Hi all,

This idea has come up here before, but I don't know if any progress has been made yet.

I have found that learning Japanese names is much easier when you have a face to associate with it. Two good candidates for a community deck are:

1) The train stations in Tokyo/Kyoto (Kanji and reading with location and train line included)
2) The names of characters in Japanese movies and TV series (for example 草壁 タツオ Kusakabe Tatsuo - from Totoro)

Surely these must exist somewhere in some sort of form. Does anyone know if they have been Anki-fied? If not, is anyone willing to start it on with Google docs or something?

[ファブリス]

There is no need to use "4nki" instead of "Anki" in the topic title, this is not a "troubleshooting" type of thread. The warning that appears when you post doesn't prevent you from posting, afaik.

I can vouch for using the JR tokyo station names for practice. I've got a wall-sized poster I made, printed and framed which hangs on my living room wall, and it's an entertaining way to learn readings. It might be the only thing I've done to my living room to make it "immersive", but it's big and it works. The only downside is thinking of the train system there makes me miss Japan, especially compared to the MTA system in New York.

ファブリス Wrote:There is no need to use "4nki" instead of "Anki" in the topic title, this is not a "troubleshooting" type of thread. The warning that appears when you post doesn't prevent you from posting, afaik.

Well it is a very cool feature - I was impressed. But when I tried to preview or submit, it would only show the warning saying that there is a dedicated forum for troubleshooting etc etc.

I think it was me who suggested the train station deck. I haven't gotten to work on it, but I plan to do so when I finish this semester. As of right now, I'm overbooked as it is though.

I did it with actor's names, as I watched dramas I would add the cast. Name + foto. built up a deck of 1000+, of course there are a lot of uncommon names and uncommon kanji used that won't appear in a regular Jap person's name. It was fun and I can read their names when I see them and I can read credits pretty easily too. Also I developed a feel for names and they are easy to learn outside of Anki now. People are also impressed when I can name all sorts of random people in a movie. Otherwise it's useless however.

Sunflowersamurai Wrote:I did it with actor's names, as I watched dramas I would add the cast. Name + foto. built up a deck of 1000+, of course there are a lot of uncommon names and uncommon kanji used that won't appear in a regular Jap person's name. It was fun and I can read their names when I see them and I can read credits pretty easily too. Also I developed a feel for names and they are easy to learn outside of Anki now. People are also impressed when I can name all sorts of random people in a movie. Otherwise it's useless however.

Mind uploading those? I actually uploaded a deck that includes like 9000 names(it was posted here, it was all common surnames and last names) and I just converted it into excel, then into a text file and I imported it into anki). I'm also working on another deck but that's behind schedule(it's the whole list of jp names off of wikipedia, so it's going to be pretty big)

ta12121 Wrote:

Sunflowersamurai Wrote:I did it with actor's names, as I watched dramas I would add the cast. Name + foto. built up a deck of 1000+, of course there are a lot of uncommon names and uncommon kanji used that won't appear in a regular Jap person's name. It was fun and I can read their names when I see them and I can read credits pretty easily too. Also I developed a feel for names and they are easy to learn outside of Anki now. People are also impressed when I can name all sorts of random people in a movie. Otherwise it's useless however.

Mind uploading those? I actually uploaded a deck that includes like 9000 names(it was posted here, it was all common surnames and last names) and I just converted it into excel, then into a text file and I imported it into anki). I'm also working on another deck but that's behind schedule(it's the whole list of jp names off of wikipedia, so it's going to be pretty big)

I would appreciate that too. Especially if information like the name of the drama is included. It would be great if something like this was put up on Google docs so that the good work could continue.

I might start a train station google spreadsheet some time soon.

So many station names in Japan use nonstandard readings I fail to see the point of memorizing them if you don't live in the area or they aren't culturally significant. Tokyo gets a pass, but I don't think any stations in Kyoto are very significant.

Unless you're a train otaku...

Jarvik7 Wrote:So many station names in Japan use nonstandard readings I fail to see the point of memorizing them if you don't live in the area or they aren't culturally significant. Tokyo gets a pass, but I don't think any stations in Kyoto are very significant.

Unless you're a train otaku...

I was about to post the same thing. So many place names have off the wall readings or old/rare kanji that there's no point learning an arbitrary list. There are whole books and lists devoted to 難読地名 although that's mostly for fun. Nobody outside Tochigi-shi needs to know that 倭町 is やまとちょう or that 大神神社 is おおみわじんじゃ.

Only mildly related, but if you watch the Syaso videos (example:

) you can open up the info and there are timestamps and the location that is associated with it.

Boy.pockets Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:

Sunflowersamurai Wrote:I did it with actor's names, as I watched dramas I would add the cast. Name + foto. built up a deck of 1000+, of course there are a lot of uncommon names and uncommon kanji used that won't appear in a regular Jap person's name. It was fun and I can read their names when I see them and I can read credits pretty easily too. Also I developed a feel for names and they are easy to learn outside of Anki now. People are also impressed when I can name all sorts of random people in a movie. Otherwise it's useless however.

Mind uploading those? I actually uploaded a deck that includes like 9000 names(it was posted here, it was all common surnames and last names) and I just converted it into excel, then into a text file and I imported it into anki). I'm also working on another deck but that's behind schedule(it's the whole list of jp names off of wikipedia, so it's going to be pretty big)

I would appreciate that too. Especially if information like the name of the drama is included. It would be great if something like this was put up on Google docs so that the good work could continue.

I might start a train station google spreadsheet some time soon.

i'd really appreciate it if you could upload it too. It's SO annoying when reading a book and none of the readings of the kanji seem to make anything that sounds like a japanese name!!

Thanks to Ta121 for the surnames deck, it's really helpful!!! i wish there was a decent one for first names...