Essential Resources

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Reply #1 - 2007 April 16, 10:38 pm
dingomick Member
From: Gifu_Japan Registered: 2006-12-16 Posts: 234

While talking about a recommended course of study in another thread, I made a mini list of resources. What resources, of any kind, do you consider essential for your study?

Essential Resources
(Free Online Graph Paper amazing selection of customizable free online graph paper)
RvTK This site!
Wakan Dictionary Free, comprehensive, and flexible
Anki Flashcards the best electronic flashcard software
(Twinkle Flashcards / Mnemosyne Flashcards  other electronic flashcard software)
Kanji Animated Stroke Orders Animated stroke orders ("Copy/Paste/Find" for easiest use)
Meguro JLPT Resources Oodles of resources for JLPT
Mixi Japanese social network website
JapanesePod101 Japanse podcast lessons, with lots of supporting materials


Other User's Essential Resources

chamcham
jgram.org The Japanese Grammar Database
Rikaichan Cursor hover dictionary/reading tool for computer
d-addicts.com Torrent site for Asian dramas
"Today's Riceball" daily online cooking show

yorkii
All Japanese Grammar Database Advanced, but comprehensive
Japan Foundation a variety of resources and articles about Japanese language education overseas

synewave
1. RevTK
2. manga
3. Kanji Kentei prep materials, specifically the 学習ステップ books.
4. Palm running Twinkle Flashcards
5. alc Japanese web portal w/ dictionary
6. Jim Breen's The standard of J-E online dicts (Wakan is based on this)
7. Asahi shimbun Japanese newspaper (also has children's print subscription you can order)
JLPT Study a guy who's gathered all the scattered resources to study for the JLPT (also has a forum)
8. Nafai's Japanese excellent collection of lists, explanations, tools, etc.
9. Tokyo Broadcast System News in Japanese


leosmith
Supermemo dedicated to all things memorization
How to Read Japanese Manga introduction to Japanese through a controlled reading a a manga
How to Learn Any Language forums dedicated to language learning


Serge
Polusharie forums dedicated to learning Japanese (Slavic/non-English)


nycity
The Japanese Page Forum forum for a J learning website
Japan Today Forum language forum of website dedicated to all things Japan
Japan Reference Forum language forum of website dedicated to all things Japan
JapanesePod101 Forum the forum for JapanesePod101, a J pocast site
WordReference Forum J forum of site dedicated to language reference
Yahoo Group RTK (**I can't access from work, apparently devoted to RTK, "spam infested" per nycity**)

FlyingFin
All Japanese, All the Time the infamous 10,000 Sentences method, and lots of encouragement


***
My Hindsight Recommended Course to Learning Japanese:

Foundation (in this order):
Hiragana/Katakana Your basis for all Japanese to come. NO ROMAJI!
Pimsleur Listening Excellent introduction of essential Japanese through drilled listening/speaking
Heisig 1 It takes a while, but it solves what most consider the largest hurdle to Japanese
Tae Kim's Grammar Japanese explained from the inside


Vocab Building & Application (in any order/combination):
Vocab Drilling (Meguro JLPT Resources)
Heisig 2
A text (JFE, Minna Nihongo)
Reading (manga, children's newspaper, etc)
Writing (journal, Mixi, etc)
Listening (TV, radio, podcasts, etc)
Speaking (partner, exchange)

Last edited by dingomick (2007 December 18, 9:41 pm)

Reply #2 - 2007 April 16, 10:49 pm
chamcham Member
Registered: 2005-11-11 Posts: 1444

jgram.org
Rikaichan
d-addicts.com

Reply #3 - 2007 April 16, 11:24 pm
redtricycle New member
From: San Francisco CA USA Registered: 2005-11-21 Posts: 6

My foundation order:

Start with Pimsleur's (Concurrent with hiragana)
Finish Pimsleur's
Tae Kim concurrent with Heisig 1

For the complete beginner, I believe listening/speaking is more important than reading.

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Reply #4 - 2007 April 16, 11:24 pm
yorkii Member
From: Moriya, Ibaraki Registered: 2005-10-26 Posts: 408 Website

This maybe a bit advanced for some users, but i find this site a MASSIVE help for grammar. http://www.nihongo2.com/dictionary/dictionary.html

I prefer it by far and away over jgram.org and Tae Kim's site.

it is all written in Japanese which is perfect for the way I like to study and has some good extras including particle usage, spoken language and verb endings. one word: brilliant!

Reply #5 - 2007 April 16, 11:36 pm
suffah Member
From: New York Registered: 2006-09-14 Posts: 261

yorkii wrote:

This maybe a bit advanced for some users, but i find this site a MASSIVE help for grammar. http://www.nihongo2.com/dictionary/dictionary.html

I prefer it by far and away over jgram.org and Tae Kim's site.

it is all written in Japanese which is perfect for the way I like to study and has some good extras including particle usage, spoken language and verb endings. one word: brilliant!

Wow, thanks for the link.  Can't believe I've never stumbled on it before!

Reply #6 - 2007 April 17, 8:44 pm
ファブリス Administrator
From: Belgium Registered: 2006-06-14 Posts: 4021 Website

Hi dingomick, thank you for starting up this useful topic.

I'm in Japan right now and time is limited but for the time being I'll "sticky" this topic and welcome everyone to contribute with links to their favorite Japanese learning resources.

Reply #7 - 2007 April 18, 2:30 am
synewave Member
From: Susono, Japan Registered: 2006-06-23 Posts: 864 Website

What I'm currently using:

1. RevTK
2. manga
3. Kanji Kentei prep materials, specifically the 学習ステップ books.
4. Palm running Twinkle
5. alc
6. Jim Breen's
7. Asahi shimbun

Reply #8 - 2007 April 18, 3:38 am
JimmySeal Member
From: Kyoto Registered: 2006-03-28 Posts: 2279

Just please remember - no matter what Tae Kim says, the word "gobi" has nothing to do with particles.

Reply #9 - 2007 April 27, 2:24 am
synewave Member
From: Susono, Japan Registered: 2006-06-23 Posts: 864 Website

dingomick wrote:

5. alc a Japanese web portal **Better description anyone? -dingomick**

I just use it for the dictionary. Not necessarily better than Jim Breen, just different. It doesn't give kanji readings though.

Reply #10 - 2007 April 28, 5:53 pm
chamcham Member
Registered: 2005-11-11 Posts: 1444

Cooking TV Show:
http://www.kureha.co.jp/living/index.php

It's a show called "Kyou no Omusubi".
They make a new onigiri(riceball) every day.

Great for learning vocab related to cooking food..... :-)
Oh......about the mascot......well....*shrug*.........

Reply #11 - 2007 April 28, 11:08 pm
leosmith Member
Registered: 2005-11-18 Posts: 352

Never tried this, but heard it's pretty good:
mikekchar's how to read Japanese Manga
I didn't see this up there, but I'm on pain pills.............
supermemo
Some vocabulary learning techniques:
super-fast vocabulary techniques

Reply #12 - 2007 April 30, 6:30 pm
Serge Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2006-04-04 Posts: 275

Talking about essentials, does anyone know any Japanese language-related forums, similar to this one?

My personal favourite is www.polusharie.com (due to some big names in Linguistics who hang around there) but it may not be accessible to everyone and doesn't deal exclusively in Language matters.

My second favourite, I have to say, is this forum. People are generally rather knowledgeable and have a spirit of innovation.

Any others?

Reply #13 - 2007 April 30, 7:28 pm
synewave Member
From: Susono, Japan Registered: 2006-06-23 Posts: 864 Website

Serge wrote:

My personal favourite is www.polusharie.com (due to some big names in Linguistics who hang around there) but it may not be accessible to everyone and doesn't deal exclusively in Language matters.

How about it not being accessible to people who don't speak,is it, Russian?

I sometimes have a look at www.jlptstudy.com/forum and the http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp has some interesting stuff. But my personal favourite has got to be here!

Reply #14 - 2007 April 30, 11:56 pm
dingomick Member
From: Gifu_Japan Registered: 2006-12-16 Posts: 234

Expanded and compiled into first message.

Reply #15 - 2007 May 01, 4:03 am
nycity Member
From: Belgium Registered: 2007-04-11 Posts: 14 Website

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/forum/
http://www.crisscross.com/forum/Learnin … _81/tt.htm
http://www.jref.com/forum/
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/
http://forum.wordreference.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Reme … The_Kanji/ (spam infested, but still good for the archive)

Also, I imagine many university or college students of Japanese to have their own forum. These are not 'public' forums, but they're often still very accessible.

Last edited by nycity (2007 May 01, 4:21 am)

Reply #16 - 2007 May 01, 4:27 am
Serge Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2006-04-04 Posts: 275

synewave wrote:

How about it not being accessible to people who don't speak,is it, Russian?

Very true and this is what I have warned against in my post. Although I think that a serious question in English would still be answered.


synewave wrote:

I sometimes have a look at www.jlptstudy.com/forum and the http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp has some interesting stuff. But my personal favourite has got to be here!

The JLPT forum looks interesting, thank you for the tip.

I have to say I have given up on Jpod101 forum: it's full of kids who can't even spell English. New members introducing themselves are invited to respond to the question 'what is your favourite video game?'...

Reply #17 - 2007 May 17, 12:51 am
dingomick Member
From: Gifu_Japan Registered: 2006-12-16 Posts: 234

Expanded and compiled into first message.

Reply #18 - 2007 July 06, 12:57 am
synewave Member
From: Susono, Japan Registered: 2006-06-23 Posts: 864 Website

Just came across nafai.org while browsing. Looks like it has some interesting info.

Reply #19 - 2007 September 30, 4:54 pm
FlyingFin Member
From: Netherlands Registered: 2007-04-04 Posts: 13

I must say that www.alljapaneseallthetime.com offers some insanely good tips and methods on how to master Japanese! I have used a lot of the stuff in this blog wink

Make sure to click 'Newcomers click here' at the top wink

Reply #20 - 2007 September 30, 6:56 pm
dilandau23 Member
From: Japan Registered: 2006-09-13 Posts: 330

dingomick wrote:

Expanded and compiled into first message.

yorkii's link should point to http://www.nihongo2.com/dictionary/dictionary.html not to jgram. (I think)

Reply #21 - 2007 September 30, 7:02 pm
yorkii Member
From: Moriya, Ibaraki Registered: 2005-10-26 Posts: 408 Website

aye, thats the site i use for grammar. thanks for pointing that out.

Reply #22 - 2007 September 30, 9:13 pm
dingomick Member
From: Gifu_Japan Registered: 2006-12-16 Posts: 234

Thanks!

Updated.

Reply #23 - 2007 September 30, 9:25 pm
synewave Member
From: Susono, Japan Registered: 2006-06-23 Posts: 864 Website

News: link provided by yorkii, championing provided by me wink

http://news.tbs.co.jp/

Reply #24 - 2007 September 30, 10:06 pm
yorkii Member
From: Moriya, Ibaraki Registered: 2005-10-26 Posts: 408 Website

hehe, thanks for the props.

also, i came across some interesting articles recently regarding the usage of some 2級 grammars, onomatopoeia and so on. written in Japanese so again, recommended for intermediate levels and up. ご覧ください！

Reply #25 - 2007 October 01, 1:11 am
yukamina Member
From: Canada Registered: 2006-01-09 Posts: 761

Hey, I don't think I've seen this topic before. Some great sites to check out!

I don't think it's been mentioned, but I like this site a lot http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
It has vocab for all JLPT levels and grammar for JLPT 1 and 2. It can be pretty tough to find more advanced grammar online, so this is good ^_^