Japanese Language
My Top Recs
- Anki for flashcard practice
- Migaku: a mobile app/browser extension that contains courses and generates subtitles (Japanese and English) for content on YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, etc. Click on any word to get definitions and you can create flashcards for new words. Really helpful for immersive learning.
- Takoboto: Japanese/English dictionary and Japanese language learning too. Accessible through Mobile app and website.
My Notes
- Japanese Counters
- Japanese Particles
- Japanese Particle Patterns: are suffixes or short words in Japanese grammar that immediately follow the modified noun, verb, adjective, or sentence.
- Sentence Ending Particles: Particles used on the end of sentences to indicate questions, emphasis, etc.
- Japanese Sentences - ChatGPT practice 1
Links regarding various topics
Dictionaries
- Takoboto: Japanese/English dictionary and Japanese language learning too
- JLearn.net: Dictionary with conjugations
- Jotoba: More of a dictionary, with example sentences
Specific References
- Japanese numbers (omniglot.com)
- Japanese numerals (Wikipedia)
- Yokai.com: a dictionary of the Yokai, a specific class of supernatural beings that includes vast range of beings including shapeshifters, ghosts, demons, and tricksters.
Dictionary Mobile apps
- Takoboto mobile app (free): Very useful
- Definitions
- conjugated forms.
- save words to a list and view search history.
- View hiragana and katakana tables
- Search Kanji
- Imiwa (free): iOS dictionary app based on Jim Breen's dictionary
- JED (free): Japanese dictionary app for Android
Verb conjugations
- Reverso Japanese Conjugator: Accepts conjugated words and lists all of the forms of a verb
- Ultra Handy Japanese Verb Conjugator: Lists conjugated forms of verbs
- Japanese Verb Conjugator
- Verbix
- Japanese Conjugation (Wikipedia)
Courses
- Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese: This is a pretty cool resource. His YouTube channel is also good.
- Migaku: a mobile app/browser extension that contains courses and generates subtitles (Japanese and English) for content on YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, etc. Click on any word to get definitions and you can create flashcards for new words. Really helpful for immersive learning.
- Cure Dolly Japanese Course
Flashcards
- Anki Flashcard app ⭐️: free on PC and Mac, a flashcard system that repeats the hard ones more frequently. Surprisingly effective.
- AnkiWeb: Community sourced flashcard decks. Lots of Japanese decks.
- Pimsleur Japanese: Covers vocabulary from Pimsleur Japanese 1-5, with audio
- Pimsleur Japanese 1 phrases: Covers phrases from Pimsleur Japanese 1, with audio
- Pimsleur Japanese 2 phrases
- Pimsleur Japanese 3 phrases
- Pimsleur Japanese 4 phrases
- Pimsleur Japanese 5 phrases
- Japanese Basic Hiragana: Begin here
- Japanese Hiragana: The extended hiragana. Start this after learning the basic hiragana.
- Full Japanese Study Deck [JLPT N5~N1 vocab/kanji + more]
- My Pimsleur Japanese 1 Flashcards in Obsidian
- My Japanese basics flashcards in Obsidian
- Memrise:
- Rikaikun: a Chrome extension for translating Japanese (also available on Firefox)
Videos
- My Japanese Language playlist (YouTube playlist)
- easy talk: This channel produces longer form conversations, spoken slowly, for language immersion
Other Resources
Language Learning services
Kana
Hiragana
Used for:
- Grammatical elements (particles, endings)
- Native Japanese words without kanji (or when kanji is avoided)
- Verb/adjective inflections (okurigana)
Example:
- 食べる → the る is hiragana (inflection)
- 調子はどう → は (particle)
Katakana
Used for:
- Loanwords (especially from English)
- Emphasis (like italics)
- Onomatopoeia
- Scientific names, technical terms
Example:
- コンピュータ (computer)
- コーヒー (coffee)
Kanji (漢字)
Used for:
- Core meaning words (nouns, verb roots, adjectives)
- Disambiguation (reduces ambiguity vs all-hiragana)
Example:
- 食べる (eat)
- 本 (book)
- 調子 (condition)