I'm sure that you're like me. You love Karate, the Japanese culture and now you want to learn the Japanese language, but you're wondering if it's possible to do it on your own?
In this article, I will cover the following:
Yes, it's totally possible! If I did it, and you can do it too! I have put together a list of resources that I have used (and still use!) and that are the most helpful for me.
For me, there are basically two efficient ways to learn Japanese on your own: by using books and specialized website (with both audio and reading).
Here is a list of Japanese language resources that I personally use and love, and that worked to improve my Japanese language skills.
Books are probably the most common ways to learn Japanese by yourself. These books presented here are, from my experience, the best on the market today. If you are interested and motivated to learn the Japanese language, these books are for you.
Let me present to you my personal favorite introductory books to Japanese. I have actually started studying Japanese with these books, and they're great! Like me, you'll be surprised at how much you will learn with the help of these books.
a) Easy Japanese Step-by-Step (by Gene Nishi)
b) Speak Japanese Today (by Taeko Kamiya)
You might hate it as much as you want, grammar is a part of the Japanese language as it is part of every other language. These books will really make grammar easy on you.
a) The handbook of Japanese verbs (by Taeko Kamiya)
b) The handbook of Japanese adjectives and adverbs (by Taeko Kamiya)
c) Japanese sentence patterns for Effective communication (by Taeko Kamiya)
Some people only want to learn to speak Japanese, and some others prefer to learn to speak, read, and write. I'm the latter type. Maybe that's because my wife is Japanese and we go to Japan pretty often where I'm confronted with Japanese writing everywhere.
a) A guide to Learning Hiragana & Katakana (by Kenneth G. Henshall and Tetsuo Takagaki)
b) Kana Pict-O-Graphix (by Micheal Rowley)
c) Beginners Japanese Script
There's dozens of specialized website dedicated to teaching Japanese, so choosing the right one can sometimes be challenging.
I tried most of them, but when I stumbled upon Japanesepod101.com, I knew I had found what I was looking for. From all the tools that I have used to learn the language, Japanesepod101.com is by far the best and the one that helped me the most.
JapanesePod101 is a website that teaches Japanese with a series of lessons in audio format accompanied by precious lesson notes. The lessons are organized in courses of up to 50 episodes each, arranged by skill level, ranging from complete newbie to advanced. Lessons are delivered in audio format and are generally 12-15 minutes long. Each lesson is divided into four parts: 1- short dialogue in Japanese (then with English translation), 2- discussion about the story, 3- vocabulary, and lastly 4- grammar.
You can listen to them on the website itself or else downloaded it all as podcasts, which you can then put on your smartphone and take around with you. Even better, you can use their fantastic smartphone app.
There are different pricing options for Japanesepod101, and I personally chose the Premium Plan, which is only 10$/month if you pay for 24 months! As usual, the longer your subscription, the cheaper it gets. In my opinion, the pricing is reasonable for content of that quality. You can try now their free plan and see for yourself.
For more details about Japanesepod101, check out my article entitled The Best Program to Learn Japanese.
Here is a list of a few extra things that you can do to learn Japanese on your own or improve your actual level.
Another great way to practice your Japanese is to watch Japanese movies and anime. Through films and anime, can learn a wide variety of new words and expressions, including slang and casual Japanese. Personally, I often use English subtitles to help me better understand what I'm watching. That's especially true if I'm watching a Taiga drama as they often use old Japanese.
Just like with movies, listening to Japanese radio is an effective way to sharpen your listening skills. Try listening to music with lyrics, or Japanese talk radio. There'ss a great website to listen to Japanese radio online.
At the begins, try ready simple kids book. That's what I did! I used my son's Anpanman books to practice my reading skills! Later on, as you get better, you can try reading small Japanese books or even manga. I wouldn't touch newspapers as they are quite complicated to understand.
A pleasant yet challenging option for practicing your Japanese speaking skills is to talk face to face or through video-chat with a native Japanese speaker. They are lots of online resources that pairs you with a language partner. There's a website called My Language Exchange that's one of the most famous and oldest.
There is really no better way to learn a new language than total immersion! If you have the opportunity, go to Japan! This will enable you to speak to people in Japanese and watch them talk. You'll learn much from this experience! Personally, every time I come back from Japan, my wife tells me that my Japanese level has improved a lot.
So as you can see after reading this article, it's totally possible to learn Japanese by yourself, on your own.
After years of experience studying the language, I honestly think that the best was to study Japanese is with Japanesedpod101.com. This website helped me tremendously, and I recommended it to many friends who also greatly benefitted from it. I highly recommend it.
What tools do you use to learn Japanese?
Hi, my name is Martin Jutras. I've been studying and practicing Karate, practical self-defense and Zen Buddhism for more than 37 years.
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