sign of impending dystopia and we have media like the Terminator and the Matrix that show us at odds with A.I., while Japan views them as friends/helpers and have media like Astro Boy and Doraemon that depict them as being helpful. Do you think this is true? I find that a lot of nuance is lacking from the article, but I wonder if this is because the magazine is intended for Japanese-learning foreigners, so they may cut down on things in order to make the translations appear less intimidating. One of the cool things about Hiragana Times is that it's entirely bilingual!

Here are some of the vocab words I picked up:

人工知能 [じんこうちのう] artifical intelligence (A.I.)

搭載 [とうさい] being equipped with

親しむ [したしむ] to be intimate with; to befriend

受け入れる [うけいれる] to accept; to receive; to agree

一方 [いっぽう] on the one hand; on the other hand; meanwhile

欧米 [おうべい] the West; Europe and America

象徴 [し���うちょう] symbol (of something abstract); (symbolic) representation

見なす [みなす] to regard (as); to consider (to be); to deem; to look upon (as)

業務 [ぎょうむ] task; actions; affairs; duties

効率化 [こうりつか] making efficient; optimization

貢献 [こうけん] contribution (furthering a goal or cause); services (to a cause)

懸念 [けねん] worry; fear; anxiety; concern

根強い [ねづよい] firmly rooted; deep-seated

[lauralearns]

Notes on ひらがな 📚✨️

Disclaimer: I haven't been posting a lot lately (life's been hectic) so I decided to start sharing some of my notes. These were taken a while back, based on Tae Kim's grammar guide.

Japanese consists of two phonetic scripts (Hiragana and Katakana, referred to as kana), with a little less than 50 characters each. Today we'll study Hiragana!

Hiragana (ひらがな) is used for a couple of reasons:

• Grammatical purposes;

• Words with really difficult/rare Kanji;

• Colloquial expressions;

• Onomatopoeias;

• Or by beginner students and children, in place of unfamiliar Kanji;

Every character in Hiragana corresponds to a [vowel] or [consonant + vowel] syllable sound, with the exception of [ん].

When practicing by hand, it's extremely important to remember that stroke order and the direction of strokes matter a lot! You don’t want to end up with the writing skills of a clumsy toddler.

(the chart bellow has hiragana and katakana btw, the hiragana characters are on the left side)

source: r/japaneseresources on reddit

Thought learning all the characters was hard enough? Fear not, there's additional sounds for you to learn.

📚 The Muddied Sounds 📚

There are five more consonant sounds that are written by affixing two tiny lines (dakuten) or a tiny circle (handakuten) to a character. This creates a less clipped version of the consonants, as you can see bellow:

source: japanistry.com

📚 The Small [や], [ゆ] and [よ] 📚

We can combine a consonant with a / ya / yu / yo sound by attaching a small [や], [ゆ] or [よ] to the /i/ vowel character of each consonant.

source: guidetojapanese.org

📚 The Small [つ] 📚

A small [つ] is inserted between characters to carry the consonant sound of the second character to the end of the first.

Note that when you encounter a small [つ] between characters, there's almost always a clipping sound to the pronounciation! You gotta make sure to clip the right consonant (the consonant of the second character).

Example: ざっし (zas-shi / magazine)

📚 The Long Vowel Sound 📚

You can extend the vowel sound of a character by adding [あ], [い] or [う] to them. See the chart bellow:

source: guidetojapanese.org

Example: to create a extended vowel sound from [か], we add a [あ] to create [かあ].

Remember to actually hold your vowels long enough, or you'll end up saying stuff like [ここ - here] instead of [こうこう - highschool].

Lastly, there are a few exceptions where and /e/ vowel is extended by adding [え] or and /o/ vowel is extended by adding [お], but those are few and far between, so pay attention but don't worry too much about it.

Example: おねえさん (older sister)

See you next time! 💌

[rigelmejo]

Comprehensible Input Japanese Materials, and Beginner Listening Materials:

Comprehensible Japanese: https://youtube.com/@cijapanese

Nihongo Con Teppei (i recommend all the stuff this guy made):

Comprehensible Input Wiki has a Japanese list of resources, i really recommend this page for finding more resources (and pages for other languages too):

DruDru's Main Experiment (he wrote the beginning of what a comprehensible input text resource could look like for japanese, be aware it is being proofread by a native speaker and the beginning has been edited but not all of the newer chapters, my biggest interest in this project is how YES comprehensible input/learner textooks WOULD WORK with languages like japanese, with a little work put in to add more pictures):

Sakura Tadoku Lab (free graded reader stories):

Free Tadoku Books (I have read ALL of these and 1 highly recommend you start reading them now, even if youre a beginner, because if you are scared of reading then these really help you push through the initial hurdle of being afraid to try. After these books, I was feeling brave enough to try reading japanese books in Kindle. I'd personally recommend Satori Reader app as the next step as you get intermediate, the app is paid so I'm using it on and off and waiting for time to use it intensely, but Satori Reader has excellent upper beginner and intermediate reading materials with extensive translations/grammar explanations/recorded audio that make learning to read something with a lot of resources to ensure you can check if youre understanding):

I also just highly recommend youtube channels in general, youtube automated CC does a decent enough job with japanese that you can turn on CC on japanese lets plays of games (like video games you played before and know the plot of), or learning resources in japanese (and read along as you listen if you want listening practice). If you find japanese audiobooks or podcasts on youtube, you can again use CC for a transcript or text if you'd like to read too.

[moth-who-speaks]

Japanese Resources I Use

2024/8/28

My favorites are in blue ( ´ ▽ ` )

Apps:

╰┈➤ ❝ [Hiragana] ❞

MARU Japanese [Free]

Kana [Free]

╰┈➤ ❝ [Katakana] ❞

MARU Japanese [Free]

Kana [Free]

╰┈➤ ❝ [Kanji] ❞

Kanji Quizzer [Free]

╰┈➤ ❝ [Language Learning] ❞

Hey Japan [Free]

Renshuu [Free]

╰┈➤ ❝ [Writing] ❞

Write Japanese [Free]

╰┈➤ ❝ [Reading] ❞

Yomu Yomu [Has purchases]

╰┈➤ ❝ [Studying] ❞

Flash Cards [Free]

Note that a few of the free ones do include purchases, but said purchases are optional and you can navigate the app and use it just as well without the purchase of a premium or subscription

Websites:

Kanji Dictionary

YouTube Channels:

➤ A little shushi characters helps you learn Japanese based on real life situations

➤ Animated lessons to improve your listening and comprehension in Japanese

➤ Her video on how to best study the Japanese language from a language major. Her tips were very helpful

[ros3ybabeslanguages]

what are your guys thoughts on learning multiple languages at one time? I am nearing A2 level in Spanish, and want to add back on Japanese and eventually Korean, Italian, Madarin, etc. Right now however, I want to add on Japanese, I’m at least thinking about it. What are your thoughts on two languages at a time?

** I did self study Japanese for around two/three years before switching to only focusing on Spanish. So I’d be relearning the basics and moving on from there. I own the Genki I and Genki II textbooks and workbooks currently.

[allinllachuteruteru]

I didn't realize how much my Duolingo rant would strike a similar nerve with so many people... it's honestly inspiring me to make some language resource master posts of my own to share with everyone? I saw in the tags people definitely wanting Welsh resources and one call for Japanese.

Can yall either reply to or reblog this with the language that you're desperately needing resources for? I'll try my best to put together a list here (similar to my Quechua masterpost).

[inkichan]

いろどり · irodori - Japanese for life in Japan

(⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ resources

IRODORI is a useful website made by The Japan Foundation. It is a series of 3 textbooks, with audios and materials completely free, focusing on developing skills useful for life in Japan.

Whether you are planning to come to Japan in the future and want to learn what you should be able to do before you arrive, or whether you are already living in Japan and wish to check your Japanese ability and increase the number of things you can do, we sincerely hope that this textbook will help you achieve your goals. - "what is irodori" website page.

The textbooks are super organized, divided in: starter (A1), elementary 1 and elementary 2. Finishing elementary 2 means having an A2 level [At A2 level, you can hold short, basic everyday conversations on familiar topics.]

I recommend styling your learning method with the goal you have in mind. You can understand more about it reading the post I made.

Hope it was helpful! Let me know and let's share resources~

またね～@inkichan

꒰ა ˚₊ ✧・┈・╴﹕꒰ ᐢ｡- ༝ -｡ᐢ ꒱﹕╴・┈・𐑺 ‧₊˚໒꒱

[thejunery]

Free Character Writing and Practice Sheet PDF for Korean, Japanese, Chinese | Digital Download for Language Learning

This is a character writing & practice sheet set for languages like Korean, Japanese and Chinese. As a Korean learner myself, using sheets like these help me prepare for the TOPIK exam, and I decided to make some and share them with all! For free!

Language learning is a fun process and it becomes even more fun as you progress. I wish you the best luck on your language learning journey!

🔗 Link: https://peachystudiosco.gumroad.com/l/character-writing-sheet

[sheeeshvangi]

Been practicing reading!

The full NHK articles are pretty nice, I'd definitely recommend it for N2 learners.

You can also check out Yomitan. It's a cursor dictionary that helps out a lot.

Some easier recourses I recommend for reading practice:

1. NHK Easy News

2. Todaii

3. Yomu Yomu

4. Tadoku