Lessons About The Japanese Writing System

Writing System Basics

Special Characters & Symbols

Rare Kana

Kanji

Homonyms & Variations

Script Choice

Loaned Words

The first thing you should get acquainted with if you are beginning to learn Japanese is the way Japanese is written. Here are some posts to help you understand with the Japanese writing system:

24 Mar 2018

Learn Japanese

Is Wanikani worth the effort for learning Kanji? A re-evaluation
15 Mar 20190
Learning Japanese is a time-intensive task and you often ...

How to stay motivated to learn Japanese

03 Oct 20180

The biggest obstacle when trying to learn Japanese or trying t...

Easy to read manga for Japanese beginners Vol.01, Vol.02, Vol.03

And if you’re not sure how ordering manga from Japan works check my guide about how to order books from Japan.

This time content only, no furigana restrictions

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).

1.) Yawara

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

leran to read japanese-16

Easy to read manga for Japanese beginners Vol.01, Vol.02, Vol.03

And if you’re not sure how ordering manga from Japan works check my guide about how to order books from Japan.

This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

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

leran to read japanese-16

Easy to read manga Vol. 04 – A mixed bag

07 Aug 20180

When I started to read manga I was always looking for the ones which contain furigana to make pickin...

Wani Kani studies. But it’s probably the same for most of us. Learning Japanese is a hobby which can be a pretty time consuming one. Which is frustrating at times when you don’t notice any real progress but which can be super sweet when you’re finally able to get a couple pages of Yotsuba& without any interruption.

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.

The website, the app and tons of content

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.

_-3 Wani Kani studies. But it’s probably the same for most of us. Learning Japanese is a hobby which can be a pretty time consuming one. Which is frustrating at times when you don’t notice any real progress but which can be super sweet when you’re finally able to get a couple pages of Yotsuba& without any interruption.

Update August 2017:

The website, the app and tons of content

Give your listening comprehension a boost with Japanesepod101

06 Aug 20180

Studying Japanese as a self-learner is a long journey. Especially when you have a full-time job or f...

Japanesepod101 and Japanese the manga way

. 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:

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

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.

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
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 has it also in store. If you include the shipping costs from Japan, it’s not such a bad deal even if it’s more expensive. And I got the feeling you might want to get the textbooks as fast as possible.

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.

Genki Volume 1&2

Japanesepod101 and Japanese the manga way

. 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.

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

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.

Genki Volume 1&2

My guide to self-studying Japanese

04 Aug 20181

It’s time to contribute my little share to all the websites out there telling you how to learn...

日本人の知らない日本語 (Japanese people take Japanese for granted).

Many people obviously want to learn a new language for the primary reason to speak it in its specific country. That wasn’t quite the case for me when I started to learn Japanese. I always loved Japanese films and the Japanese culture itself but I wanted to be able to read Japanese books and maybe play a video game in Japanese.

That was the reason why I started in the first place. I already read some manga back then (only by Naoki Urasawa) but I was more into western comics. It was within the last year when I discovered my love for Japanese comics and naturally it became my goal to read manga in their original language: Japanese.

I once learned English through watching movies with (English) subtitles, so I thought “why shouldn’t the reading-route work with Japanese too.” On my trip to Tokyo, I bought a big bunch of books and manga. So many that my girlfriend complained that she couldn’t buy as much for herself as she wanted to because my books already were too heavy and maxed out our allowed weight.

I usually prefer more mature stories and thus mangaka like Naoki Urasawa, Osamu Tezuka, and Jiro Taniguchi. Unfortunately, the books by these authors lack “furigana” small Japanese figures which are placed above all Kanji and give the reading of it. This makes looking up an unknown word so much easier.

Especially when you’re still working on a basic vocabulary like me, these are existential. But now let’s talk about some good manga to begin with or easy to read manga for Japanese beginners.

So here we go, my list of easy to read manga for Japanese beginners. (This is only part one, so you know what that could mean.)

Regarding the links: (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.) If you don’t know where and how to buy Japanese manga, visit my guide on Where to buy Japanese manga

If you’re in search of some transparent book covers to wrap your manga, just click on the link!

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

The obvious choice and highly recommended when it comes to manga for Japanese beginners. A rather simple language and because of the setting of a young child experiencing everyday problems and everyday life, the vocabulary will be of great use for every beginner.

yotsubato japanese manga for beginners 日本人の知らない日本語 (Japanese people take Japanese for granted).

Especially when you’re still working on a basic vocabulary like me, these are existential. But now let’s talk about some good manga to begin with or easy to read manga for Japanese beginners.

So here we go, my list of easy to read manga for Japanese beginners. (This is only part one, so you know what that could mean.)

If you’re in search of some transparent book covers to wrap your manga, just click on the link!

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

Easy to read manga for Japanese beginners

03 Aug 20180

I’ve been trying to learn Japanese for about one and a half years now. I had my ups and downs ...

Nihongo-so-matome series. I’m personally a big fan of the study books by the Japanese publisher Ask publishing who are steadily releasing quality material with a good eye for design (among The Japan Times (Genki) of course).

The Asian Students Cultural Association (ABK) developed the series TRY! which wants to give you a quick but comprehensive overview of the main grammar points which you need to pass each JLPT level. I’m still extremely interested in taking the test but probably won’t be able to until after I’ve finished my exams in mid-2019. Still, a long way to go but doesn’t hinder me from studying and finding out which JLPT books work best for me.

I always prefer a quick condensed look at grammar with a couple of example sentences and not overly sophisticated explanation. The Genki textbook series is great but some of their grammar explanations really weren’t so spot on and quite hard to grasp. I like to use the Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar for these cases but a simple google search of the term with “Japanese” attached works like a charm in most cases as well.

TRY! is pretty straightforward in this case and just gives you a quick glance on each grammar term and lots of tasks are following right after. So just take it as a neat little grammar repetition book, highly condensed, with grammar points selected after JLPT difficulty.

Bought N5 for my cousin in Berlin and will probably buy the rest of the bunch for me personally. I still have the Nihongo Challenge N4 books lying around, waiting for me to get properly worked through. I bet using those study books together with Bunpro will work like a charm.

Buy TRY! JLPT N5 at CDjapan
(If you buy the book through my link, I’ll get a small referral fee which will be used to buy even more awesome books for review.)

TRY! a JLPT grammar guide series

03 Aug 20180

There are a couple of different JLPT study books out there and I’ve already peaked into the Ni...

Nihongo so-matome (日本語総まとめ). They offer a platora of books covering the whole range of JLPT difficulties from N5 to N1. For some people this definitely is a nice way to boost up their learning morale always knowing that they registered for the test and have to prepare. When I think about this more now maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to register myself but it’s just not in the cards to do that much Japanese studying among all the other stuff I have to do for university. Regardless, I just picked this one up to get a little more Japanese practice in and have a look at the difficulty of the N3 level.
Unfortunately there are no real translations of all the texts in the book, just the ones for the key points which can be found in the back of the book. What I really like are the different sets of text which are all dedicated to a specific theme. Advertisements were one of the more exciting ones and it really makes sense to have some for translation. They’re shot, easy to understand and you can instantly use your new knowledge when you pick up a Japanese magazine or wander the streets of Japan (in that case, lucky you).
I already have a couple of books by Ask Publishing (like Understanding Japanese Grammar) and really like their stuff. Nice artwork and content. Always neatly organized and presented. Like always just have a look at the pictures and choose for yourself if this title might be something for your Japanese learning repertoire. It’s especially a tough one this time because I have nothing to do with the JLPT itself for what this book is especially made (for the reading comprehension part at least).
Buy Nihongo so-matome at CDjapan or WhiteRabbitJapan
(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)
Nihongo so-matome (日本語総まとめ). They offer a platora of books covering the whole range of JLPT difficulties from N5 to N1. For some people this definitely is a nice way to boost up their learning morale always knowing that they registered for the test and have to prepare. When I think about this more now maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to register myself but it’s just not in the cards to do that much Japanese studying among all the other stuff I have to do for university. Regardless, I just picked this one up to get a little more Japanese practice in and have a look at the difficulty of the N3 level.
Unfortunately there are no real translations of all the texts in the book, just the ones for the key points which can be found in the back of the book. What I really like are the different sets of text which are all dedicated to a specific theme. Advertisements were one of the more exciting ones and it really makes sense to have some for translation. They’re shot, easy to understand and you can instantly use your new knowledge when you pick up a Japanese magazine or wander the streets of Japan (in that case, lucky you).
I already have a couple of books by Ask Publishing (like Understanding Japanese Grammar) and really like their stuff. Nice artwork and content. Always neatly organized and presented. Like always just have a look at the pictures and choose for yourself if this title might be something for your Japanese learning repertoire. It’s especially a tough one this time because I have nothing to do with the JLPT itself for what this book is especially made (for the reading comprehension part at least).
Buy Nihongo so-matome at CDjapan or WhiteRabbitJapan
(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)
Review: Nihongo so-matome JLPT reading comprehension
30 Jul 20180
I’ve never been interested in taking one of the JLPTs but I was kinda interested what their di...

Japanese Graded Readers series is just awesome hands down but it never hurts to try out some alternatives especially if they’re as charming as these little storie here.
Easy stories in Japanese which you can read in 10 minutes (１０分で読めるお話), the title of the book explains it all. You don’t a CD with the spoken text here (like with the graded readers) but each book just goes for the cost of a normal manga (700¥) so you can’t complain. In between the pages are some light color drawings thrown in and the protective wrapper gives the whole package a nice quality feel to it. I made pictures of all the books I bought. From grade 1 up to grade six. just have a look for yourself and decide how you enjoy the stories.
There is nothing more discouraging than a never ending story in Japanese. You really want some manageable pieces to read especially when you’re still constantly looking up new words. The Easy stories to read in Japanese series has several different sub lines as well. I picked up one of the stories which’er supposed to read with a friend of yours. I thought there would maybe be some back and forth dialogue in there but this edition is just centered around stories about friendship.
Buy １０分で読めるお話 directly from Japan at CDjapan or from the US at WRJ
(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)
Japanese Graded Readers series is just awesome hands down but it never hurts to try out some alternatives especially if they’re as charming as these little storie here.
Easy stories in Japanese which you can read in 10 minutes (１０分で読めるお話), the title of the book explains it all. You don’t a CD with the spoken text here (like with the graded readers) but each book just goes for the cost of a normal manga (700¥) so you can’t complain. In between the pages are some light color drawings thrown in and the protective wrapper gives the whole package a nice quality feel to it. I made pictures of all the books I bought. From grade 1 up to grade six. just have a look for yourself and decide how you enjoy the stories.
There is nothing more discouraging than a never ending story in Japanese. You really want some manageable pieces to read especially when you’re still constantly looking up new words. The Easy stories to read in Japanese series has several different sub lines as well. I picked up one of the stories which’er supposed to read with a friend of yours. I thought there would maybe be some back and forth dialogue in there but this edition is just centered around stories about friendship.
Buy １０分で読めるお話 directly from Japan at CDjapan or from the US at WRJ
(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)
Easy stories in Japanese which you can read in 10 minutes
29 Jul 20180
Unfortunately this post has been lost in the latest restore of Japanese Tease which may explain why ...

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Lessons About The Japanese Writing System

Writing System Basics

Special Characters & Symbols

Rare Kana

Kanji

Homonyms & Variations

Script Choice

Loaned Words

Recent Posts

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This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

The website, the app and tons of content

The website, the app and tons of content

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

Lessons About The Japanese Writing System

Writing System Basics

Special Characters & Symbols

Rare Kana

Kanji

Homonyms & Variations

Script Choice

Loaned Words

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Japanese with Anime: July 2016

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Common Anime Words Glossary

Recent Posts

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This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

The website, the app and tons of content

The website, the app and tons of content

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite: Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite: Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)