Tofugu.com – Wonky Japanese Language and Culture

This post was written by Dave of JapanDave.com who Tweets and has a great newsletter full of amazing pictures of Japan.

Kid’s songs are a wonderful resource to help you learn Japanese better. They are often overlooked because… well, they are a bit silly, but I think they are worth a second look. I’m going to cover a bit of theory here (I promise not too much), and then look at 6 kid’s songs you might use in your studies. Read more…

Sometimes, I think, it’s important to think different. Sometimes, when everyone is doing one thing, you should try the exact opposite.  It doesn’t mean it will work, but it’s almost always worth the try. Perhaps you’ll run into something nobody has ever thought of.

This idea is one of those things. I think it works pretty well… sometimes, and it probably won’t work for everyone. The idea is simple: When studying Japanese (or doing anything else), you should stop when you least want to (i.e. when you want to keep studying). Sounds counter intuitive, right? Here’s why it works.

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Did you make it past that highly distracting image of the butterfly? Whew… then you might not need this article… or maybe you do? We can all learn how to be more motivated and inspired, and we’re all human in that shiny things distract us a …. what was I saying? Read more…

Way back in the day, I published a list of my 10 favorite (free) Japanese learning resources, which is great, but not as great as 100 Japanese learning resources. With a list this big, you’ll be able to procrastinate to your heart’s content, which is probably why you’re reading this blog and not learning Japanese instead.

This list has been broken up by category, that way you can find the things you’re most interested in quickly and easily (without having to scroll through the entire list). Within each category, I’ve listed resources starting with my favorites and working my way down. Those marked with a tofugu logo () are “Tofugu approved,” which mostly just means they’ll give you a warm and fuzzy feeling when using them (oh, and I would use the resource myself). Things that I just kinda-sorta like don’t get a sexy fish next to their names. But hey, we have a lot to go through, so let’s get to it. Read more…

The Japanese learning industry has, for all intents and purposes, failed you. It’s not your fault that learning kanji is like hitting your face on a curb, it’s the industry as a whole. Sure, there are pockets here and there that are pretty smart about it, but they tend to be small and nobody really knows about them. Most likely, you know what your teachers says about kanji, or what Rosetta Stone Japanese (doesn’t) say about kanji, or what your textbook throws at you… But, here’s the problem, though: You’re learning kanji from native Japanese speakers, and they have no idea what it’s like to learn kanji anymore (and even if they do, they just emulate the way Japanese school children learn kanji), which really just doesn’t work.

The Japanese learning industry, on a whole, has failed us when it comes to kanji learning. But, you can learn from their mistakes, and in doing so, learn how to fix the way you learn kanji. Read more…

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. Read more…

The moment Lang-8 created the option to upgrade to a Premium Account I did it. At first, it was because I wanted to support Lang-8 (hey, they’re cool Froods!) and make sure their servers kept on running. But, the more I looked at the features the more I realized that there’s a lot of awesome potential here, especially when it comes to power users of the site (and if you’re not one, you should become one). Definitely a few new features that could really accelerate your Japanese studies, which makes it worth a deeper look. Read more…

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. Read more…

Finally! Someone has come out with a strategy for learning Japanese that is easy, simple, and not all that hard. I don’t know why I didn’t come up with this before…oh wait, I did.

Learning Japanese shouldn’t be a complicated thing. People often think that it is, and overcomplicated things for themselves. Granted, learning another language can be a difficult thing, but it shouldn’t be a complicated one. Going around finding “this program” or “that program” will waste more time than it will gain you. You’ll be spending time taking shortcuts and come out way behind in the end. The best way to learn Japanese is to sit down and study it. A lot. Every day. It won’t come right away, and you won’t feel like you’re making progress, but I promise, you are!

The real secret to learning Japanese is Read more…