Japanese language resources – Language Links Database

Japanese (日本語 Nihongo?, [nihõŋɡo], [nihõŋŋo] – is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family, whose relation to other language groups, particularly to Korean and the suggested Altaic language family, is debated. 

More information: Wikipedia

Native speakers: 125 million (2010)

Official language in: Japan


Japanese Grammar and Pronunciation


MarshalLyin - 1815 Japanese Lessons and 4896 Japanese Quizzes. A great starting place for anyone who wants master Japanese.

  • Tofugu.com - A site containing an interactive tutorial program for learning to write Japanese hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It also shows basic Japanese pronunciation and grammar.
  • KanjiAlive.com - An online program for learning Japanese kanji intended for beginning and intermediate students of Japanese. The program covers the 1235 kanji taught in Japanese elementary schools. Several methods are included for looking up kanji, including by English meaning, onyomi, kunyomi, number of strokes, and textbook lesson.
  • ELanguageSchool.net - More than 40 instructional videos – Grammar, Words and Phrases Videos, History of Japan, Japanese Culture (this site does not exist anymore)
  • FSI Language Courses - Student guide, textbook, glossary, flashcards (pdf) and nine audio lessons (mp3)
  • GuideToJapanese - Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese
  • Gwu.edu - A webpage for Japanese grammar instruction and exercises featuring sixty-six animations and twelve appendices. Assumes knowledge of kana and kanji. The animations focus on specific grammatical topics, such as sentence types, word order, noun phrases, special relations, adjectives, particles, speech styles, and more. Each animation includes a word list with English definitions and a link to interactive Quia quizzes.
  • Learn-Japanese-Adventure - Free Japanese Lessons Online – Basic, Intermediate, Writing, Pronunciation and more..
  • Kansaiben.com - Self Study Site For Japanese Language Learners
  • Japanese-Online.com - Introductory Japanese lessons (for free) including pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary for each lesson. Also includes free online message board and link to a free Japanese/English dictionary online. Also has links to Japanese software and other useful Web sites.
  • Learnjapanesefree.com - Welcome to ‘Learn Japanese Free’, a complete resource for learning Japanese online for free
  • Learn-japanese.info - This site is dedicated to teaching Japanese to speakers of English. Lessons, grammar, pronunciation, expressions, etc.
  • Freejapaneselessons.com - “On this site you will find such things as the Japanese alphabet (including Hiragana and Katakana) as well as Kanji (Chinese characters), vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and common words and phrases. What sets us apart from other Japanese language courses or tutorials is that we actually teach you how to conjugate verbs and how to build your own sentences – things critical to learning how to speak fluently!”
  • WebJapanese.com - Kanji Worksheet and Kanji quizes
  • Sf.airnet.ne.jp - A very detailed introduction to Japanese
  • TheJapanesePage - Beginning learning Japanese, including basic grammar, some word order, some verbs, vocabulary, hiragana, and kanji
  • University of Texas - JOSHU literally means “assistant”, or “tutor”, which is what this website attempts to do to anyone interested in learning the Japanese language. The website includes grammar, vocabulary ,reading, kanji, kana and many more.
  • Erin.ne.jp - A video series for learning Japanese
  • Langintro.com - Introductory lessons for learning Hiragana. Includes listening exercises for the vowels and syllables, and a downloadable syllable grid to practice writing Hiragana. Features a brief introduction to Japanese grammar including sentence structure, subject particles, common particles, polite speech, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. Includes a link to purchase a similarly titled companion book for reading Hiragana.
  • Jplang.tufs.ac.jp - This Website, provides e-learning materials for learning Japanese, jointly developed by the Japanese Language Center for International Students and the Information Collaboration Center of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
  • Japanese-lesson.com - Japanese-Lesson.com provides self-study programs produced by an experienced native Japanese language teacher.
  • Gloss.dliflc.edu - 124 Japanese lessons
  • Yesjapanese.com - Online lessons
  • Jgram.org - Interactive community for speakers and learners of Japanese, with a large grammar topic database and tons of other materials. The website includes test study materials.
  • Nhk.or.jp - NHK airs Japanese lessons for people of various languages on its international shortwave RADIO JAPAN service. On this site, you can listen to those lessons (they are available in 17 languages).
  • Nhk.or.jp - School courses for Japanese high schoolers
  • AllJapaneseAllTheTime - Blog about learning Japanese
  • Japanese.about.com - Japanese lessons, grammar, pronunciation, quizzes
  • RealKana - Hiragana and Katakana Practice
  • LearnJapanese.com - Lessons, Grammar, Common Phrases and Articles
  • Engless.com - More than 60 multiple-choice quizzes for Japanese, in areas like slang, adjectives, verbs, and vocabulary
  • ManyThings - Charles Kelly’s Online Japanese Language Study Materials
  • Hello-World - Japanese lessons for children. More than 500 free Japanese games and activities
  • Learn101 - All the lessons contain audio and are all offered for free. We will learn the alphabet together. We will also review some simple grammar rules, practice common phrases, and we will have fun memorizing many important vocabulary lists.
  • MyLanguages - Check courses about adjectives, adverbs, articles, gender (feminine, masculine…), negation, nouns, numbers, phrases, plural, prepositions, pronouns, questions, verbs, vocabulary, excercises
  • ILanguages - This site is designed to teach you and help you learn Japanese for free through vocabulary, phrases, grammar and flashcards (vocabulary trainer)
  • Linguanaut - “If you want to learn Japanese, then this is the right website for you. We offer free  (Nihongo) lessons online, from Phrases, Alphabet, Numbers, Adjectives, Names, Verbs, Vocabulary used in Japan. Most of the lessons contain expressions used for the everyday life conversations, through them you can learn how to say specific sentences, so they might come handy if you memorize them.
  • Omniglot - Japanese Katakana – The Writing and Pronunciation Guide
  • Verbix - Online Verb Conjugator
  • LanguageGuide.org - A great vocabulary guide


Digitized Grammar Books



  • Google Books A Reference Grammar of Japanese by Samuel Elmo Martin (2004)
  • Google Books Easy Japanese: A Direct Approach to Immediate Conversation by Samuel Elmo Martin (1962)
  • Google Books Basic Japanese Grammar (2014)
  • Google Books Making Sense of Japanese Grammar: A Clear Guide Through Common Problems by Zeljko Cipris, Shoko Hamano (2002)
  • Google Books Japanese Grammar by Nobuo Akiyama, Carol Akiyama (2002)
  • Google Books Essential Japanese Grammar by E. F. Bleiler (2012)
  • Google Books Handbook of Japanese Grammar by Masahiro Tanimori (1994)
  • Google Books Basic Japanese Grammar s Basic Japanese Grammar by Everett F. Bleiler (2011)
  • Google Books Japanese Grammar by William McGovern, Carl Fuchs (2001)
  • Google Books Elements of Japanese Grammar, for the Use of Beginners by Rutherford Alcock (1861)
  • Google Books Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Stefan Kaiser, Yasuko Ichikawa, Noriko Kobayashi, Hilofumi Yamamoto (2013)
  • Google Books Usage-based Approaches to Japanese Grammar: Towards the understanding of human language by Kaori Kabata, Tsuyoshi Ono (2014)
  • Google Books An Introduction to Modern Japanese: Volume 1, Grammar Lessons by Richard John Bowring, Haruko Uryu Laurie (2004)
  • Google Books Japan-Ease Grammar: Conjugation Charts for Verbs, Adjectives, and Copulas by Tiffany Pierson (2013)
  • Google Books Classical Japanese: A Grammar by Haruo Shirane (2013)
  • Google Books Basic Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook by Shoko Hamano, Takae Tsujioka (2014)
  • Google Books Japanese Grammar: Easy Japanese Language 4 Everyone by Ferhat Yildiz (2014) - this site does not exsist anymore 
  • Google Books English Grammar for Students of Japanese: The Study Guide for Those Learning Japanese by Mutsuko Endo Hudson (1994)
  • Google Books Japanese Grammar: The Connecting Point by Kimihiko Nomura (2010)
  • Google Books Handbook of Japanese Grammar by Harold G Henderson (2010)
  • Google Books Japanese Grammar (Adjectives) (2014)
  • Google Books Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure by Wayne P. Lammers (2004)
  • Google Books A Japanese Grammar by J. J. Hoffmann  (1868)
  • Google Books Essential Japanese Grammar: A Comprehensive Guide to Contemporary Usage by Masahiro Tanimori, Eriko Sato (2013)
  • Google Books Learn Japanese: New College Text, Tom 3 by John Young, Kimiko Nakajima-Okano (1985)
  • Google Books Japanese: The Written Language, by Eleanor Harz Jorden, Mari Noda
  • Archive.org 6000 Chinese characters with Japanese pronunciation and Japanese and English renderings, by J. Ira Jones (1915)
  • Eric.edu.gov Japanese Non Resident Language Refresher Course; 210 Hour Course  (1966). 1643 pages (pdf)
  • Archive.org Text-book of colloquial Japanese by Rudolf Lange & Christopher Noss (1912) in Roman characters
  • Archive.org Japanese self-taught by W. J. S. Shand (1907) in Roman characters
  • Archive.org Japanese grammar self-taught by Henry Weintz (1907) in Roman characters
  • Archive.org Hossfeld’s Japanese grammar I (and part II), with dialogues & vocabulary, by Henry Weintz (1904) 
  • Archive.org Grammar of the Japanese written language by William George Aston (1904)
  • Archive.org Grammar of the Japanese spoken language by William George Aston (1888)
  • Archive.org Japanese conversation-grammar by Hermann Plaut (1905)
  • Archive.org Introductory course in Japanese by Clay MacCauley (1906)
  • Archive.org The first course in the study of the Japanese language published by Modernophone (1900)
  • Archive.org Text-book of colloquial Japanese by Rudolf Lange & Christopher Noss (1907)
  • Archive.org Handbook of colloquial Japanese by Basil Hall Chamberlain (1907) in Roman characters
  • Archive.org Simplified grammar of the Japanese language(modern written style) by Basil Hall Chamberlain (1886)
  • Archive.org Japanese grammar by Johann Joseph Hoffmann (1876)
  • Archive.org Historical grammar of Japanese by George Bailey Sansom (1928)


Applications



  • Hiragana Lite – This is the Lite version of the Hiragana application, a study aid for students of the Japanese language. With its intuitive flash card interface Hiragana lets you focus on learning the Hiragana characters without distractions.


Japanese Vocabulary




Vocabulary-related (and digitized) E-books




Japanese Reading Materials




Japanese Dictionaries




Digitized Dictionaries



  • Archive.org Saito’s idiomological English-Japanese dictionary – Jukugo honi Ei-Wa chjiten by Hidesaburo Saito (1936)
  • Archive.org An English-Japanese dictionary of the spoken language by Ernest Mason Satow & Ishibashi Masakata (1904)
  • Archive.org English-Japanese dictionary by T. Masuda (1913)
  • Archive.org Japanese-English dictionary by Jukichi Inouye (1909)
  • Archive.org Japanese-English dictionary for assisting students in conversation & composition, by N. Sakuma (1906)
  • Archive.org Unabridged Japanese-English dictionary, with copious illustrations, by Frank Brinkley, Nanjo Bunyu, Yukichika Iwasaki (1896)
  • Archive.org Japanese and English dictionary by James Curtis Hepburn (1888)
  • Archive.org Eclectic Chinese-Japanese-English dictionary of eight thousand selected Chinese characters, including an introduction to the study of these characters as used in Japan, by Ambrose Gring (1884)


Japanese Listening and Video Resources



PODCASTS / AUDIOBOOKS



  • Japancast.net – Hitomi-sensei is from Tokyo and will teach you to speak with the most common Japanese accent. If you are watching an anime now and want to know more about a word or phrase you have heard, post a comment or send us an email. 13 lessons.
  • JapanesePod101 – an innovative and fun way of learning the Japanese language and culture at your own convenience and pace. 46 lessons.
  • ITunes Japanese – Fall 2007 by Kathryn K. Negrelli
  • ITunes Japanese – Spring 2008 Video by Kathryn K. Negrelli 
  • ITunes Japanese – Fall 2009 Video Lectures by Kathryn K. Negrelli
  • ITunes Japanese – Spring 2010 Video Lectures by Kathryn K. Negrelli. Japanese language study at Agnes Scott enables students to understand and speak the language and learn the history, social practices and values of Japanese culture. The study of Japanese is important to students who wish to attend graduate school in Asian Studies or pursue careers in international business
  • ITunes Japanese 2012 by Kathy Negrelli
  •  大学英语 by Sun Yat-Sen University
  •  英语语音 by  北京广播电视大学
  •  Japanese SurvivalPhrases – an innovative and fun way of learning the language and culture at your own convenience and pace. Our language training system consists of free podcast audio lessons, accompanying PDF guides, and a vibrant user community.
  • ITunes Bushu: The Kanji Makers – Japanese by Noriko Williams. Kanji bushu (radicals) are recurring fragments of Kanji (Chinese characters.) Each bushu shape has its own meaning that remains the same wherever it appears in other kanji. In this video clip series, a student learns 90 bushu shapes and the meanings in a tutorial style. it also provides additional supporting materials and other related videos
  • ITunes Japanese Kana – Katakana by Emory College Language Center. This video podcast was created to help students of Japanese learn the proper form and stroke order for the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries. Enhanced podcast files, under the Examples tab, demonstrate some common vocabulary using Kana
  • ITunes Japanese Kana – Hiragana by Emory College Language Center. This video podcast was created to help students of Japanese learn the proper form and stroke order for the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries. Enhanced podcast files, under the Examples tab, demonstrate some common vocabulary using Kana.
  • ITunes Japanese Kana – Examples by Emory College Language Center. This video podcast was created to help students of Japanese learn the proper form and stroke order for the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries. Enhanced podcast files, under the Examples tab, demonstrate some common vocabulary using Kana.
  •  Japanese Kanji – Characters by Emory College Language Center. This video podcast was created to help students of Japanese learn the proper form and stroke order for several fundamental Kanji characters. A PDF list of these characters is also provided.
  • ITunes Learn Japanese Pod Shows By Alex Brooke
  • ITunes One Minute Japanese By Radio Lingua Network. Each lesson includes just over one minute of language-learning content, so there’s no excuse not to learn! Remember – even a few phrases of a language can help you make friends and enjoy travel more. 16 lessons.
  •  Learn Japanese with YesJapan! YesJapan video shows are fun-filled conversations about a variety of Japanese language topics. ** Learn Japanese grammar and conversation phrases that they won’t teach you in textbooks!
  •  Japanese 159, 001|Spring 2010|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  •  Japanese 7B, 001|Spring 2010|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  •  Japanese 159, 001|Spring 2011|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  •  Japanese 7B, 001|Spring 2011|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  •  Japanese 7A, 001|Fall 2011|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  • Japanese 7B, 001|Spring 2012|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  •  Japanese 155, 001|Spring 2012|UC Berkeley by John R WALLACE
  • YouTube Let’s Speak Japanese Basic 26 video lessons produced by the Japan Foundation
  • YouTube Let’s Learn Japanese Basic II – 25 video lessons produced by the Japan Foundation
  • Matome.naver.jp Original articles in Japanese that are used on the podcast
  • PodBean.com - Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime
  • Forvo - Over 48ooo words pronounced by native speakers


TV / VIDEO / MOVIES




RADIO



  • Rad.io - A list of over 130 radio stations


MUSIC




Other Japanese Resources



  • Reddit - Japanese Resources Subreddit

If you want to help with expanding this list of resources, please send me your suggestions here.