Resources for Japanese students
Considering I’ve gathered tons of resources to learn Japanese and still haven’t made a post for this, here you go. This probably isn’t too comprehensive, but it should help some people.
For motivation: Namasensei’s Japanese Course - he’s funny and a great motivator, though many of his videos are mildly NSFW for strong language, drinking, etc.; there have also been complaints about his grammar and stroke order being off, so take his actual lessons with a grain of salt. It’s very easy to lose motivation, so keep things that motivate you in mind while learning.
For memorizing hiragana and katakana:
Remembering the Kana - Hiragana (pdf)
Remembering the Kana - Katakana (pdf)
Hiragana & Katakana Project - stroke order & pronunciation
Real Kana - test yourself on hiragana and katakana
For memorizing kanji:
Remembering the Kanji (pdf)
Kanji Mnemonics (pdf)
KANJIDAMAGE (and pdf, but the formatting for the pdf isn’t good) - breaks down kanji for easier memorization, gives general information and mnemonics
For grammar:
Genki I (pdf)
Genki II (pdf)
A Handbook of Japanese Grammar (pdf)
Grammar Guide (pdf) - by Tae Kim, grab it if his guide website is down.
Imabi - looks to be a comprehensive website for grammar.
Wikipedia - Japanese Grammar - apparently comprehensive.
A few other things that may help:
Japancast.net rip
JapanesePod101 rip - a lot of zip files in folders, forgive me for not extracting them (or for not further compressing them, whichever one pisses you off more).
Japanese the Manga Way (pdf) - some people seem to like it.
For further learning:
rikaichan and rikaisama - FF add-on, rikaikun is the chrome port; rikaisama is probably more recommended due to it’s extended functionality; gives a popup with possible translations for any words you don’t know, generally extremely helpful.
Anki (for decks, see the Learning Japanese with Anonymous link and read the guide, or see this; there also seem to be plenty of tutorials for it on youtube) - a spaced repetition flashcard program; tests memorization, helps learn new symbols and words, usually used for kanji
Guides that may help:
Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese
Learning Japanese with Anonymous
An Introduction to Japanese: Grammar, Syntax, and Language
Wikibooks - Japanese - fairly complete e-book for learning Japanese
Other recommendations (I don’t feel like sealing my fate with copywrong):
Pimsleur - gives some instruction on pronunciation and some grammar; useful for learning basic conversational Japanese.
Rosetta Stone - helps immensely with correcting pronunciation, though it seems to lack in other areas.
WARNING FOR THOSE THINKING ABOUT JOINING MILITARY/GOVERNMENT POSITIONS: learning another language is great. However, make sure you either have a reason for learning another language, or make sure that you can make one up. Some people who have learned another language for more recreational purposes have had that reflect negatively upon them when they were applying for certain positions within government and the military.
Edit: fixed the “remembering the kana” links, didn’t realize that tumblr screwed up the links.
