EPTLet's Learn Japanese 001 - Introduction
Index of lessons
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Resources
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www.google.com
Use it! Look for books, movies to watch, forums, vocabulary lists, etc. Check prices, find other sources. The internet will be one of your greatest tools.
Textbook Series
http://www.pimsleur.com/
+ Show Spoiler [Pros and cons] +
On October 27 2012 02:22 JieXian wrote:
Pros: Builds fluency and aides remembering phrases and grammar effortlessly, listen to the native speak in imaginary scenarios.
Cons : It's targeted for married businessmen, doesn't explain the grammar rules in detail, just makes you repeat it, which is why I recommend listening to Michel Thomas first. Vocab is better than Michel Thomas but not better than Memrise or Anki but at least you get to hear the words in sentences. Russian one has phrases which are quite different than what a native would say, I don't know why
Pros: Builds fluency and aides remembering phrases and grammar effortlessly, listen to the native speak in imaginary scenarios.
Cons : It's targeted for married businessmen, doesn't explain the grammar rules in detail, just makes you repeat it, which is why I recommend listening to Michel Thomas first. Vocab is better than Michel Thomas but not better than Memrise or Anki but at least you get to hear the words in sentences. Russian one has phrases which are quite different than what a native would say, I don't know why
Yookoso - Used by the class I took for one semester
Genki - Recommend by a ton of Japanese learners
Minna no nihongo - Another very popular series of books.
Vocabulary
http://www.jlptstudy.net/ - Contains vocabulary lists for the JLPT, based on previous tests
- Flash card and Spaced Repetition tools -
Anki
My tool of choice. It's not as simple as some others, but very functional. Also has mobile app so you can study vocabulary on the go. Allows you to attach audio files to flash cards, pictures, etc. It was designed with Japanese in mind, so Chinese characters are fully supported. And even though I have not spent the time to set it up with mine, it also supports LaTeX, so you can use it to learn math equations.
http://ankisrs.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anki
Memrise
This one seems popular on TeamLiquid thanks to this thread. My experience with it so far is limited, but it seems like a basic browser based flash card tool that uses spaced repetition. Check the thread for more.
http://www.memrise.com/home/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memrise
Language Exchange
http://www.sharedtalk.com/ - "There are a ton of users, and it's well moderated so you don't have to deal with too many creeps or weirdos." - FuRong
http://lang-8.com/ - Language exchange site designed around writing journals. Write in your target language, and native speakers will provide corrections and suggestions.
http://www.italki.com/ - "Italki is a wonderful resource if you are looking for language partners or people to correct your writing. You can also have skype lessons with professional teachers at a very affordable price." - Tal
www.livemocha.com - "This has some basic lessons for free. It's ok, anyone beyond the very basics will find it too easy. But it is a nice platform to find and interact with native speakers.
Busuu.com - same as livemocha." - DuunSuhuy
Listening, reading, writing and general understanding
http://www.youtube.com/ - Not kidding. Subscribe to some people who vlog in your target language to practice listening.
Manga
Anyone interested in Japanese culture will know what manga is, and anyone wanting to learn the language will enjoy reading them. Sometimes difficult to find hardcopies, but thankfully my girlfriend is Japanese, so I can always get some through her. She might be willing to ship some to me so I can in turn send them to you guys - if you are interested, PM me.
-Beginners-
Doraemon
Crayon Shin-chan
Kanji
Kanji Alive - Fantastic tool for learning kanji. Great dictionary with multiple ways to search, provides stroke order animation, kanji meanings and readings, and most of them have mnemonics also
Heisig's Remembering the Kanji - Very popular source for learning kanji. + Show Spoiler [Wikipedia excerpt] +
The method differs markedly from traditional rote-memorization techniques practiced in most courses. The course teaches the student to utilize all the constituent parts of a kanji's written form—termed "primitives", combined with a mnemonic device that Heisig refers to as "imaginative memory". Each kanji (and each non-kanji primitive) is assigned a unique keyword. A kanji's written form and its keyword are associated by imagining a scene or story connecting the meaning of the given kanji with the meanings of all the primitives used to write that kanji.
The method requires the student to invent their own stories to associate the keyword meaning with the written form. The text presents detailed stories in Part I, proceeding through Part II with less verbose stories. This is to encourage the student to use the stories as practice for creating their own. After the 508 kanji in Parts I and II, the remainder of the kanji in Part III have the component keywords but no stories. However, in cases where the reader may be easily confused or for difficult kanji, Heisig often provides a small story or hint.
All the kanji are analysed by components—Heisig terms these "primitives"—which may be traditional radicals, other kanji themselves, or a collection of strokes not normally identified as independent entities. The basic primitives are introduced as needed throughout the book. This order is designed to introduce the kanji efficiently by building upon the primitives and kanji already learned, rather than learning the kanji based on the order of their frequency or the dictates of the jōyō kanji grading system.
The method requires the student to invent their own stories to associate the keyword meaning with the written form. The text presents detailed stories in Part I, proceeding through Part II with less verbose stories. This is to encourage the student to use the stories as practice for creating their own. After the 508 kanji in Parts I and II, the remainder of the kanji in Part III have the component keywords but no stories. However, in cases where the reader may be easily confused or for difficult kanji, Heisig often provides a small story or hint.
All the kanji are analysed by components—Heisig terms these "primitives"—which may be traditional radicals, other kanji themselves, or a collection of strokes not normally identified as independent entities. The basic primitives are introduced as needed throughout the book. This order is designed to introduce the kanji efficiently by building upon the primitives and kanji already learned, rather than learning the kanji based on the order of their frequency or the dictates of the jōyō kanji grading system.
Z-Kanji - "z-Kanji is a pretty good program you can download for free, its a english-japanese dictionary with some nice little features, you can f.e. display the JLPT level or the stroke order of the kanji" - Flip9
Grammar
Oxford's Japanese Grammar and Verbs - The Bible of Japanese verbs. I love this book. I saw a list on amazon for $100. DO NOT pay that much. I got mine at a bookstore for $15.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/ - Tae Kim's guide, very popular. However, it was not made by a native speaker. I have been told some of the information is not entirely accurate, so compare to another source and read the comments.
Dictionaries
Langenscheidt's Japanese/English - Probably the best pocket dictionary you can find that exists in hardcopy
Jim Breen's
WWWJDIC - Highly regarded online dictionary
http://jisho.org/ - Another online dictionary
General Study
http://www.jlptstudy.net/forum/ - Great place to find information on the JLPT
Rikaikun - Chrome extension that translates highlighted material, including kanji. Gives pronunciation for the kanji, also. Very great tool.
Nintendo DS - Play games in Japanese. There are also a lot of games for learning Kanji, as you can practice writing on the DS. I actually play Pokemon white in Japanese on my white DS (white ones are only available in Japan) that I got during my first visit to Tokyo.
animecrazy.net - Anime fans~ For advanced learners, I think a lot of the shows have raw versions available. Most shows have English subtitles. Check the anime discussion thread for ideas on what to watch
This introduction lesson will give you some information about the Japanese language, why I'm doing this, as well as the basic tools you'll need to begin learning from your PC. I'll try to include some information about Japan and the language so you can also learn a bit more about the culture. (I am sorry for the incoming wall of text)
I am a huge fan of Japanese culture and their people. I started studying Japanese a few years ago on my own. It's mostly been an on and off experience due to time constraints from school/work/life in general. I'm starting this to help keep myself motivated to continue learning on a regular basis, while (hopefully) spreading an interest in Japan that goes beyond anime. As my Japanese isn't exactly fluent, I may not be able to answer all questions myself - but I do have resources (Japanese friends, texts, etc) to get answers for you. I'd like you to know that Japanese isn't my true "second language." Although I am only fluent in English, I have spent a number of years studying Spanish and Latin - of which I have forgotten nearly everything because I never use it, they weren't that interesting to me to begin with. I took 3 years of Spanish classes, and four years of serious Latin, including translating classical works such as Aeneid (Virgil) and The Odyssey (Homer). I really appreciated the approach my professor took in teaching Latin. She was very direct and straightforward, no bullshit kind of teaching, and I'm going to try to translate that to learning/teaching Japanese.
As with learning any language, taking on Japanese will be a long process that requires a lot of practice to become effective in using the language. I am not going to bullshit you like Rosetta Stone and tell you that you don't have to memorize anything (which is the most ridiculous claim they make). Learning a language IS memorization. And learning "the natural way" from home, while on your PC is also nuts. I'm going to be supplying you with vocabulary lists, tools to study them, grammar rules, usage examples, and I will greatly encourage you to find pen pals/skype friends, here or elsewhere, to whom you can write/speak with. - Practice and repetition is key to learning any language.
Necessities for getting started:
East Asian font capability. I think the more recent versions of Windows already have these fonts installed (but I'm not 100% sure about that). They are necessary for reading East Asian languages on your computer. You should be able to see these characters clearly instead of just blank boxes that appear when no font is available
日本語 にほんご
Kanji and Hiragana reading for "Japanese language")
You will also need to be able to type in Japanese. Check the following spoiler for instructions to install the fonts and typing capabilities
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Google.com (cbf to write instructions for multiple OS's)
A little bit about Japanese:
Japanese syntax usually follows the order of SUBJECT - OBJECT - VERB. 助詞 (Joshi) are used to mark words in a sentence to identify their function, and can be omitted when the function is obvious.
Japanese writing using a combination of three scripts. 漢字 (Kanji) 平仮名 (Hiragana) and 片仮名 (Katakana).
Kanji are Chinese characters are used represent words and help make reading easier, because Japanese doesn't utilize spaces. It is possible to write without using any kanji, but reading will be difficult, even for native speakers. Every adult should know at least 2,000 kanji.
Hiragana and Katakana are syllabaries containing 46 characters. Each character represents a sound, or combination of sounds. These sounds do not change based on the word, they remain constant. For example, in English the sound that the letter A represents changes depending on the word, apple vs ate. The pronunciation of Hiragana or Katana never changes. Hiragana are used for Japanese words, while Katakana are mainly used for loanwords (words taken from other languages) and names of foreigners. Collectively these two scripts are referred to as Kana.
Side note:
Japanese is not a derivative of Chinese in the way English is of Latin, even though it does use a lot of Chinese characters, and a lot of words are borrowed from Chinese also.
Upcoming lessons:
Because this is primarily text based, we'll first be looking at the basics of writing and reading kana and their associated pronunciations. In lesson 002, we'll cover あ、い、う、え、お
After the 46 Hiragana are covered, we'll move on to some grammar and vocabulary. The 46 Katakana will be integrated into these lessons in order to save some time, seeing as 15+ lessons covering nothing but pronunciation of basic characters could potentially become rather boring.
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Initial feedback would be really helpful. I'd like to know if this will be worth doing or just a waste of time. If you're interested, please say so!
