LearningJapanese

Outline
1.Kana
2a.Kanji
2b.Vocabulary
2c.Grammar
3.Practice
LearningResources
Kana
Kanji
Vocabulary
Grammar
Practice
Tools
TypingJapanese
Anki
LookupResources
MiscTools
Questions&ThreadEtiquette
GuideDiscussion

LearningJapanese
Outline
Thissectionwillexplaintheoutlineofeachstep,andprovidealittlebackgroundif
applicable.Onceyouhavereadthissection,gototheLearningResourcessectionand
choosetheresourcesappropriateforyourlevel.

RememberthatlearningJapaneserequiresseriouscommitment.Onecannotexpecttojustlearnwritten
JapanesetounderstandgamesorspokenJapanesetounderstandshows,forifyourinterestisreallyso
shallow,thenyoushallprobablyfail.Thisguideiswrittenforthededicatedlearner,andahigh-degreeof
fluencyisconsideredthefinalgoal.Readtheentireguide,includingtheThreadEtiquettesectionnearthe
bottom.

Sections2a,2band2cshouldbecompletedsimultaneously.

1.
Kana
The kana refer to the two syllabaries used in Japanese, referred to collectively as the kana.
The kana are derived from something called Manyogana, which are kanji
(see below)
that
wereusedtowritesounds.

Hiragana () is the syllabary used most commonly in Japanese. Hiragana are an

(extremely) cursive form of theManyogana.AcharacterforthesoundyainManyogana,for
example,is.ThecharacterforyainHiraganais,andisderivedfrom.
The Hiragana actually came about later than the katakana. The Hiragana are said to be
created by a group of noble women, and the Hiragana are what which is generally used to
writeJapanesephonetically.

Katakana()literallymeansfragmentkana,andwasformedbytakingdifferentparts
of various kanji and using those elements to represent sound. For example, the katakana
character for ka is , and this usage is derived from the left-side of the kanji whose
readingisalsoka.Katakanaisusedforthenamesofanimals,certainonomatopoeiawords,
certain new words like karaoke, certain slang words and new words introduced into the
language from other foreign languages. Katakanaissomewhatlikeupper-caselettersforits
specializedusage.

Youwillneedtolearnthisbeforeanypartofthelanguage.

2a.
Kanji
Kanji are characters which originated from China and represent both ideas and
pronunciations, though some domestic kanji, referred to as Kokuji ( - Country

character) exist. For a general outline of kanji, you might refer to

this
. For more indepth
information on the different types of kanji and so forth, you might refer to
this
. For
information on the stroke order of kanji, you could use
kakijun.jp
, the Heisig books (kanji
sub-section below), or the KanjiStrokeOrderFont(Misc.sub-Section),etc. Youshouldlearn
stroke order unless you simply have a limited number of hours in the day in which to study
thelanguage.

Studying Kanjicanbeundergoneinanumberofdifferentwaysusingvaryingmethods.Ifyou
would like to explore some methods, please refer to the Kanji sub-sectionintheResource
section below. After you have an idea of which you would like to use, please go to
ankiweb.net
anddownloadthedecktoanki.
(Ctrl+fAnkiforsomeinformation)
Not all people choose to study kanji individually. Some people believe or findthatindividual
study of the kanji is not as practicalassimplylearningthekanjiviavocabulary(nextsection
below).

2b.
Vocabulary
With Anki you can download a pre-madedeck(recommended)withpronunciationaswellas
listening comprehension for vocabulary. The Core decks are the accepted standard for
vocabularydecks,whichyoucanfindonankiweb.
Another technique to explore is sentence mining, which is the process of gathering
sentences and inserting them into Anki (or anything else)andreviewingoverthem.Thisisa
good way to provide meaningful context to the words you wish to study and it is a way to
rememberhowtoexpresscertainideas.Writingismosthelpfulforrecallingandreproducing
information,butwritingcantakeanoteableamountoftime.

2c.
G
rammar

GrammarwillallowyoutobothformandunderstandsentencesinJapanese.Therearethree
guides andsourcesthatwerecommend:Genki,TaeKimandJapanese:theMangaWay.The
prosandconsofeacharelistedintheGrammarSection.Ifyouareunsureofwhichoneyou
might choose, we recommend you try them all and see which of them is most suitable for
you.
When you want to refertosomethingforgrammar,theDictionariesofJapaneseGrammar
are fantastic and they can be found in the pastebin (Ctrl+F DOJG). There is also a
simplified online version
here
, which takes the example sentences from the book and sorts
them by each grammar point for quick lookup
(keep in mind that there are many typos in the online
versionduetoOCR)
.

3.
Practice
Afterlearning(atleast)basicJapanesegrammar,youcan,andshould,startreadingand
learningwordsfromactualJapanese.Youcanfindrecommendedreading,includinggames,
intheLearningResourcessection,alongwithsomewebsitestoassistyouwithlistening
andwriting.

When reading while aided by tools (as all beginners should be), its bestforthepurposesof

learning to look at the words youre looking up, and try to make an educated guess as to
what the meaning is before completing your lookup, as guessing the answer helps with
committingittomemory.Itsalsoagoodideatojumpintothedeependofthedifficultypool
from time to time, even when you know its impossible, and that youll understand next to
nothing and in general have a bad time of it, because it helps tohaveabetterideaofwhere
you are/were at in thelargerschemeofconsumingJapanesemedia,andwhereyourcurrent
learningmethodisgettingyou.Ifyouhavenoexposuretothingswhicharedifficult,thenyou
will be unable to overcome them when you do meet them. If you only make use of
beginner-level media, then you will only have proficiency in the language at that level.
Similarly, in order to reach fluency in Japanese, the sources of media which you consume
mustalsobevariedindifficultyandcontent.

LearningResources
Note:
There is no correct way of learning, so we would recommend that you try
out the resources appropriate for
yourlevelandseewhichoneyoufeelisbest.Usemultipleresourcesifyouwish.
Recommended/Commonresourceswillbemarkedwithanasterisk*.

Kana

Wikibooks
- Has stroke order and other resources. The stroke order isquiteuseful,although
themnemonicsarenotsomuch.

*
Real Kana
- Tests kana recognition. Does not teach stroke order or pronunciation. Optimal
forpoundingthereadingsintoyourheadquickly.

*
Tae Kim - This site has a tononkana,includesavideolesson,strokeorder,aswellas sect
pronunciationguide.

Memrise
- Offers various SRS courses including kana courses which are perhaps the only
thing the sitedoeswellinregardstotheJapaneselanguage.IfRealKanaisntcuttingit,give
thisawhirl.Waybetterthanjustattemptingtorememberthem.Byallmeans,useRealKana
Remembering the Kana
- It only takes about 6 hours to learn both hiragana and katakana
alongside it because it provides mental images with the kana to ensure you remember.
Downloadthebookand/orfollowthis
videoseries
madebyanRTKforummember.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2A25F7399E8805ED

Kanji

Heisig - Read about it

here
and here. A website/textbook that teaches kanji in an order
based on the radicals of each character. It starts you off with the simple shapes and
gradually goes into more complicated ones. It teaches stroke order and makes up pretty
fancy mnemonic stories to help you memorize the kanji easier. Unfortunately, it does not
teach the readings until the second volume nor does it tell you how the kanji are used in
context. As such, this method expects you to learn all the common characters before even

gettingstartedonlearningvocabulary.
There is a large communitythatisconstantlyaddinginformationtoitthatrequiresusingthe
Koohiifansite,soregisteranaccount.

KanjiDamage
- Another kanji resource that uses a radical-based order. Unlike Heisigs
method it also teaches the readings and gives you examples of common words that use
those kanji (great for adding them to your Anki deck right away). Take the introduction on
the site with a grain of salt, as it isnt very accurate (at all), or is simply made-up, as is the
case with most other areas on the site, but that in no way makes this a bad resource in
regards to learning. You may want to simply use the shared deck for Anki instead of the
website in tandem with another vocabulary deck in order to build up a big cache of words
quickly.

JLPT

(contains various sets, so order and suspend them accordingly) - Sets of kanji as
described by the Japanese Proficiency Test. Usually ordered by level. More info on
Wikipedia.

Jouyou
(same deck as above) - A set of 2136 kanji announced by theMinistryofEducation
that is to be taught before graduating from secondary school. Usually ordered by grade.
Moreinfoon
Wikipedia
.

Kyouiku
- A subset of 1006 of the jouyou kanji that is taught in primary school. Has many
simple words in the beginning (the numbers, elements of nature, body parts). Usually
orderedbygrade.Moreinfoon
Wikipedia
.

Saiga Kanji Dictionary - Quite possibly the best Kanji dictionary out there.CansearchKanji
by grade, number of strokes, and by radicals. Will also show Kanji stroke order in animated
gifformforawidevarietyofKanji.

GeneticKanji - Slightly undeveloped alternative to the liberal ranting, poor jokery and the
downright misinformation in KanjiDamage. It is presented in a fashion of frequency while
covering the individual elements that make up a given kanji.InGeneticKanjisapproach,you
would be taught all the subcomponents of these common kanji,andthenthecommonkanji
themselves,effectivelycombiningbothapproaches.

Vocabulary

Anki Shared Decks - This is highly recommended to learn vocabulary. Obviously, you will
need
Anki to use it. If you use adeckwithaudio,suchas
CorePlus
,howeveryouwillneedto
install audio yourself.Thereare decks,youmaysearchforthemandseewhichonewillbest
suityourneeds.

Grammar


JapanesePod101
-Afree(mostly)castpod-liketeachingjapanesegrammar,vocabulary
andculture.Thereisa1weekfree-trialtopdfcontainingtipsandotherfeatures,like
flashcardswithlessonsvocabulary.Goodforstoringinyourphoneandlisteningwhilein
idleactivities,buses,walks,etc.
Downloadthefollowingfiles:

*
Tae Kim - This method is faster than the others listed here, As for exercises, Tae Kimonly
hasexercisesinthebeginning,afterwhichtherearenoexercisestoworkon.

*
Genki
- Genki tends to be more comprehensive than Tae Kim,andithasexercisesthatyou
can practice. This works as an engaging way to learn new grammar points, and
subsequently see themwith,whichmayhelpdrillgrammarrulesintoyourmind.Theobvious
downsideisspeed,ofcourse.Thisresourcecanbefoundonthebottomofthepastebin.
Genki 1 - An edited version of Genki 1 with the distracting romaji edited out can be
found here. This version is preferred over theoneinthepastebinasitencouragesthe
learningofhiragana&katakana.

Japanese the Manga Way - This book teaches grammar through examples from actual
Japanese executed in a practical manner. It works well as a Genki supplement, or as a
simple introduction to the major grammar points of Japanese. It uses romaji too often,
however this can easily be ignored. New grammar points tend to be summed up rather
succinctlybyTaeKim.Thoselookingforamorein-depthstylecouldlikelydobetter.

JapaneseinMangaland
-.

Ixrec's Guide to Japanese - A grammar guidewrittenbyaVNtranslatingoutfit.Bunchesthe

grammar together and explains a lot of it at once, with charts, further explanation, and
examplesentences.
Link

*
Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar (DOJG) - A collection of three books, Basic,
Intermediate and Advanced. As the name implies, these are dictionaries rather thanguides.
Itgoesin-depthintothevariousgrammarrules,moresothanvirtuallyanyotherresource.
You can find a collection of the examplesentencessortedbygrammarpoint
herefor
easy lookup. Please notethatyoumayneedaRubyaddonforyourbrowsertodisplay
the furigana correctly.Takethesetranscriptionswithagrainofsalt,astheycontain
quiteafewerrors.

An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language -There are many words in
each chapter (six chapters add up to a few hundred pages in the print version), so take it
easy, maybe divide the work into subsections. Chapter 2 is when the actual grammar
lessonsstart.

Imabi - Another web grammar guide, that apparently nobody has used, but covers a lot of
material.

Practice

Reading List - This is a list of books, games and manga which we have compiled. You can
sort throughthelistbyskill,platform,etc.Werecommendyouhavealook,regardlessofskill
level. Please contribute anything you read as well toitsoitcanbecomeabetterresource.A
particularlydetailedsummaryisnotneeded.

Yotsuba Reading Pack - This pack is designed for beginners who have just startedreading.
This is an accompaniment to thefirsttwovolumesofYotsubato.Thisincludesavocabulary
list and a pre-made Anki deck. Yotsubato! is a manga that is often recommended to
beginners.

*
Aozora - This site contains a collection of (mostly) Classic Japanese literature.Thissiteis
mainlyforadvancedreadersandnotrecommendedforbeginners.
http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/1049335.html - Heres some good recommendations offamous
Japaneseauthors.

Kitsunekko - This site has aselectionofJapanesesubtitlesforpopular(anime)shows. The

timing oftendoesnotmatchupwithmostavailabledownloads,butyoucantrytoretimeitin
asubtitleeditingprogramorjustlookatitintheeditortocomparewithwhatyouhear.

D-Addicts - This is a great site to find Dorama with subtitles. (Other Asian dramas are also
here,fyi)

Fengyunzhibo
- This site is a good, easy place to watch some TV. Its a Chinese streaming
site, but it has Japanese channels, which are of good quality for streams. Lately itdoesnot
seem to be working, though occasionally in the past this would happen and then it would
laterbecomeaccessibleagain.Regardlessaproxy/VPNcouldbeusedifnecessary.

Mov3
-AChinesesitelikeFengyunzhibospecializinginJapaneseTV.

Lang-8
- Here, you can write journal entries which arecorrectedbyJapanesenatives,andin
return, you correct theirs. This is a great way to increase your writing/productionabilityand
alsomeetpeopletotalkto.

Nyaa
- If youtypeintheJapanesename,youcanfindtherawversionofwhatevermediayou
are looking for most of the time. If what youre looking for is ero, use
this
. Note thatmost
VNs will contain ero, and sometimes even non-ero VNs are uploaded to Sukebei instead of
themainsite.

Jpopsuki
- Great place to get and find any Japanese/Asian music, not just jpop. Requires
that you get an account by either applying for one, or by having someone invite you.
Sometimes you will be unable to apply for an invite so you might have to ask for a referral
eitherinthethreadsoron/mu/.Ifyoudohavesomeonereferyou,makesuretokeepagood

ratio, because failing to do so could cause that person to lose their account (as well as
yours),sinceallthoseyoureferareconsideredtobeunderyourresponsibility.

Nijishow
-FreeJapaneseTV.Yougetachoiceofseveralchannels.Youneedtoregister
here
before beingabletowatch.Itsmadeforwindows,butitworksviawine.Itrunsalocalserver
onport8902whichcanbeconnectedviaVLCorsimilar.

Skypech
- Heres a site forfindingsomenativesonSkypetotalkto.ThisaJapanesesitefor
Japanese people, so do not misunderstand and think that everyone here has an interest in
learningEnglish.

Tools
TypingJapanese
InputMethodEditor(IME)-ItwillallowyoutotypeinJapaneseusingyourkeyboard.Required.
(Note:BothMacandWindowshaveIMEsalreadypre-installedbutitsnotasfeature-fullasGoogleIME.)

*
Google IME (Windows,MacOS)
-GoogleIMEgenerallyincludesalargercollectionofwords,

inclusive of internet slang. The downside, however, is that its handwriting recognition is
rather lacking (
see sljfaq below
). To switch to romaji press alt+` (
just above tab key
). Ctrl + Caps
Lock for hiragana, hold shift while in hiragana mode to type in katakana. Alt + Caps is
katakana.Shift+Capsrevertsbacktohiragana.ThisdoesnotaffectCapsLock.
Protip:Typeinandhitspace.Alternatively:read
thisarticle
.

Mozc
(Chromium OS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, GNU/Linux) - This is a project that stems
fromGoogleIME,exceptthatitisavailableonagreaternumberofoperatingsystems.
IfyouhaveanytroublewithMozcforGNU/Linuxread
this.
PackagesalsoexistinFedora,Debian,GNU/LinuxMint,and.ForArch,itsavailableintheAtwUR.

iBus
-
(GNU/Linux) - If you use (K/X/L)Ubuntu, you probablyalreadyhaveit.Youjustneedto
install the Japanese IME packages using the language support in the settings and select
iBus as your keyboard input method system. You canselectthekeystopresstochangethe
keyboard layout or do it manually using the icon on the panel. For the rest of us that dont
use Ubuntu or its variants, you can probably find iBus in the official repositories of your
distribution. You can make iBus autostart when you boot by adding
ibus-daemon
to your
~/.xinitrc. And you will probably want to add & to the end, ala: ibus-daemon & (also your
windows manager might have its own autostart file, use that instead) that you can find in
yourHomefolder.DontforgettoconfigureQtforinputinQtapps.

$qtconfig-qt4
>interface>defaultinputmethod>selectibus

Forthesuperiornon*buntuusers:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/IBus

Anki
Flashcardsoftware.Alsoavailableformobile.

*
Anki

-AnkiisaflashcardprogramwhichusesamethodcalledSpacedRepetitioninorder
todrillinformationinyourhead.Youcandownload
premadedecks
.Itshowsyouaset
amountofnewcardseachday(default20)andwillshowyouthesamecardsagainwhen
youaremostlikelytoforgetthem,whichispredictedthroughalgorithms.Thisprogramhas
alotoffeaturesthatcantbecoveredhere,soreadthe
manual
ifyouwishtototallyutilize
Anki.Youcanalsogetthisonyourmobiledeviceandsyncyourdeckbetweenbothversions.
TheofficialAppStoreversioncostsmoney(tosupportthedevs)soyoumightjustwantto
useSafariinthatcaseinstead.

If you use GNU/Linux andyouwanttochangethesizeoftheJapanesecharacters,youneed

toinstalltheappropriateJapanesefonts,ifyoudonthavethem.

LookupResources
Youuseittolookupwords.OneRikai-chanvariantrequired.

*
Rikaisama
(Firefox)
-Thisisatoolthatshowsyouequivalentorclosemeanings(inEnglish)
of Japanese words in plaintext format, by hovering over them. Has many useful features
suchasaudioplaybackandtheabilitytosavewordstoafileorimportitstraightintoAnki.
There is also Rikaichan for Firefox, but there is absolutely no reason to use it since
Rikaisamahasallofitsfeatures.

Rikaikun
(Chrome)
- Essentially an unfortunately inferior clone of Rikaichan, but still
serviceableenoughifyoujustcantletgoofthebotnet.

*
Jisho.org - Online J>E/E>J dictionary. It also contains information on kanji including a
order, readings, etc. You can also search a kanji by handwriting or its radicals if you dont
know the correct stroke order. Theres also a
beta (DuckDuckGo uses this for !jisho) that
combines all of the search options into one and includes new features to work a lot like
modernsearchengines.

Tangorin
Another online dictionary with information on kanji and vocabulary. Features over
161,000 example sentences for words and grammar points while giving you a little more
information than other dictionaries, such as whether a wordisconsideredmoreformalthan
another one with the same meaning. Easily lets you look up words inside examples just by
clicking on them. When looking up word definitions, includes example sentences
exemplifyingmostdefinitionsofaword.

KanjiTomo
- This is an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. Scans for words on
your screen and tells you what they are and what they mean. Success rate varies widely
basedonimage/characterquality.

*
Weblio
- Principally a Japanese to English lookup resource, and consequently a decent
sourceforJapanese>Englishphrases.

Capture2Text

-AnotherOCRprogram.

*
sljfaq
- Handwritten kanji search. Just draw the kanji using the correct stroke order and a
list of possible kanji will appear.Theresultswilllinkyoutothe
WWWJDICprojectbydefault,
which is where the data for Jisho and mostotheronlineJapanesedictionariescomesfrom.
You can gothroughtheoptionspage toredirecttoyourpreferredservice.Whatsniceabout
thisisthatitsavesyourwritingsoitwillstillbethereevenifyouclosethepage.

*
Interactive Text Hooker -ThisallowsyoutoextracttextfromJapanesegamesasitsbeing
displayed. The extracted text is put in your clipboard for an application like Translation
Aggregator to makeuseofit.DesignedforreadingVNs,soitwillnotworkformostnon-VN
typegamesandunsupportedengines.

*
Translation Aggregator - Usually used for machine translation, but in your case, youll be
using JParser (preferably with Mecab hinting) to help you parse Japanese sentences and
enableyoutoeasilylookupwordsinthesamefashionaswithRikaichanandthelike.

HiraganaMegane
-ThissiteaddsfuriganatoKanjionwebsites.

MiscTools
Usefulthingsthatdontfitintoanyoftheothercategories.

Kanji Stroke Order Font - Not always correct, so be careful.

Kakijun is a great website for
checkingtheproperstrokeorder.

Wikibooks - A small collection ofresourcesforlearningJapanese.Doesnotseemtogointo

toomuchdepth.Goodsupplement.

LingQ - Good language learning site with many translated texts + audio. Although you can
useitforfreeforalittlewhileatthebeginning,continuedusageofthesitecostsmoney.
An anon has kindly ripped and posted many of the podcasts and so forth which you
download
here
, although I would encourage you to not completely adopt the habit oftaking
thingswithouteverpaying.

LearningWithText(LWT)
-AnextensiveapplicationthatseemssomewhatsimilartoLingQ.

*
The Pastebin - Alistofvariousresources.Pleasecommenthereifyouseeanybrokenlinks
orhaveanyotherresourceyouwouldliketoadd.

Japanese Text Analysis Tool - Takes a .txt, youd probably use a (term for .txt
books,frequentlyLN),andcreatesafrequencylistbasedonthat.

Japanese Language Pack - 27GB worth of various learning materials including the

essentials,andmuchmore(alotofitisawful).Maytriggerviruswarnings.

JNovel Formatter - Breaks down a .txt into bite-size (your choice of length) chunks and
convertsittohtml.MakesthetaskofreadingLN'slessdaunting.

cb's Kanji Word Association Tool - Will generate a list of words based on kanji already
studied up to that point and kana. In addition, words are sorted by frequency, and no
duplicatesareassociatedwitheachkanji.

Questions&ThreadEtiquette

>TheDailyJapaneseThread
Wehaveathreadeveryday,anewthreadgetsputupataround1930EST(0030UTC/GMT).Ontopofthat,thereisanIRCyou
canuse,detailsareinthethread.
(DuetoremovalofOPsabilitytodeletetheirthreads,thetimingisnolongerconsistent)

Pleasebeonyourbestbehavior,andtrynottobringelementsofyournative-boardcultureintothethread,oranyother
low-levelinternettrashifyoucanabstainfromit(/jp/and/a/thingsincluded).Also,pleasedonotpromoteanymemes.
Ifyoureferpeopletothisthread,pleasedonotdoitonapoor-qualityboard,suchas[anyboard],andifyoudo,makesurethe
personyoureferisatleastsomewhatintelligent,andthethreadisntapoorone.
Pleasedonotengageinlengthyandfruitlessarguments,especiallythoseunrelatedtothethreadsubject.Bethebiggerman,
andbethefirsttodiscontinuetheargument.AlternativelycontinueitinJapanese.
Pleasedonotlabelanythingasshit,especiallyanythingcontroversial,suchaswriting.Inthecaseofwriting,thereasonsfor
onetodoitaresubjective,andwhileitmayormaynotbeusefultoyou,theotherpersonmayormaynotfindittobeusefulor
unusefultothem.Recognizewhatisopinion,andwhatisfact.Submittothefactthatwhatissubjective,holdsnorealtruth.

>Ihaveaquestion.
Doesitmatter(IsitaY/Nquestionorabi-question(e.g.TaeKimorGenki?);Isitalazyquestionwhereyou'reaskingwhether
youshouldlearnsomethingornot;couldyouhaveeasilyfoundyouransweryourself;Willthisjustleadtoanargument)?Not
allquestionsneedanswersorhavethem.

>HowlongdoesittaketolearnJapanese?
Averylongtime.
(594750^9723microseconds)

>TheThread404dearly.
GototheArchives,orusethefollowingtemplateinordertomakeathread

Also,ifyoucantposttheofficialOPimagedontposttheOP.Linkthepreviousthread,andlistthethreadnumber.

Pasta:
Pleasereadtheguidebeforeposting.

Guide(Starthere):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G5C7fCe07CDzYalZYZObzxv_fhw7RUNsLHiMAY-t7FA/edit

ReadingList:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0Agk2IH0ZXhn7dDNmSW1BVFU5dVgyOHkzWjU4b2l2dkE

Pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/w0gRFM0c

#l/a/nguageonirc.rizon.net

PreviousThread:

[Insertarchivelinkhere]

>Namasensei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQlq-hxWRzQ

NamasenseiisoftenwatchedbybeginnerslearningJapanese,becausehisalcohol-fueledanticsarestrangelyboth
entertainingandpowerfullymotivatingforsomeanons.Unfortunately,thisisadouble-edgedsword;ashesalwaysshitfaced
drunk,tendstoteachinanineffectivefashion,hasterriblehandwriting,andmessesupthestrokeorderofsomeofthekana.
(Youcanalsoacquirehisvideos
here
.)
(Histe-form

ismutuallyagreedtobetheonlyworthwhilevideohehas.)

>UsingGoogleforJapanese:
setyoursearchtogoogle.co.jpfor(much)betterresults

>Icantfigureoutwhatthismeans
GoogleX,X,orX()whereXisyourinquiry.,etc.alsoyields
results.

>Howtofindreadingmaterials?
SearchfortheJapanesetitleinJapanesealongwiththekeywordstxt
P2P:Nyaa,Share,PerfectDark

>Idontseemtohavethemotivationtodothis.
YoucantlearnJapanese.

>

vs

The(unquestionably)bestexplanationisprovidedintheDictionaryofBasicJapaneseGrammarinthepastebin.Iwouldrefer
tothat,andtakeallotherswithagrainasaltornotatall.
http://Japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa051301a.htm

>Howmanywordsdonativesknow?

ElementarySchoolLevel:
5-20thousand

MiddleSchoolLevel:
20-40thousand

HighSchoolLevel:
40-45thousand

CollegeLevel:
45-50thousand
Source:
http://www.kecl.ntt.co.jp/icl/lirg/resources/goitokusei/goi-test.html
Wordsonlyincludethedictionaryform.Propernounsandcompoundwordsareexcluded.

>Thesetwowordshavethesamereading,andmeaning.HowdoIdistinguishthem,andwhyisJapantryingtofuckme?
Theyhavethesame
English
meaning.Which,incaseyoucouldntguessit,meansyouvegottalookitupinaJ>Jdictionary,or
otherwiseperformaGooglesearch.Ifyourgrammarisntatalevelwhereyoucanunderstandthedescriptions,ordistinctions
youshouldbebetteringyourgrammarinsteadofyourvocab.IfyoucanonlyreadEnglishdefinitions,thenassumetheyare
flawedbeforeassumingthatyouvebeenfucked.

>Ivebeenpresentedcontradictoryopinionsaboutvariousmethods,andcannolongerjudgeformyselfwhichmethodisthe
best,asidefromdifferencesinspeed,thediscussedmethodsarecorrect(oratleastnotoutrightwrong).
Tryboth,makeadecision.Tryneither,findyourownsolution.Tryone,ignoretheother.Youdonothavetoask.Allroadslead
tothesamedestination.Ifyoucontinuetowalkthem,andadvance,thenyouwillreachyourgoal.Nothingisgoingtodamage
yourlearningifyousimplycontinueonward.

Misc.
Specificmatters(suchasrewordingofasection)shouldbedoneviaacommentinthatsection.
HeaderPSDfile
(
includingfont)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1471453/DJT%20Header.zip

Oldguide

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkKNc3AYP5sOv23FRjBoCs2dDzHN83BuT1T_aRU21t0/edit

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