May 31, 2008

How to Study Japanese: Japanese Tools Online



So here's the links for things mentioned in the videos (the sidebar I mentioned is to your right as we speak).

Get Rikaichan at this site. You will need to download its dictionary separately. I also use the names dictionary. Usually shift switches on the fly between dictionaries and kanji details.

You can join Lang-8 here.

Download Anki here.

You can download many kinds of Anki decks here.

The audio links I mentioned are here.

Firefox search engines can be found at Mycroft.

Bonus for ya: All the 1kyu grammar terms are explained in my own poor words here. A few 2kyu grammar explanations can be found here And my general advice for taking the JLPT can be seen here.

A great way to have Firefox with you wherever you go is to use the USB-drive version from Portableapps.
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Need to know where something is or have a suggestion for what else is good to use to study via computers and internet? Leave a comment.
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And finally, my only other video on studying Japanese: What Books to Read

Please spread this info if you found it useful!

I have ongoing Japanese-related themes on this very blog. Here they are:
# Sign/Ad J
# J Slang
# J News w/Pics
# J Vids
# Karaoke
# J Commercials
# Let's Yoji!




22 comments:

  1. i use a little trick to memorize kanji and such, it works well for anyone who spends a good amount of time on the interwebs, its just switching all searches to search primarily in japanese and switching the language of your favorite site. the searches language can be changed by selecting preferences (works in google) and picking what ever language you wish, and google has a language tool that can translate web sites form one language to another (bit laggy and has problems but works) and changing the language of your devices (ipod, cellphone, etc..) all so helps.

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  2. A question for you or any who can answer, what are the merits of Rikaichan vs. PeraPera-Kun?

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  3. http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/radicals.html

    kanji by radicals, click on a kanji for simple definition and some compound words

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  4. I feel that the wwwjdic kanji radicals section is pretty good for that sort of thing.

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  5. Hey - the link to your Anki deck is down. Just so you know. ;-) Thanks again for all of this.

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  6. Hmm, I just tried the link, and it downloaded properly and was the right size. When I clicked it, anki opened, but didn't seem to change decks (my deck is named zombie, but this one should be different), so I dunno what the problem is.
    How far did you get?

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  7. Awesome vid. Thanks for all the great tips and sites. I was thinking along the same wave length of trying to get together a list of resources for my college language center. I hope you don't mind if I use some of yours.

    A couple things that were not on your list. Have you heard of word champ? its pretty great for learning foreign languages in general.

    http://www.wordchamp.com/

    Theres also JEDict a downloadable Japanese English dictionary for Macs that has a way to search kanji by drawing (although its no where near as accurate as the IME Pad in windows). As far as I know there are very few third party drawing input software for Macs. It also contains built in dictionaries for the JLPT 4-1. Its kind of like anki only a little more primitive (but you don't have to make the cards).

    http://www.jedict.com/

    Again thanks for all the awesome links

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  8. Wonderful videos, very helpful. I'm interested to know if you've used the Genki workbooks at any point? Would you recommend those to a beginner? Thanks once again.

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  9. I say stay away from other learning sources until you have completed the non-advanced sections of Tae Kim's guide.

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  10. www.kanjirenshuu.org

    a-maaaazing

    knew my school was good for something

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  11. very good. thank you.

    btw, you maybe have tried remembering the kanji. i am not with the site, the reviewing the kanji website.

    thanks again

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  12. Since I've not said it yet, thank you very much for this post. It gave me the push I needed and pointed me toward resources that I hadn't known about before. Merci.

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  13. You said in your video about the keyword search that all you have to do is remember the keyword ("gogen"), then literally 15 seconds later, you type it in as ("go gen" - with a space) which is why it didn't work and came up in google instead of gogen's native search. Haha, I like laughing at people's expense. Anyway, thanks for the tip though! Lots of great resources.

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  14. Well, I thought I had it under both, but that sight does indeed use it's own search, not Google's.

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  15. Hey claytonian, logicaust here. I watched your video and wanted to help with some links I couldn't see on your blog. Here's some more links that I'm sure that yourself and others will find informative:

    Kanji:

    - JLPT Kanji Project's website. Lists 2232 kanji; very comprehensive.

    - Asahi's java-based kanji drill site. You need java installed on your computer, but it's worth it. An excellent flash resource.

    Online Translation:

    - Excite's online translator. In my experience, it's been useful for cheap and nasty translation to save on overall time. *Don't* rely on it, though. It's mainly to comprehend Japanese, not to actually translate Japanese/English well.

    - POPjisyo.com's website is similar to Rikai.com, and I think it is far more user-friendly in many instances. Check it ooooooooout!

    Resources:

    - Meguro's website has been helping students online for a number of years, and most of what it releases is instantly relevant and informative. A must-see for anybody.


    Hope this helps others. Cheers!

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  16. Cool Find! great find. I'll link it!

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  17. Hey there Hopeless Romantic! Just wanted to say thanks for all these resources! I am currently cramming for jlpt 2, and have found rikaichan, anki and the search engine thing for firefox extremely useful!! YAY! Anki actually works!! Its cool! The ALC search engine is also wiked, I just typed in 及ぶ and it came up with heaps of different examples for how to use it!! Wiked stuff!
    頑張って! from Lisa

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  18. Kanji looks hard to learn.. but your tools will give me the confidence to tackle it head on..

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  19. Oh, I have a question (sorry I didn't think of it earlier)!

    I don't have access to the internet all the time, so do you know of any other downloadable programs that will help with Japanese studying (besides Anki)?

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  20. Pls. visit http://shinobukaneko.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-japanese-learning-tools.html for large collection of japanese learning tools..

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