Is Wanikani worth the effort for learning Kanji? A re-evaluationLearning Japanese is a time-intensive task and you often ...Read more »
How to stay motivated to learn JapaneseThe biggest obstacle when trying to learn Japanese or trying t...Read more »
And if you’re not sure how ordering manga from Japan works check my guide about how to order books from Japan.
I probably made my point clear why you shouldn’t give two cents about if a manga has furigana or not to judge about its difficulty. Especially if you already started with WaniKani. Read something without furigana and be amazed that you probably don’t recognize some Kanji you always seemed to ace at your daily WaniKani practice. That’s why I’ll just have some recommendations in here which are not too challenging and all have one thing in common: They are good fun and worth your time (and money).
I’m a sucker for everything by Naoki Urasawa. he’s just the most brilliant contemporary mangaka. Pluto is a futuristic, philosophical masterpiece and his epic stories are yet to find a true challenge. The Yawara 完全版 (complete edition) was released at the beginning of 2014 end gets two new volumes every month. Only bought the first two for now but will probably buy some more with my next honto order. Yawara is a manga about Judo and a young girl who is forced by her strict grandfather to keep on practicing. Just because she is so good at it. I’m still at the very beginning but the manga has all the ingredients I like about Urasawa’s works in general. It’s mainly a comedy manga but always manages to be serious enough to introduce more mature themes without being off.
When I bought the first edition there was a DVD with some episodes of the anime attached. Unfortunately, this wasn’t for free and did cost 1000¥ on top.
Buy the manga: Yawara 完全版
Easy to read manga Vol. 04 – A mixed bagWhen I started to read manga I was always looking for the ones which contain furigana to make pickin...Read more »
But for me, it’s still a hobby and I set my expectations reflecting this. My main aim was to read manga in Japanese, to read some magazines and to get through in Japan when I’m visiting. I never had any illusions of becoming fluent or anything like that and didn’t even try to get better at my speaking/listening comprehension.
That was a mistake I noticed pretty early on and it’s quite obvious if you think about it. The main reason a language exists is to communicate and if you don’t absorb the unique “rhythm” of the language you’re learning, you will have a pretty hard time to understand written texts as well. At least that’s been the case for me. It’s all about the rhythm.
When I tried to brush up on my grammar skills I used TextFugu a while back. I’m not too enthusiastic about the website itself (even if the motivational part is awesome and always seems neglected by Japanese study books) but when I signed up I got a 25% off coupon for Japanesepod101. A website I already heard a lot about but never really looked into. After browsing their site I pretty quickly decided to give it a try. Not only because I really trust the tofugu team and their recommendations. These guys were exactly offering what I needed to complement my rather stale Wani Kani + Genki routine. Some good old-fashioned listening comprehension. (And the 14days free trial gave me the final push)
Update August 2017:
I’m studying Japanese on and off for about 6 years now and just started again after a long hiatus for a couple of months (due to my exams). Mixing up your study routine a little is always a good thing especially if you want to clearly start fresh. Haven’t used Japanesepod for quite a while but just re-subscribed a couple of weeks ago and am still amazed by their great content. The hosts are doing their job really well and every lesson is perfectly scripted with a nice mix of grammar, new vocab and a rather interesting storyline that continues through each season. I don’t always read the lesson notes but it’s already enough for me to just listen to one or episodes when I’m on the go and get some quick Japanese lessons while driving to university or going for a walk.
It was always my aim to update articles on this blog to keep them up to date, nothing changed much for J-pod but I still wholeheartedly recommend them to every Japanese learner. If not only for little tidbits like “おーい” which I read over and over again in よつばと the other day and just heard an explanation for it in a Japanesepod101 episode.
When I first clicked the link to head over to Japanesepod I was a bit skeptical. The website somehow looked a little sketchy to me especially because of all these different languages to learn which are advertised in the lower right half of the landing page. Reminded me a little too much of Rosetta Stone and we all know how great their Japanese “training” is. All this “learn Japanese fast” talk didn’t sound very trustworthy to me and the “polished” subscription prices did the rest. When they are talking about 4$/month for their basic subscription this only applies if you instantly pay the whole amount for one year. If you want to get a monthly payment, the price doubles. 8$ is still alright and a good price for the huge amount of content they’re offering but still. Make the prices more transparent. Otherwise, it gives most people a bad feeling right from the start even if the actual product is pretty awesome.
When. I first signed up for Japanesepod101 about 1,5 years ago you could only use their podcasts and notes on a computer or tablet. Or let’s say comfortably use. Nobody really wants to handle a clunky website on their phones, not when trying to learn as well. Another negative point in this regard was that I love listening to podcasts on the go which wasn’t possible without an internet connection before.
But all that changed with the “recent” release of their App. You were now able to comfortably download the podcasts on your phone so you wouldn’t require a steady internet connection to listen to them.
The different podcasts are categorized after the difficulty of content and for every learning stage, there is already a huge amount of material available. I’m still listening to the Beginner podcasts but I’d say there are a couple hundred podcasts in total. I just received my new Phone and am downloading two Beginner levels. 5 and 5 to be precise. Both consist of 25 episodes but earlier levels contained much more than that and occasionally surpass the 100 episode mark per level.
Give your listening comprehension a boost with Japanesepod101
Studying Japanese as a self-learner is a long journey. Especially when you have a full-time job or f...Read more »
. Will re-structure the article and give you my personal laid out plan how I would start learning Japanese.Revisited: 13.02.2015 Small update to the layout. Added my favorite Japanese dictionary App.
Revisited: 29.09.2015 Added a section on productivity and how to stay motivated for long-term learning (and with this, success).
Revisited: 16.08.2017 Added a study routine.
If you buy the books through my links, I’ll get a small referral fee which will be used to buy even more awesome books for review.
In the beginning, it’s always comfortable when you have a list you can go through. A numerical one at best with all the steps you should take in an orderly fashion. The tips in this posts aren’t random but for a beginner, it may be a little confusing with what to start nonetheless. That’s why I decided to break my Japanese learning process down. Let’s begin:
The two Japanese syllabaries are essential for every book and tool in this list. Hiragana is used for everything that’s not written in Kanji (the complex Chinese characters), Katakana, on the other hand, is used for “imported” English words or when Japanese want to stylise a word. I found the Dr. Moku Apps the absolute best for this purpose. It’s available for iOS, Android and on your Desktop so there should be a way for everyone to learn from the Doctor. If you prefer a physical version you should check out these here
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)
An awesome textbook which teaches you the basics of Japanese grammar in two volumes and 25 lessons. Everything is very well explained with lots of example sentences, recurring characters who take part in various short stories and the exact right amount of vocabulary for each section. The MP3 Cd contains the text and vocabulary read out loud which is crucial to work on your listening comprehension at an early stage. It won’t get more easy when you wait with this step, trust me. There is also a corresponding workbook available but there is more than enough stuff to practice within the main book itself.
Still, I got both workbooks and went through them as well. Each one is accompanied with an MP3 Cd (in the same manner like the main textbook) which contains all the text and dialogue spoken by a native speaker. If you got both down and the main books, basic Japanese grammar shouldn’t be a hurdle for you anymore. To sum it up, you don’t need the workbooks but some extra practice never hurts, right. Your call.
Forget Minna no nihongo and all the other books which are just crappy for self-learners. Genki is the real deal. Don’t forget to buy the answer key which contains every answer for both work- and textbook for Genki I & II in one single volume.
Buy the book: Genki I & Genki II // Answer Key (crucial!)// Workbook I & Workbook II
WRJ
There is also a pretty neat iOS App available which lets you train conjugations. Trust me on this one – just get it while studying the mighty Genki textbooks.
My guide to self-studying JapaneseIt’s time to contribute my little share to all the websites out there telling you how to learn...Read more »
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