Japanese learning resources - Revision history

Tetraspace at 17:03, 16 September 2025

2025-09-16T17:03:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:03, 16 September 2025
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	== Anki ==		== Anki ==
	~~Spaced~~ repetition software. Shows you cards, and if you remember the card, waits longer to show you it. In this manner, arbitrary numbers of facts can be learned.		Anki is spaced repetition software. Shows you cards, and if you remember the card, waits longer to show you it. In this manner, arbitrary numbers of facts can be learned.

	My recommendations are to make sure that leeches are being suspended, else they will come to take up most of the time - leeches are cards that, for whatever reason, Anki isn't working to teach you, and so you should learn them elsewhere. Limit the number of new cards per day, I found that doubling the number of new cards per day doubled the amount of time I was spending looking at cards and doubled my error rate on cards that weren't new. I use 5 new cards per day, though the precise number depends on the person.		My recommendations are to make sure that leeches are being suspended, else they will come to take up most of the time - leeches are cards that, for whatever reason, Anki isn't working to teach you, and so you should learn them elsewhere. Limit the number of new cards per day, I found that doubling the number of new cards per day doubled the amount of time I was spending looking at cards and doubled my error rate on cards that weren't new. I use 5 new cards per day, though the precise number depends on the person.

Tetraspace at 12:55, 16 September 2025

2025-09-16T12:55:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:55, 16 September 2025
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	== Gamb's Guide ==		== Gamb's Guide ==
	~~This~~ is the main resource that I was using to give an order to learn things in. It's focused on being able to read untranslated visual novels in Japanese. It proposes:		[https://www.reddit.com/r/visualnovels/wiki/gambsguide Gamb's guide] is the main resource that I was using to give an order to learn things in. It's focused on being able to read untranslated visual novels in Japanese. It proposes:

	* Learning hiragana and katakana first		* Learning hiragana and katakana first
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	== djtguide Learn Kana ==		== djtguide Learn Kana ==
	A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana and scores you on whether you recognize it, with the ability to choose which kana are shown (so you can fully learn five, and then the next five, and so on).		A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana and scores you on whether you recognize it, with the ability to choose which kana are shown (so you can fully learn five, and then the next five, and so on). This is the way I used to learn kana.

			== Anki ==
			Spaced repetition software. Shows you cards, and if you remember the card, waits longer to show you it. In this manner, arbitrary numbers of facts can be learned.

			My recommendations are to make sure that leeches are being suspended, else they will come to take up most of the time - leeches are cards that, for whatever reason, Anki isn't working to teach you, and so you should learn them elsewhere. Limit the number of new cards per day, I found that doubling the number of new cards per day doubled the amount of time I was spending looking at cards and doubled my error rate on cards that weren't new. I use 5 new cards per day, though the precise number depends on the person.

			I currently have these Anki decks running:

			* [https://gohoneko.neocities.org/learn/anki Core 2k/6k Optimised Japanese Vocabulary], recommended by [https://www.reddit.com/r/visualnovels/wiki/gambsguide Gamb's guide]. Contains the top 6000 Japanese words in order as sampled from ten years of issues of [[wikipedia:The_Asahi_Shimbun\|the Asahi Shimbun]] newspaper in the 90s (so it has some dated words; reddit points out that it contains [[wikt:日ソ\|日ソ]], meaning "Japan and the Soviet Union" [two syllables in Japanese]). [https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1146263310 Core 2.3k] is a smaller deck that Gamb's guide also recommends, made up of 2k/6k filtered to remove uncommon and redundant words.
			* A deck where I add random Japanese words and phrases it seems like it would be useful to know. Generally my heuristic for this is that if I want to say something in Japanese, or read something in Japanese, that I encounter in real life, I add it to the deck. The first word I added to the deck was 辛口, from an untranslated menu; the most recent word I've added is 首輪, meaning collar.
			* A deck for [https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1081858108 hiragana] and a deck for [https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1027153995 katakana]. These decks are mostly learned.
			* A small deck that contains the most common [[wikipedia:Japanese_particles\|particles]]. I have this separate from other vocab decks so that I know that I'm looking at a particle and not a word. Core 2k/6k excludes particles, which I think is a good idea; particles are more "grammar" than "vocabulary".

	== Duolingo ==		== Duolingo ==
	Duolingo's focus on teaching is listening practice for individual Japanese sentences, and handwriting practise for kana and kanji.		Duolingo's focus on teaching is listening practice for individual Japanese sentences, and handwriting practise for kana and kanji. They make the poor choice for learning to read Japanese of beginning teaching sentences transcribed only in kana (e.g. みずとごはんです rather than the much more readable 水とご飯です), which forces one to listen to the spoken sentences.

			Famously, Duolingo is optimising for monthly active users rather than language learning, and so trades off language learning in favour of monthly active users.

	== WaniKani ==		== WaniKani ==
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	WaniKani disbelieves this, and instead		WaniKani disbelieves this, and instead

	* teaches a set of WaniKani platform-specific kanji-parts, called radicals, that each appear in many kanji. Because these are formed from the same generator of breaking down ~~kanij~~, WaniKani's radical list has overlap with other lists of radicals		* teaches a set of WaniKani platform-specific kanji-parts, called radicals, that each appear in many kanji. Because these are formed from the same generator of breaking down kanji, WaniKani's radical list has overlap with other lists of radicals
	* once a radical has been learned, teaches the kanji that contain that radical, with their primary meaning and the list of possible pronunciations that it can take when it appears in a word		* once a radical has been learned, teaches the kanji that contain that radical, with their primary meaning and the list of possible pronunciations that it can take when it appears in a word
	* once the kanji and its pronunciations have been learned, teaches words that contain that kanji.		* once the kanji and its pronunciations have been learned, teaches words that contain that kanji.
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	This means that rather than learning kanji as being drawn from the infinite space of possible squiggles, they're learned as draws from a more finite space of easier-to-learn WaniKani radicals; and rather than learning words as being drawn from a large space of valid strings of Japanese phonemes, from a more finite space of possible readings for their component kanji; at the cost of adding a lot of additional scaffolding to learn that isn't used at higher levels or outside of WaniKani.		This means that rather than learning kanji as being drawn from the infinite space of possible squiggles, they're learned as draws from a more finite space of easier-to-learn WaniKani radicals; and rather than learning words as being drawn from a large space of valid strings of Japanese phonemes, from a more finite space of possible readings for their component kanji; at the cost of adding a lot of additional scaffolding to learn that isn't used at higher levels or outside of WaniKani.

			By the time I started using WaniKani, I already knew most of the beginner words, so I can't quite vouch for the value of WaniKani's method, though it is fairly canonical as far as

	== Iago ==		== Iago ==

	~~== Anki ==~~		*

	== Dictionaries ==		== Dictionaries ==
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	* every definition and reading of 食 used in Japanese		* every definition and reading of 食 used in Japanese
	* the Kangxi radical and composition; in this case, it's 食 with no extra strokes		* the Kangxi radical and composition; in this case, it's 食 (the radical for eating) with no extra strokes
	* the etymology; it explains that 食 in the Oracle Bone script was a picture of a mouth over a bowl of rice.		* the etymology; it explains that 食 in the Oracle Bone script was a picture of a mouth over a bowl of rice.

	The Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary has a subset of Japanese words, because dictionaries are finite in size. It's a paper dictionary, which I like. It's bilingual between Japanese and British English		The Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary has a subset of Japanese words, because dictionaries are finite in size. It's a paper dictionary, which I like. It's bilingual between Japanese and British English. Words with some rare meanings or connotations are only described in terms of their most common meaning, which I think is useful for beginners.

	Jisho		Jisho

	== NHK News Easy ==		== NHK News Easy ==
			[https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/ NHK News Easy] is a news website by the Japanese public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corporation with news articles simplified to use vocabulary and grammar at JLPT 4-JLPT 3 level. I like this because it's real Japanese text produced to serve a non-learning purpose (communicating news to [https://aclanthology.org/W15-4411.pdf foreign residents of Japan]), novel samples of which are constantly being produced.

	== sottaku ==		== sottaku ==

			== Genki ==
	[[Category:Information]]		[[Category:Information]]

Ampdot at 14:25, 5 September 2025

2025-09-05T14:25:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:25, 5 September 2025
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	== NHK News Easy ==		== NHK News Easy ==

			== sottaku ==
	[[Category:Information]]		[[Category:Information]]

Ampdot at 01:22, 29 August 2025

2025-08-29T01:22:42Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:22, 29 August 2025
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	== NHK News Easy ==		== NHK News Easy ==
			[[Category:Information]]

Tetraspace at 14:23, 25 August 2025

2025-08-25T14:23:45Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:23, 25 August 2025
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	This means that rather than learning kanji as being drawn from the infinite space of possible squiggles, they're learned as draws from a more finite space of easier-to-learn WaniKani radicals; and rather than learning words as being drawn from a large space of valid strings of Japanese phonemes, from a more finite space of possible readings for their component kanji; at the cost of adding a lot of additional scaffolding to learn that isn't used at higher levels or outside of WaniKani.		This means that rather than learning kanji as being drawn from the infinite space of possible squiggles, they're learned as draws from a more finite space of easier-to-learn WaniKani radicals; and rather than learning words as being drawn from a large space of valid strings of Japanese phonemes, from a more finite space of possible readings for their component kanji; at the cost of adding a lot of additional scaffolding to learn that isn't used at higher levels or outside of WaniKani.

			== Iago ==

	== Anki ==		== Anki ==

Tetraspace at 14:23, 25 August 2025

2025-08-25T14:23:21Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:23, 25 August 2025
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	* Learning hiragana and katakana first		* Learning hiragana and katakana first
	* Learning grammar from reading a textbook as fast as possible		* Learning grammar from reading a textbook as fast as possible
	* Then learning vocabulary from flashcards until you know 2000 - 6000 words.		* Then learning vocabulary from flashcards until you know 2000 - 6000 words
			* Then reading native material (namely, VNs)

	== djtguide Learn Kana ==		== djtguide Learn Kana ==
	A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana and scores you on whether you ~~recognise~~ it.		A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana and scores you on whether you recognize it, with the ability to choose which kana are shown (so you can fully learn five, and then the next five, and so on).

	== Duolingo ==		== Duolingo ==
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	Each radical, kanji and word come with associated mneumonics for the shape and where relevant pronunciation.		Each radical, kanji and word come with associated mneumonics for the shape and where relevant pronunciation.

			This means that rather than learning kanji as being drawn from the infinite space of possible squiggles, they're learned as draws from a more finite space of easier-to-learn WaniKani radicals; and rather than learning words as being drawn from a large space of valid strings of Japanese phonemes, from a more finite space of possible readings for their component kanji; at the cost of adding a lot of additional scaffolding to learn that isn't used at higher levels or outside of WaniKani.

			== Anki ==

	== Dictionaries ==		== Dictionaries ==
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	Jisho		Jisho

			== NHK News Easy ==

162.158.217.64 at 10:53, 25 August 2025

2025-08-25T10:53:47Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:53, 25 August 2025
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	== djtguide Learn Kana ==		== djtguide Learn Kana ==
	A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana		A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana and scores you on whether you recognise it.

	== Duolingo ==		== Duolingo ==

172.71.178.35: Created page with "== Gamb's Guide == This is the main resource that I was using to give an order to learn things in. It's focused on being able to read untranslated visual novels in Japanese. It proposes: * Learning hiragana and katakana first * Learning grammar from reading a textbook as fast as possible * Then learning vocabulary from flashcards until you know 2000 - 6000 words. == djtguide Learn Kana == A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Sh..."

2025-08-24T18:22:26Z

Created page with "== Gamb's Guide == This is the main resource that I was using to give an order to learn things in. It's focused on being able to read untranslated visual novels in Japanese. It proposes: * Learning hiragana and katakana first * Learning grammar from reading a textbook as fast as possible * Then learning vocabulary from flashcards until you know 2000 - 6000 words. == djtguide Learn Kana == A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Sh..."

New page

== Gamb's Guide ==
This is the main resource that I was using to give an order to learn things in. It's focused on being able to read untranslated visual novels in Japanese. It proposes:

* Learning hiragana and katakana first
* Learning grammar from reading a textbook as fast as possible
* Then learning vocabulary from flashcards until you know 2000 - 6000 words.

== djtguide Learn Kana ==
A [https://djtguide.github.io/learn/kana.html kana recognition training game]. Shows you a kana

== Duolingo ==
Duolingo's focus on teaching is listening practice for individual Japanese sentences, and handwriting practise for kana and kanji.

== WaniKani ==
WaniKani teaches reading individual words, focusing on reading kanji, hence the name.

The advice for learning Japanese kanji given in Gamb's guide is that kanji don't appear on their own and don't have pronunciations independent of being in words; in Japanese, kanji are just sememes. There's hence no meaningful notion of "learning kanji" seperately from learning vocabulary.

WaniKani disbelieves this, and instead

* teaches a set of WaniKani platform-specific kanji-parts, called radicals, that each appear in many kanji. Because these are formed from the same generator of breaking down kanij, WaniKani's radical list has overlap with other lists of radicals
* once a radical has been learned, teaches the kanji that contain that radical, with their primary meaning and the list of possible pronunciations that it can take when it appears in a word
* once the kanji and its pronunciations have been learned, teaches words that contain that kanji.

Each radical, kanji and word come with associated mneumonics for the shape and where relevant pronunciation.

== Dictionaries ==
Wiktionary contains basically every Japanese word. The benefit I find from Wiktionary is that, for each word, it includes the Japanese word, and the Chinese etymology of the kanji, which can make the meaning clearer or more memorable. For example, the page for 食 has

* every definition and reading of 食 used in Japanese
* the Kangxi radical and composition; in this case, it's 食 with no extra strokes
* the etymology; it explains that 食 in the Oracle Bone script was a picture of a mouth over a bowl of rice.

The Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary has a subset of Japanese words, because dictionaries are finite in size. It's a paper dictionary, which I like. It's bilingual between Japanese and British English

Jisho