I’m currently studying for my JLPT level 2 exam, although I’m really not sure that I’m ready. Hopefully by December! Anyways, as I’m in the ‘benkyou’ spirit of things, I thought I’d share my favourite Japanese learning resources with you all. Here is a list of my Top 10, in no particular order:

10. Real Kana

http://www.realkana.com/

For those just starting Japanese, Real Kana is a great website for learning the all important Japanese alphabets, Hiragana and Katakana. It’s a pretty simple online program; a symbol pops up and you type what it is in the box. The good thing about this is it’s fast, so you’ll be repeating them a lot and you’ll retain them.

It’s set out so you can learn rows of hiragana or katakana (or both) at a time, i.e. “KA KI KU KE KO”, or “A I U E O”, etc. Just click the checkboxes of the rows you want to learn, and then go to ‘practice’, and practice away!

Simples!

9. The internet TESL Journal

http://iteslj.org/v/j/

This site has a list of multiple choice quizzes contributed by members. I found this when searching for JLPT verb lists, and it has sections of JLPT verbs, adjectives, vocab, as well as a whole list of other things. You should check it out (the navigation needs a good rethinking however). ( ^ _ ^ ).

8. Smart.fm

http://smart.fm/

Smart.fm was built out from the old ‘iknow’ site, and still retains it’s fantastic methods that made ‘iknow’ such a hit. Based on a lot of scientific research, Smart.fm offers repetition software which focuses on helping you remember things over a long period of time. Not only good for learning Japanese, but other languages, dates, events, etc.

7. Tae Kim’s guide to learning Japanese

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/

Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese is a great website for going over and re-enforcing all that grammar you learnt in class. Some use this site like their bible for Japanese; I can see why. Not only are things explained well, he also includes kanji/kana examples. All the kanji can be tool-tipped over to see the reading in hiragana as well!

What makes this special from other sites is not only the content and how it is displayed, but the fact that it’s been translated into a dozen languages! Pretty rare to find that. Awesome stuff.

Mr. Kim, we salute you!

6. Renshuu.org

http://www.renshuu.org/

Renshuu.org (renshuu being the Japanese for ‘practice’) is a kanji/vocab testing website. It’s set out as a multiple choice quiz, and is pretty customisable. It also takes information from popular Japanese textbooks, such as ‘Genki’ and ‘Japanese for Busy People’. This can be a great supplement if used alongside them. You can also go over JLPT kanji or Kanji Kentei (Official Kanji). The site is a little bulky though, but once you start using it, it can be a big help.

5. Malago

http://www.malago.net/jlpt_4.php

Malago is a Philippino/Japanese website, but it has a good JLPT testing section. I’ve linked to the JLPT 4 page because navigating from the homepage is pretty difficult. (Seriously guys, design change much?) You can get to JLPT 3-1 there as well. Each page has a list of example tests on grammar, writing, vocab, etc. Great for preparing for you JLPT exams.

4. Anki

http://ichi2.net/anki/

Anki is powerful stuff. In essence, it’s a repetition program designed to help remember things like Kanji. However, a lot of research has gone into *how* you remember things, so the inner mechanics of the software are pretty advanced. You guess what the word is, then the answer pops up. You chose whether it was easy, medium or hard, and the program sorts out how often it’ll repeat the word. This makes it one of the best repetition programs out there, coupled with the fact you can not only put kanji in it, but vocab, grammar points and sentances as well. You can make up your own ‘decks’ of flashcards or download others.

Anki is one of the few resources on this list that isn’t web based either. You’ll need to download the program from the site and then get some decks for it. (Note: I’ve been told you *can* use it as a web-based program. I’ll have to check that out.)

3. Read The Kanji

http://www.readthekanji.com/

Read The Kanji is a great Kanji repetition website. They’ve just had a make-over, so it looks a lot nicer than it did. Everything is set out wonderfully; large text, good clean colours, great examples and an easy to use system.

The kanji comes up, you type into the box what you think it is, and it’ll tell you if it’s right or wrong.

Although the software isn’t as sophisticated as Anki, it’s still pretty good, and keeps a track of your progress, making sure to test you again and again on the ones you didn’t quite know. You can also check to see how well you’re improving on different kanji. The decks are split up into six sections; Hiragana, Katakana, JLPT4 kanji, JLPT3 kanji, JLPT2 kanji and JLPT1 kanji.

2. Edufire

http://edufire.com/

Where do I begin? Those of you who have already had a gander probably know what a great concept this website is. Basically, Edufire is an online teaching platform. Tutors log in and give lessons using a microphone and a webcam. Classes can have up to a hundred students at a time, and it doesn’t matter where you are from; as long as you have an internet connection you can join in. You can join group lessons, or have private lessons. Most of the subjects taught are languages, expecially Japanese, but new classes are made all the time and they’ve had things like sewing, maths, lyric writing, business and even make-up application! Tutors come from all over, and have varying levels of experience and skill. You’ll no doubt find what you want on there, and if not, then request it!

Possibly the best thing about this service is the cost of it. For starters, probably half the classes are FREE, which is always a good thing. Even then, most private lessons (which are usually about an hour) are only about the $10-20 range, which beats the price of a private tutor coming to your home! They have also started a service called SuperPass, which is a monthly subscription (I think it’s $29.99 /mo), which allows you to take as many of the classes as you want to take, providing they are marked as ‘SuperPass’ classes (which is most of them).

Not only do they do online lessons, they also have a great section dedicated to flash card practice.

Well worth checking this out!

1. Tim Werx

http://www.timwerx.net/home/index.htm

This is quite possibly my favourite Japanese language site ever. It doesn’t seem like much, but there are hundreds of grammar points all laid out in a simple and easy to read manner. The best thing about it is that the points are very well written, so they are easy to understand and you get the point much easier. I’ve seen too many sites that overload you with too much at once, waffle on and make the lesson harder than it should be. Lots of example sentances with each mini lesson, and a list of vocab used (as well as notes on certain words). Some might criticise the lack of kana and kanji (the examples are in romaji), but I think it helps keep the focus on the grammar points. It would be nice to have them though.

I tend to use the Japanese verbs section a lot.

If you’re reading this, well done Tim!

[i日本語 image from odeo.com]

Come one, come all to The Great Gaijin Debate! Have your say, is it OK? or is it something you hate!? Step up, step up, and don’t be afraid, please leave a comment on the post that Mike made!

[From my JapanSoc post]

Ok, so Just a quick post to let people know of the big debate happening over at Gakuranman.com. Ok, so there’s not so much a ‘debate’ as such, it’s more various viewpoints flying all over the place, but still. We want to hear your say! What are your views on being called ‘gaijin’ (外人)?

The ‘gaijin’ debate

More posts from me in the next few days. I’m busy with E3 announcements