Reviews of Japanese Instructional Sites

[Dreath]

Hiragana and Katakana Practice — Real Kana

Realkana is a website I stumbled upon by accident really, but I have used it a lot to practice remembering the different kana.

You can also choose the kana that you wish to practice, weither you only want to practice half the hiragana, all the hiragana or katakana or both, if you get a kana that you don't know or can't remember you can move your cursor over the symbol and it will tell you the correct romaji, and also how many of your answers have been correct or wrong.

Unlike some other sites I've seen where you get options to choose from, on realkana you have to write the romaji yourself, which makes it a little harder.

I think that's about all that I can mention right now, so.. the end.

[avicus]

Jim Breen's JDIC at WWWJDIC: Word Search. One of the most comprehensive sites available. Has multiple links to other web resources.

[sakaeyellow]

Learn Japanese Language Free and Easy

Because of the limit of my ability, it only covers basic Japanese. But it should be enough for potential learners to decide whether Japanese language is something they should invest their time and money in.

Please pull your punches when you criticize.

[zainab]

that is so fantastic topic
i really enjoyed reading it >>
many thanks

[delacroix01]

Japanese - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks

I've recently found this site, and I think it's ten times better than my first crappy text book. But I guess it's better to have people with higher Japanese language skills judge it

[manganimefan227]

Wow, this looks awsome for someone like me still studying grammar!! Thank you much for sharing!! I hope it's right!!

Denshi Jisho - Online Japanese dictionary

Most of you have heard of it, it's a good dictionary that has ezample sentences for most terms, kanji by radical look ups and more!!
Go, Nao, Grr!!

[PumaMan]

Any one have a comment on the following website? I searched this forum but no hits . . . .

Free Japanese Lessons - Learn to speak Japanese online for free!

[pandaman101]

I am going to review the top 2 website for learning Japanese, or least top to that are recomended or talked about the most. japanesepod101.com and 123japanese.com


Learn Japanese online. With our podcast, learning Japanese is easy. | JapanesePod101.com

I think this website is great if you want to download and listen to content with you. Its good for busy people who would rather listen on the go, than sit down and read. For the most part, they do have a lot of content, many lessons that help people.

But there are a lot of downsides. The website isn't free, which isn't the problem, the problem is they are misleading about thier prices and what you get. I'm not going to give exact numbers, because they seem to change frequently, so I will use example figures.

You can sign up for a free account, but they mislead you when they say you have "access" to thousands of lessons. You only have access to about 30 audio clips at the most with a free account. Then if you want to upgrade, there are hidden fees, and the prices arn't really up front. You get locked in a contract that automatically renews, and you actually don't get to access ALL the content.

Now asside from the financial downpoints of the website. I find its NOT well organised, and lessons are not even sorted correctly. Infact, the lessons on the website go like this . They play an audio clip thats about 2 mins long of a story, then they directly translate the words in the story. So the only bits of the language your getting is pits of a story, which I really don't think is a good way to learn a language.

It makes things confusing for people who are ACTUALLY a begginer. They jump into saying numbers like 4,10,8 (example) without even giving you the knowledge of the other numbers, you have to keep watching, hopeing they will cover this information.

I belive the website is only good if you already know some Japanese.




123 Japanese - Learn Japanese online for free


This website is the opposite of japanesepod101. It actually has no audio clips, except for the video lessons. You can't download any content, and you view it right on the website. So if your looking for something to study away from the computer, its impossible.

The website is 100% free, which is a bonus. But really shocks me is how much content they actually have for a free website. Its true when they say they have the largest vocabulary section, They really do. about.com japanese section has a pretty large vocabulary section, but this website has a larger one, and it certianly is easyer to view.

The one downside is there is no search feature, so you can't search if your looking for a certian word, you gotta go through the catagories.

Another downside is parts of the website seem to be incomplete, the kanji section actually doesn't have all the kanji, for the longest time the section said underconstruction. Usually when a website doesn't have a section thats complete yet, they don't make it available to the public, because it probably makes them look bad. But i guess it is a benifit depending on how you look at it, at least viewers will get Some information, as it gets built.

[totallylost202]

I am going to review a website I first used for studying Japanese before going to university:

Japanese Grammar Guide | Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese

This site is really good as a supplement for people in their first year studying Japanese and even goes as far as covering some JLPT N2 (maybe N1 as well) grammar points. It's in an easy-to-understand tutorial format and also forces you to know at least kana (kanji have labels when you hover over them so you can read them, or at least until the later chapters).

There is also JLPT Study page which is a great site for those trying to study the JLPT vocab and kanji, but unfortunately this site doesn't provide everything. The grammar list is limited. I believe they're in the middle of updating it.

@pandaman101: Yes, Japanesepod101 is a good listening supplement. I would recommend it, especially to those at an intermediate level of Japanese. It can get a bit repetitive for advanced level.

[StonerPenguin]

I've always wondered about Japanesepod101... I hear about it all the time but when I went there the organization of the site wasn't very good and the constant emails were annoying but then again I didn't pay for it.

Also I'd like to suggest;
The Kanji Game
It teaches the meanings of individual kanji. Honest to god dude, this is how I learned Grade 1-6 kanji Despite its retro-ness and simplicity it's an awesome little game.

Annnd finally did you guys hear that smart.fm is shutting down? That was my favorite site for vocab D': iKnow is pretty awesome but it won't be free for much longer.