Live and Learn Japanese
Home>>Language Index>JapaneseAudio Lessons Software Translation Dictionaries Exercise Books Flashcards Video & Media Learn Online Immersion Culture Corner You'll find all the resources you need to learn Japanese right here. Recommendations which on audio lessons are best, which software to use, the best dictionaries and exercise books, and much more... However if there is something you would like to know but can't seem to find it through us, please let us know - we will be happy to do some research and do our best to dig it up, and improve the site for you. The comment box is at the bottom of this page. Language SynopsisThis language is spoken by over 140 million people around the world, with the majority of them living in Japan. The grammar of the language seems to reflect a society that puts, or at least used to, put alot of emphasis on heirarchy. Thus when speaking it is made clear what status the speaker or listener is. Generally, the language is written with the use of either of three different types of script. They are kanji, hiragana, and katakana. In addition, Latin letters are also used, called romaji, which can be used for foreign words, company names or products. Below is a table showing the Kana script, which is syllabic and phonetic... making it probably the easiest for a foreigner to learn. 
Useful Phrases Hello - konnichiwa How are you? - Genki desu ka? I'm fine - Genki desu What is your name - Namae wa nan desu ka? My name is Mike - Watashi wa Mike desu Nice to meet you - Hajimamashite Goodbye - Sayonara See you later - Mata ne I don't understand - Wakarimasen Please - Kudasai Excuse me - Sumimasen Sorry - Gomenasai Yes - Hai No - Lee
Japanese Audio LessonsAudio lessons are a great resource when you learn a language. Using the right audio lessons will help you to develop an accurate pronunciation and thereby improve your conversational skills. The thing is though, with so many options available, which are the best audio lessons for you? This is one of the best ways to quickly become conversational in Japanese. They offer three comprehensive courses which will speedily teach you needed vocabulary, sentence structure and accurate pronunciation. Pimsleur lessons use innovative teaching methods based on years of research by the renound Dr Pimsleur. The lesson structure ensures that you retain the words/phrases learnt and that you learn to immitate the sounds of the language well. Each lesson is 30 minutes long and thoroughly enjoyable and practical for everyday situations. There are many Pimsleur lesson providers out there, so we recommend that you go to the official Pimsleur website to get the most affordable deals. For example, "Pimsleur Direct" will try to sell you the complete Comprehensive course (1,2 & 3) for $695 US (at a so called half price discount) whereas from official Pimsleur you can get the three courses for $659 US, original retail price!
Internet freebiesDo you have an ipod or are you able to listen to audio on your computer? If so then we highly recommend the free podcast lessons provided by JapanesePod101.com - The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed. The audio lessons are free but you can subscribe to many more lesson materials and personalized resources for only $8! The longer the subscription the more discounts you can receive.
Japanese Language SoftwareUsing good language learning software will help you develop all four aspects of learning a language: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Rosetta Stone courses work on the premise that we learn a language best if we do so in the same way as we learnt our own tongue as children - by interacting with the world around us. Therefore each of the 210 lessons will get the student to deduce the right word from a series of images. These words are then built upon by introducing verbs, adverbs and prepositions which he also has to decipher. The Rosetta course covers all four aspects of learning a language - speaking, listening, reading and writing and is thus a truly comprehensive all-in one choice for students of the Japanese language. Internet freebies: Transparent Languages provide a free vocabulary builder to help get you started. Also, and this is very important, in order to view certain websites in Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana fonts, you will need to download certain software. Here is a website that provides the software/downloads so that you can view such scripts on the web. English-Japanese DictionariesThe best value we've found so far is Webster's New World Compact Japanese Dictionary: Japanese/Engish-English/Japanese Internet freebies: Feel free to translate whatever you like below, with the handy Ectaco translator.
Exercise and Phrase BooksWith regards to learning the different scripts, there seems to be a very good and practical workbook series called "Let's Learn Hiragana" and "Let's Learn Katakana" with great reviews... but instead of buying both of those books, we recommend Easy Kana Workbook: Basic Practice in Hiragana and Katakana The "Colloquial" Language Book series is very highly recommended and Colloquial Japanese Internet freebies: BBC provides a free tutorial and information on this intriguing language, with free audio phrase clips and exercises online to help you get started. FlashcardsThere really is no other method like flashcards... and for the three different scripts used in Japanese, this could be a method with twofold benefits, in that it helps you to remember the word itself aswell as the written form of it. For learning Adverbs and Adjectives, there is Visual Japanese Adjectives & Adverbs (Language Express Cards) (Language Express Cards) Internet freebies: Right now there is a deal on with JapanesePod101... normally providing free lessons for your ipod or mp3 player... at the moment they are offering free Kanji flashcards when you subscribe to 12 months of free podlessons and the accompanying lesson materials and online resources (which costs $60) or you could get a gift certificate for that if you know anyone who would appreciate 12 months of online language help! Also, we at LLL are happy to offer free picture flashcards in any language, please see our Flash Cards page for more information. Japanese Video & MediaInternet freebies: Now Anime is known worldwide and although more often times extreme in nature, than not, it is a large part of Japanese culture and it is not uncommon to see grown men reading these "comic" books on subway trains in Japan. The first feature-length Anime motion picture came out in 1945 in black and white, called Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors. For westerners, it may be rather reminiscent of Snow White or the original Mickey Mouse cartoons in its style. Here is a clip of it: This film is in the public domain, as are all other movies made in Japan, prior to 1953, by law. So feel free to have a field day when it comes to searching for old Japanese movies, there should be plenty around on the web and legally free to watch!
Learning Live OnlineLiveMocha is an online language exchange community whereby you can connect with others learning your native language and by conversing half in one and half in the other, each can practice the other's native language. It is completely free to belong to this online community! And try the BBC's way of guiding you through the learning process! Japanese ImmersionSurrounding yourself with words and sounds and music will be the very best way to learn, trust us. We are looking into courses abroad at the moment, and will soon be able to recommend one or two. Until then,, feel free to do your best to immerse yourself where you live, using the following suggestionsˇ for example, use a dictionary to print words like "table", "door", "window", "kettle", "bed", "chair", "mirror" etc and stick them onto those items around the house. Over time these words will automatically become part of your vocabulary, without even trying to memorize them! You could also in time join some verbs, like eat, open/close, wash, boil, sleep, sit, look, etc so as to associate them with the objects. Try it!
Internet freebies: Immerse yourself right away by... ~Listening to the radio abit each day and tune in your ears! ~Keeping up with the news each day with this online "Daily Newspaper" from Tokyo! ~Looking up the weather each day! ~Keeping up with the media! ~If you are quite an advanced student, using www.Google.co.jp instead of Google in English will give you practice in using the language and Chinese characters. You may also try using Google in English but setting your search options to include pages in Japanese. ~Listening to music and look for the lyrics to your favorite songs! Here is a song by Aiko called Boyfriend, and here are the lyrics... Japanese Culture CornerCultural Quirks: Go to our Body Language page to see a video and more information on gestures and codes of physical behavior in Japan. Very interesting! National Dishes and recipes: Everyone seems to know about Sushi, and everyone seems to associate it with raw fish. Although it often does come with that, the term "sushi" is abit like the term "pizza" in that you can make sushi with almost whichever components you'd like! Generally it is formed using a Bamboo Sushi Mat Miso soup is another classic dish, probably as popular as tea in England. And get a load out of Ramen noodles... they have to be eaten quickly so as to enjoy them at the right consistency and this means making slurping noises a must! For more ideas at home and tips for making this style of cooking easier, check out Let's Cook Japanese Food!: Everyday Recipes for Home Cooking
Music:
Help Others Live & Learn LanguagesAre you learning this amazing language? If you are, we'd love to hear about any suggestions you may have about learning the language. Which resources have you found useful? Which haven't proven that great? Please e-mail us your findings using the form below. Your shared language learning experiences will save other language learners' time, energy, and money. In fact, that is the the mission of Live & Learn Languages!
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which you can buy from Amazon used and new from 99 cents!
at just $9.95 which teaches both of those scripts and also has great reviews on Amazon... indicating that it is very practical with translations inside and lots of exercises to practice the scripts well enough until it's down pat! Many have mentioned how quick and easy it is to learn these scripts and apply the knowledge in day to day situations in Japan.
has very good reviews on Amazon, with the positives being that it teaches the different scripts (as mentioned above in the Synopsis section) but the downside being that it is so comprehensive that some people lose patience with the book and it's style of teaching. But overall it seems to be the right approach to learning Japanese, whether your aim is for business reasons or out of interest.
and for learning nouns, there is 
... which, having had a look inside, seems not to really represent each object with a picture as would be expected. Rather it teaches word groups by association and there is an image to represent each word group. For example, pencil, pen, eraser, paper is all on one flash card, with english and an image on one side, and the Japanese words and kana on the other. This set has excellent reviews on Amazon though, for its practicality and quality of presentation.
, sheets of dried seaweed, sticky rice and rice vinegar. The filling ingredients after that are really up to you! You could put tuna, sliced omelette and sliced cucumber for example. Try making this at home and enjoy it with pickled ginger slices and the infamous Wasabi sauce, our favorite at LLL!
. This book provides super easy recipes and takes the mystery out of Japanese flavors by enabling you to replicate them easily! Written by an American who married into the Japanese culture, alot of recipes have been made meatier, for those Americans with a tooth for meat, but they can easily be turned into vegetarian dishes aswell.
