Under Construction

After over 5 years of being an idle "Work in Progress" page, I decided to at least add some descriptions to the few things that have actually been created so far.

But more importantly, you can now find links to other resources down below. Of the many tools I tried, these ones I actually find are compelling resources for learning Japanese.

Preview

Some stuff has already been developed, and recently the Kana Practice page has been updated to be usable on mobile devices.

The Beta Pre-Alpha

What little has been created can be seen there. While it might not look like too much, I learned very much during its development and ultimately it allowed me to become a full time web developer down the road.

Kana Practice

Created as a standalone web application, it is a tool to practice Kana with. Instead of doing multiple choice kinds of questions, you need to input the actual Hepburn romanization.

It is inspired by Kana Teacher by Mike Unckel.

ime.js

(Proof of Concept)

In an effort to allow Japanese input without an IME (Input Method Editor) installed locally, ime.js is a script to allow similar (albeit basic) functionality in the browser without manual download or setup.

Resources (Free)

TheJapanChannel

TheJapanChannelDcom is a YouTube channel that has been active for many years now, exploring almost every cultural aspect of Japan.

They also maintain English Friendly Japan.com, a directory of businesses that are not shy of interacting with English speaking people.

Japanese Ammo with Misa

This is another YouTube channel, but mainly for the language itself. The videos are rather long and go into much detail, but that should be appreciated by any serious learner.

That Japanese Man Yuta

One more YouTube channel. Yuta usually does survey videos, asking Japanese people about various things in their culture and language.

He also runs an email newsletter where you get some Japanese lessons to your email every now and then. Too bad you can't register for all levels with one email though.

Tofugu

A Blog about Japanese culture and their language. They have created some rather in-depth articles. They also have a bunch of articles about presenting even more learning resources .

tangorin

A dictionary that also shows example sentences.
They also have vocabulary lists for the various JLPT levels.

TangoRisto

Despite the similar name, it is not related to the website above.
This is an app that puts furigana and a dictionary into NHK news articels, so you can read and learn some real world Japanese.

Resources (Paid)

WaniKani

From the people at Tofugu comes WaniKani, a website specifically for learning Kanji and vocabulary. It uses the approach of first learning Radicals and only then jump into Kanji.

Human Japanese

This is an app available for iOS, Android and even some other platforms. While the pratice tools are rather limited, it offers plenty of information about the language and Japan as a whole. A good read when travelling through spotty internet regions.

LingoDeer

A pretty good app for starters. It has a "Learnign Tips" section that explains the grammar rules for a given chapter. It even has tests where you can write with a Japanese IME (if installed).