Win Japanese Resources By Telling Us Your Favorites

by

It’s been about a month since we launched our “Japanese Resources Page” – on it we say things like “blah-didy-blah japanese resource this that etc” but we thought it would be fun for you guys if we just put our money where our mouths are. Not all the resources on the Japanese Resources page are free (some of them are, though, and they’re awesome), so we thought we’d give you some of the paid ones using cash from our very own Scrooge McDuck gold coin swimming pools (that way you don’t have to). We have a lot of cool resources to give away, too.

How To Win (It’s Suspiciously Easy)

On our Japanese Resources page, we have “recommend” buttons. They look like this:

The cool thing about these is that they’re linked to Facebook, meaning only real people can “recommend” something. Although individual items will get fewer votes by using Facebook (I’m guessing), the idea is that each “recommendation” will have a lot more umph behind it. Real people are recommending these resources, and I think people will be pickier about what they choose. That’s awesome, I think. You can really get an idea already what’s a great resource out there, just based off this (though some newer stuff has fewer recommendations).

We’re greedy fugus over here, though, so we want to bribe you to give some recommendations on this page (if you haven’t already). Here’s how to enter the contest.

  1. Make sure you have a Facebook account (big sorries if you don’t!)
  2. Go to the Japanese Resources page on Tofugu.
  3. Recommend one or more resources by hitting the “recommend” button. Pick your favorites! The ones you’d actually recommend to someone else for their awesome-ness.
  4. Come back here and leave a comment, telling us what you recommended and why. Be sure to add your email in the email field when doing your comment, that’s how we’ll contact you if you win something.
  5. Hope for the best. There are a couple different ways you can win something (and a bunch of prizes, see below), but we’ll start giving stuff out next week.

Quick, easy, and helps out both of us, I think (especially if you win something). More importantly, it will help others to find great Japanese resources, based off of your recommendations. You’re changing people’s minds! 0_0

Prizes

Out of our own linty pockets we’re providing prizes. Some of the prizes are ours, some are others – there’s a good mix of stuff going on, here, with different ways to win them, depending on what they are.

[divider]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: TextFugu “Forever” Subscription
How: We’ll pick one comment at random, below.

TextFugu is Tofugu’s online Japanese textbook. It’s made specifically for self-learners of Japanese (sorry classrooms, businesses, and the FBI) and tries to make sure you don’t hit any of the pitfalls of learning Japanese on your own (losing motivation, getting stuck, etc). We’ll be giving away one forever (lifetime!) subscription to one lucky (and hoopy) frood.

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: Lifetime Subscription to MangoLanguages Japanese
How: We’ll pick one comment at random, below.

Mango Languages is a great way to learning quick, practical Japanese really quickly. If you’re one of those people who don’t want to bother with all the fancy linguistic aspects of a language and just want to learn how to ask for directions, make small talk, or order at a restaurant, Mango Languages is for you.

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: 1 Year Subscription to Lang-8′s Premium Program
How: We’ll pick one comment at random, below.

Lang-8 is a social network that focuses on language exchange. You write journal entries in the language you’re learning (Japanese?) and then Japanese native speakers will correct your journal entries using a cool correction tool (that helps you learn from your mistakes). Normally Lang-8 is free, but there’s also a great Premium version of the site (I’m a subscriber, actually, it’s nice). We’ll be giving away a single one year subscription to one lucky winner.

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: Forever Subscription To Gakuu
How: We’ll pick someone at random out of people who mention in their comment that they’re intermediate / advanced!

Gakuu is a site that puts out regular lessons based off of real (raw) Japanese (we’re talking signs, letters, etc… things that are real Japanese used in reality in Japan). This service is more for intermediate / advanced students of Japanese, so we’ll try to pick someone who can use Gakuu effectively (so it doesn’t go to waste!).

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: 1 Year Subscription to ReadTheKanji
How: Recommend a kanji related resource and we’ll pick someone at random from that pool of people

ReadTheKanji is a really effective, interesting way to practice kanji. It uses vocab to show you different kanji, and based off your answers rates the individual kanji within the vocab to help you to study what you aren’t very good at. It’s a great tool for all levels! One lucky kanji-loving commenter will get a one year subscription to this service.

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: Ultimate Nouns (1&2), Adjectives, and Verbs Vocab Packs
How: One out of five recommenders/commenters will get this prize (those are pretty good odds)!

The “Ultimate Japanese Vocab” packs are some of the first things to appear in our (somewhat) secret Tofugu Store (shh, hasn’t been announced yet). These packs give you the 200 most common verbs, the 200 most common adjectives, and the first 200 most common nouns. By learning vocab in the right order, you’re making sure that you get the most bang for your Japanese-vocab-learning-buck, meaning you get to use the Japanese you learn a lot faster. These “packs” consist of an Anki deck and a pdf+excel file with all the words, their meanings, kanji verison, kana version, and so on.

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

[fivecol_one]

[/fivecol_one]

[fivecol_four_last]

What: Ultimate Nouns #1 Pack
How: “Recommend” something on the Japanese Resources Page then Comment. Everyone wins!

This is just the Ultimate Nouns Pack (not all four of the currently available ones). it consists of the 100 most common Japanese nouns, and is a great way to get started on your Japanese vocabulary. By learning these words you’re sure to learn the most useful words in the Japanese language. That’s pretty awesome. Everyone who does the Facebook Recommend on the Japanese Resources page and then comments here telling us your #1 recommendation on that list wins themselves a pack of Nouns (Anki deck + PDF/Excel file). Hooray for winning! Tiger Blood!

[/fivecol_four_last]

[hr]

Rules

There you have it. Odds are really good on some of these, not as good on others. There are some rules, though:

  1. You have to recommend something on the Japanese Resource Page first (that means you need a Facebook account to recommend with).
  2. We’ll only count one comment from each person, below (so don’t spam comments… we know your IP address! Be nice to others!)
  3. We’ll try to make sure one person doesn’t win more than one prize (besides the Ultimate Vocab packs, because everyone wins one of those, at least!).
  4. We’ll start giving things away a week from now. That’s August 8th. Probably won’t get everything out on that day, but expect to start hearing from us then (and the rest of that week). Make sure you put your email in correctly while leaving your comment, otherwise we won’t be able ot get ahold of you :(
  5. Comments that are particularly entertaining / well written / etc may or may not get two entries into the “random choosing pool.” Quality is king, ya’all.
  6. Also, tweeting / liking / G+ing this post may or may not also help you out. Probably won’t, but just sayin’, you know?

That’s it – get to it if you want to get to it! Let us know if you have any questions, too.

[Header Image]

← Older Comments
Newer Comments →
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001527558986 Auntie Sinéad

    Textfugu! As corny as it sounds the only bad thing I’ve to say is I wish I’d found it sooner. There are so many resources online that sometimes it can be overwhelming. After a year of self study which saw me jump from one site to another and amount an array of text books and cheat sheets I have  finally  found a resource that teaches and motivates me…and shock horror makes me laugh out loud.

    It really has made me look at my language learning from a new angle. And my mental health is all the better for it!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001527558986 Auntie Sinéad

    Textfugu! As corny as it sounds the only bad thing I’ve to say is I wish I’d found it sooner. There are so many resources online that sometimes it can be overwhelming. After a year of self study which saw me jump from one site to another and amount an array of text books and cheat sheets I have  finally  found a resource that teaches and motivates me…and shock horror makes me laugh out loud.

    It really has made me look at my language learning from a new angle. And my mental health is all the better for it!

  • Shleena Nazeer

    Textfugu – I love using textfugu for learning Japanese, it keeps you motivated to learn, cuts out all of the useless stuff you won’t ever use and they make it so clear and easy to learn. I got the ‘Forever and Ever Plan’ and I would recommend this to anyone. 
    Anki – This program is awesome, it is good for learning new vocab, kanji, hiragana and katakana. I love using this too because I can learn very quickly with this program.  Also the decks that Koichi has made that includes audio so you can listen to the pronounciation is so useful.  Use it!Rikaichan – I’ve only started using this but it is very helpful so far to translate the meanings of Japanese text.RealKana – This was so useful to help me learn my hiragana and katakana and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to learn all of the kana.Textfugu’s Hiragana and Katakana Charts – These charts are very well laid out which makes it easy to look up any kana which you may have forgot. I’ll have to try some of the other resources that have been put up but so far these are the ones that have been very useful to me.

  • Shleena Nazeer

    Textfugu – I love using textfugu for learning Japanese, it keeps you motivated to learn, cuts out all of the useless stuff you won’t ever use and they make it so clear and easy to learn. I got the ‘Forever and Ever Plan’ and I would recommend this to anyone. 
    Anki – This program is awesome, it is good for learning new vocab, kanji, hiragana and katakana. I love using this too because I can learn very quickly with this program.  Also the decks that Koichi has made that includes audio so you can listen to the pronounciation is so useful.  Use it!Rikaichan – I’ve only started using this but it is very helpful so far to translate the meanings of Japanese text.RealKana – This was so useful to help me learn my hiragana and katakana and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to learn all of the kana.Textfugu’s Hiragana and Katakana Charts – These charts are very well laid out which makes it easy to look up any kana which you may have forgot. I’ll have to try some of the other resources that have been put up but so far these are the ones that have been very useful to me.

  • Nikki

    I recommended Lang-8 and JapanesePod101.  Lang-8 because if you are learning on your own like I am, its nice to have someone to correct your mistakes.  JapanesePod101 because I like to listen to their podcasts when I’m cleaning.

  • Nikki

    I recommended Lang-8 and JapanesePod101.  Lang-8 because if you are learning on your own like I am, its nice to have someone to correct your mistakes.  JapanesePod101 because I like to listen to their podcasts when I’m cleaning.

  • Guybrush Threepwood

    TEXTFUGU:  Lessons so simple yet engaging, even a monkey (already trained in speaking English) could understand them.  The Season structure really makes it feel like your Japanese is “levelling up”, each lesson giving you an XP boost – though it’s language skills you’re gaining, not androgynous clothes, magic spells and skyscraper-sized demon swords.
    Robin: “Holy Fugu fish, Batman!  My Japanese is already level 3!!”Batman: “Well Robin, I’d say that’s a pretty **INTERMEDIATE AND/OR ADVANCED** level, if you ask me.”

  • http://twitter.com/xianglie Natalie Venning

    Using the Ultimate Nouns (1&2), Adjectives, and Verbs Vocab Packs would make anyone ‘JFDI’ and learn Japanese… my studying partner can tell you how unmotivated I can be but with such pratical cards that can assist moronic amateurs like me and shining intermediates like Ameera I would be able to procrastinate my degree with even more websites in different langauges…. I mean better my life…    :3

    natalie.venning@gmail.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1418095449 Kad Mudkipson

    I recommended Tae Kim’s guide to learning Japanese. There have been many times where I just can’t grasp something that I’m learning from a textbook and need a different explanation to give me a better perspective on it. At times like this, I have always been able to count on Tae Kim’s awesome grammar pages for further help. Even now as an Intermediate learner of Japanese, I still use Tae Kim’s site the most out of all of the resources I own.
    It definitely earns my seal of approval!  ;D

  • Denn0156

    I recommend Denshi Jisho. I tend to get stuck when reading Japanese text so I have “Find Kanji by Radicals” bookmarked. Sometimes it is nice to learn a random kanji by letting the radicals guide me!

    (denn0156@d.umn.edu)

  • Denn0156

    I recommend Denshi Jisho. I tend to get stuck when reading Japanese text so I have “Find Kanji by Radicals” bookmarked. Sometimes it is nice to learn a random kanji by letting the radicals guide me!

    (denn0156@d.umn.edu)

  • codebeard

    Are you someone who can’t remember anything, ever?

    Do bank staff become suspicious when it takes you several minutes to recall your home address?

    Have you already forgotten why you were reading this comment?

    Then, you should get Anki. Get it now. http://ankisrs.net/

    At first, you will say “what the heck, this looks complicated and I don’t really know what I’m doing.” Then, you will watch the intro video on the main page (because I told you to), and you will say “Oh, do want.”

    After a few minutes learning the ropes, you will be making flash cards to remember all the things you want, and learning great habits to study every day. Good luck!

  • Em_15_rainstorm

    I recommend quite a few resources from that list– mostly the free ones!
    One that isn’t free is the Japanese the Manga way– I absolutely love it. The examples are excellent, they give plenty explanation, and you can always read just the manga to test your understanding.
    Then, there’s some free resources I love like Lang-8. You can learn so much about how to speak naturally there, and there’s no shortage of native Japanese speakers! Also, the comments they make are really helpful, too.
    Anki, it’s great, it’s free, you can customize it. Period.
    JapanesePod101, if you just go for the free stuff, does provide a decent amount of audio material and good explanations as well as cultural insights.
    And, last but not least, the NihonShock Ultimate Japanese Cheat Sheet really does live up to it’s name. Seriously.

  • Em_15_rainstorm

    I recommend quite a few resources from that list– mostly the free ones!
    One that isn’t free is the Japanese the Manga way– I absolutely love it. The examples are excellent, they give plenty explanation, and you can always read just the manga to test your understanding.
    Then, there’s some free resources I love like Lang-8. You can learn so much about how to speak naturally there, and there’s no shortage of native Japanese speakers! Also, the comments they make are really helpful, too.
    Anki, it’s great, it’s free, you can customize it. Period.
    JapanesePod101, if you just go for the free stuff, does provide a decent amount of audio material and good explanations as well as cultural insights.
    And, last but not least, the NihonShock Ultimate Japanese Cheat Sheet really does live up to it’s name. Seriously.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=642422121 Dávid Halmi

    Hey there,  greetings from Hungary, EU, and here are my recommendations:

    textfugu – it has fugu in its name. how can it be bad?
    remembering the kanji 1 – i have it, i love it, i’m about halfway. fear me! :)
    readthekanji – you had me at the screenshot of the prod.
    ALL japanese vocabulary resources – they’re a MUST
    ALL worksheets / cheatsheets – they’re a MUST too

    good luck everyone!

  • Kaxxina

    I love my kotoba app! Always handy and easy to use! :)

  • Em_15_rainstorm

    Oh, and I forgot to mention– ReadtheKanji is rather useful for learning kanji, even if it’s just familarizing yourself with the characters. I’ve only used the free version, but I’m sure that it would be even more useful if you actually paid for it. However, the free stuff is good too.

  • Michelle

    I recommend the Particles Cheat Sheet, and the  Ultimate Cheat Sheet – because I can’t stand particles and can’t, for the life of me, work out when I should be using which ones, nor can I ever remember how I’m suppose to change a word into it’s potential form, past plain negative, ect, ect – and because who (especially poor high school students) doesn’t love free Cheat Sheets.  :D 

  • Emily Suvannasankha

    I recommended Textfugu, because I’m halfway through the first season and am already loving it! The way it’s written – like Tofugu – makes it fun and funny to read through whether you’re planning on having a hardcore study session or just refreshing your mind with a quick flip through. I thought kanji would be painful, and well, it is, but not as much as I was expecting thanks to the simple terms Textfugu explains each kanji in. I love Koichi’s motivation emails, too – it seems like they go to every length possible to keep you motivated and learning happily. But my favorite part of Textfugu is the welcoming community of fellow fugu-ers that help you along each step of the way. Thanks, Koichi and Hashi, for making the best Japanese textbook ever. ^^
    (email: xyuki.chiix@gmail.com)

  • murasaki

    I have to say I’m a sucker for all things JPod, because I discovered them in their pre-subscription startup phase, and was hooked by the podcast format and the hosts’ charm and humour.  The podcasts were like a radio show to me, and I couldn’t wait to tune in.  When they went subscription, I felt it was worth it because of the format’s convenience (the PDF notes rounded out the lessons nicely) and the fact that the quality was better than anything you could get at the bookstore (or elsewhere online).

    Despite the fact that things have changed in online language learning, JPod still offers a way to start off with a solid base and grow from there in a number of different directions (business, cultural learning, and so forth).  By now they’ve amassed an amazing archive full of lessons, so you can fill in any gaps in your Japanese learning if you started elsewhere or use other resources.  I went back to early lessons just for fun recently, and they still sound fresh and relevant.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=742877953 Karin Siehs

    I’ve recommended this site and the tools I like and use quite a while ago already, since some of my friends are eager to learn Japanese as well and I wanted to let them know of great resources. Since I’m a poor student, it’s free tools only so far – but they’re a great help already :)

    First of all, I’ve stumbled upon Tae Kim’s guide before even knowing about Tofugu, and it helps me a lot with understanding grammar. Might help to have like 1-2 additional (sets of) examples for each part, but it’s very well-written and the contents have made it into one of my Anki decks.

    Speaking of which, Anki/Anki Mobile is the tool I use most right now – each day for 2-3 hours, to be exact. Besides grammar, I also repeat a merged deck of kana and JLPT-4 kanji (plus some words based on them), some core vocab and sentences. I’m looking forward to improve my decks with the thanks-for-recommending-and-commenting pack, thank you so much for granting everyone access to it who takes part in this :D <3

    For my JLPT kanji words addition, I checked ReadTheKanji and copypasted to new Anki cards. It's one of the tools I started with, but since I prefer to be able to learn anywhere and anytime without having to rely on my somewhat unpredictable internet connection, I moved on to Anki. Though I really liked ReadTheKanji's approach with a huge character plus a sentence in which it is used, which proved really helpful.

    Next, Cheat sheets. Since Kana are going quite well by now, I recommended NihonShock's Ultimate and Tofugu's Particle sheets, which are a nice resource to have around if you want to understand when to use which particle. Tae Kim and those where the first resources I found that would distinguish for example wa/ga in a way that everyone would understand, and I was AMAZED to find out that Japanese doesn't require words like "etc." since there's to/ya :D

    Denshi Jisho has been an open browser tab for weeks now. Fun fact: despite this, I still don't recognize the Kanji for "dictionary" whenever it comes up on Anki. Shame on me.
    However, it shows lots and lots of words and I especially like the "Kanji details" page which shows radicals, stroke order, how to read it, meaning and everything else you need to know.

    One thing I didn't recommend is Genki – we used it at a language course at Uni and I felt like I learned a lot more from Japanese TV shows.
    For example, it taught me the differences between kore-sore-are-dore and such, but I simply couldn't figure out when to use kore/kono. Embarrassing, now that I look back and found it REALLY easy to understand, once I found a proper explanation – or maybe I was just not motivated enough to learn it back then :'D
    All I remember is that Japanese people on the CD talk to foreigners like meeeaaariii-saaan extremely slowly – which can be understood as being polite, or thinking we're too dumb to learn it anyway (or both) :P – and that the step from using Romaji to not having them anymore seemed a bit harsh, since you're tempted way too much to rely on them instead of actually learning Kana properly.
    However, I'm sure it has taught lots and lots of people the basics, and the small stories in there were actually nicely written and told.

    Last but not least, I'm really happy to have found this site with all its amazing links and infos, and I'm really thankful for giving everyone this opportunity to win access to some of the best tools for studying Japanese "at home". I've thought about wishing for access to TextFugu and one or two other sites for Christmas, and time will show if you're a Summer Santa ;D
    However, even if the redder and rounder Winter version has to step in, I'll still love this page and all the great stuff on here, just for helping and supporting everyone who is willing to study Japanese in every way you can.

    どうもありがとう。<3

  • Uniko

    I recommend Lang-8 because it’s the only one I’ve ever used!!:P

    Well, that’s just a joke but I really like it! It’s free, easy to start, quick responses by many native speakers. You can write about your daily life, news, novel translation, business letters…anything! And you’ll get natives’ corrections:) It’s really awesome. 
    Thanks Koichi for sharing this great web service!

  • バイソン

    I recommended Genki. It was the first Japanese textbook I ever received. My Japanese-American friend basically gave it to me for free. It helped me build a great foundation with the language, because it was friendly and didn’t scare me away! I love it!

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    Amazing.

  • Ben_R_R

    I recommended Genki I and Text Fugu, I unfortunately have not had a chance to try the others yet.

  • Ben_R_R

    I recommended Genki I and Text Fugu, I unfortunately have not had a chance to try the others yet.

  • Anna ChiakiChama

    I recommend textfugu because it’s well explained and it’s awesomeness and fun-ness make’s it so hard to stop studying! I also recommend Japanese for busy people cuz of all it’s exercises (-though I have a teacher) and I absolutely love Lang-8! It has helped me alot. there is abunch of nice ppl who happily helps you with all your weird-ass grammar and the wtf spellings. :D

  • Hailey

    Textfugu: because I’m a kissa…I mean because it’s amazing. I, unfortunately, don’t have a paid subscription to Textfugu (getting one soon, hopefully!!), but the free lessons on Hiragana and Katakana have helped me learn these two alphabets quicker than I could have ever imagined. So much love for this site <3

    RealKana: I use this site everyday to help me practice my Hiragana and Katakana. Just 10 minutes a day helps me remember all the characters.

    JapanesePod 101: Three years ago, when I first got interested in learning Japanese, this was the first site I used. Seeing it on the recommendation page made me smile so I recommended it =P

  • http://twitter.com/xUsagii 冬魂です。

    I tried not to click everything I’ve used in that list (because there are some that are really good and I wanted to so badly click ‘recommend’ but I haven’t used it long/often enough to give an accurate reason)  but I’m going to try and keep my reasons short and simple (looking at all those comments, especially the long ones makes my brain hurt so good luck lol.)

    TextFugu – The first GOOD resource I found on the Internet. Been using it for over a year now and I’d highly recommend it to anyone trying to learn Japanese – it’s very affordable, witty, fun and actually has this ‘kick’ which makes you want to continue with lessons, it’s actually hard to believe learning Japanese could be that fun. I really wish the lessons were updated more often but it’s still all good.

    Remembering the Kanji 1 – I have the book (I like to support the Author) but it’s an extremely helpful book for learning to write and remember the kanji radicals. Sometimes his memorization ‘stories’ aren’t very helpful (quite a few I am remembering have been the stories I have made up which are better for me) but very beneficial nonetheless.

    Lang-8 – I don’t really write Japanese journal entries very often (boo at me!) but it’s inspirational to see other journal entries written by English natives like me wishing to learn Japanese. I actually spend almost all of my time on Lang-8 correcting journals written in English and talking to Japanese natives, helping them to improve in English and telling them about British culture. Should really try and get some Japanese help from them sometime. Also makes me realise that being helpful rather than helped can be a weak point. ^^;

    Anki – amazing for reviewing things like RTK, the kana and vocab. Really helps to drill those pesky ones in my mind. Has been my lifesaver when I have to learn vocab my Japanese tutor has taught me. (Unfortunately during holidays I have no lessons from her so I have to self learn myself – which I usually do combined with the tutoring I get anyway. .__.”)

    Rikaichan – usually when I see words/phrases/sentences/paragraphs I don’t understand/can’t read (curse you kanji!) I used to copy + paste into Google Translate which (most of the time) gave me a very poor, rough translation – if I was lucky. Now, I can learn meanings and pronunciation of words and phrases (not so much sentences and paragraphs) a lot quicker and usually get a much better and precise translation.

    RealKana – OMG, okay I’d recommend this to absolutely anyone learning kana. I learned all the Hiragana from my Japanese tutor in about 6 weeks (learning 10 Hiragana a week) but I found this website in the middle of learning Katakana. I drilled the whole Katakana ‘alphabet’ into my mind within about an hour and a half – mind you I was about 1/2 way through. It’s SUPER helpful for drilling the kana in your head and most people learn the kana in about a week with this super helpful ‘program’ (not really a program). Old school and basic but one of the best things since sliced bread (err, in terms of Japanese learning).

    Denshi Jisho – a super helpful dictionary. I don’t know how to explain this but it’s awesomeness. (My brain is going dead from all these ‘why’ answers so unfortunately Jisho gets a very short and undetailed reason. SO SORRY, YOU REALLY ARE AWESOME OH LITTLE JISHO. :()

    Okay, this ended up being way longer than I imagined (omgwut, so long – think mine is one of the longest actually, I’M SO SORRY! T_T) but I hope my reasons are good enough. Would be great to win something as an early birthday present (birthday is in September)! ^o^

    ~Winter Spirit <3 -hoping for the best-

    (abbierocks–x@hotmail.com)

  • http://twitter.com/xUsagii 冬魂です。

    I tried not to click everything I’ve used in that list (because there are some that are really good and I wanted to so badly click ‘recommend’ but I haven’t used it long/often enough to give an accurate reason)  but I’m going to try and keep my reasons short and simple (looking at all those comments, especially the long ones makes my brain hurt so good luck lol.)

    TextFugu – The first GOOD resource I found on the Internet. Been using it for over a year now and I’d highly recommend it to anyone trying to learn Japanese – it’s very affordable, witty, fun and actually has this ‘kick’ which makes you want to continue with lessons, it’s actually hard to believe learning Japanese could be that fun. I really wish the lessons were updated more often but it’s still all good.

    Remembering the Kanji 1 – I have the book (I like to support the Author) but it’s an extremely helpful book for learning to write and remember the kanji radicals. Sometimes his memorization ‘stories’ aren’t very helpful (quite a few I am remembering have been the stories I have made up which are better for me) but very beneficial nonetheless.

    Lang-8 – I don’t really write Japanese journal entries very often (boo at me!) but it’s inspirational to see other journal entries written by English natives like me wishing to learn Japanese. I actually spend almost all of my time on Lang-8 correcting journals written in English and talking to Japanese natives, helping them to improve in English and telling them about British culture. Should really try and get some Japanese help from them sometime. Also makes me realise that being helpful rather than helped can be a weak point. ^^;

    Anki – amazing for reviewing things like RTK, the kana and vocab. Really helps to drill those pesky ones in my mind. Has been my lifesaver when I have to learn vocab my Japanese tutor has taught me. (Unfortunately during holidays I have no lessons from her so I have to self learn myself – which I usually do combined with the tutoring I get anyway. .__.”)

    Rikaichan – usually when I see words/phrases/sentences/paragraphs I don’t understand/can’t read (curse you kanji!) I used to copy + paste into Google Translate which (most of the time) gave me a very poor, rough translation – if I was lucky. Now, I can learn meanings and pronunciation of words and phrases (not so much sentences and paragraphs) a lot quicker and usually get a much better and precise translation.

    RealKana – OMG, okay I’d recommend this to absolutely anyone learning kana. I learned all the Hiragana from my Japanese tutor in about 6 weeks (learning 10 Hiragana a week) but I found this website in the middle of learning Katakana. I drilled the whole Katakana ‘alphabet’ into my mind within about an hour and a half – mind you I was about 1/2 way through. It’s SUPER helpful for drilling the kana in your head and most people learn the kana in about a week with this super helpful ‘program’ (not really a program). Old school and basic but one of the best things since sliced bread (err, in terms of Japanese learning).

    Denshi Jisho – a super helpful dictionary. I don’t know how to explain this but it’s awesomeness. (My brain is going dead from all these ‘why’ answers so unfortunately Jisho gets a very short and undetailed reason. SO SORRY, YOU REALLY ARE AWESOME OH LITTLE JISHO. :()

    Okay, this ended up being way longer than I imagined (omgwut, so long – think mine is one of the longest actually, I’M SO SORRY! T_T) but I hope my reasons are good enough. Would be great to win something as an early birthday present (birthday is in September)! ^o^

    ~Winter Spirit <3 -hoping for the best-

    (abbierocks–x@hotmail.com)

  • Qiu Calvin

    Love Denshi Jisho for looking up vocabs after reading the daily Mainichi primary school page. (There’s also this really cool iOS dictionary called Midori with vocabulary translation for passages I copy in! It also draws from WWWJDIC, like Denshi Jisho)

    Also recommended Tae Kim’s Guide. Awesome resource that fills in gaps in grammar by providing some easy-to-understand context to Japanese language.

  • Qiu Calvin

    Love Denshi Jisho for looking up vocabs after reading the daily Mainichi primary school page. (There’s also this really cool iOS dictionary called Midori with vocabulary translation for passages I copy in! It also draws from WWWJDIC, like Denshi Jisho)

    Also recommended Tae Kim’s Guide. Awesome resource that fills in gaps in grammar by providing some easy-to-understand context to Japanese language.

  • Jenwilcher

    I recommend

    Textfugu:  I tend to be a self learner, so this site is perfect.  The fact that the first few lessons are free is a real bonus.  But, what I really like about Textfugu is I can print out as many of the handouts as I like and just keep doing them until I get it down.

    RealKana:  I like the game aspect of it and find it really does help you memorize Hiragana/Katakana characters.

  • Jenwilcher

    I recommend

    Textfugu:  I tend to be a self learner, so this site is perfect.  The fact that the first few lessons are free is a real bonus.  But, what I really like about Textfugu is I can print out as many of the handouts as I like and just keep doing them until I get it down.

    RealKana:  I like the game aspect of it and find it really does help you memorize Hiragana/Katakana characters.

  • Avlor -

    I recommended Japanese Particles CheatSheet, Rikaichan and Lang-8.  I use each of these regularly and can vouch for them.  The particles cheat sheet helped me start to get a grasp of these elusive and tricky little words that are soooo important!  Rikaichan is a tool I use everyday to help decode Japanese and quickly look up words in Japanese.  Lang-8 is great to practice your Japanese and meet new people!

  • Avlor -

    I recommended Japanese Particles CheatSheet, Rikaichan and Lang-8.  I use each of these regularly and can vouch for them.  The particles cheat sheet helped me start to get a grasp of these elusive and tricky little words that are soooo important!  Rikaichan is a tool I use everyday to help decode Japanese and quickly look up words in Japanese.  Lang-8 is great to practice your Japanese and meet new people!

  • bduddy

    Can I win anything by telling you by least favorite Japanese resource? It’s the textbook we use at my college…
    http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Spoken-Language-Part-1/dp/0300038348

    What I did recommend was the NihonShock cheat sheet – it seems like a lot of good information in two pages.

  • bduddy

    Can I win anything by telling you by least favorite Japanese resource? It’s the textbook we use at my college…
    http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Spoken-Language-Part-1/dp/0300038348

    What I did recommend was the NihonShock cheat sheet – it seems like a lot of good information in two pages.

  • http://www.facebook.com/zack.el.loco Zack Pablo Millsaps

    For awhile now I have been hard at work learning bits and pieces of Japanese from different online sites and textbooks, never getting far enough to put a dent into my studies.  Am I lazy?  Not at all.  Am I busy?  Yes, but not even close enough to use it as an excuse to not learn Japanese.  After trying many things I have found the things I’ve enjoyed the most.  Here are my recommendations for learning Japanese:

    Textfugu
      Textfugu has helped me advance in my Japanese through the most effective technique I have found, motivation.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been fired up on learning Japanese and I start but then it just dies down and I forget about it for another couple of weeks.  It’s a pain, I’ve been learning Japanese based on a very shallow motivation, but through Textfugu I’ve advanced in learning in a textbook that I feel is someone speaking directly to me teaching me directly.  Textfugu is wonderful and I wish there was a way to learn any language through this program Koichi has gifted us.  Thank you Koichi!

    JapanesePod101
      During my search for anything that teaches Japanese I found JapanesePod101.  Never have I found such amazing work for free on any other website.  Japanese Pod101 has taught me phrases, Japanese culture, and vocabulary in a very convenient way, laying in my bed listening.  I recommend JapanesePod101 to everyone, especially now since you can find them free on iTunes, download the things you’re interested in and then get a dose of Japanese.

    Mango Languages
      I found Mango through my father who was looking for ways to learn German.  When I started Mango Languages in Japanese I took the free trial, back when it was fairly new, and was very impressed.  Some of the longest phrases I know in Japanese I learned from Mango Languages.  It’s way of teaching online is very impressive and the process that they teach you grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation really helped me get to my level in Japanese today.  Mango Languages is perfect for anyone who prefers a more flash interactive way on the internet to learn.

    Well that’s about it.  Thank you for reading!  (tehsaplings@gmail.com)

  • Boywithdreams

    Denshi Jisho:

    This is absolutely necessary for anyone learning Japanese. Denshi Jisho is an intuitive, pretty comprehensive online dictionary for those of us who think thumbing through paper is a waste of time. It gives stroke order for Kanji, a highly useful Kanji by Radicals search query, and gives example sentences with the words. 

    Rikiachan/Rikiakun:

    I recommend this to all of my friends. Even if they aren’t learning Japanese right now, they may want to because this browser extension is so awesome! Just hover over any Japanese text (or Chinese for that matter) and you get Denshi Jisho’s translation. Easy as that. 

    Remembering the Kanji:

    Great, great, great, great. I don’t know why you would learn Kanji as an adult any other way. The problem is there is really no other way. Remembering the Kanji, and also Textfugu, use  fun, creative stories attached to the radicals to come up with a sure-fire way of remembering those 2000 or so little buggers’ meanings. The only setback is that you don’t find out the readings until later, but as long as you are studying Japanese while you do this, it shouldn’t be a problem. 

    Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese:

    Grammar. Straightforward. Useful. And it doesn’t leave the plain forms until much later like most textbooks do!

    RealKana:

    When I started out, this was where it was at. Drilling the Kana over and over on this site worked wonders. And it is sooooo important to get your Kana down immediately when you start learning Japanese. 

    Read the Kanji:

    Also a neat little site I’ve tinkered around with a bit. I love the feel of it and would love a free subscription….

    Others:

    Rhino Spike is a nifty site I just tried out recently. Along the same lines of working together to correct others’ stuff, Lang 8 is pretty fun too. 

    I’m a little disappointed, however, that iKnow was taken off the list, even though I get it. It’s an awesome resource, even if you don’t pay to do the quizzes. In Japanese Core, the voice talent is authentic (maybe a little too much) and it’s easy to learn other words subconsciously as you are learning the one you are supposed to be learning. 

    Also, and I don’t remember where I found this, but another amazing site for learning grammar is Visualizing Japanese Grammar 

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

    It’s a collection of 66 very in-depth grammar videos, entertaining and full of cute little drawings. Each video even has a short quiz you can take!

    Anyway, thanks for your dedication, humor, and destroying the Japanese learning industry with Textfugu/Tofugu. I’m a big fan.

    Cameron
    (boywithdreams@gmail.com)

  • Anonymous

    Japanese the Manga Way was one of  my first Japanese language books, and it has remained on a prime self position in my bookcase! After learning a few Japanese words and phrases from travel guides and the like, this book gets you putting them together into coherent sentences! It’s a perfect introduction to grammar! JtMW is extremely well organized and very thorough in its explanations. Using sentence examples from manga makes the book fun to work with, but I never feel like the content is “diluted” in any way. It is a MUST HAVE for any Japanese language learner, and it will serve you well from the beginner stage all the way up to intermediate.

    I recommend the ALC dictionary too; it’s great for learning collocations and for seeing how certain words are used in different contexts. It helps me correct the issues that come with word-for-word translations, and  I end up with my sentences sounding much more natural and authentic.

    -Nessa
    (email: ogbuehiva3055@mbc.edu)

  • Jackee

    I recommended Lang-8. I believe it is a valuable resource not just for Japanese but any language. Its one of the few resource from what I know which allows you to use what you learnt from your studies, which in this case is Japanese. You can write about anything you want, whether its your daily life, your travels, or a particular topic you are interested in and would want to write about. The topic is not really the point, so people are free to write about anything and hopefully someone will read it. This in turn gets corrected by native Japanese or those who are fluent and confident enough to highlight your mistakes and correct them using the tools available in Lang-8. Not everyone has the opportunity to have a teacher to correct their mistakes. The most annoying is not knowing where you made the mistake and therefore you won’t know whether you will make the same mistake again in the future. This is what makes Lang-8 useful.

    Also it gives you the opportunity to type in Japanese, as nowadays we live in an age where we are dependent on computers rather than pen/paper so its good practice for your Japanese keyboard typing skills especially where you have to press ‘spacebar’ frequently to find the correct kanji you want to use.

    This will build up your confidence when you see less and less mistakes you are making meaning you are progressing well in your studies and that you are going in the right direction in how you are learning. If you continue to make the same mistake, you will know and  hopefully you will correct the mistakes you are frequently making.

    Not only are you given the opportunity to type and make many sentences by yourself, you can also read other peoples posts and see what kind of mistakes they are making when they are typing in Japanese when its corrected by a Japanese.

    The community there is nice and you are bound to make a few friends there as you interact with them more when helping with each other. Good chance to meet Japanese people especially if you live in an area where it is quite difficult to meet them.

    email: hijack5@hotmail:disqus .com

  • Saitohama

    Having attempted to painstakingly memorize Chinese characters, I would definitely recommend Anki as a time-saver for learning Kanji. Everyone knows how easy it is to remember hiragana/katakana, right? Anki is extremely helpful by providing hiragana ‘subs’ underneath Kanji flashcards- eliminating the need to double-check on google translate ^^  Plus, Anki is available as an app, so you can study on the bus, subway, or even in line at airport security!

  • Pinkcatmints

    I chose Genki 1 because it’s always good to have a steady textbook to reference and for requirement, the Genki series isn’t bad.    I also voted for Tae Kim because that site is abosolutely fantastic in my opinion.  I have been using it to supplement my textbooks.  All the notes about shortening grammar (aka natural human laziness) are especially noteworthy.  I voted for Rikaichan because I use it all the time!  When trying to read a Japanese site or trying to figure out what some fearsome, 15+ stroke kanji means— rikaichan saves!  I have yet to experience Text Fugu in its entirety so I cannot recommend it, but I plan to look into it soon!  Same goes for Japanese the Manga Way.  However, I have used a book that sounds like that one before and it was really interesting.  I was too much of a beginner to understand more than the introductions…. but I did learn how to formally (and by formally I mean in a situation where you are introducing yourself to your fiance/fiancee’s intimidating parents) introduce yourself.  Always a useful lesson.~

  • Andreas L

    Kotoba for iOS is great. I have it on my iPhone and if I want a word translated I get all the different readings, example sentences and even the stroke count for a kanji. I use it together with the Chinese keyboard, which allows me to draw a kanji that I have seen for example in a book, and translate it to English. But if you’re no good at drawing you can compose radicals in the app and find the kanji.

    Another nice thing is that you can see which kanjis the Japanese children are learning in school at a certain grade. How old are you really in Japan?

  • Andreas L

    Kotoba for iOS is great. I have it on my iPhone and if I want a word translated I get all the different readings, example sentences and even the stroke count for a kanji. I use it together with the Chinese keyboard, which allows me to draw a kanji that I have seen for example in a book, and translate it to English. But if you’re no good at drawing you can compose radicals in the app and find the kanji.

    Another nice thing is that you can see which kanjis the Japanese children are learning in school at a certain grade. How old are you really in Japan?

  • Anonymous

    I couldn’t decide which one to pick because there are a few things you’d need for learning Japanese seriously. So I picked a few and spammed my facebook friends xD

    First of all, you’ll need textfugu! I would never be so far without it! It’s motivating, funny and sooo easy! I remember people saying, “Forget about learning Japanese – it’s too hard!” But it doesn’t have to be hard – just use textfugu :D

    Then you’ll need Anki. I’ve never seen a good and FREE vocab trainer like this! And the best thing about it is the name :D I’m called Anki by my friends aswell because my name is Anke!

    Today I registered with Lang-8 and I think it’s a wonderful Idea! I can help other people and they are helping me – I love it, I recommended it!

    And of course is textfugu’s 80-20 rule true und very helpful, so I’d love to have the Ultimate Japanese Vocab Packs! I bet they’re extremely useful, so I recommended one of them aswell – without vocab you can’t speak!

    my e-mail: facebook@shampie.de

  • Sebbe

    Tae Kim’s guide is awesome because its a free place to look up gramma and learn some vocab.
    Remembering the Kanji is awesome because you can learn kanji without writing it 10 000 times :)
    Anki in use with RtK is nice and a good way to keep the things you have studied fresh.
     

  • http://twitter.com/Kickastina Kristina

    My top three recommended resources would be, in no particular order, Anki (both), Japanese
    The Manga Way, and TextFugu. ^^

    Anki is a great tool for any learning practice. It works as a customizable flash cards. The one hooked up to your computer can easily synch with the one on your phone, making it an AWESOME study tool on the go. Whether you are commuting for just a few minutes (not driving of course- that’s a no-no!) or waiting in a four hour line to see a midnight premiere of your favorite movie that’s been sold out, it is terrific for reiterating vocabulary, grammar, and formulas.

    My second resource that is great would be Japanese The Manga Way. Although I haven’t had much experience with it, from what I have seen and heard it’s helpful, funny, and practical. It makes it easy to understand by using examples from manga/anime and then doing a further explanation.

    TextFugu is one that I am much WANTING to join in on, but do not quite have the funds yet for. However, I have tried the first lessons and the way Kanji was being taught by radicals and mnemonics . The radical teaching system I thought was pretty useful in remembering in the long-term run. The mnemonics helped to remember by really sticking-out key information in odd, quirky connections. It made it remember it more vivid and longer.

    (Email- Kickastina93@gmail.com)

  • http://twitter.com/Kickastina Kristina

    My top three recommended resources would be, in no particular order, Anki (both), Japanese
    The Manga Way, and TextFugu. ^^

    Anki is a great tool for any learning practice. It works as a customizable flash cards. The one hooked up to your computer can easily synch with the one on your phone, making it an AWESOME study tool on the go. Whether you are commuting for just a few minutes (not driving of course- that’s a no-no!) or waiting in a four hour line to see a midnight premiere of your favorite movie that’s been sold out, it is terrific for reiterating vocabulary, grammar, and formulas.

    My second resource that is great would be Japanese The Manga Way. Although I haven’t had much experience with it, from what I have seen and heard it’s helpful, funny, and practical. It makes it easy to understand by using examples from manga/anime and then doing a further explanation.

    TextFugu is one that I am much WANTING to join in on, but do not quite have the funds yet for. However, I have tried the first lessons and the way Kanji was being taught by radicals and mnemonics . The radical teaching system I thought was pretty useful in remembering in the long-term run. The mnemonics helped to remember by really sticking-out key information in odd, quirky connections. It made it remember it more vivid and longer.

    (Email- Kickastina93@gmail.com)

← Older Comments
Newer Comments →