Learning Japanese Outline 1. Kana 2a. Kanji 2b. Vocabulary 2c. Grammar 3. Practice Learning Resources Kana Kanji Vocabulary Grammar Practice Tools Typing Japanese Anki Lookup Resources Misc Tools Questions & Thread Etiquette Guide Discussion
Learning Japanese
Outline
This section will explain the outline of each step, and provide a little background if applicable. Once you have read this section, go to the ‘Learning Resources’ section and choose the resources appropriate for your level. Remember that learning Japanese requires serious commitment. One can not expect to just learn written Japanese to understand games or spoken Japanese to understand shows, for if your interest is really so shallow, then you shall probably fail. This guide is written for the dedicated learner, and a high-degree of fluency is considered the final goal. Read the entire guide, including the Thread Etiquette section near the bottom.Sections 2a, 2b and 2c should be completed simultaneously.
1.
Kana
The kana refer to the two syllabaries used in Japanese, referred to collectively as the kana. The kana are derived from something called ‘Manyogana’, which are kanji (see below) that
were used to write sounds.
Hiragana (ひらがな) is the syllabary used most commonly in Japanese. Hiragana are an (extremely) cursive form of the Manyogana. A character for the sound ‘ya’ in Manyogana, for example, is 也. The character for ‘ya’ in Hiragana is や, and is derived from 也.
The Hiragana actually came about later than the katakana. The Hiragana are said to be created by a group of noble women, and the Hiragana are what which is generally used to write Japanese phonetically.
Katakana (カタカナ) literally means “fragment kana”, and was formed by taking different parts of various kanji and using those elements to represent sound. For example, the katakana character for ‘ka’ is カ, and this usage is derived from the left-side of the kanji 加 whose reading is also ‘ka’. Katakana is used for the names of animals, certain onomatopoeia words, certain ‘new’ words like ‘karaoke’, certain slang words and new words introduced into the language from other foreign languages. Katakana is somewhat like upper-case letters for its specialized usage. You will need to learn this before any part of the language.
2a.
Kanji
Kanji are characters which originated from China and represent both ideas and pronunciations, though some domestic kanji, referred to as ‘Kokuji’ (国字 - “Country
character”) exist. For a general outline of kanji, you might refer to this . For more indepth information on the different types of kanji and so forth, you might refer to this . For information on the stroke order of kanji, you could use kakijun.jp , the Heisig books (kanji sub-section below), or the Kanji Stroke Order Font (Misc. sub-Section), etc. You should learn stroke order unless you simply have a limited number of hours in the day in which to study the language.
Studying Kanji can be undergone in a number of different ways using varying methods. If you would like to explore some methods, please refer to the ‘Kanji’ sub-section in the ‘Resource’ section below. After you have an idea of which you would like to use, please go to
ankiweb.net and download the deck to anki. (Ctrl+f ‘Anki’ for some information)
Not all people choose to study kanji individually. Some people believe or find that individual study of the kanji is not as practical as simply learning the kanji via vocabulary (next section below).
2b.
Vocabulary
With Anki you can download a pre-made deck (recommended) with pronunciation as well as listening comprehension for vocabulary. The Core decks are the accepted standard for vocabulary decks, which you can find on ankiweb.
Another technique to explore is sentence mining, which is the process of gathering sentences and inserting them into Anki (or anything else) and reviewing over them. This is a good way to provide meaningful context to the words you wish to study and it is a way to remember how to express certain ideas. Writing is most helpful for recalling and reproducing information, but writing can take a noteable amount of time.
2c.
G
rammar
Grammar will allow you to both form and understand sentences in Japanese. There are three guides and sources that we recommend: Genki, Tae Kim and Japanese: the Manga Way. The pros and cons of each are listed in the ‘Grammar’ Section. If you are unsure of which one you might choose, we recommend you try them all and see which of them is most suitable for you.
When you want to refer to something for grammar, the 「Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar 」 are fantastic and they can be found in the pastebin (Ctrl+F “DOJG”). There is also a simplified online version here, which takes the example sentences from the book and sorts them by each grammar point for quick lookup (keep in mind that there are many typos in the online version due to OCR).
3.
Practice
After learning (at least) basic Japanese grammar, you can, and should, start reading and learning words from actual Japanese. You can find recommended reading, including games, in the ‘Learning Resources’ section, along with some websites to assist you with listening and writing.
learning to look at the words you’re looking up, and try to make an educated guess as to what the meaning is before completing your lookup, as guessing the answer helps with committing it to memory. It’s also a good idea to jump into the deep end of the difficulty pool from time to time, even when you know it’s impossible, and that you’ll understand next to nothing and in general have a bad time of it, because it helps to have a better idea of where you are/were at in the larger scheme of consuming Japanese media, and where your current learning method is getting you. If you have no exposure to things which are difficult, then you will be unable to overcome them when you do meet them. If you only make use of beginner-level media, then you will only have proficiency in the language at that level. Similarly, in order to reach fluency in Japanese, the sources of media which you consume must also be varied in difficulty and content.
Learning Resources
Note: There is no “correct” way of learning, so we would recommend that you try out the resources appropriate for your level and see which one you feel is best. Use multiple resources if you wish.
Recommended/Common resources will be marked with an asterisk *.
Kana
Wikibooks- Has stroke order and other resources. The stroke order is quite useful, although the mnemonics are not so much.
*Real Kana - Tests kana recognition. Does not teach stroke order or pronunciation. Optimal for pounding the readings into your head quickly.
*Tae Kim - This site has a ton on kana, includes a video lesson, stroke order, as well as sect pronunciation guide.
Memrise - Offers various SRS courses including kana courses which are perhaps the only thing the site does well in regards to the Japanese language. If Real Kana isn’t cutting it, give this a whirl. Way better than just attempting to remember them. By all means, use Real Kana Remembering the Kana - It only takes about 6 hours to learn both hiragana and katakana alongside it because it provides mental images with the kana to ensure you remember. Download the book and/or follow this video series made by an RTK forum member.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2A25F7399E8805ED
Kanji
Heisig - Read about it here and here. A website/textbook that teaches kanji in an order based on the radicals of each character. It starts you off with the simple shapes and gradually goes into more complicated ones. It teaches stroke order and makes up pretty fancy mnemonic stories to help you memorize the kanji easier. Unfortunately, it does not teach the readings until the second volume nor does it tell you how the kanji are used in context. As such, this method expects you to learn all the common characters before even
getting started on learning vocabulary.
There is a large community that is constantly adding information to it that requires using the Koohii fansite, so register an account.
KanjiDamage - Another kanji resource that uses a radical-based order. Unlike Heisig’s method it also teaches the readings and gives you examples of common words that use those kanji (great for adding them to your Anki deck right away). Take the introduction on the site with a grain of salt, as it isn’t very accurate (at all), or is simply made-up, as is the case with most other areas on the site, but that in no way makes this a bad resource in regards to learning. You may want to simply use the shared deck for Anki instead of the website in tandem with another vocabulary deck in order to build up a big cache of words quickly.
JLPT (contains various sets, so order and suspend them accordingly) - Sets of kanji as described by the Japanese Proficiency Test. Usually ordered by level. More info on Wikipedia.
Jouyou (same deck as above) - A set of 2136 kanji announced by the Ministry of Education that is to be taught before graduating from secondary school. Usually ordered by grade. More info on Wikipedia.
Kyouiku - A subset of 1006 of the jouyou kanji that is taught in primary school. Has many simple words in the beginning (the numbers, elements of nature, body parts). Usually ordered by grade. More info on Wikipedia.
Saiga Kanji Dictionary - Quite possibly the best Kanji dictionary out there. Can search Kanji by grade, number of strokes, and by radicals. Will also show Kanji stroke order in animated gif form for a wide variety of Kanji.
GeneticKanji - Slightly undeveloped alternative to the liberal ranting, poor jokery and the downright misinformation in KanjiDamage. It is presented in a fashion of frequency while covering the individual elements that make up a given kanji. In GeneticKanji’s approach, you would be taught all the subcomponents of these common kanji, and then the common kanji themselves, effectively combining both approaches.
Vocabulary
Anki Shared Decks - This is highly recommended to learn vocabulary. Obviously, you will need Anki to use it. If you use a deck with audio, such as CorePlus , however you will need to install audio yourself. There are decks, you may search for them and see which one will best suit your needs.
Japanese Pod 101 - A free (mostly) castpod-like teaching japanese grammar, vocabulary and culture. There is a 1 week free-trial to pdf containing tips and other features, like flashcards with lesson’s vocabulary. Good for storing in your phone and listening while in idle activities, buses, walks, etc. Download the following files:
*Tae Kim - This method is faster than the others listed here, As for exercises, Tae Kim only has exercises in the beginning, after which there are no exercises to work on.
*Genki - Genki tends to be more comprehensive than Tae Kim, and it has exercises that you can practice. This works as an engaging way to learn new grammar points, and subsequently see them with, which may help drill grammar rules into your mind. The obvious downside is speed, of course. This resource can be found on the bottom of the pastebin.
Genki 1 - An edited version of Genki 1 with the distracting romaji edited out can be found here. This version is preferred over the one in the pastebin as it encourages the learning of hiragana & katakana.
Japanese the Manga Way - This book teaches grammar through examples from actual Japanese executed in a practical manner. It works well as a Genki supplement, or as a simple introduction to the major grammar points of Japanese. It uses romaji too often, however this can easily be ignored. New grammar points tend to be summed up rather succinctly by Tae Kim. Those looking for a more in-depth style could likely do better.
Japanese in Mangaland - .
Ixrec's Guide to Japanese - A grammar guide written by a VN translating outfit. Bunches the grammar together and explains a lot of it at once, with charts, further explanation, and example sentences.Link
*Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar (DOJG) - A collection of three books, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. As the name implies, these are dictionaries rather than guides. It goes in-depth into the various grammar rules, more so than virtually any other resource.
You can find a collection of the example sentences sorted by grammar point here for easy lookup. Please note that you may need a Ruby addon for your browser to display the furigana correctly. Take these transcriptions with a grain of salt, as they contain quite a few errors.
An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language - There are many words in each chapter (six chapters add up to a few hundred pages in the print version), so take it easy, maybe divide the work into subsections. Chapter 2 is when the actual grammar lessons start.
Imabi - Another web grammar guide, that apparently nobody has used, but covers a lot of material.
Practice
Reading List - This is a list of books, games and manga which we have compiled. You can sort through the list by skill, platform, etc. We recommend you have a look, regardless of skill level. Please contribute anything you read as well to it so it can become a better resource. A particularly detailed summary is not needed.
Yotsuba Reading Pack - This pack is designed for beginners who have just started reading. This is an accompaniment to the first two volumes of Yotsubato. This includes a vocabulary list and a pre-made Anki deck. Yotsubato! is a manga that is often recommended to beginners.
*Aozora - This site contains a collection of (mostly) Classic Japanese literature. This site is mainly for advanced readers and not recommended for beginners.
http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/1049335.html - Here’s some good recommendations of famous Japanese authors.
Kitsunekko - This site has a selection of Japanese subtitles for popular (anime) shows. The timing often does not match up with most available downloads, but you can try to retime it in a subtitle editing program or just look at it in the editor to compare with what you hear.
D-Addicts - This is a great site to find Dorama with subtitles. (Other Asian dramas are also here, fyi)
Fengyunzhibo - This site is a good, easy place to watch some TV. It’s a Chinese streaming site, but it has Japanese channels, which are of good quality for streams. Lately it does not seem to be working, though occasionally in the past this would happen and then it would later become accessible again. Regardless a proxy/VPN could be used if necessary.
Mov3 - A Chinese site like Fengyunzhibo specializing in Japanese TV.
Lang-8 - Here, you can write journal entries which are corrected by Japanese natives, and in return, you correct theirs. This is a great way to increase your writing/production ability and also meet people to talk to.
Nyaa - If you type in the Japanese name, you can find the raw version of whatever media you are looking for most of the time. If what you’re looking for is ero, use this . Note that most VNs will contain ero, and sometimes even non-ero VNs are uploaded to Sukebei instead of the main site.
Jpopsuki - Great place to get and find any Japanese/Asian music, not just jpop. Requires that you get an account by either applying for one, or by having someone invite you. Sometimes you will be unable to apply for an invite so you might have to ask for a referral either in the threads or on /mu/. If you do have someone refer you, make sure to keep a good
ratio, because failing to do so could cause that person to lose their account (as well as yours), since all those you refer are considered to be under your responsibility.
Nijishow - Free Japanese TV. You get a choice of several channels. You need to register here before being able to watch. It’s made for windows, but it works via wine. It runs a local server on port 8902 which can be connected via VLC or similar.
Skypech - Here’s a site for finding some natives on Skype to talk to. This a Japanese site for Japanese people, so do not misunderstand and think that everyone here has an interest in learning English.
Tools
Typing Japanese
Input Method Editor (IME) - It will allow you to type in Japanese using your keyboard. Required. (Note: Both Mac and Windows have IME’s already pre-installed but it’s not as feature-full as Google IME.)*Google IME (Windows, Mac OS) - Google IME generally includes a larger collection of words,
inclusive of internet slang. The downside, however, is that its handwriting recognition is rather lacking ( see ”sljfaq” below ). To switch to romaji press alt+` ( just above tab key ). Ctrl + Caps
Lock for hiragana, hold shift while in hiragana mode to type in katakana. Alt + Caps is katakana. Shift + Caps reverts back to hiragana. This does not affect Caps Lock.
Protip: Type in かおもじ and hit space. Alternatively: read this article.
Mozc (Chromium OS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, GNU/Linux) - This is a project that stems from Google IME, except that it is available on a greater number of operating systems.
If you have any trouble with Mozc for GNU/Linux read this.
Packages also exist in Fedora, Debian, GNU/Linux Mint, and. For Arch, it‘s available in the AtwUR.
iBus -(GNU/Linux) - If you use (K/X/L)Ubuntu, you probably already have it. You just need to install the Japanese IME packages using the language support in the settings and select iBus as your keyboard input method system. You can select the keys to press to change the keyboard layout or do it manually using the icon on the panel. For the rest of us that don’t use Ubuntu or its variants, you can probably find iBus in the official repositories of your distribution. You can make iBus autostart when you boot by adding ibus-daemon to your ~/.xinitrc. And you will probably want to add & to the end, ala: ibus-daemon & (also your windows manager might have it’s own autostart file, use that instead) that you can find in your Home folder. Don’t forget to configure Qt for input in Qt apps. $ qtconfig-qt4 >interface >default input method >select ibus For the superior non *buntu users: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/IBus
Anki
Flashcard software. Also available for mobile.
*Anki - Anki is a flashcard program which uses a method called Spaced Repetition in order to drill information in your head. You can download premade decks. It shows you a set amount of new cards each day (default 20) and will show you the same cards again when you are most likely to forget them, which is predicted through algorithms. This program has a lot of features that can’t be covered here, so read the manual if you wish to totally utilize Anki. You can also get this on your mobile device and sync your deck between both versions. The official App Store version costs money (to support the devs) so you might just want to use Safari in that case instead.
If you use GNU/Linux and you want to change the size of the Japanese characters, you need to install the appropriate Japanese fonts, if you don’t have them.
Lookup Resources
You use it to look up words. One Rikai-chan variant required.
*Rikaisama (Firefox) - This is a tool that shows you equivalent or close meanings (in English) of Japanese words in plaintext format, by hovering over them. Has many useful features such as audio playback and the ability to save words to a file or import it straight into Anki. There is also Rikaichan for Firefox, but there is absolutely no reason to use it since Rikaisama has all of its features.
Rikaikun (Chrome) - Essentially an unfortunately inferior clone of Rikaichan, but still serviceable enough if you just can’t let go of the botnet.
*Jisho.org - Online J>E/E>J dictionary. It also contains information on kanji including a order, readings, etc. You can also search a kanji by handwriting or its radicals if you don’t know the correct stroke order. There’s also a beta (DuckDuckGo uses this for !jisho) that combines all of the search options into one and includes new features to work a lot like modern search engines.
Tangorin Another online dictionary with information on kanji and vocabulary. Features over 161,000 example sentences for words and grammar points while giving you a little more information than other dictionaries, such as whether a word is considered more formal than another one with the same meaning. Easily lets you look up words inside examples just by clicking on them. When looking up word definitions, includes example sentences exemplifying most definitions of a word.
KanjiTomo - This is an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. Scans for words on your screen and tells you what they are and what they mean. Success rate varies widely based on image / character quality.
*Weblio - Principally a Japanese to English lookup resource, and consequently a decent source for Japanese > English phrases.
Capture2Text - Another OCR program.
*sljfaq - Handwritten kanji search. Just draw the kanji using the correct stroke order and a list of possible kanji will appear. The results will link you to the WWWJDIC project by default, which is where the data for Jisho and most other online Japanese dictionaries comes from. You can go through the options page to redirect to your preferred service. What’s nice about this is that it saves your writing so it will still be there even if you close the page.
*Interactive Text Hooker - This allows you to extract text from Japanese games as it’s being displayed. The extracted text is put in your clipboard for an application like Translation Aggregator to make use of it. Designed for reading VNs, so it will not work for most non-VN type games and unsupported engines.
*Translation Aggregator - Usually used for machine translation, but in your case, you’ll be using JParser (preferably with Mecab hinting) to help you parse Japanese sentences and enable you to easily look up words in the same fashion as with Rikaichan and the like. Hiragana Megane - This site adds furigana to Kanji on websites.
Misc Tools
Useful things that don’t fit into any of the other categories.Kanji Stroke Order Font - Not always correct, so be careful. Kakijun is a great website for checking the proper stroke order.
Wikibooks - A small collection of resources for learning Japanese. Does not seem to go into too much depth. Good supplement.
LingQ - Good language learning site with many translated texts + audio. Although you can use it for free for a little while at the beginning, continued usage of the site costs money. An anon has kindly ripped and posted many of the podcasts and so forth which you download here, although I would encourage you to not completely adopt the habit of taking things without ever paying.
Learning With Text (LWT)- An extensive application that seems somewhat similar to LingQ.
*The Pastebin - A list of various resources. Please comment here if you see any broken links or have any other resource you would like to add.
Japanese Text Analysis Tool - Takes a .txt, you’d probably use a 青空文庫 (term for .txt books, frequently LN), and creates a frequency list based on that.
essentials, and much more (a lot of it is awful). May trigger virus warnings.
JNovel Formatter - Breaks down a .txt into bite-size (your choice of length) chunks and converts it to html. Makes the task of reading LN's less daunting.
cb's Kanji Word Association Tool - Will generate a list of words based on kanji already studied up to that point and kana. In addition, words are sorted by frequency, and no duplicates are associated with each kanji.
Questions & Thread Etiquette
>The Daily Japanese Thread We have a thread everyday, a new thread gets put up at around 1930 EST (0030 UTC/GMT). On top of that, there is an IRC you can use, details are in the thread. (Due to removal of OP’s ability to delete their threads, the timing is no longer consistent) Please be on your best behavior, and try not to bring elements of your native-board culture into the thread, or any other low-level internet trash if you can abstain from it (/jp/ and /a/ things included). Also, please do not promote any memes. If you refer people to this thread, please do not do it on a poor-quality board, such as [any board], and if you do, make sure the person you refer is at least somewhat intelligent, and the thread isn’t a poor one. Please do not engage in lengthy and fruitless arguments, especially those unrelated to the thread subject. Be the bigger man, and be the first to discontinue the argument. Alternatively continue it in Japanese. Please do not label anything as “shit”, especially anything controversial, such as writing. In the case of writing, the reasons for one to do it are subjective, and while it may or may not be useful to you, the other person may or may not find it to be useful or unuseful to them. Recognize what is opinion, and what is fact. Submit to the fact that what is subjective, holds no real truth. >I have a question. Does it matter (Is it a Y/N question or a ‘bi-question’ (e.g. Tae Kim or Genki?); Is it a lazy question where you're asking whether you should learn something or not; could you have easily found your answer yourself; Will this just lead to an argument)? Not all questions need answers or have them. >How long does it take to learn Japanese? A very long time. (594750^9723 microseconds) >The Thread 404’d early. Go to the Archives, or use the following template in order to make a thread Also, if you can’t post the official OP image don’t post the OP. Link the previous thread, and list the thread number. Pasta: Please read the guide before posting. Guide (Start here): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G5C7fCe07CDzYalZYZObzxv_fhw7RUNsLHiMAY-t7FA/edit Reading List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0Agk2IH0ZXhn7dDNmSW1BVFU5dVgyOHkzWjU4b2l2dkE Pastebin: http://pastebin.com/w0gRFM0c #l/a/nguage on irc.rizon.net Previous Thread:
[Insert archive link here] >Namasensei 「https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQlq-hxWRzQ」 Namasensei is often watched by beginners learning Japanese, because his alcohol-fueled antics are strangely both entertaining and powerfully motivating for some anons. Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword; as he’s always shitfaced drunk, tends to teach in an ineffective fashion, has terrible handwriting, and messes up the stroke order of some of the kana. (You can also acquire his videos here.) (His te-form is mutually agreed to be the only worthwhile video he has.) >Using Google for Japanese: set your search to google.co.jp for (much) better results >I can’t figure out what this means Google 「X」, 「X」とは, or 「X」という言葉(の使い方) where X is your inquiry. ってどういう意味, の意味 etc. also yields results. >How to find reading materials? Search for the Japanese title in Japanese along with the keywords 一般小説 青空文庫形式 txt P2P: Nyaa, Share, Perfect Dark >I don’t seem to have the motivation to do this. You can’t learn Japanese. >は vs が The (unquestionably) best explanation is provided in the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar in the pastebin. I would refer to that, and take all others with a grain a salt or not at all. http://Japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa051301a.htm >How many words do natives know? 小学生レベル： ５千～２万語 Elementary School Level: 5-20 thousand 中学生レベル： ２万～４万語 Middle School Level: 20-40 thousand 高校生レベル： ４万～４万５千語 High School Level: 40-45 thousand 大学生レベル： ４万５千～５万語 College Level: 45-50 thousand Source: http://www.kecl.ntt.co.jp/icl/lirg/resources/goitokusei/goi-test.html Words only include the dictionary form. Proper nouns and compound words are excluded. >These two words have the same reading, and meaning. How do I distinguish them, and why is Japan trying to fuck me? They have the same English meaning. Which, in case you couldn’t guess it, means you’ve gotta look it up in a J>J dictionary, or otherwise perform a Google search. If your grammar isn’t at a level where you can understand the descriptions, or distinctions you should be bettering your grammar instead of your vocab. If you can only read English definitions, then assume they are flawed before assuming that you’ve been fucked. >I’ve been presented contradictory opinions about various methods, and can no longer judge for myself which method is the best, aside from differences in speed, the discussed methods are correct (or at least not outright wrong). Try both, make a decision. Try neither, find your own solution. Try one, ignore the other. You do not have to ask. All roads lead to the same destination. If you continue to walk them, and advance, then you will reach your goal. Nothing is going to damage your learning if you simply continue onward.
Misc.
Specific matters (such as rewording of a section) should be done via a comment in that section. Header PSD file (including font) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1471453/DJT%20Header.zip Old guidehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkKNc3AYP5sOv23FRjBoCs2dDzHN83BuT1T_aRU21t0/edit Email slimybubbles@gmail.com If you have any suggestions regarding the guide please send them to this email so I can read them and then update the guide accordingly.
