勉強しましょう ;

After years and years (or better said, weeks) I have finally gotten around doing my Japanese language masterpost. All links listed are resources that I have used to study for (and pass!) the N5 exam, but they are great for beginners as wel! I would also like to thank lovely Julie @designstudy for giving me the inspiration (and motivation) to finish this mp! So here we go:

►Books

→ here are the books I’ve used to study and fully reccomend to others as well (all are great for beginners too)

Genki

Minna no Nihongo

Kanji Challenge

Japanese for busy people: I, II, II

►Mnemonics!

→life is hard, Japanese is harder, do yourself a favor and use mnemonics

Hiragana

Katakana

Kanji

►Kanji, Vocabulary and Grammar

→even if you don’t plan to take the N5, knowing these will definitely give you a better grasp of the language

Kanji List for N5

Vocabulary List for N5

Grammar List for N5

►Practice, practice, practice!

→I cannot stress this enough. If you want to make any progress in studying this language or getting good scores on your exam, practice is vital! 

Reading exercices for N5

Grammar exercices for N5

Kanji exercices for N5

Listening exercices for N5

►Grammar help

→because the internet has a lot to offer and it’s a shame not to take advantage

Useful Youtube channels: here, here, here, here and here

Useful websites for grammar: here and here

The coolest Japanese dictionary out there

►Music

→some of my favorite Japanese artists, beacuse let’s face it: studying a new language is 900% better when you also listen to music in that language

Kenshi Yonezu

Daoko

Utada Hikaru

Mondo Grosso

Ichiko Aoba

Galileo Galilei

►Fun stuff

→for when you want to chill but also learn

Read short stories in Japanese with translation

Read raw manga 

Watch literally any anime out there

Watch J-dramas

Watch Ghibli movies

Watch Japanese movies

►Some tricky stuff

→these are actually very useful w o w

Wa vs ga

Shi or tsu?

All you need to know about counters

Ya vs to vs mo

►Cool Japanese studyblrs:

 → these are definitely worth to stalk/follow!!

@japanese-randomstuff @japanese-langblr @glotpoly @atejapan @japaneseblr @learnjp @aringoaday @ilostmyheartintokyo @nodoyodobenkyou @playwithletters

…and on a final note, some tips:

Be consistent. From my experience, Japanese is a language that if not studied constantly, can be easily forgotten

Use separate notebooks/folders for grammar and vocabulary. You will thank me for this one later.

If you want your kanji/katakana/hiragana/whatever it is that you are writing to look neat, follow the stroke order ! ! !

Quizlet is your best friend when it comes to remembering vocabulary

Hope this helped someone!! Also if you have any questions/need some advice on where to begin, please don’t hesitate to hmu @sttudy

16.06.17 // 10.23 AM

learning japanese using tae kim’s guide! apparently my friend managed to get her japanese to N5 level just by a few years of watching anime and no formal lessons?? i think that’s amazing - i’ve been watching anime for a year (i used to just read manga) and i’ve only been able to pick up basic phrases from it…

Animelon

This website looks so useful for those who want to learn Japanese through anime. They’ve got a lot of customisation features in terms of subtitles and built in looping features, testing and definitions of words.

There are transcripts of the episodes line by line and you can toggle easily between full Japanese, hiragana, katakana (which isn’t natural for everything to be written that way but is excellent reading practise if you’re weak on katakana) and romaji (avoid if at all possible!). Someone’s clearly put a LOT of energy into making this.

They seem to have quite a lot of different anime to choose from too. It looks like it’s free and is going to stay that way as well, though the consequence of that is that future anime may not be added because of rights issues. There are still over 80 different series to choose from including Clanad, Shirokuma Cafe and Attack on Titan.

This website gives you opportunities to study in a TON of different ways:

listening without subtitles

listening and reading along to improve kanji recognition (or hiranaga/katakana)

reading with the sound muted to really improve your reading speed

shadowing using the looping feature

reading transcripts in advance of watching then checking comprehension as you watch along

what’s in my bag: kanken classic !!

Welcome to a new year and a new series from all of us here at Tofugu! Every month we’ll compile a list of the latest Japanese resources to help you learn and improve your Japanese. This could be apps, websites, books, TV shows, video games, and anything else you can think of.

Our first JLR post includes a website, Netflix show, iOS app, old-fashioned paper book, and some printables to cover whatever your Japanese language learning needs might be. So check them out, work hard, have fun, and we’ll be back with a new stack of tools next month.

Satori Reader

Terrace House

Tinycards

Learn to Read in Japanese: A Japanese Reader

LanguagePrintables

Books & Links to guide your journey in learning Japanese language!

Note: Each set of books is for specific purpose.As a tip, it’s better to focus on one skill at a time. It’s recommended to work on grammar before focusing on learning kanji. With that in mind, here we go!:

…………………………………………

Basic stuff!• Easily learn Hiragana • Easily learn Katakana • Introduction about kanji before you start to learn them

…………………………………………

Book set to master basic Japanese (recommended)• TRY! N5 grammar with CD • TRY! N4 grammar with CD• 500 Questions for N5-N4 Practice + grammar review• Dictionary for Basic Japanese Grammar

If you’re unsure of which book to buy, this set is all you need. The amount of time require to finish this set would be around 4 - 8 months. The dictionary is complimentary but so worth to have!

One step further:• TRY! N3 grammar with CD • 500 Questions for N3 Practice + grammar review>> Check out the details of this book set

…………………………………………

Hone Kanji reading skills• Books to learn & practice kanji >> How to use the book

Indepth Kanji study• Book to guide you to remember kanji easily with mnemonics (for beginners)• Kanji dictionary learners (to guide you on each kanji usage)

…………………………………………

Japanese Conversation/Speaking skill• Basic survival conversation & situation–> this book teach basic survival grammar!• Learn Japanese with conversation (shadowing technique)>> Learn more about both books here

…………………………………………

Reading practice material• Ghibli’s Story book - [Full post]• Easy to read Japanese Manga  - [Full post]• Bilingual Doraemon manga  - [Full post]>> More books & review here

…………………………………………

Another set to master basic Japanese grammar:

Note: It’s not effective to have a different set of similar book, just pick the set you like the most. If you like Genki better, get a genki set and so on~

If you ask our opinion, Genki is easier with a more detailed English explanation but explained from English point of view.

While minna no nihongo is a very immersive study book but will confuse and discourage some people.

Our recommendation Try set above is somewhere in the middle. It’s immersive but not to confusing and each grammar is explained from Japanese point of view~

Minna no nihongo

• Minna no Nihongo Beginners Part 1 book (N5-N4)• Minna no Nihongo Beginners Part 2 book (N5-N4)• Minna no Nihongo set review & links

Genki • Genki 1• Genki workbook 1• Genki 2• Genki workbook 2• Answer key for workbook 1&2

…………………………………………

Books & Links to guide your journey in learning Japanese language!

Note: Each set of books is for specific purpose.As a tip, it’s better to focus on one skill at a time. It’s recommended to work on grammar before focusing on learning kanji. With that in mind, here we go!:

…………………………………………

Basic stuff!• Easily learn Hiragana • Easily learn Katakana • Introduction about kanji before you start to learn them

…………………………………………

Book set to master basic Japanese (recommended)• TRY! N5 grammar with CD • TRY! N4 grammar with CD• 500 Questions for N5-N4 Practice + grammar review• Dictionary for Basic Japanese Grammar

If you’re unsure of which book to buy, this set is all you need. The amount of time require to finish this set would be around 4 - 8 months. The dictionary is complimentary but so worth to have!

One step further:• TRY! N3 grammar with CD • 500 Questions for N3 Practice + grammar review>> Check out the details of this book set

…………………………………………

Hone Kanji reading skills• Books to learn & practice kanji >> How to use the book

Indepth Kanji study• Book to guide you to remember kanji easily with mnemonics (for beginners)• Kanji dictionary learners (to guide you on each kanji usage)

…………………………………………

Japanese Conversation/Speaking skill• Basic survival conversation & situation–> this book teach basic survival grammar!• Learn Japanese with conversation (shadowing technique)>> Learn more about both books here

…………………………………………

Reading practice material• Ghibli’s Story book - [Full post]• Easy to read Japanese Manga  - [Full post]• Bilingual Doraemon manga  - [Full post]>> More books & review here

…………………………………………

Another set to master basic Japanese grammar:

Note: It’s not effective to have a different set of similar book, just pick the set you like the most. If you like Genki better, get a genki set and so on~

If you ask our opinion, Genki is easier with a more detailed English explanation but explained from English point of view.

While minna no nihongo is a very immersive study book but will confuse and discourage some people.

Our recommendation Try set above is somewhere in the middle. It’s immersive but not to confusing and each grammar is explained from Japanese point of view~

Minna no nihongo

• Minna no Nihongo Beginners Part 1 book (N5-N4)• Minna no Nihongo Beginners Part 2 book (N5-N4)• Minna no Nihongo set review & links

Genki • Genki 1• Genki workbook 1• Genki 2• Genki workbook 2• Answer key for workbook 1&2

…………………………………………