I love Anki- if you’re lazy you can steal someone else’s hard work for FREE or go wild creating your own.  The personal satisfaction after creating the sexy cards makes you desperate to start learning them… go Anki, GO!

I love Anki- if you’re lazy you can steal someone else’s hard work for FREE or go wild creating your own.  The personal satisfaction after creating the sexy cards makes you desperate to start learning them… go Anki, GO!

Textfugu because it’s pure awesome. And Anki, great for revising.

I highly recommend Lang-8 to anybody learning Japanese (or any language).  I’ve been using it basically since it started and it’s a great community and you can get out of it pretty much whatever you want.  If you have language questions you can get natives to answer them.  If you know enough to string a few sentences together you can do that and get corrections.  If you are more advanced and only need minor corrections to help things sound natural, it works for that too.  You can also learn a lot from other people’s entries, and correcting other entries can help boost your own abilities as well.  Plus it’s a fun way to connect with people all over the world who share an interest (language learning) with you.  If you’ve never tried it I encourage you to spend a few minutes and give it a shot.  I’m betting you’ll love it and it just might totally change the way you study Japanese.

I recommended textfugu and rikaichan. Textfugu has helped me so much with my Japanese, I have been studying with it for 49 days straight (i have a chart on the wall) and my Japanese knowledge  has skyrocketed. The kanji learning method is incredibly practical and easy to understand, I know so many more kanji than I ever learned from 3 years of lessons in college. rikaichan is an incredibly useful tool for a quick look up. when I was conversing with my host family over email while on my honeymoon in Japan and I didnt get a word  I could quickly highlight it and keep reading. It can be over used and become a crutch, but if you keep yourself from overusing it then it is a very handy tool indeed. 

I picked TextFugu, because it has allowed me to learn a lot about Japanese in a relatively short amount of time. Also, Tae Kim, because I LOVE grammar, and it has a lot of little grammar tidbits that I’ve seen but not have been able to find an explanation for.

Of course, Anki, because I use it every day and it helps to remember all of the languages I am learning (especially Japanese), and thanks to Koichi’s well-made decks, I get to hear the words too, as well as practice them in many different ways and categories.

The last ones I recommended were Denshi Jisho and NihonShock’s Ultimate Japanese Cheat Sheet; I use them ALL the time, whether I’m watching some Japanese shows or trying to read a book, or just checking something I’m writing, etc. I absolutely love how Denshi Jisho allows you to search by radical, as it is pretty easy to use and is extremely convenient. It’s also fun to see what the individual Kanji mean that are put together to form other words.

I would have recommended Forvo, but I haven’t used it much for Japanese, so I don’t know exactly how great the selction of words is.

(email: jonnie@jonniez.com)

Japanese for Busy People gets you learning conversational skills almost immediately, upon which you can build up more in depth knowledge. This is perfectly paired with Remembering the Kanji, which offers a simple way of learning Kanji which Japanese for Busy People does not include.

I definitely agree with Metalkarachi for Anki, although I usually make my own decks. I love Tae Kim’s guide to Japanese grammar. It’s like, not as dry as most grammar textbooks, but at the same time, it’s great for learning basic grammar for daily use.  I really like Textfugu, as it’s organized in a no-nonsense manner, although I haven’t gotten around to purchasing the textbook. JapanesePod101 just for the podcasts.  The Tofugu vocab resources, just to get any of the essential vocab I might miss. Denshi Jisho for kanji diagrams, especially when it comes to stroke order. AJATT for inspiration and resources. About.com as well. All managed by handy rss feeder.

Oh, and Google too.

I also recommend Anki, it makes it easier to practice learning characters on the go.  Simple and easy to use.

I recommended Anki and Japanesepod101. Anki is obviously an easy way to build vocab, and Japanesepod increases my listening comprehension and has a lot of common words that simply aren’t in textbooks. (Also though its another online textbook- YesJapan has always been a great beginner resource I’ve never seen you review)

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of text incomming!

I
recommend TextFugu, RealKana, Rikaichan & Anki

TextFugu;
If you are going to start learning Japanese, definitely start
here. The first few lessons are free, and on top of that, this site
is made for self learners. Textbooks are so hard to get through, and
to keep track of when you don’t have a teacher. That is why I think
TextFugu is far superior than anything else
-at least for beginners. The website has
plenty of humor, and you will learn grammar with Yoda(do I have to
say anything else?:P). When you have first started you will get some
recommendations to a lot of good programs, which I will write a
recommendation of below. This site is awesome, and it was how I got
into Japanese. If you are considering the slightest to start, then
start here. It is easy, it is free, and it is fun.

Sadly
it not all content which is free, but I would say that it is worth
paying for :) I mean what would a teacher cost you a month?

Realkana;
Realkana is an easy little “game” you can play whenever you don’t
have anything better to do. It will take
you through Hiragana/katakana, and will
display the Japanese character(kana), and then you have to write the
sound it makes with our alphabet(romanji). Realkana can be set to
include different types of writings, which improves your reading
skill by a lot, since some of the writings are much different from
what you initially learn. You need to learn how to read others
handwriting, and this is a good place to start :)

Anki;
Anki is a program which wouldn’t be good
without the introductions I got at TextFugu.
The program can import a set of cards, which you can go through. On
the cards there can be written あ,
and then you have to remember which sound this kana makes(it is ”a”
in this case). The cards can also include a sounds, so you can get
your pronunciation right.

Mainly Anki is used as revising of what you have already learned and it is really good at that :)

I had some problems with the program when I first started, but it
is really good, especially with the cards that textfugu gives you.

Rikaichan;
After first learning hiragana(the basic ”alphabet”) I wanted to
browse the web, even though I did not know any words. I went to the
Japanese google, and then realized that there was a lot that I didn’t
even knew which sounds would make. I think that it in this case was
検索(pronounced
けんさく　or
kensaku) which means search. I was a bit disappointed, that after
spending that much time learning hiragana, I couldn’t even go to a
basic website and see which sounds the characters made.

This
changed when I found Rikaichan. It is a really cool program, which
you use for your browser. After enabling it, you can hoover over any
Japanese character, and it will translate it for you, and tell you
how to pronounce it. It is very accurate, and I would say that it is
about as good as Google translate, though it can only translate small
amounts of text.

Thanks for reading :)

I recommended TextFugu because it is… mostly harmless.  ^_^

I recommended TextFugu. I chose TextFugu for many reasons. Therefore, I made a top ten list  of why I love it so.

1.It’s awesome, I mean, the front page has a zombie on it….

2. Simple and easy to read. There is no cluttered kanji going every which way. It has a tame font that is ultra easy to read, bold Japanese (not that ultra cluttered kanji you can find on Japanese newspapers such as The Japan Times), the layout is ultra easy, (no looking for that contact us button).

3. Makers that actually care. The team of TextFugu seems more than welcome to answer any question you might want to ask. 

4. Innovative, after all the ridiculously tedious attempts of teaching Japanese conventionally, (by learning strokes first), someone FINALLY decided to try something new, and it succeeded. 

5. Community that cares, if you look at the forum, you will see there is at least 1 comment per post. If you happen to post and nobody is daring enough to post just email Koichi and problem solved.

6. One time payment availability- ’bout time someone treats an online textbook like a real textbook. Most people don’t care to pay 20-60 dollars a year! Which brings me to my next choice…

7. Not ridiculously priced. My siblings have college textbooks that cost more than TextFugu’s. And it will be outdated later.

8. Up to date, no medieval Japanese here, there are updates.

9. Guaranteed, someone out in TextFugu knows different methods are needed for different people. If you don’t learn efficiently from it, no sweat. (I am still a person browsing TextFugu until I make enough cash for one of the plans so this is especially important to me once I purchase the full textbook).

and the one that is especially big to me….

10. It keeps you interested in learning a language. Languages are very daunting and when you start studying you can feel the why-am-I-doing-this feeling. But not here, there is plenty of humor in the pictures and text throughout the website and when things get particularly tough and uninspiring, Koichi sympathizes and understands (it’s getting mushy, I know) that kanji, on’yomi, kun’yomi, e.t.c. is insanely hard and then explains the concepts even more so you are sure to get it. And that my friends, is why anyone going to Japan, or that loves Japan, or that is a Japanese, or is an aspiring weaboo, should become a member. And this my friends, is why I love TextFugu.

btw- Koichi, if you’re reading this, you should consider making TextFugu an actual, physical textbook! I’m no marketer, but if you make a physical textbook the way you make your online ones, it would be a hit!

I recommended Anki, Lang-8, and Denshi Jisho. 
Anki is an amazing way to commit anything to your long-term memory with the spaced repetition system, especially the Japanese you love. It might be a little bit of work, but it’s all worth it- and it’s FREE! You know you love that!

Lang-8 is great for testing your reading and writing ability, and seeing how native speakers would improve/correct your errors. There’s both free and premium versions, and I know I love free resources.

I love Denshi Jisho. It lets you find any kanji you encounter, even if you don’t know what it is. You can  find a kanji by the number of strokes it has, meaning, or radicals. Quite useful; more so than a traditional paper dictionary.

Remembering the Kanji:

If I could recommend only one resource on the resources page, this would
be it.  I’m currently going through RTK now, and it’s working wonders
for me.  The basic idea is to give you the same advantage a Chinese
speaker has in that you’ll know a good deal of the writing system by the
end.  It’s sort of a delayed gratification, but even if you only do 15
characters a day, you’ll be done in 4 and a half months and be much
better for it.  Be sure to check out  kanji.koohii.net for extra help!

Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide:

This is a terrific resource for learning a variety of Japanese grammar,
and it always gives example sentences.  Great for adding sentences to
your SRS, you’ll be a grammar king in no time with this!

Genki:

This was my first Japanese text book.  It helped me get to the
intermediate level I started learning at back in February.  I used it in
a classroom, and can only recommend it for use as such.  I can’t see it
as a great self-teaching tool.

Lang-8:

Again, this is most useful for someone at least intermediate, such as
myself.  You may find you have to look up tons of words and grammar
constructs just to make a short blog post, but the feedback you get in
invaluable.

Rikaichan:

Excellent for navigating Japanese pages when you’re winging it, and also
for translating kanji lyrics.  It’s a bit of a crutch though, be sure
to learn from it and not let it gives you a false sense of
accomplishment.

Anki:

I know I said RTK is my most highly recommended tool, but this just goes
hand in hand with RTK.  Use this in conjunction with RTK to learn all
your kanji.  Not only is SRS great for Japanese, but for quickly
learning school stuff so you can go back to learning more Japanese! :)

Forvo:

Japanese words aren’t that hard to figure out, but when in doubt use
this.  Can also be used to settle disputes with friends about how to
pronounce English words :P

Ultimate Verbs/Nouns/Adjectives:

Having never used these, I’m reluctant to actually recommend them.  But
frequency lists are awesome, and can really give your vocab a boost. 
I’d love to have any one of these myself, but I spent all my money on
hookers and blow :(

Kotaba:

Best dictionary app I’ve found for iPhone, hands down.

Anki Mobile:

All the joy of Anki, in the palm of your hand.  Worth the price,
especially if being used for school work as well.  Requires continued
use of the computer one for most of your deck management and whatnot. 
It’s also still a work in progress.

Denshi Jisho:

Much more than a dictionary, this can give you kanji information
(including the corresponding number in a variety of dictionaries,
including Remembering the Kanji) and example sentences for your SRSing
pleasure.

I just paid $22.87 for an iPad2 (64GB) and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $674 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CentHub.com

I recommended Genki and Lang-8 out of the resources provided. My Japanese teacher used Genki and it’s something that I’m very familiar with. I’m almost at intermediate level but I’ve been noticing more and more how much I’ve forgotten, so I’ve decided to go through from the very beginning with Genki and I’m appreciating how easy it is to understand (and regretting that I took it for granted in high school). It’s actually kind of humorous because it follows a storyline somewhat and it’s got that one character that is always the butt of all the jokes, Takeshi. 

Moving on, I really like Lang-8 because it really helped me when, in class, I was writing to a pen-friend in Japan. First, I would post what I thought I wanted to send online and in turn it would get corrected and I’d see where I messed up. It also puts into perspective that it’s okay to be a little bit off in translation because so are the people learning English. It made me not get so befuddled with myself when I messed up because the people who correct me are very nice about it. 

There’s also another resource that I use sometimes that’s not listed and it’s http://erin.ne.jp/ . I really wish Koichi, Hachi or John would review this because it’s friendly for all levels of learners and it’s awesome in all areas of Japanese. It’s a bit goofy, too, which makes it easier to learn instead of being stressed out over monotonous learning (but that last bit wasn’t directed at any of the resources on the Resource Page).

Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide: This is my go-to resource for looking up grammar points when I am unsure. Very clear, plain-english explanations for people who just want to get to the point.

RTK: The granddaddy of kanji books. Though it may not feel like you are learning “real” Japanese at first, keep with it and it will surely pay off in the end!

Lang-8: Excellent place to get your writing corrected. The community there is extremely helpful and enthusiastic to help you with your learning! Plus, you’re almost guaranteed to make a new friend or two.

Anki: Hands-down the best free SRS software available. Snag some shared decks, sit down for 30 minutes a day, and study! Goes very well with RTK.

Rikaichan (or rikaikun for Chrome https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jipdnfibhldikgcjhfnomkfpcebammhp): Extremely convenient in-browser Japanese dictionary. Stuck on a word? Rikaichan will help you learn it ASAP!

ReadTheKanji: Lets you practice your kanji readings without getting bored! Its strangely addicting gameplay will keep you studying for hours!

RealKana: How I learned to read my kana. As an intermediate, I remember how hard it was to learn kana, until I found RealKana. It may not look fancy, but practice with it every day and you’ll be reading like it’s second nature to you! Seriously, you’ll have it down with less than a week of regular practice!

Ankimobile (and also AnkiDroid for Android https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ichi2.anki&hl=en): Can’t get enough Anki? Practice on your smartphone or tablet wherever you go! I prefer AnkiDroid because it automatically reminds me to do my reviews!

Denshi Jisho: My starting point for finding more about a new word I encounter. Use the external links to other websites (ALC, Goo Jisho, Japanese Wikipedia, Google Images, etc.) to help you build vocabulary cards in Anki!

EDIT: my email: xatlasm [at] gmail [dot] com

I recommended RikaiChan/Rikaikun (depending on the browser you use) because it’s really helpful telling you what the kanji is, what it’s base form is in kana, and gives English definition. I’ve used it hundreds of times decoding a pen-pals email. :)

Anki is fantastic for someone who wants the 2000 kanji/kana/vocab/grammar flash cards, but is way too lazy to make each themselves (like me :D). Anki also has a great syncing system, so the progress statistics and customized flash cards you make will be synced across computers and phones. (they have Anki on android and ios I believe) 

Japanese for Busy People is great as well. However, I’ve heard that versions earlier than the 3rd edition are not as well organized. It’s good for workbook style learning.

I recommended RikaiChan/Rikaikun (depending on the browser you use) because it’s really helpful telling you what the kanji is, what it’s base form is in kana, and gives English definition. I’ve used it hundreds of times decoding a pen-pals email. :)

Anki is fantastic for someone who wants the 2000 kanji/kana/vocab/grammar flash cards, but is way too lazy to make each themselves (like me :D). Anki also has a great syncing system, so the progress statistics and customized flash cards you make will be synced across computers and phones. (they have Anki on android and ios I believe) 

Japanese for Busy People is great as well. However, I’ve heard that versions earlier than the 3rd edition are not as well organized. It’s good for workbook style learning.

I’ve just started checking out TextFugu, the best part is the human tone in the lesson structure.  It’s written for a student who wants to learn, without the feeling that the next line will be “help, I’m stuck in a textbook factory, nooooooo.”

TextFugu spices up the process by recommending a healthy number of resources, which keeps you moving briskly through the course, and more importantly, keeps you motivated with a community.  Anki, RealKana, and the Kana charts have been excellent tools as I start learning Japanese, and I look forward to the lessons to come.  

First I recommended the Resources page, then I recommended TextFugu,
TextFugu Hiragana and Katakana charts, JapanesePod101 and Lang 8.

I
recommended the Tofugu products because I am new to learning Japanese
and these are good tools to start with.   And the fact that you can
download them is great because I have the charts in my study notebook to
refer to.  AND I like the Youtube videos you post and the great sense
of humor that shows throughout the website. Like the picture at the top
of the post. I will be stealing it for a profile pic!

JapanesePod101
is another nice website. They send you emails about different aspects
of Japanese language and culture when you sign up for the free emails.

Lang8
is a great site as well because you get to connect with other people
that want to learn your language and you want to learn theirs, it is a
nice language exchange site and you meet really nice people. 

I recommend RealKana and Rikaichan. RealKana is really useful when you are just starting out on learning Hiragana and Katakana and you need help memorizing. I know it helped me out in college when I just started taking Japanese.

Rikaichan/kun is really helpful if you like looking at Japanese blogs or quotes and you don’t know what the kanji you are reading mean. It’s faster and easier  than breaking out your textbook. However, I do double check with my textbook to see if it is right.

First I recommended the Resources page, then I recommended TextFugu,
TextFugu Hiragana and Katakana charts, JapanesePod101 and Lang 8.
I recommended the Tofugu products because I am new to learning Japanese
and these are good tools to start with.   And the fact that you can
download them is great because I have the charts in my study notebook to
refer to.  AND I like the Youtube videos you post and the great sense
of humor that shows throughout the website. Like the picture at the top
of the post. I will be stealing it for a profile pic!
JapanesePod101
is another nice website. They send you emails about different aspects
of Japanese language and culture when you sign up for the free emails.
Lang8
is a great site as well because you get to connect with other people
that want to learn your language and you want to learn theirs, it is a
nice language exchange site and you meet really nice people. 

Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese!!! everything on one guide, no additional resources necessary!