Japanese

★ Features of the Textbook Irodori, developed by the Japan Foundation, is a Japanese language textbook series designed specifically for foreigners, aiming to help learners acquire basic communication skills for daily life and work in Japan. The core philosophy of Irodori is to foster mutual understanding through communication and cultural awareness. The textbook not only focuses on language knowledge but also emphasizes practical application in real-life scenarios. Its learning objectives are based on the JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education (Can-do), enabling learners to handle various everyday situations in Japan, such as shopping, work, and social interactions. Key features of Irodori: 1. Expands what learners “can do” in Japanese living scenarios 2. Covers Japanese proficiency at AI–A2 levels 3. Aligns with the “JF Can-do for Life in Japan” framework 4. Promotes mutual understanding through communication and cultural exchange 5. Includes diverse topics closely related to daily life 6. Utilizes rich audio and authentic materials for practical Japanese learning 7. Solidifies grammar and kanji knowledge 8. Freely downloadable from the official website 9. Loosely connected to the Marugoto series ...

★Vowels and Consonants 5 Basic Vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/ Characteristics of Vowels: 1. Pure Pronunciation: Japanese vowels are pronounced clearly, without the vowel reduction seen in English (e.g., the “schwa” sound /ə/). 2. No Diphthongs: Japanese does not have true diphthongs, but similar effects can be achieved by vowel sequences (e.g., 「あい」/ai/). 3. Long and Short Vowel Contrast: Japanese has a contrast between long and short vowels, with long vowels indicated by extending the vowel duration (e.g., 「おお」/oː/ vs. 「お」/o/). ...

★Learning Resources The Resources ★📖 Dictionaries Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary Takoboto | Japanese dictionary and Nihongo learning tool How to Pronounce Japanese Like a Native | Youglish ★📖 Reading Resources Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko Assistant National Diet Library Search (NDL Search) Z-library Project - eBook Library Z. Download free Books Let’s Become a Novelist - A Novel Posting Site for Everyone ★🎧 Listening Practice ◇Bilingual Subtitled Videos Kamigami Subtitle Group: Documentaries and Anime NHK High School Lectures: Online short videos for Japanese high school students ◇News NEWS WEB EASY: A slower version of NHK, but it sounds like machine-generated audio, suitable for interpreting practice. Aozora Reading: Some works from Aozora Bunko are read by Japanese people. You can find articles of interest to listen to. ANNnewsCH: Each video comes with a transcript (subtitles) in the description, perfect for intensive listening. TV Tokyo BIZ: Mainly economic news, each video also comes with a transcript in the description, highly recommended. ABC TV News: The first sentence in the description is a summary of the news, followed by the transcript. Great for summarization practice. ★📚 Grammar Explanations Basic Verb Handbook | Always something new to learn Onomatopoeia Compound Verb Lexicon | Comprehensive but scattered in textbooks Learn Japanese – Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese IMABI Today – Guided Japanese Mastery ★📊 Text Difficulty Assessment Chuta’s Toolbox: Assesses the difficulty of vocabulary in a text, categorized by JLPT levels. Japanese Text Difficulty Discrimination System: Also assesses vocabulary difficulty but not by JLPT levels, providing more data. Learning Item Analysis System: Assesses grammar difficulty in a text, not categorized by JLPT levels. ★📜 Miscellaneous Japanese webpage furigana OJAD - Suzuki-kun’s Prosodic Tutor: This webpage can mark the pitch accent of a sentence and provide machine-generated audio. Kanbun HTML: Achieves beautiful Kanbun typesetting through HTML syntax. ★🎓 Thesis Related J-STAGE: Allows free downloads of papers without login. CiNii: Use Detailed Search - Full Text Link - Full Text Available to search for downloadable papers. Academic Institutional Repository Database: Download papers and other data under Files. National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics: Japanese Research and Japanese Education Literature Database: Papers marked with Full Text Available can be downloaded. ★✍️ Practice Resources ◇Kana Tests learn kana ◇Writing Practice: Children’s Character Table Hiragana/Katakana Practice Grid Paper Hiragana/Katakana Chart Hiragana Writing Practice Sheet 1 2 3 Blank Writing Practice Sheet Self-Introduction Katakana (including Hiragana) Website Mnemonic jpg1 jpg2 jpg3 jpg4 jpg5 jpg6 pdf Mnemonic Website 1 2 3 4 Hiragana Blank Fill-in Printables 1 2 NHK Japanese Hiragana NHK Japanese Learning Platform 1000 Kanji List ◇Pronunciation Practice Downloadable audio files for comparison practice (basic_sounds.zip). Recommended Ancient Poem “Iroha”: Contains all Hiragana (except 「ん」), suitable as practice material. Back to the series index ...

For ease of reading, the directory of this series of posts is organized as follows: 1. How to Learn Japanese Effectively [1]: Resources 2. How to Learn Japanese Effectively [2]: Kana 3. How to Learn Japanese Effectively [3]: Textbook Irodori 4. How to Learn Japanese Effectively [4]: Japanese Pitch Accent ★ A Few Reminders at the Beginning ◇ About “Essence” First, a reminder that language is not “learned” through conscious study but is naturally “acquired” through use and immersion. It is not static knowledge but dynamic practice. In the process of language learning, there is no absolute “can” or “cannot,” only continuously deepening understanding and application. The optimal solution for language learning lies in spending a significant amount of time engaging with Japanese content, understanding and attempting to express, while only using a small portion of time to study vocabulary and grammar. ...

★Problems with Traditional Textbooks Core Issues Goal of Traditional Textbooks: To quickly teach practical and polite Japanese, but they overlook the true logic of the language. Main Problems: Teaching Japanese from an English perspective, making it difficult to truly understand Japanese expressions. Attempting to translate English phrases rather than teaching the Japanese grammatical system. Ignoring kanji study, leaving learners unable to read and comprehend Japanese texts in practical situations. Introducing honorifics too early without a solid foundation, causing confusion. Emphasizing complete sentence expressions (e.g., "Hi, my name is Smith"), but in Japanese, much information is omitted through context. Solution: Learn Japanese with Japanese Logic ...

Introduction to Learning Japanese: Efficient Methods 1. Find a Textbook (Recommended: “Minna no Nihongo” (みんなの日本語)) Reasons for Recommendation: Textbooks written by Japanese authors contain errors commonly made by Japanese people, which won’t affect your Japanese proficiency in the eyes of native speakers. The key is to choose a textbook that suits you and that you can learn from, rather than one with perfect content. Textbook Structure: Main Book (entirely in Japanese) Teacher’s Guide (includes vocabulary lists, Chinese explanations, etc.) 2. Prepare a Repeater or Repeater Software Functional Requirements: Able to set repeat positions. Preferably has a function for decomposing and memorizing recordings. 3. Pre-class Preparation 1. Do Not Read the Text First; Start with the Vocabulary and Grammar Explanations If using “Minna no Nihongo,” only refer to the Teacher’s Guide and avoid the main book content. Also, skip the text translation parts in the Teacher’s Guide initially. 2. Memorize Vocabulary and Grammar First Memorize Vocabulary by Listening to Recordings Initial Memorization ...

Introduction to Learning Japanese: Core Concepts First Core: Everything Revolves Around Sentences! Sentences are Everything! Sentences are Wealth! Sentences are simple, clear, easy to master, and can be immediately used for communication! Passionate Achievements If you can speak ten sentences fluently every day, you can accumulate over 3,600 sentences in a year. By extrapolating, you can master nearly 10,000 practical sentences, reaching a level of free communication! After one year of learning Japanese, a student’s ability will far surpass that of most university Japanese majors, who may not even be able to speak ten consecutive sentences in Japanese. Lifelong Hobby Collect good sentences and practice them repeatedly until you can say them fluently. This habit has inspired many people under my influence to start loving Japanese and embark on the path to success! Take Action Now (Let’s spend 10 minutes learning the ten most commonly used Japanese sentences) どちらにお住まいですか。 (Where do you live?) どうやってこちらへみえましたか。 (How did you get here?) お体はいかがですか。 (How is your health?) 家族はお見えですか。 (Do you live alone?) お仕事はどちらですか。 (Where do you work?) 今度の日曜日はお暇ですか。 (Are you free this Sunday?) どちらにお勤めですか。 (Where do you work?) わからないことはありますか。 (Is there anything you don’t understand?) お困りのことはありませんか。 (Is there anything troubling you?) 仕事が終わったら、お会いできますか。 (Can we meet after work?) Second Core: The Three-Maximum Oral Muscle Training Method Core Concept Language is “spoken”! ...