Learn Japanese for Free

Top Ten Free Japanese Learning Resources

This Top Ten list was scraped (with permission) from the website Tofugu, a wonky Japanese langauge and culture blog. Enjoy and share!.

#1: Lang-8

Lang-8 comes in at #1 on my list because it has a great community, responsive staff, and an incredible (revolutionary) service. This is web2.0 of language learning right here. Here's the concept behinds this website: First, you write a journal entry in the language that you're learning (it can be any language, not just Japanese), then someone who is a native speaker of the language you are writing in will correct that entry for you. Third, you (theoretically) will help someone else learning the language you are native in. If you are learning Japanese, or any language at all, you should definitely take a look at my #1 pick! (read full version)

http://www.lang-8.com

#2: Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese

This is as close as you'll get to finding a free online Japanese textbook, and a good one at that. Tae Kim has done an amazing job putting together a great list of Japanese guidance. It is very thorough, reliable, and you'll always learn something new. There are plenty of examples, plenty of "extras," and because of these things, I always come to Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese first, even before searching for something on Google. This is Japanese Language philanthropy at its best. Go check it out! (read full version)

http://www.guidetojapanese.org

#3: Smart.fm

Smart.fm revolutionizes how you learn vocabulary. Right now, you can use it to learn Japanese or English vocabulary, but I'm guessing the first one will be more useful to you. They have different ways for learning vocabulary, with the first being flashcards. What I like about their flashcards is that after they ask if you know a word or not, they don't trust you (who would trust you?) and then ask you to pick it out of 5-10 multiple choice answers, further solidifying your knowledge (or discovering the lack thereof). My other favorite section is the "dictation section." In this section, a voice actor reads out a sentence, and you have to fill in the blanks. Eventually, it gets to the point where you have to fill in the entire sentence after someone reads it to you. (read full version)

http://www.smart.fm

#4: jGram

jGram is a database of Japanese grammar (that's why jGram stands for "Japanese Grammar") put together by the jGram community. So basically, normally people like you and me! Think of it like a wiki for Japanese grammar. This website is great for people studying for the JLPT, as they separate grammar by JLPT level for you, so you can study according to your level. I used this website a lot when studying for the JLPT, and it was really useful. (read full version)

http://www.jgram.org

#5: Jisho.org

Jisho.org (or, Denshi Jisho, as they call themselves), is a great online Japanese dictionary. What makes them so great, though? Now, there's Jim Breen's WWWJDIC, which is my favorite online Japanese dictionary. Jisho.org uses Jim Breen's dictionary data and just makes it look lots nicer. It makes things easier to read, and is (in general) a big improvement on Jim Breen's layout. It also has a really cool feature (that Jim Breen also has, but Jisho's is better), that allows you to search for a kanji by radical. (read full version)

http://www.jisho.org

#6: Rikaichan

Rikaichan is an amazing add-on for Firefox (if you don't have Firefox right now, go get it, because this website probably looks poop-face without it). After you install it, you'll be able to activate it, and then everything Japanese you hover your mouse over will come up with a bigger version of the kanji (if there is one), the hiragana, and then the English translation for it. (read full version)

http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

#7: Podcasts on iTunes

Surprisingly, iTunes is a great way to find things to practice your Japanese listening (and maybe speaking too, depending on how you use it). Apple does an awesome job collecting podcasts and making it easy to download / subscribe them. Although you cannot download Japanese music without a Japanese credit card / Japanese iTunes gift certificate, you can download Japanese podcasts for free. All you need to do is switch your location to 日本, click on "podcasts," and start navigating the menus. (read full version)

http://www.apple.com/itunes

#8: Yamasa's Japanese Dictionary (Kanji Stroke Order)

Yamasa's Online Japanese Dictionary is a pretty good dictionary, however, there is one thing that I really like about it, and that is (of course) it's kanji stroke order feature. Other dictionaries do this as well, but for some reason I like Yamasa's better. It's just prettier than the others, and they do a really good job organizing their information as well. This website is wonderful for people who have trouble figuring out the stroke order of things. (read full version)

http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/kanji...

#9: Livestation

Livestation is a program you can download off the web that allows you to watch live television from anywhere in the world (which of course includes Japanese television). It's a slick, lightweight program that works on Windows, Mac, and even Linux, so everyone can jump in. I've found around 10-15 Japanese channels, including the Japanese home shopping network, and no matter how bad your time zone is in comparison to Japan, you'll always at least be able to enjoy the commercials! (read full version)

http://www.livestation.com. Alternates KeyholeTV

#10: Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging service that lets you input up to 140 characters to tell the world (and your friends) "what you are doing right now." Although Twitter does what it does really well, you can totally use it in a way that gives you daily / regular Japanese practice as well. Twitter is becoming increasingly popular in Japan, which means there's a lot of Japanese users. I usually suggest to people to follow Japanese tweeters that seem interesting (so that way it's interesting to read their tweets), and to tweet themselves in Japanese... (read full version) http://www.twitter.com

This top ten list came from Tofugu's Top Ten Free Resources for Japanese and we have Tofugu's permission to post his work up here, so enjoy! If you want to download the e-book with more info, you'll have to go here:

Top 10 Resources e-Book Download!

If you enjoyed this article / video / e-book, please send it to a friend who's learning Japanese! I really think that this list will help people out, so the more people see it, the more these resources will help people :) Also, if more people see it, more people will suggest new things in the comments, which will help us all out!

Speaking and Listening

eduFire is the best live learning platform for learning Japanese. Real tutors will teach you whatever you want to learn in 1-on-1 or group class settings of up to 100 people. Prices range from free to very reasonable (especially considering how much people pay for traditional education), but it depends on the individual tutor. They also currently have a program called SuperPass which lets you take unlimited group classes (Japanese included, of course) for only $29 a month.

Other Good Resources

JapanesePod101

Reading and Writing

Lang-8 is probably for someone who is upper-beginner level or above, but once you're at that point it's absolutely amazing. The idea behind this site is that you write journal entries in the language that you are learning, and people who are native to that language will correct them for you (and you can do the same for them). It's a really great community and a fun way to practice your reading and writing. Other Reading & Writing Resources

Smart.fm

Kanji

Smart.fm revolutionizes the way you do flashcards. Not only is there unlimited free content (users are constantly creating new flashcard sets), but you can keep track of your studies online, and Smart.fm will adjust to you and your mistakes to help you remember things... REALLY remember things. You won't find a better flashcard app out there.

Other Kanji Resources

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