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Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Printable Version

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Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-06-24

Free Japanese Resources/Materials:

Lately I've been compiling a list of free Japanese resources that look useful for my current and future levels of Japanese learning. A lot of these are in stickies in the Learning Resources forum on Kanji Koohii, but I think this format is nice because it groups them together by category (grammar, vocab, reading, listening, etc.) as well as Japanese level (beginner and intermediate+), and it's all in one post! It's sort of like a lesson plan overview/study guide with free resources. Since I spent so much time on it, I figured I should also share it with others to make it doubly useful. Disclaimer: I'm only a beginner, so I'm far from being an expert in Japanese. But a lot of these are recommended by advanced learners and fluent speakers on the Kanji Koohii forums, so if you don't trust my judgment, you should trust theirs :-).

If you think anything should be added, comment away. I appreciate constructive feedback.

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Introduction
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
(use "Ctrl+F" with "(n)" to go to the section you want, e.g. "(5)" for grammar)

(1) “Best Bang for Your Buck” Books (these aren't free, but the rest of the list is)
(2) Essential Resources (includes links to even more lists of free resources)
(3) Beginners: Before You Start (Read these before you do anything else!)
(4) Hiragana/Katakana
(5) Grammar
(6) Vocab
(7) Kanji
(8) Reading Practice
(9) Audio/Listening Practice (Including Pronunciation)
(10) Communicate

This article was written with beginners in mind, but there are also lots of links to intermediate and advanced materials. First I talk about some inexpensive books that you should definitely check out. The rest of the article is a gigantic list of free resources.

I'm not going to give you a ton of detail in this article. I think part of the learning process is doing your own research, and you need basic research skills in order to successfully learn a language. So if you don't know what a term means, Google it (or Bing, or Yahoo! doesn't matter). Don't worry about making mistakes or getting lost, just explore the websites and software listed. If there's a broken link, try Googling the title of the article or keywords in the URL to see if the website has moved.

Some Advice for Beginners:
You need to have persistence! It's OK if something is confusing and you don't get it after reading it once (that's normal, you ARE learning something new after all), just search for the answer and continue forward no matter what. And read it once, read it again, and again, and AGAIN until you get it :-). Dictionaries (both for strange English grammatical terms and Japanese) are also your friend. If you don't know a word, just look it up. It shouldn't stop your learning. You WILL get it eventually, I have confidence in you!


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(1) “Best Bang for Your Buck” Books
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For a comparison of popular textbooks (including prices), please see the Comparison of Japanese Textbooks wiki page here: http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/Comparison_of_Japanese_Textbooks_Table

I am using a combination of free and paid materials to learn Japanese. If I only had $100 to spend, personally I would get Japanese for Everyone: A Functional Approach to Daily Communication ($20 - beware, it's fast-paced and not for everyone), Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters ($30), and All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words (Power Japanese Series) ($10). I'd also buy A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar ($30-$50) if I didn't mind spending a bit more. I am using all of those right now and I find they go very well together; these are the books I've used the most in my studies so far.

If you want more ideas for "non-free" materials to buy, check out my Amazon list, The "Best" Books/Resources for Learning Japanese: http://www.amazon.com/quot-Books-Resources-Learning-Japanese/lm/RYJGJ545AQDP0 . In that list I compiled/summarized my own opinions for materials I own (I don't own them all) and also what people have mentioned in reviews.

Alternatively, if you take a look at Japanese for Everyone or Remembering the Kanji and you don’t think they’d work for you, check out Elementary Japanese and A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters (Tuttle language library) , which are both inexpensive compared to many other textbooks and good quality. (Update: The 2nd edition of Genki now comes with the audio CDs, so it's a better deal than it was before. It's still pretty expensive if you buy the workbooks and the teacher's guide with answers though.)

If you are looking for reading practice books similar to the Japanese Graded Reader series (but cheaper and with more content), try:

-Chi's Sweet Home (Easy manga, recommended for beginners, about a cat who is adopted).
-Yotsubato! (Easy manga, normally recommended for beginners, about a girl who moves to a new home)
-10-pun de Yomeru Ohanashi (Stories You Can Read in Just 10 Minutes) (grades 1 to 6). There is also 10分で読める名作 (tales), and なぜ?どうして?かがくのお話 (science), and １０分で読める伝記 (biographies) in the same series (~$15 from either White Rabbit Press, YesAsia, or amazon.co.jp)
-JLPT reading comprehension books, like Nihongo So-matome N3 reading comprehension (~$22). These tend to be graded in difficulty
-Dokkai Wo Hajimeru Anata E [Beginner/Inter. Reading Workbook] (~$20 from White Rabbit Press or The Japan Shop)
-Japanese in Mangaland Workbooks 1, 2, 3. Each workbook includes an original short manga that is graded in difficulty. ($10-$25). Goes along with the Japanese in Mangaland textbooks (which have manga examples but I don't think it's a cohesive story).

If you are wondering about a good first light novel to read, some people have recommended:

-Familiar of Zero (ゼロの使い魔)
-Kino's Journey (Kino no Tabi)
-魔女の宅急便 (The Witch’s Delivery Service) by Kadono Eiko (these short children's books inspired the movie Kiki's Delivery Service).

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(2) Essential Resources
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Note: Make sure you know how to enable Japanese character encoding in your browser. Some websites won't display Japanese characters correctly.
Go here for more info: http://redcocoon.org/cab/mybrowser.html

Must-Haves

Anki (flashcard software, you'll definitely need this! There are also premade shared flashcard decks)
Download: http://ankisrs.net/
Introductory Videos, User Manual, FAQs: http://ankisrs.net/docs/index.html

Kanji Koohii (good for learning kanji and for its amazing forums)
http://kanji.koohii.com/

Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese (one of the BEST grammar resource for beginner to intermediate Japanese learning)
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

AJATT – All Japanese All The Time. He has some cool articles that you should read, just to get different ideas on how to learn a language
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency


Dictionaries

http://www.jisho.org

Yamasa's Kanji Dictionary
http://www.yamasa.org/ocjs/kanjijiten/english/index.html


iPhone/Android Apps

Imiwa? Dictionary (Note 8/6/2012: Kotoba! has been pulled from the app store due to copyright issues. However, the same app without copyright problems, called "Imiwa?" is now available:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imiwa-japanese-dictionary/id288499125?mt=8
Midori has also been recommended by other users.

Human Japanese Lite (kana, grammar, vocab, audio)

Learning Japanese (By Ronald Timoshenko) – Portable version of Tae Kim’s grammar guide


Tools

Rikaichan
Firefox and Chrome plugin that lets you hover over Japanese words and get a translation

Evernote (take notes on grammar, vocab, use when reading articles, etc.)
http://www.evernote.com/

Yomichan - Dictionary lookup Anki plugin, create vocab cards on the fly!
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=7074&page=1

subs2srs - (subtitles to SRS) a small utility that allows you to create Anki import files based on your favorite foreign language movies and TV shows to aid in the language learning process.
http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/Subs2srs


Lists of More Resources

Read through these, try them out, search the forums, just explore! There's TONS of information compiled in these. I've only touched the surface in this article

Learning Resources Forum on Kanji Koohii
Search in the forums for info you want and make sure to READ THE STICKIES!
http://forum.koohii.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=9

Tofugu's 100 Best Japanese Learning Resources
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/04/06/tofugu-100-best-japanese-learning-resources/

Nihongo-e-na - One of my favorites. Has summaries/previews of useful websites for reading, listening, kanji, vocab etc.
http://nihongo-e-na.com/

Gakuu – Lots of reading and listening links.
http://gakuu.com/resources/#textbooks

Yookoso (HUNDREDS of links to useful websites, has listening and reading too!)
http://www.yookoso.com/pages/study.php

Saboten Web - lots and lots of links
http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html

Nukemarine's Suggested Guide for Beginners Thread
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5110

Buonaparte's Audio and Text Links
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6840&page=1


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(3) Beginners: Before You Start (Read these before you do anything else!)
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1) Setting Up Japanese on Your Computer
Your Computer (to enable typing in Japanese): http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources
Your Browser (to see characters properly): http://redcocoon.org/cab/mybrowser.html

2) Human Japanese Free Demo (Just read through Chapters 1-3 for now, don't memorize vocab/grammar/kana at this point)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html

3) Japanese for Everyone Sample on Amazon - read Structure of the Japanese Language before Chapter 1 ("First Pages") in the "Look Inside" sample from the Japanese for Everyone textbook. Go slowly and absorb the information. Make special note of the description of whispering "i" and "u" when put between "voiceless consonants" and the passage on word accent (when you listen to Japanese audio you'll have a better idea of what these mean)
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Everyone-Functional-Approach-Communication/dp/4889962344/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1308849686&sr=8-2


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(4) Hiragana/Katakana
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Human Japanese Demo (Chapters 3-6)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html

Tae Kim's Guide (also has worksheets)
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/writing

Comparison of Hiragana/Katakana
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/shape_k.html

Browser Games to Test Kana
http://www.learn-hiragana-katakana.com/


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(5) Grammar
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Articles about Studying Grammar
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/there-is-no-grammar

Cheat Sheets that Summarize Japanese Grammar/Counters/Particles/Kana etc.
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/04/06/tofugu-100-best-japanese-learning-resources/#cheatsheets

Quizzes to test yourself, cheat sheets, tons of stuff for JLPT too
http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/Download.htm (scroll down to see everything)


Beginner to Intermediate

Human Japanese Demo (Chapter 7 to end of demo)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html

Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese (one of the best resources!)
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

An Introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language (Free eBook)
http://grammar.nihongoresources.com/doku.php

Grammar Bank with Audio - buonaparte says: Explanations in plain English, many example sentences, the majority with audio. You have to register, but it's free.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/learningcenter/reference/grammarbank&filter=jlpt&value

The Japanese Page Grammar
http://thejapanesepage.com/grammar.htm

Tim's Grammar
http://ww8.tiki.ne.jp/~tmath/language/jpverbs/index.htm

Visualizing Japanese Grammar
http://www.gwu.edu/~eall/vjg/vjghomepage/vjghome.htm

Maggie Sensei (may be better for upper-beginners)
http://www.maggiesensei.com/

About Japanese
http://japanese.about.com/

Anki - Japanese for Everyone Sentence Deck
Anki – Tae Kim Vocab/Grammar Decks
Anki - Other shared sentence decks
Anki - All About Particles shared deck


Intermediate +

jGram.org

JLPT websites with list of grammar points (search web or jGram for examples)
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
http://www.jlptstudy.com/


Grammar Practice

Lang-8.com journal entries (in beginning just write short sentences)
Do exercises from the websites listed above
Talk to yourself

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(6) Vocab
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JLPT Vocab (10,000 words)

http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
http://www.jlptstudy.com/


Beginner to Intermediate

Anki Deck - Core 2000 (shared corePlus deck has audio too)

Human Japanese Demo
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html


Intermediate+

Core 6000 Anki deck (corePlus deck is good)
JLPT Anki decks
Other Anki decks
Vocab from reading native materials (make a list as you read, then later look them up and put into Anki)


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(7) Kanji
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How to Learn Kanji (one method by learning the radicals)
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/03/25/the-5-biggest-mistakes-people-make-when-learning-kanji/

Stroke Order Dictionary (Click "Kanji" for stroke animation lookup)
http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/kanjidic.nsf/SortedByKanji2THEnglish?OpenView

Stroke Order Rules
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order

Denshi Jisho: Kanji by Radical
http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/


Method 1: Remembering the Kanji (Heisig)
(Remember that you can try various modifications on this method to better suit your needs)

RTK sample pdf
http://kanji.koohii.com/learnmore

Kanji Koohii and/or Anki deck for RTK to study/review


Method 2: Traditional Memorization

Textfugu Online "Textbook" (first articles about kanji are free)
http://www.textfugu.com/

Radicals (learn them first!)
http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa070101a.htm
http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/japanese/kanjiradical.htm
http://nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/frame.html

JLPT Kanji
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
http://www.jlptstudy.com/
Anki JLPT kanji decks

Henshall Kanji mnemonics (For the book "A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters")
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/henshall_mnem.html


Other Great Methods

Kanji Town Method - A good method to learn the sounds for each kanji
http://kanjitown.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-is-kanji-town-how-did-it-come.html

Kanji Damage - Hilarious way to learn Kanji with one reading
http://kanjidamage.com/

Movie Method – Learn kanji and onyomi by playing scenes in your head
http://drmoviemethod.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-is-movie-method.html


Kanji Practice

Print your own grid/graph paper
http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/genkoyoushi/

Ninja Words Adventure - Kanji game for iPhone (very polished, there is a free demo available to try. Full version teaches 500 kanji with keyword and is $3)
http://www.snamiapp.com/12_ntan/12_ntan_pc.html

Kanji Sudoku
http://www.kanji-sudoku.com/kanji-writing-sheets.html

Kanji Games (manga/anime theme)
http://anime-manga.jp/index.html


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(8) Reading Practice
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Reading Japanese Articles with Evernote
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/08/30/5-step-jlpt-study-method-using-japanese-newspapers-for-kids/

Word List Generator and Reading Level Checker
Make your own word/definition list for ANY Japanese article with this Japanese Reading Tutor tool. Paste in any Japanese article and it will generate a list of translations/definitions with the push of a button. The original article is shown in the main part of the page and the list of vocab is to the right. They also have a reading level checker. Very powerful and useful!
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/tools_e.html

Yomichan - Dictionary lookup Anki plugin, create vocab cards on the fly!
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=7074&page=1


Beginners

(Note: If you want some real physical books to read that are cheaper than the Japanese Graded Reader series, read section 1 of this list.)

ChokoChoko - Great for Beginners. JLPT Levels 5 to 1, has wordlists
http://chokochoko.wordpress.com/the-great-library/

Erin's Challenge! Manga - About a girl named Erin who goes to a new school. Also has video episodes, transcripts, vocab practice. Made by The Japan Foundation. Excellent resource!
https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/lesson01/basic/manga.html

Tokyo International University Reading Tutor (variety of levels, huge wordlist to the right of each story/article. You can click on a word and it takes you to that part of the wordlist for a definition. The number of stars represents the difficulty level, with 1 star being the easiest)
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/index_e.html

[Note: The blog has disappeared...anyone know where it went? Looks like Hiragana times is now selling articles aimed at people learning Japanese, so this blog may be gone for good]
Hiragana Times Beginners - Hiragana Blog for Beginners (bite-sized articles)
http://www.hiraganatimes.com/hiragana_blog/

Rosa's Blog -- short blog entries that are relatively easy and interesting to read (3 different blogs, so check them all out!)
http://www.ajalt.org/rosa.html

Japanese in Anime and Manga - Various short manga stories that have clickable text with audio, kanji, hiragana, and translation options. Tons of vocab quizzes too. Made by The Japan Foundation.
http://anime-manga.jp/

Children's Library Japanese Books
http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/ResultByWorld?area=2&start=0&pgct=12&view=cover&sort=title&type=0&country=country7

Botsan
http://botsan.com/ (a bit primitive in style, but it has very simple vocab/grammar. Make sure your character encoding is set to Japanese in your browser)

JapanesePod101 - This is a podcast, but the dialogue transcripts could serve as graded reading practice that slowly increases in difficulty. Sign up for the free trial and download as much as you want (if that makes you feel guilty then pay for 1 month and download everything). Has some pretty nice dialogues with transcripts/grammar notes (need "basic" subscription or be in trial period for these). Newest episodes are free through iTunes.

NHK News Easy
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/


Kids Websites

Yahoo News Kids Japan
http://kids.yahoo.co.jp/

Mainichi Kids Newspaper
http://mainichi.jp/feature/maisho/etc/about/

Yomiuri Newspaper
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/nie/note/

NHK Kids
http://www.nhk.or.jp/kids/

Goo Kids
http://kids.goo.ne.jp/index.html?SY=0&MD=2

Hiragana Times (Articles in English and Japanese, not a kids website, but good)
http://www.hiraganatimes.com/

Short Articles about Seasons
(Note: this is now unavailable, but Nagareboshi has downloaded the materials and uploaded them, see post below).

Simple Stories (some have audio too)

http://p.booklog.jp/book/29948 - tons of children's books!!
http://www.e-hon.jp/demo1/index1.htm
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/index.html
http://english.franklang.ru
http://www.kankomie.or.jp/mukashi/ (Note: the stories seem to have moved, but they are probably still on the website somewhere)
http://www.logoslibrary.eu/pls/wordtc/new_wordtheque.wcom_literature_baby.print_doc1?lang=ja&letter=A&source=&num_row=20
http://thejapanesepage.com/ebooks


Intermediate+

NHK News "Easy" Version
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=10084 (discussion)

University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/texts/index.html

Aozora Bunko
http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/13/how-to-use-aozora-bunko-to-get-free-japanese-books/
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/

Lyrics to your favorite songs


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(9) Audio/Listening Practice (Including Pronunciation)
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Pronunciation
http://tisc.isc.u-toyama.ac.jp/pronunciation/contents.html
http://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/english/modules/en/pmod/practical/contents/01-01-01.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology
http://accent.u-biq.org/english.html

Beginner to Intermediate

Human Japanese demo (vocab/sentences)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html

Anki Core 2000 and 6000 deck (corePlus deck has links to audio for words/sentences)
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5110

JapanesePod101 - sign up for the free trial and download as much as you want (if that makes you feel guilty then pay for 1 month and download everything). Has some pretty nice dialogues with transcripts (need "basic" subscription or be in trial period for transcripts). Newest episodes are free through iTunes.

Japanese the Spoken Language audio exercises (Digital Language Lab, Ohio State University)
https://languagelab.it.ohio-state.edu/public/Home/View/90

Erin's Challenge! - Skits in Japanese about a girl named Erin. Has subtitles with options for kanji, hiragana, romaji, and English translation. Made by the Japan Foundation. A bit cheesy, but good :-).
https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/

Let's Learn Japanese Basic 1 and 2 - Made in the 1980s by The Japan Foundation, so it's cheesy as heck, but still a wonderful learning resource for beginners. Consists of short skits with grammar explanations. There are also books available that you can probably download online. Check youtube for the videos.

particles, explanations, sentences with audio
http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/tkprindl/particles/Index.html

Beginner to Intermediate Conversations with grammar points
http://www.japanese-nihongo.com/lesson/index.html

Japan Cast Podcasts
http://www.japancast.net/

NHK Audio Lessons
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html

Koebu - Thousands of audio clips with text (good for beginner and intermediates)
http://koebu.com/koe

Buonaparte's Audio and Text Links (Big list of useful stuff!)
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6840&page=1

Intermediate+

The Last Wave audio drama with transcripts
http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/The_Last_Wave

Gunblaze Sci Fi Drama - has transcripts
http://nwstudio.org/gunblaze/

Nippon VoiceBlog - Native speakers read stories, has transcripts (grab the audio from iTunes podcasts, the audio on the site isn't working for me)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/nippon/

Japanese Podcasts List
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5572

Anime, jDramas
http://www.crunchyroll.com/
http://www.hulu.com/

Free Audio Books
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=752

NHK Radio News (can choose speed too!)
http://www.nhk.or.jp/r-news/

TBS News (videos and articles)
http://news.tbs.co.jp/

Your favorite songs


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(10) Communicate
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Lang-8 - chatting, Skyping, journal entries
Mixxer - Skyping, blog entries (http://www.language-exchanges.org/)
Mixi
LiveMocha
ChatPad -- http://chatpad.jp/ (chat with people in Japanese)
Talk to the server at a Japanese restaurant
Talk to yourself

If you want even more materials, check out the "Lists of More Resources" part in section (2) Essential Resources.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - nest0r - 2011-06-24

You're familiar with this thread already?

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=476

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-06-24

Yes, in fact I put that thread under the Essential Resources section. It has been very helpful to me! [Edit: Actually, I have a link to the learning resources forum and then I tell people to read the stickies, but basically the same thing]

I thought about posting all of this in that sticky (maybe I'll post a link to this thread), my fear was that no one would see it since it would be a few pages in.

I didn't want to do something completely redundant (and I realize a lot of the information here is presented elsewhere in stickies), but I also thought having it in a different format could be useful to some people.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - nest0r - 2011-06-24

That's cool; too bad no one ever bothers updating the RevTK wiki. ;p

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-06-24

LOL, I've noticed the same problem. I'll take that as a big hint :-). Since I'm a beginner I feel as though I'm not a big enough "expert" to update the wiki yet. But I suppose if people don't like something I add they could always remove it. I'll look into it.

If you haven't noticed yet I LOVE reading/compiling/organizing resources and sharing it with others. Hundreds to thousands of people read these forums; it's great knowing that something I wrote might help others, too. So adding some things to the wiki would also be fun for me. Since I'm new to Japanese I have the whole "beginner's high" going on. It will be interesting to see how excited I am about Japanese in a year. I hope I retain at least some of this enthusiasm.

Unfortunately this hobby of reading and compiling materials is starting to get in the way of my actual studying. But I guess when I do need some of these materials it's all right here in front of me. But for now, no more reading of resources unless it pertains to my learning! I'm only on kanji 400 something and I have a long way to go.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Cyborg Ninja - 2011-06-27

Jisheraさん、ありがとうございました！That is a huge help for me. I thought I had seen all the sites on the Web dedicated towards Japanese learning, but I was wrong. I appreciate that you compiled these links into sections, especially according to skill level.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Nuriko - 2011-06-27

Wow, I can't thank you enough for compiling all these resources, jishera. In the last half hour, I've bookmarked so many helpful sites I've never even heard of, thanks to you. I never quite realized just how much is out there for us all to use.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-06-29

I added quite a few resources to the Reading and Audio/Listening sections, as well as a few other places. Now it's also prettier because I bolded titles instead of CAPITALIZING them :-).

Does anyone have recommendations for intermediate to advanced grammar resources? Right now I basically have jGram listed. I suppose people can start using native materials after Tae Kim, but I know other people like more of a lesson format.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Nagareboshi - 2011-08-12

Link removed contains lots of reading material that should be good for beginners as well as for learners in the intermediate stage. It covers topics such as nature, festivals, mountains, seasons, insects, flowers, practical tips, how to use a watch as compass, and many more. The illustrations are really funny!

Here is a direct link to the 12 months. You can also click on the seasons, but the index is more convenient, and it is easier to choose a month that covers something you are interested in. Link removed

Have fun!

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-08-15

Thanks Nagareboshi! I'll add the link. It looks cool Smile.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-10-11

I finally added this to the wiki under the "Language learning websites" section and named it "List of Free Resources." I think it makes more sense to put it there instead of "Methods suggested by RevTK Forum users."

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Nagareboshi - 2011-10-30

Because the content of tokipro seems to be no longer available, so I removed the links from my original post, and I ask you to do the same, jishera. Smile

But, luckily for us, the content is still available! It would have been such a waste when this resource would be gone. This thought must have been the reason that was causing me to download the entire website, including all its content, soon after I discovered it.

Please download the zip file from 2-shared
The size of the archive is roughly 402 MB. My apology to the modem users or members with limited traffic allowance out there, but I couldn't make it any smaller in size ...
The password to extract it is: forum.koohii.com

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-10-30

OK, thanks for letting me know! I'll add a note that the files can be obtained there for now (But are otherwise unavailable)

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jmignot - 2011-10-31

The link takes me to a "iLivid" download page, but this seems to require running an "exe" setup file on my computer. Are Mac users out of luck?

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Nagareboshi - 2011-10-31

jmignot Wrote:The link takes me to a "iLivid" download page, but this seems to require running an "exe" setup file on my computer. Are Mac users out of luck?
This shouldn't happen. Normally you should be taken to the 2-shared websites, click on either the big DOWNLOAD button, or the smaller one next to "Save file to your PC." I don't know about advertisements or pop-up's that are triggered once you click on download. But I bet when you click it away you should be able to download the file. In case you still can't download it, I will upload it somewhere else. Just let me know. Smile

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Bokusenou - 2011-10-31

jmignot Wrote:The link takes me to a "iLivid" download page, but this seems to require running an "exe" setup file on my computer. Are Mac users out of luck?
Don't click on the big "Download" button next to the "Play" button. Those two are an ad. Click the blue download button below the ad. I know, it fooled me as well.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jmignot - 2011-11-01

Got it ! Download underway (25 mn here). Thanks for the hint.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jmignot - 2011-11-01

jishera Wrote:Does anyone have recommendations for intermediate to advanced grammar resources? Right now I basically have jGram listed. I suppose people can start using native materials after Tae Kim, but I know other people like more of a lesson format.
How about this one:
http://grammar.nihongoresources.com
(also available in print). I found it quite detailed and systematic.
Could anybody more advanced in his study of Japanese assess the quality of the information?

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-11-01

That site looks cool jmignot! I'll add it to both beginner and intermediate+ sections. Can't tell how advanced it goes but still looks useful. Thanks!

Edit: Haha, actually I realized I already have it listed there under "beginner"! I wondered why I recognized the name. Haven't used it much yet though.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - Surreal - 2011-11-02

I just saw this thread for the first time, I added it to my post in the "Stickies" thread (http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?pid=66430#pid66430 if you haven't seen it; I've added some other new stuff to my post over the last months also, you might find some good tips in there). Good job putting this together!

The first post has two versions of both section (6) and (7) - I think for (6) it's just a repeat, but in the case of (7) the two versions are definitely different, I'm guessing it happened when you were adding some stuff to the kanji section. Could you tidy it up?

Edit: Here's a suggestion for the hiragana/katakana section: http://www.learn-hiragana-katakana.com
They have free browser games (no big downloads or anything) for drilling the ability to recognize and read hiragana/katakana that I used and really liked - they are simple, they get the job done effectively, and i give you a boost into reading Japanese in the early stages.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-11-02

Thanks for the suggestions and I'm glad you like it! I saw that sticky earlier but I don't check it too often. I'll take a look at the links there. I'm not sure how the duplication happened, I'll remove it :-).

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - tetsujin - 2011-11-03

Somehow the bottom of the post has disappeared.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - jishera - 2011-11-03

Gahhhh my mouse must be having issues highlighting or something. Thank goodness I make regular backups in a word doc Smile. It's fixed now. Jeez, next time I think I'll copy the whole thing out, make my edits, then copy it back in. Sorry guys! Let me know if you see more problems.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - buonaparte - 2011-12-03

jishera Wrote:Hello Navi - Very basic grammar and vocab. Interactive, short dialogues with animation for everyday situations.
http://www.hellonavi.com/foldera/index.html
The site's dead.

Learning Japanese w/ Free & Cheap Materials: Study Guide & Big List - howtwosavealif3 - 2011-12-03

http://chatpad.jp/ -