Learning Japanese

After this summer its time for me to start learning the Japanese language once and for all. I have for some years now been surfing the net and looking up different type of courses, books, online learning sites, E-books and so on and so on. I realized that there is a lot of material out there and that a lot of it is very…BORING looking. To learn a language you simple have to go through learning materials, nothing you can do about it. But does learning Japanese have to be boring?

Well this depends on how people prefer to learn languages, some need to read, read and reread  books a lott, some need to hear the language as well, and some need to do both and yet some need to train in different ways. No matter how you learn a language best you simple need to do a lot of studies to get good in a language.

Therefor one can not say that there is ONE single book or CD or whatever media you prefer, that is the best one out there. I decided to compile a list here of materials I have come across on the Internet. It will be a growing list so I will be updating this page from time to time. It means that this post will be jumping up words in the blog every time its updated until its big enough to have its own page.

Internet sites for learning Japanese

• http://smart.fm (Free site with a real good teaching system)
• http://livemocha.com (Semi free site that is close to a social networking site with teching abilities)
• http://chokochoko.wordpress.com/
• http://sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/sp/lesson/j/doc/japanese.html
• http://www.yesjapan.com/dictionary/yesjapan200k.php (Dictionary)
• http://www.dartmouth.edu/~kanji/
• http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/computer_support.html
• http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/index.en.html (This homepage does have online training as well as being the site for the popular Genki I and II books with accompanying CD)
• Reviewing the Kanji
• Japanese Grammar Guide – Tae Kim’s Guide to learning Japanese (If you want to learn Japanese the Japanese way from start til end with all the hard work at the start and the easier at the end ( same way as you learned your first second language at school as a kid) then head over to this site, you will NOT be disappointed! )

Course books for learning Japanese

• Genki 1: An Integrated Course in Elementary are really popular course books for training Japanese and I would highly recommend them for beginners (use their site aswell for training since there are a lott of good examples and audio training on the site itself)
• Genki 2 Text are really popular course books for training Japanese and I would highly recommend them
• http://www.thejapanshop.com/home.php?cat=344 (Book with audio, therefor pops up in both Books and Audio)
• Kana De Manga: Fun, Easy Way to Learn the ABCs of Japanese (Manga University Presents) (Kana de Manga, a great way of learning Hiragana and katakana, filled with original Manga drawings)
• Kanji De Manga Volume 1: The Comic Book That Teaches You How To Read And Write Japanese!: Comic Book That Teaches You How to Read and Write Japanese! v. 1 (Kanji de Manga is a series of 5 books that are great to use for learning Kanji. Each book teaches you 80 kanji, so in total 400 Kanji in this series filled with original Manga drawings)

Audio for learning Japanese

• http://www.thejapanshop.com/home.php?cat=344 (Book with audio, therefor pops up in both Books and Audio)

Software for learning Japanese

• Rosetta Stone Version 3: Japanese Level 1, 2 and 3 Set with Audio Companion (Mac/PC CD) (A very popular software for learning languages, even though it might be lacking some in the grammar and writing area.)
• Anki
• Zkanji
• Ikana
• Ikanji