One application which I’ve used for a long time is Evernote, though I’ve mostly been collecting and organizing recipes… until now. Just today, as I was scrolling through the Asahi Shinbun, I had an epiphany. I should be saving articles, sentences, vocabulary, and what-have-you in Evernote so that I can easily search for them later if I ever need to come up with examples on how grammar, vocab, etc., is used in a sentence. Doing this with Japanese blogs would be splendid too. More importantly, I’m going to deconstruct how to use Evernote for language learning (specifically Japanese in this article). It’s a very powerful tool with a lot of potential – I’m sure you’ll even find some interesting uses that I won’t even think of too.

What Is Evernote?

First off, you should probably learn more about how Evernote works, on a whole, before I dive into how you can use it to study Japanese. Evernote is a tool that helps you capture and remember everything. Because it syncs with your phone, computer, and so on, no matter how or where you gather the information, it will appear on all of your devices. These can be things like grocery lists (I write down my grocery list in Evernote on my computer, and it syncs with my iPhone, which I use in the store), remembering your favorite vintage of wine (take a picture of the bottle in the restaurant), or even saving entire articles with the click of a button (if you have a plugin installed in your browser). Because the organization and search features (you can separate your notes into notebooks, and then further break them up with tags) it’s easy to find your notes later. I use Evernote to take pictures of books I want to buy, movies I want to watch, to copy and paste articles I’ll read on my phone later, backups of newsletters / important information, shortcut keys for different applications, instructions on pieces of paper I don’t want to physically keep, my license plate number (in case I need to remember it), and more. Really, it’s good for almost any type of information you could ever want to store and have easy access to later. It’s not the prettiest UI in the world, but it does its job really well (that job being storing information and allowing me to retrieve it easily later). Best part is that it’s free unless you want to upgrade to a bigger plan, which I may actually have to do pretty soon.

So how about using it to learn Japanese, or perhaps some other language? I haven’t started doing this yet personally (I told you, I just had my epiphany today!), but I’ve thought about it, and here are some great ways to use Evernote to practice your Japanese. After I’m done, I’d love to hear from Evernote users out there on how you would use it for Japanese practice as well. I feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential in this simple little app!

Copying Articles To Practice Later

A lot of times when I’m scrolling through Japanese content, I find something I want to read and use as study material, but don’t have the time to study it right then. There are a couple of problems with this. 1. A lot of newspaper sites pull their content after a little while, which means bookmarking it won’t work. 2. I’m not going to remember it if I just bookmark it anyways.

With Evernote, you can install their browser plugin, highlight the text you want, and then click the Evernote button. From there, a popup will appear allowing you to add it to a particular notebook (I’d create a “Japanese” notebook) and then add tags (highly recommend you tag everything! In this case, I might tag it as “asahi,” “readlater,” and “Japanese.”

By using Evernote, it’s easy to gather a lot of content (and only the content you want, i.e. the article) and store it away for later in a place that’s easily searchable. Other options besides newspapers are Japanese blogs, Japanese Tweets, and any other sites that have regularly updated Japanese content.

Studying Vocabulary

Vocabulary study on it’s own probably shouldn’t be done on Evernote (use Smart.fm or Anki if you want to do that). There is, however, a lot of potential for compiling sentences that use the vocabulary that you’re learning. There’s probably a couple of ways you could do it.

1. Create a new note for every vocabulary word that you’re studying. As you come across sentences (either through dictionary searches, or Smart.fm example sentences) that use the word you’re studying, add them to that vocab’s note. That way, whenever you search for that vocab word, you’ll be able to find sentences that go along with it, and you can use that to study.

2. Just create one big note that has all your practice sentences in it. Using the search feature, you can find sentences that use the word you’re looking for and just scroll through looking at those. Not quite as organized, but less time-intensive as well.

Another thing you could try is using the tag feature to tag notes with the vocab you are learning. This, I imagine, could get kind of overwhelming, though, so try it at your own risk.

Keeping Track Of Grammar

One really neat thing you could do with Evernote is use it to keep track of grammar you’ve learned. All you would need to do is create a “Grammar” notebook (or even a note) and put all the grammar you’ve learned in one place. This way, if you’re having trouble with a particular grammar point (or just learned something new about a grammar point), you can open up Evernote no matter where you are, get the information you need, and move on with your life. No more searching your textbook or searching the Internet. It’s all there at your fingertips and you can always add more info whenever you need to, and it’s written in your own style, which means you’ll understand it.

Personally, I think this would be a great way to study for the JLPT, since a lot of the learning is pretty grammar-centric. As you’re going through other study material, this could be a great reference and help you study faster and more effectively.

Keeping A Language Log

Keeping track of the things you’ve done, the things you had trouble with, and then everything in between is pretty important, I think. Normally, I’d recommend using a blog platform (like Wordpress) to do this, since being “public” with your log should help motivate you more, but this article is about Evernote, so let’s stick to that. Keeping a log with Evernote is fairly easy, and it’s a good way to keep track of what you had trouble with and what you should study more of. Here is a list of things you could log in Evernote in regards to your Japanese learning:

• What you did today / What you studied today
• What was giving you trouble? Can you write more about it and figure out the root cause of the problem?
• Breakthroughs
• Vocabulary words you learned / studied / need to study more
• What you’ll be studying next (so you don’t forget the next day)
• Sentences, paragraphs, etc., that you wrote today
• Ideas for studying better based on what happened earlier
• etc.

There’s a lot to keep track of when you’re learning a new language, and Evernote is a great platform to help you do it. By keeping a language log, you’re deconstructing a lot of what you’re doing, which is actually really helpful and will assist you in understanding what you’ve done and what you need to do. I’d recommend trying it out for a week or two if you haven’t before. It does a lot more than you might think!

Collecting Inspiration

Staying inspired and motivated is one of the most difficult things when learning a new language (especially on your own). This is something that TextFugu does a pretty good job tackling and taking care of – but you can find and compile the things that inspire you personally, right in Evernote! By collecting articles, quotes, notes, etc., into an “inspiration” notebook or tag, anytime you’re feeling down, or feeling like you can’t do it anymore, you can go straight to that section of Evernote and get a boost of energy.

Although I haven’t done this with Evernote myself, I do have a stack of books with chapters marked off anytime I need an inspirational “you can do it” lift. If those books were in Evernote, it would be that much easier. You’d be surprised at how much of a pick-me-up something like this can do, especially with something that really does need a lot of motivation, like language learning (especially if you study on your own).

Taking Plain Ol’ Notes

I wish I had Evernote when I was in school. I would have used it to take notes in class (well, actually, I’d probably have used Google Wave, and just collaborated on notes with 3-4 other people). If you’re in a class, though, Evernote is a pretty sweet way to do it, especially since you can sync your notes between computers and study no matter where you are (of course, there are things like Google Docs, Dropbox, and others which can do this part pretty well too). Still, it’s a pretty good way to do things. At the end of class (or during class, if you sit in the front), you can even take a picture of the whiteboard and save it to your note (it will even make the words in the image searchable!), that way you have the teacher’s scrobbles, your own scrobbles, and all the scrobbles in between right in one place. It certainly beats pen and paper, at least in terms of searching for things later. If anything, the tagging system makes Evernote a really worthwhile option for taking notes in class.

Sharing And Collaborating

One cool little feature that Evernote has is the ability to share your notes with others. If you want to allow people to modify your notes, you do have to be a premium member (which may or may not be worth it to you). I could see this being useful for people who are studying Japanese with others and want to share notes and ideas. I can also see this being useful for those of you who are learning in a class and taking class notes (and want to share those as well). There are any number of ways to use the share / collaborate feature of Evernote to your advantage. Other alternatives which also let you collaborate include Google Docs and Google Wave, which I would probably recommend more for the collaboration angle of things.

What Are Your Ideas?

Contribute to the Evernote-Japanese-Studying Idea-Pool by commenting below. I’m curious how you use or would use Evernote to your advantage when it comes to language learning. Like I’ve said a couple times already, I think there’s a ton of untapped Japanese-studying potential hidden away in Evernote, and it’s only a matter of figuring out the different uses. So, how would you use the big green elephant? [Evernote]

P.S. If you like elephants, you should follow me on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Japanese Language Cheatsheet for Travelers
2. Why you should use a Mac to study Japanese
3. How to NOT find a Japanese language partner

I’ve written two articles about Mixi so far (kind of a love-hate relationship going, I think). The first was about how you can use the Japanese social network Mixi to study Japanese. The second was about how Mixi essentially closed themselves off from all foreigners (or at least people outside of Japan) by making you input a Japanese cell phone e-mail address. This article is all about getting around that restriction and getting you your Mixi invite. Whew. Wait a sec, this reminds me of something…

Perry’s Black Ships Invade Mixi

I think this has happened once before… right? Back in the day, Japan closed Japan off to those damn foreigners. Then, one day Matthew Perry came in with his black ships and told Japan to open up or face the consequences. This work-around, I think, is just like that (though not at all significant in comparison). Mixi started off by letting anyone with an invitation in (and that was swell). Then, they decided, “hey, we don’t like your kind around here” so they made it pretty hard to join (unless you were in Japan / Japanese). Now, the preverbal black ships have come into port, and it’s time to show you how you can get in. We’ll have to see, however… I think this time the black ships could get themselves sunk.

Of course, keep in mind they probably closed Mixi off in the first place because non-Japanese people were probably being super creepy, so make sure you play nice and only request an invite if you really want one (for non-weird purposes, you weirdo).

The following is a video that walks you through it (and also includes a sweet giveaway at the end, which you can get a jump start on before it’s posted here on the actual Tofugu blog!). Of course, you can skip the video and just read the information below, and have your Mixi invite in 24-48 hours. How swell.

How To Get A Mixi Invite

Get a .edu email address

If you already have one, then that’s great. You can skip to the next step and just use that (probably, though I can’t say 100% for everyone). If you don’t have a .edu e-mail address, here’s how you get one.

1. Go to Australia.edu

2. Click on the email banner to request your own australia.edu e-mail account.

3. Fill out the information – there is a waiting period while they decide whether or not to accept you in. If you give them a $20 donation it apparently helps them make their decision more “effectively,” if you know what I mean. You should think about donating, though – they’re going to start hating how many people go over there for .edu e-mail handouts via Tofugu. Sorry Australia.edu folks!

4. Wait for a while.

5. Maybe after 24-48 hours, they’ll send you your australia.edu e-mail address. After that, you’re in business! If they don’t send you one? Well… pony up that donation.

Request a Mixi invite

After you get your .edu email address, you’ll have to get a Mixi invite sent to that address. Because only people who are already in Mixi can send you an invite, you’ll have to ask for one. Even though I HATE HATE HATE sending out Mixi invites, I’ll hook you up (you better really want it… just saying). Click the link below to request one. If you want to make me feel better, or if you want to learn Japanese so you can actually use Mixi (it’s all in Japanese, you know), consider becoming a member of TextFugu, my online Japanese textbook that will help you self-teach yourself Japanese, oh so good. Anyways, here’s the Mixi request form. Please give me a few days to get to the request, as I’m guessing there will be a lot of them coming in :(

UPDATE: INVITES NO LONGER REQUIRED

Whew, okay, I’m nervous, but looking forward to getting your requests.

Receive Your Mixi Invite

After I send out your Mixi invite, you’ll be able to sign up for Mixi (hooray!). Now, here is where I would normally spell out how to fill everything out… but, when it comes down to it, you should know some Japanese if you’re going to be using Mixi. That being said, hopefully you can figure out how to fill the sign up form all on your own. If that doesn’t work, you can always use Rikaichan.

By following all the steps above, you’ll be able to join the Mixi social network without a Japanese cell phone e-mail address. I don’t know how long this will last, but for now, it should do the trick. If it stops working, be sure to let us know so I can add an update up here. Anyways, get your Mixi invites now, while the hole is still open. Until then, best of luck to all of you!

Related posts:

1. Mixi No Longer Requires an Invite. edu Loophole Still Works!
2. Tenso: Get Your Own Japanese Shipping Address (and ship things on the cheap)
3. How The Japanese Address System Works

Apple’s iPad announcement has (finally) arrived blessed itself upon me, and of course, my first thoughts (besides when can I spend my money on this) are “How will this make Japanese learning better?”

Of course, the iPad is poised to change the way we learn in a lot of ways (textbooks, learning games, etc), but since Japanese is one of the most popular languages to learn out there, and because those that learn Japanese tend to be a lot more tech savvy than, say, those who learn Spanish (take that, Spanish!), there’s going to be a huge amount of Japanese + iPad potential as soon as it comes out in March (or April, if you want the 3G enabled one).

iPad Applications for Japanese Learning

One of the coolest things about the iPad is that you can use any iPhone / iPod Touch app and scale it up to fit the iPad (and apparently it looks pretty good). That means you have access to every Japanese learning app that’s already on there, not to mention any new apps that take advantage of the iPad.

The application that I’m most excited for (pictured on the right, above) is a Smart.fm (or Anki) application. Right now, I don’t feel like the apps will translate as is to an iPad version very effectively. They’ll work, but everything’s going to be HUGE. Too huge. There is, however, so much potential for an iPad-only version of the Smart.fm app. Especially if you get the 3G version of the iPad, a Smart.fm app would be perfect for vocab study on the go – much more usable than the iPhone / web versions.

Besides this, though, I’d love to see more (and I’m sure I will) in this space, including apps that let you practice writing kanji right on the screen, and more. What apps would you like to see specifically for the iPad? I could see some good potential for language exchange applications, though they couldn’t be too “typing” intensive.

Japanese Textbooks

After the iPad goes mainstream, nobody will ever pick up a regular, old textbook again. Why? Not because you can read text on the iPad. That’s dumb (even with the ability to swipe pages around on screen). Although it won’t happen immediately, Textbooks on the iPad are going to be way more than textbooks. I don’t know what exactly publishers can do with their books for the iPad right now, but here is how I imagine it (and if this isn’t the way it works, then there will be apps!).

Imagine, you open your textbook, but it isn’t just a textbook. You touch a word in Japanese, and you can hear the audio of someone speaking it. You want to see the stroke order for something, and you can just click on it (and even practice writing it right on the screen). Better yet, there are interactive question / answer section, which allow you to write in your answers, take notes, and more. How freakin’ cool would that be. Beyond just text, you have audio, video, interactive activities, and much much more. Learning via textbook will no longer be so boring and one-sided. It will be dynamic, and there will (actually) be potential for people to use Textbooks to self teach themselves something.

Of course, one of the reasons I’m really excited about the iPad is because I feel like it could be a perfect vessel for my own Japanese teaching / learning site, TextFugu. In terms of Japanese Textbooks, TextFugu already has a lot of the features I’ve listed above, though the iPad would give it so much more sexy! So, anyone know how one would / should learn how to make iPad applications / where someone amazing could be hired?

Writing Kanji On The iPad

Right now, you can write kanji into your iPhone / iPod touch. But it sucks. It kind of sort of works, but it’s too small and writing with your finger is a bit tough. With the iPad, I feel like there’s a lot of potential for applications that are just for practicing kanji writing. Now, I’m not sure about the differences in learning with your fingers and learning with a pen, but if the iPad was coupled with a stylus (like the Pogo for example), I could see a lot of good things happening in regards to being able to write in Japanese on the iPad. Various applications could help you practice writing kanji, tell you if you’re right or wrong, and help you write more beautifully (unlike the above example on my iPhone). Not to mention, with a pressure sensitive screen, you could practice you calligraphy as well.

If There Was A Camera…

Who knows, maybe there will be… there is, apparently, a spot for one (though my bet goes on iPad version 2 having a camera). If there was a camera, think of how easy it would be to talk to someone in Japan and practice your Japanese? Of course, you can do this with your laptop, but the reality is that most mainstream computer users still have trouble (or are just afraid with) using a camera on their laptop. With a device like the iPad, all this gets streamlined (software, hardware, etc) and therefor everything just works better. The mystery would be removed, and applications / websites could be made just for the iPad to help make culture and language exchanges happen. When things are made really easy and convenient, a lot of people use them, and I think there’s a lot of potential there for the iPad making this work.

Also imagine taking classes on the iPad. Lots of advancement has been made in this field, and the iPad is the perfect place to take advantage of this. Of course, most online classrooms run in Flash, and we all know that Apple doesn’t really like those lazy bums at Adobe.

What Would You Like To See?

I know I’m missing some things, but that’s where you come in. What Japanese learning tools would you like to see on the iPad? There’s so much that can be done with a product like this, especially if when it goes mainstream with the public. I’m super excited for what the iPad can do for Japanese learning (and education in general, really). What about you?

P.S. Have you seen the original Japanese iPad?

P.P.S. You should follow me on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Why you should use a Mac to study Japanese
2. How To Use Evernote To Study Japanese (Or Any Other Language)
3. Alternatives to Rosetta Stone Japanese (i.e. Should I buy Rosetta Stone?)

Over at TextFugu (Tofugu’s Online Japanese Textbook), I get to make all kinds of worksheets, cheatsheets, etc., that go along with the Japanese lessons, some of which might be useful to you. I figure hiragana and katakana charts are the kinds of things people go out and search for on the interwebs when they aren’t distracted by LOLcats.

Although the hiragana and katakana charts were designed to use with TextFugu, there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t use it with any other Japanese learning resource out there. Share it with friends, family, teachers, students, colleagues, classmates, online communities, torrent sites, whatever. You can take these charts and do what you will with them, as long as it doesn’t get weird (I know you love how curvaceous the hiragana is, Gakuranman). Anyways, just click on the images to go to the download page.

Hiragana Chart

Katakana Chart

Enjoy these charts – put them on your wall, write on them, lick them… whatever needs to be done. And, of course, if you have no idea what any of these wild and crazy symbols mean, you should check out TextFugu. In fact, the hiragana chapters are in the free zone, which means no excuses!

Related posts:

1. Strange Katakana Words
2. Japanese Language Cheatsheet for Travelers
3. Japanese Particles [Cheatsheet]

One of the most common e-mail questions I get is “Should I buy Rosetta Stone Japanese?” It’s time to put an end to this e-mail silliness. From now on, I get to link to this post and video. Hopefully you, whoever “you” are (tell me in the comments), can get something out of this post as well. Here’s the itinerary:

1. Should I buy Rosetta Stone Japanese?
2. What makes Rosetta Stone “good”?
3. Alternatives to Rosetta Stone Japanese
4. Getting Your Opinion

Should I buy Rosetta Stone Japanese?

The nice and quick answer would be a nice and quick “no, probably not.” I’m not saying that Rosetta Stone is bad, necessarily. They put a ton of money into it, so of course they came up with something that’s decent. I’d give them a C+ or so – some parents wouldn’t accept a “C” grade, but on the other hand some parents would be super happy because they’re used to you getting F’s all the time (you know who you are). When it comes down to it though, if you’re going to buy Rosetta Stone, in terms of value versus what you can actually get out of it, you better be really damn rich. I imagine a Rosetta Stone customer looks something like this:

or maybe this…

Rosetta Stone is fine, it probably works for some people, but it’s also a huge waste of money. Please, if you were planning on buying Rosetta Stone, stumbled upon this article, and changed your mind, send me the extra $1000 so I can buy a monocle, pocket watch, and top hat. I’ve always wanted to look like a rich Rosetta Stone Customer. Nya!

What Makes Rosetta Stone “Good”?

There’s a couple different versions of Rosetta Stone Japanese that you could buy. There’s the normal software package, which is around $500. Or, you can go with their TotalE program, which is all online and adds the benefit of having a live online Japanese teacher once a month, for a mere $1200 a year. The Rosetta Stone software is really spiffy, it’s pretty glitch-free, and if you go with TotalE the pictures are a lot less corny. All-in-all, it looks nice, which might be important to some of you when making a decision, but it still doesn’t change how expensive it is, and how you could be doing a lot better than Rosetta Stone.

Here are the things that they like about themselves, though.

Rosetta Stone Loves Their Marketing Budget

They spend a ridiculous amount of money on all that advertising / marketing / mall kiosk-ing stuff. The actual number eludes me at the moment, but I remember having myself a little heart attack when I heard it. But it makes sense – they are the big sleeping bear of language learning. Everyone knows who they are, and when you think “language learning” you probably think, at least for a couple of seconds, about Rosetta Stone as an option. This is great for them, of course, because it makes them look like they’re the best way to learn a new language. This is far from true, of course, but it’s all about how you present yourself, right? They do a great job of it. At the very least, even if you are hooked by their marketing department, try sleeping on the decision at least one night, or keep reading and try out the alternatives I’ve laid out below.

Rosetta Stone “Immerses” You Into the Language (Japanese)

One thing Rosetta Stone likes about themselves is the idea that they teach you Japanese just like a baby in Japan would learn it. No grammar, no explanation, just practice and context. First of all, you’re not a baby in Japan (and if you are, you’re probably in good shape on the learning Japanese front), and secondly you aren’t spending 24 hours a day in front of Rosetta Stone (most likely) so it’s not anywhere near immersion (see immersion section down below for more info). At the most, you’re probably spending an hour or two doing the Rosetta Stone thing, which definitely isn’t enough if you want to take this approach. Either do it all the way, or don’t do it at all. Japanese babies don’t have 2 hours of Japanese “immersion” and then 22 hours of English. If they did, they’d all speak English, not Japanese, and that’s not the goal you’re trying to head towards here.

So is Rosetta Stone Japanese Good?

It’s okay, I’ll give them that, and probably not worth the money it costs (you’re paying a ton extra to fill their marketing budgets I imagine). Unfortunately for them, there are way better (and cheaper / free-er) alternatives out there that blow Rosetta’s socks off. The only problem is these alternatives don’t have marketing budgets like Rosetta, which means you’ve never heard of them before (that’s why I’m here!).

Alternatives to Rosetta Stone Japanese

So this is the part you might have been waiting for – here are the alternatives to Rosetta Stone Japanese. Sure, it is a big list of resources, but when used all together, you’ll find that your Japanese learning speed will go way up (compared to Rosetta Stone), you’ll spend a lot less money, and in the end probably have a lot more fun doing it. All these resources do a good job doing what they do, and Rosetta Stone just does a mediocre job doing all of these things. Much better to find a hip doctor that’s really good at hips, rather than one that’s mediocre at hips, hearts, elbows, golfing, and boob jobs. Am I right right, Dude, or am I right? (name that reference)

Immersion

We’ve already established that Rosetta Stone doesn’t cut it when it comes to immersion. AJATT kind of pioneers this method, and he’s a smart frood. Here are some great resources to help immerse yourself in Japanese for more than an hour or two a day, like Rosetta Stone.

Favorite Choice: iTunes Japanese Podcasts
A lot of people have iPods, and even more people have computers, CD Players, and the like. It’s really easy to get Japanese podcasts for free and listen to them 24/7 (or whenever you have a chance, even at work I’m sure). All you have to do is change your location settings on iTunes to Japan, and suddenly you have access to every free Japanese podcast on there. You have to do a bit of a work-around to have access to things that cost money, but anything that’s free is good to go for you.

Choice 2: JapanesePod101 – JapanesePod101 is just what it sounds like: a website full of Japanese podcasts. In this case, their podcasts are designed to help people learn Japanese, and they do a pretty good job at it. There are paid programs, which get you things like PDFs and other study materials, but a lot is also available for free.

Choice 3: YouTube: YouTube has a ton of Japanese content you can sit and listen to, or put on in the background, and it can be a lot more interesting because you get the visuals with it. Just try and avoid subtitles, because that’s not doing you much good unless you really actively compare and contrast as you’re watching.

More Alternatives: Vimeo | NicoNicoVideo | CrunchyRoll (and of course, several “illegal” options as well, which I won’t be listing – sorry!)

Choice 4: Become a Japanese Hobo – They have pretty sweet hobo-houses. One-way tickets to Japan aren’t as much as round trip tickets? Perfect immersion strategy for the person who’s strapped for cash. Not sure how green cards work in this situation – I imagine you’d just become a fugitive?

TotalE Teacher Alternatives

One of the things you get with the TotalE program (the $1200 one) is a live online teacher. I called Rosetta Stone and got some details on this. You get one class a month (which you can repeat if you still don’t get things after taking it, but it’s the same lesson over and over), which changes every month as you progress. You go over the stuff you went over in the online app, which helps solidify things.

I think this is a bit of garbage – it’s a nice attempt at offering a good “teacher” solution to help guide you along, but you could still spend the $120 a month you’re spending somewhere else, and get a lot more out of it.

Favorite Choice: eduFire for Live Online Classes
When it comes to finding an online Japanese teacher, eduFire is the way to go. There are alternatives to eduFire in the live online education space (which will be listed below), but they aren’t as good for Japanese just because their listings are a bit lacking (and the pricing can be pretty steep). eduFire has free online classes as well as a subscription program (a mere $29 a month for unlimited Japanese classes with live online teachers). Especially with the recent study that came out from the U.S. Dept. of Education which shows online learning as being more effective, I think it’s a no brainer (oh, and to be fair, I should probably mention I’m an employee here, but promise, not being bias. Research it for yourself if you want). Alternatives to eduFire: WizIQ | Myngle

Choice 2: Craigslist – Craigslist is mostly in America, but I imagine there are “alternatives to Craigslist” in other countries as well. It’s a good way to find affordable local teachers, just be careful not to accidentally join a sex or drug ring.

Choice 3: TeachStreet – TeachStreet is aiming to become the leader when it comes to teacher listings, online or local. Like Craigslist, they are only in certain locations, but if you’re in a fairly big city in the U.S. you might be in luck and be able to find some great Japanese classes as well.

Rosetta Stone Clones

There have even been some Rosetta Stone clones popping up. Complete alternatives to Rosetta Stone, and the cool thing is that they’re pretty much all free. There are some programs out there that don’t have Japanese (yet) as well, that I’m keeping my eye on, but here’s what’s available right now.

Favorite Choice – LiveMocha: Two things about LiveMocha. First of all, I’m not sure how they’re going to make money, because basically they’re offering what Rosetta Stone offers, except it’s free, and secondly, I’m not sure what Rosetta Stone is going to do once more people figure out about LiveMocha, because it’s basically Rosetta Stone (with a lot of its pitfalls as well, but hey, it’s free!).

Japanese Vocabulary Learning Alternatives:

At Rosetta Stone, because of the whole “baby immersion thing” you don’t really learn vocab in the traditional sense. Here are some great vocab resources for you to use instead:

Favorite Choice – Smart.fm: Smart.fm does an amazing job with flashcards. It’s like they can read your brain in a way that helps you learn more vocab and kanji at a nice and speedy rate. Just spend a little bit of time every day, and you’ll be a vocab expert in no time. Couple this with some of the other resources, and you have yourself a powerhouse. Alternative: Anki is a lot like Smart.fm, and has it’s own cult following. Maybe you’ll like it more than Smart.fm, but it’s not for me.

Second Choice – NihongoUp: NihongoUp is a little game you can play on your computer or iPod Touch / iPhone. Definitely takes some of the monotony out of vocab learning, and can help solidify a lot of things for you. You can trial run it for quite a while, and the paid version is too cheap to pass up (and the particle practice mode is gold).

Japanese Grammar Learning Alternatives:

Another thing that Rosetta Stone doesn’t really do is “Grammar.” I’m a big fan of grammar learning + actual usage + some of that immersion stuff to make it all meld together. Boo on you, Rosetta.

Favorite Choice – guidetojapanese.org: Tae Kim does a good job explaining grammar, and takes you all the way from basic to advanced. He does a good job simplifying things, and of course, everything over there is free, so indulge yourself!

Second Choice – Genki Textbooks: When it comes to textbooks, I think Genki is the best I’ve come across so far. Definitely not perfect by any means (and costs $30-$40, which really isn’t that bad for a textbook), but gets the job done. You can even use Smart.fm to practice the vocab from the textbook series.

Third Choice – Jgram.org: Jgram is a wiki of Japanese grammar. Sometimes their explanations are better than the top two, and sometimes they’re not. Either way, it’s a good resource to keep a hold of.

Japanese Language Exchange:

Language exchange is something that Rosetta Stone can’t really shake a stick at. Learning a language with a native speaker of that language is an awesome way to have fun, meet new people, and keep up with all the things the cool kids say.

Favorite Choice – Lang-8: Lang-8 is all about language exchange, which isn’t necessarily a new idea, but it’s an idea Lang-8 has taken and done good things with. At Lang-8, you write in the language you are learning (Japanese?), and then native speakers of that language (i.e. Japanese people) correct your entries in a way that makes it easy to see your mistakes so you don’t make them again. Everything’s free, though they have a premium plan that gets you more features and fewer ads.

Second Choice Skype Forums: I haven’t actually made my way to the Skype forums, so I can’t confirm this, but from what I hear you can find people to talk with that will help you learn Japanese (and then they’ll help you). Over at Lang-8, as well, you can see who has added a Skype account and talk to them that way too.

So What’s Your Opinion?

Oof, that’s a lot of writing, and my fingers hurt.

I bet some of you have used Rosetta Stone in the past (or are currently using Rosetta Stone… your rich bastard you). What do you think? What resources am I missing that you couldn’t live without (and totally beat down “The stone”?).

Anyways, so there you have it. That’s my opinion on Rosetta Stone. Decent / Okay / Mediocre, but not worth the money. It’s one of those situations where because they’ve made it so expensive, people automatically think it’s valuable, which isn’t always the case.

Either way, no matter what you decide to do, now is the best time to start learning Japanese. You don’t want to look back six months from now and wish you were six months into things. That always sucks big time. Go, figure out what your next actionable step is and start learning today. To find more cool Japanese resources, be sure to check out “Tofugu’s Top Ten Free Online Japanese Resources.”

This video includes an attempt at a British Accent. Ouch.

Video Transcript

Oh, and you should follow me on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Practice Kana, Kanji, and Particles with Nihongoup
2. Japanese Language Cheatsheet for Travelers
3. Is Learning Japanese Not Popular Anymore?

Have you heard of eduFire SuperPass? Maybe you’ve seen the big banner in the right-side bar. Essentially, SuperPass is a subscription program over at eduFire that lets you take unlimited (SuperPass) classes for a low fee of $29 a month. We’re talking less than $1 a day here, and you can get a lot out of it. I’ve definitely seen a lot of people really improve their Japanese over the last couple of months way faster than if you were meeting with someone once a week, or something along those lines.

BUT, I know a lot of you are poor, and if only you had the chance… just one chance (or eight chances?)… you would eat it up and try your best (and then get pretty good at Japanese!). There are eight blogs out there giving away eduFire SuperPass subscriptions right now. I’ll be giving away some on Tofugu at a later date, so for now, I’ll have to bid you farewell and send you off to eight amazing blogs. Check out their other posts too – all of these blogs are blogs I already read, and you should too!

How to Win eduFire SuperPass

1. RainbowHill’s Language Lab:
Brett is an Aussie who lived in Japan for a long time, and is also a teacher on eduFire! So, if you won his contest (or any other contest) you might end up taking lessons from him! His contest involves Twitter and tweeting. It doesn’t get any easier than that, right? For your chance to win, head on over to his Japanese language blog and figure out the details.

2. Caught Red-Handed:
Don’t get caught red-handed not checking out this site. I always love the extra work that goes into each and every post. Just like the beauty of the website, to win your copy of SuperPass on this blog you have to do something beautiful as well… write poetry. Specifically, a haiku. You can post the haiku on Twitter or the comments of the actual post. You can read more rules by visiting this super-sexy Japan blog.

3. DumbOtaku:
Feeling a little dumb? We’ve all been there once or twice, where we made a huge mistake and people look at us funny. DumbOtaku’s contest is all about mistakes… more specifically, Japanese language mistakes. Got a funny one? Head on over to DumbOtaku and share it with the world (to get your hands on some juicy SuperPass).

4. RockingInHakata:
Deas has been RockingInHakata for a while now, but he hasn’t had a logo to show for it. Fancy yourself a designer? Think you can outdo his plain text header? I think you can. Head on over to RockingInHakata now and help this guy out! For your hard work, you’ll get yourself a month of free Japanese lessons!

5. TheNihonSuki:
I think a lot of you have a favorite Japanese word, right? Like mine is 滅法. TheNihonSuki would like you to use your favorite Japanese word in a sentence. That’s it! For more details check out the contest page.

6. Jamaipanese:
Hey Mon (can I say that?). On this blog, you’re being asked a bit of a riddle, and it’s not too difficult too! I have a feeling if you don’t know the answer already, you can find it somewhere on the Jamaipanese Blog. For more details, check out the contest page… Mon.

7. GakuranMan:
Wow. Not just one prize… More than one prize! If you don’t win tasty SuperPass, you can win some tasty sweets instead! Though, we all know that sweets are a fleeting pleasure, whereas language acquisition is forever (take that to the diamond commercials). All he wants is a tag-line for his site. I’m thinking something along the lines of “Gakuranman – Shouldn’t wear one of these when it’s warm.” Hmm, I think you could do better.

8. Claytonian:
This guy had a bat in his possession. Not like a wooden or aluminum bat, but like a Batman bat. That’s pretty cool. Also pretty cool that he’s giving away a SuperPass subscription. All you need to do is want it. That’s it. So do you? Punk?

More contests are coming, so check back on this page occasionally, or follow me on Twitter. Even if you don’t want SuperPass, definitely just check out these blogs. Every single one of them are great, and I read / follow them too.

FAQ about SuperPass

• What can you learn?
  It’s not just for learning Japanese, though it is the most popular subject (which means more classes). There are all sorts of other classes as well, including social marketing, cooking, other languages, business, and more, all of which you can take with a SuperPass subscription. You aren’t limited to Japanese, though I assume most of you are interested in Japanese.
• How much does it cost?
  It’s normally $29 a month (if you don’t win one of these prizes), though the first week is only $1. Not too shabby a price to try it out, right? And it’s super-easy to cancel, of course.
• Does it work?
  I suppose that depends on you. If you take advantage of it and take a lot of classes (it’s unlimited, yo!) then it works really well. I’ve seen a lot of people grow a ton in their Japanese ability over a pretty short period of time. It’s really all about how much you’re willing to put into it. Of course, if you subscribe and never go to any classes, you won’t improve at all. Duh.
• When will Tofugu give away a subscription or two?
  Later, later, later. Well, not too much later. Keep watching.

Any other questions? Ask them in the comments. If you don’t have any other questions, hurry up and check out those other blogs.

Also, you should follow me on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Win an iPhone 3GS by Learning Japanese
2. 10 Ways to Hack Google to Become an Awesome Japanese Learning Resource
3. Two (or Three) More Days To Win These Flashcards

My boss is heading to Japan for a few days next week (lucky!), so I’m helping him with some really last minute language study before he heads out. The goal isn’t to teach him any grammar, vocabulary, or anything like that, the goal is to make sure he’s able to get by as simply as possible. That’s why I made him a one-page cheatsheet, and then sharing it with all of you.

You can download it by clicking on the image of it up above, but let me offer some explanation on the pdf as well.

• This document was created for people with little to no Japanese language ability or experience. So, if you know a lot of Japanese then you should probably take a look at some other cheat sheet. It’s good if you’re traveling to Japan, don’t know any Japanese, and want to have the bare minimum to get by.
• I’ve included the “Japanese” version of most everything on there. This isn’t for the user of the sheet, it’s more for people who just can’t pronounce anything so that way they can just point to different things and native Japanese speakers will be able to read it.
• The “fill in the blank” section will probably require a dictionary (I’d recommend getting one on your phone if you can). I’ve included possible vocab words that you can put in the blanks right on the cheat sheet, but that won’t cover every possible situation. With a dictionary you’ll have a lot more flexibility.
• The Japanese language pronunciation guide might be a little confusing, but I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it. Most Japanese “letters” consist of both a consonant and a vowel (or just a vowel), and the sound of the vowel is pretty much always the same no matter what consonant is attached to it. Just do your best and point to things on the sheet all confused-kine if you have to. If you want to go more in depth on the pronunciation try learning some hiragana.
• Of course, I’d recommend you actually go learn some Japanese rather than relying on this cheatsheet if you are planning on going to Japan. It’ll make your life a lot easier, and a one-pager won’t get you very far. It’s one page, and covers only the bare minimum!

Hope you enjoy it and find it useful. Feel free to share it around, give it to a friend, etc etc. Once again, here’s the download link!

Related posts:

1. Japanese Particles [Cheatsheet]
2. How to NOT find a Japanese language partner
3. Hiragana Chart, Katakana Chart, Ready For Download

1. Google Image Search

A while back, the Official Google Blog had a really cool post about how to use Google Image Search as a visual dictionary. The basic premise is that if you’re talking to someone who speaks another language, and you’re both trying to figure out a certain word, you can just use Google Image Search to figure out what it is you’re both talking about. Since you can search in both languages (and get pretty good results), you can use Google as a sort of visual translator or dictionary. For example, say you’re both trying to say the word “penguin.”

In English, you just say “penguin,” but in Japanese you would say ペンギン (pengin). Even though it’s a loan word, the pronunciation is different enough to fool two beginning language learners.

“Is it a bird?”
“Yes…”
“Is it black and white?”
“Yes”
“A Penguin?”
“No, a Pengin. hmm.”
“A what? Let’s just search an image…”

And yes, that conversation was totally and completely ripped from the Google blog. Sue me… actually, please don’t. [Google Images]

2. Figuring out words based search results

Maybe about a year ago, I was trying to remember the verb that went with piano in order to say “play the piano.” There’s some weird rules when it comes to instrument playing verbs that mean “to play,” and I couldn’t find a definitive answer via my dictionary. Then I realized I could use Google to my advantage.

I thought I’d try the verb “hiku” (ひく) which is how you say “to play” when it comes to stringed instruments. Pianos are kind of funny because they have strings, but they’re hidden strings and you don’t directly touch them, so I was wondering if maybe it was an exception. I typed it into Google and was able to find a plethora of phrases which included ピアノをひく (piano wo hiku), which meant I could safely assume it was the right result. Other things that I tried had fewer search results (Google shows the number of results, which can be a good indication of whether you’re right or wrong), or didn’t have the entire phrase all together (and all the words were spread out amongst the title and content, which of course means the phrase was wrong as well). This is a really useful tool if you just want to make sure something is correct, and can even be used to emulate and borrow someone else’s sentences. [Google Search]

3. Google Video (aka YouTube)

If you’re always looking for cute Japanese cat videos, then this is for you. Really, it’s almost the same as the image search, so I’m not going to spend much time talking about it, though there are a few more neat little pluses you can get out of video that you can’t in image.

Of course, with video you’re going to get a better visual than if you did an image search (though it will take longer if you actually watch these things). One perk is that there’s a decent chance you’ll be able to hear the actual word used in action, or you can listen / watch the word you’re “looking up” in context, which can be valuable as well. Really, though, if you want to get a word in context, it might just be better to look it up at smart.fm or somewhere not so Googly. [YouTube]

4. Google’s Translated Search

This is a really really cool tool. You can actually search for something in your native language (let’s say English), and Google translate your search and then show you results from the language you want to search in (let’s say Japanese). That’s not where it ends, however. It will show two columns of search results. One column will be the original Japanese content, and the other column will be the translated English version. This means you get a side-by-side translation of your search results, which also means you can look up all kinds of things (and read them) while at the same time targeting only Japanese content.

Of course, be sure to take these things with a grain of salt. Once you get beyond one-word translations, you can really start getting into trouble. Still, this is a great tool to look words and phrases up, and see what Google thinks the translation is. It’s just a great way to double check a word or translation that you already have a decent grasp of. Better yet, it’s in context! [Google Translated Search]

5. Call someone in Japan with Google Voice

If you’re cool like me and you got an invite to Google Voice, then you’ll know that you can call people on the uber-cheap. Now, this totally depends on you having people you can call without being incredibly creepy (and you should probably do a quick google search to see what time it is right now in Tokyo), but I’ll leave that part up to you. It’s only 3 cents a minute to call someone in Japan via Google voice, so if you know someone that’s willing to answer your Penguin translation questions, then you’re gold. Oh, and while you’re doing it you can use Google image search to confirm things, right?

And yes, another option is Skype, but we’re talking about Google right now! Expect to see a “call me” button somewhere on the side of this blog sometime soon, too. Google Voice will let you leave me messages. I look forward to all your drunken phone calls!

6. Google’s Advanced Search

If you feel like you’ve got the “normal” search stuff down, then maybe it’s time to go advanced. This is a great way to learn all the Google shortcuts that will get you better results down the road. If you find yourself looking for a word that has a lot of search results you don’t want, you can search minus things that have that word. You can add more words to narrow your search down. You can choose the language you want to search in. The list goes on and on.

Of course, how you use this all depends on what you’re looking for, but it’s a great way to narrow things down and look for the exact word, phrase, or whatever to get the results you want. [Google Advanced Search]

7. Translating Your Docs and E-mails

Maybe it’s just me, but I use Google docs (and gmail) all the time. I live in both of those places. At work, we use Google Docs instead of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. Working at eduFire means I get a decent amount of e-mails and docs in other languages. Google is my somewhat inaccurate translating savior. There is a feature in both g-docs and gmail (in gmail you have to add it through gmail labs) that lets you translate your content in any language that Google does translations (which is a lot).

Here’s the original message (above)

And here’s the translated message (above)

First of all, the translation pretty garbage, and secondly, if you’re learning Japanese this isn’t something you necessarily want to rely on. It can be a good resource for beginners / intermediates to get an idea of what something is about, before diving in and really studying it to pull out a real translation, though. Also great for penpals! Couple this up with Rikaichan and you’ve got yourself something golden. [Google Docs, Google Mail]

8. Google Translate Japanese to English

I’m not a huge fan of translation services, as you’ve probably already figured out. They make you lazy and they’re usually quite off. Still, I have to admit, as long as you aren’t doing anything too sensitive to painful translation mistakes, you can use these things to get the gist of something before you work out a better translation.

I put my American culture website Koichi弁 through the translator, and it came out nice and funny. Maybe it’s my strange Japanese… though most likely it’s the translator. Still, it gives you a basic picture of what’s going on.

If you do use Google Translate, I’d recommend translating things one word at a time (just like looking up words in a dictionary). There are some better dictionary services out there, but as I said before, today the Goog gets the spotlight. [Google Translate]

9. Google Calendar to Schedule Your Studies

If you’re as busy as me, calendars and e-mails rule your life. I highly recommend getting a calendar to everyone, and gCal is a good one.

You can set up reminder alerts (perhaps for your Japanese classes?), you can block off Japanese self-study sessions, remind yourself to finish up that flashcard set,  or give yourself an hour to write a Japanese journal entry to be corrected by native Japanese speakers. Staying organized is a great thing when it comes to studying, and it helps keep you on track (and helps you to set goals!). Did you know that people who write down their goals are statistically 10x more successful than those that don’t? [Google Calendar]

10. Use Google to Find Other Search Engines That do Similar Things

Of course, Google isn’t the only one that can do all these things. There’s Bing, Yahoo, Ask, Wolfram Alpha, and so on. All these other search engines have similar features, and they come up with slightly different results, depending on what you’re trying to do. This means that if Google isn’t doing it for you, then one of the other search engines may be able to give you a hand.

I hope this guide helped you, and I know there are a ton more ways to use Google to your advantage when studying Japanese. What are your favorite Google tricks, whether they are listed here or not?

Related posts:

1. Is Learning Japanese Not Popular Anymore?
2. 8 Ways to Win Unlimited Japanese Lessons (and counting)
3. How To Use Evernote To Study Japanese (Or Any Other Language)

Philip Seyfi sent me an e-mail asking me to check out his Adobe Air application Nihongoup (for a long time I thought its name was some sort of weird misspelling, or a fish reference, which of course we approve of Ha! Logo is now NihongoUp! Don’t say we never did anything for you). He hooked me up with a free copy (it’s normally $4.99) as well as five more to give away to all of you. You’ll have to keep reading to figure out how you can win.

Nihongoup is nice and simple and runs very smoothly. When you start up the application, you have four choices: Katakana, Hiragana, Kanji, and particles.

Hiragana and Katakana:

In this game, balloons with different hiragana (or katakana, if you’re playing that game) come down. Before they fall all the way down, you have to type in the corresponding romaji to make them disappear. My only complaint is that there aren’t enough zombies in this typing game. I suppose we’ll have to settle. If you’re learning hiragana or katakana, this is definitely an easy way to study. It’s not particularly exciting, but it’s better than a lot of other options out there.

Kanji:

In the kanji game, you get a sentence at the bottom with a highlighted section. You have to click on the balloon containing correct kanji to move on to the next one. I do wish more of the sentence was in kanji, but I guess it makes sense since the game is only available in JLPT 3 & 4 levels. According to the website JLPT 1 & 2 are coming soon, so I’ll be playing Nihongoup a bit more when those are released.

Particles:

The particles game is Nihongoup’s “ace up the sleeve.” I really like this idea. You get a sentence with a missing particle, and then four choices. You have to pick the correct one, and it’s a lot harder than I thought! I think I need to practice my particles a bit more. Just like the kanji sentence, I wish more of the sentence was in kanji (perhaps with furigana, for beginners?). All hiragana is difficult to read, even with the little spaces.

Really, though, if you’re going to buy Nihongoup, this is the section to do it for. I haven’t seen too many other resources out there that do particle practice, and Nihongoup does a good job at it. Perhaps it would be good with my Japanese Particles Cheatsheet?

Overall Impressions:

Nihongoup is a good application, it runs well, and does some neat things for Japanese language practice. There’s some room for improvement, which is fine because it’s an early product, and I know improvements are being made by the developer. It’s kind of one of those things where it’s really good that it’s simple, but has room for a little more (I think?). I do wish the sentences were easier to read (more kanji, please!), and I’d also like to see more settings for different difficulty levels within each section (faster speeds, etc).

You can buy this application for $4.99, which I think is a pretty good deal. I wouldn’t buy it if it was any higher, but it’s worth the money if you use it a lot.

How can YOU win a copy?

I’m allowed to give away five copies of the game (thanks to the Nihongoup folks). If you want a copy, though, you have to work for it a little bit… though not that much.

What you have to do: Leave a comment telling me why you think you should get a copy of this sexy software. It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux, so everyone should be able to get in on it. If you leave a video comment, you might get extra points (or lose extra points if you’re a sad clown). Poems might get you extra points. Godzilla references may help you as well. Other creative comments are also welcome. I’m just going to choose the ones that I like the best, so yep, bribery works as well. And tweets… Tweets are good.

When will the winners be chosen? Pretty much when I feel like it… Probably sometime in the next week. If I see a comment I really really like, though, I may mark it as a winner early by responding to it. You never know.

How will I get my prize? I’ll send your e-mail to someone who will get you a product key.

Off to the races! It’s time to learn Japanese!

Related posts:

1. Japanese Particles [Cheatsheet]
2. Hiragana Chart, Katakana Chart, Ready For Download
3. Alternatives to Rosetta Stone Japanese (i.e. Should I buy Rosetta Stone?)

Japanese particles can be fun, if by fun you mean eye gouges and hair pulls. I haven’t come across too many people that enjoy Japanese particles. Tolerate? Sure, there are a few, but most people aren’t fans, and most teachers don’t make things too easy. Yesterday I taught a couple of courses on Japanese particles over at eduFire, and did everything I could to make particles easy and understandable. I figure if someone like me, who lacks a technical understanding of all grammar (in English, especially), can understand particles, then so should everyone else. I made things easy, cut out the fat, and simplified everything as much as possible, and I think for the most part it worked for people!In the process of doing that, I thought up the idea of making a Japanese Particles Cheatsheet. It’s a one page document that lays out all the main particles, explains their meaning, and shows some examples. It’s definitely not full of information, and I wouldn’t recommend using it to learn Japanese particles outright, but you can use it to help you tell one particle from another, especially if you’re just beginning Japanese (は and が particles can cause some problems, right!?), then that’s perfect.

So here it is, download this Japanese Particles Cheatsheet, use it in your class (teachers), share it with friends, Japanese learning colleagues, whatever. It’s all yours to enjoy. Definitely leave me some feedback though, if you have any, since I’ll probably be whipping together a 2.0 version at some point and I’m sure improvements can be made.

Download the [Japanese Particles Cheatsheet] Now!

Related posts:

1. Japanese Language Cheatsheet for Travelers
2. Practice Kana, Kanji, and Particles with Nihongoup
3. Hiragana Chart, Katakana Chart, Ready For Download