Hello! This was supposed to be done months ago, so I’m sorry that this is really late. Hopefully this post will be as useful as my Korean language-learning masterpost here! Again, most of the stuff/links here are what I used myself, and for me, it’s quality over quantity.
So, here we go! And yes, all of them are free! This might be a massive list and you might feel overwhelmed, but I’m just providing many links for your reference! If you only need to use one for each sections, then go for it! :D
First of all, learn the Japanese writing system:
Introductions of the three writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. (You can use google for more explanations on these three writing systems.)
Learn Hiragana with: Tofugu’s mnemonics or JL’s lessons. (both are great!)
Learn Katakana with: Tofugu’s mnemonics or JL’s lessons. (I prefer Tofugu’s.)
For Kanji, you gotta know that there’s 2000+ kanji out there and it’s kinda hard to learn all, so I’d say, learn the ones that you think are the most important/basic/useful to you.
Learn Kanji with: Wanikani. (this site is awesome, ok. try out the free trial and see for yourself how useful it is! they teach you mostly the useful kanji you’ll need.)
You’ll learn this in Wanikani, but you should try learning Radicals to ease the learning of Kanji. Don’t be scared! If you use Wanikani, you’ll automatically learn them (and they’re actually interesting, haha). Read more about it here.
Other useful links for learning Kanas, Kanji and radicals: NHK Kanas, japaneseclass’ Kanas, memorize’s Radicals, Tangorin’s Kanji, stroke orders (check the sidebar for specific links for this one).
Stroke orders are important, yes, but it depends if it’ll be useful to you or not. I prefer reading instead of writing since it’s useful to me that way, but I’m a read-write learner so I do learn some stroke orders. Depends on what you prefer, really. :D
If you have any recommendations, feel free to tell me!
Next, my favourite, grammar. Most of these are online learning textbooks/tools.
123Japanese’s lessons. (simple explanations, but holds a special place in my heart just because it’s my first Japanese resource back then.)
Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese. (the explanations are quite simple, but you’ll need something to aid you along. It’s very useful for me on its own though.)
NHK World’s Easy Japanese. (With free downloadable PDFs and adorable basic grammar things that could help you kick-start your Japanese~)
Maggie Sensei. (I heard it’s mostly for intermediates, but you can check it out!)
I’m not a fan of online lessons but you can try japanesepod101.
TextFugu. (An online textbook by Tofugu. It’s good, but I think it has too many text… but who knows if it works for you!)
If you have the chance to buy a Japanese textbook, then by all means, please do. To tell you the truth, I personally think that having a textbook is necessary to aid your Japanese learning, but don’t let that thought of mine stop you! I have a friend that pretty much went up to almost the intermediate level, and only then got a textbook. So, it’s not impossible!
“What textbook should I buy? Any recommendations?”. I’m sorry that I can’t help you with this, but one thing I can say to you is, find what works for you. I know it’s not quite right to download all those (unofficial) textbook PDFs floating about, but you can try one or two and see if the content works for you. I’ll be honest and say I downloaded the Genki PDF for evaluation purposes, but I find it overwhelming and boring, so despite the many positive reviews, I knew that Genki is just not the book for me, no matter how good people say it is.
I did buy Tuttle’s Basic Japanese Grammar but haven’t went through it. I’ll write a review for it some time in the future, though.
I bought three more Japanese grammar books that are in my language, which is Malay (my native language), and the first book so far has helped me tremendously. So, if you’re not a native English-speaker, I recommend you to buy grammar books that are in your language, because it’ll make the learning process easier and your brain(s) can interpret it better. It may have a lot of flaws, but the online links I gave you could aid with your learning. (English books tend to be geared towards the English-audience, as far as I can see. I can understand that. No offence! I just wanted to point this out…)
Vocabulary/Dictionaries! In Japanese, vocabulary and kanji (along with the kanas), go hand in hand. So if you know the kanji, you know the vocabulary, and vice-versa! Be careful though, some kanji combinations don’t mean what you think it means.
LearnWithOliver (flashcards, helpful flashcards, neat flashcards that are not in flashcards form. haha. yes, they have many other languages as well.)
WaniKani. (this has helped me a lot ok.)
Tagaini Jisho. (downloadable dictionary, look up words, with stroke orders!!)
Mihongo. (an online visual Japanese dictionary.)
Houhou. (downloadable dictionary, something like WaniKani, but you can look up kanji in this one! search for a kanji then add it to your flashcards list, tadaa. only available for Windows, though :c )
Rikaichan / Rikaikun. (a useful browser add-on/extension for looking up kanji!)
Memrise. (repetition is key, I tell you.)
Anki. (I don’t use this but it might be helpful for you!)
Jisho. (a useful-as-hell dictionary with stroke orders and (many) word references.)
Google Translate (though a full sentence translation is usually bullshoot and I don’t recommend it, the pronunciation function and one word translation are very helpful.)
You can also learn from hearing a vocab multiple times in anime/songs/visual novels. You guys know what ‘baka’ means, right? xD
Videos to aid your learning (though I prefer reading than watching, but these are the ones I really recommend!)
nihongonomori. // beginners’ lessons. (the cutest “I descended from heaven!” videos evarrr.)
Learn Japanese From Zero! (yes, with the ‘!’ sign.)
Also, my favourite vloggers that live in Japan because they’re the cutest, they’re inspirational and good for motivation, and I want more people to love them; Strawberry Mochi, Sharla in Japan, kanadajin3, and a channel of a Japanese guy that lives in Japan that gives you perspectives on people in Japan, That Japanese Man Yuta.
Websites/Blogs you gotta check out, that’ll hopefully help with your Japanese language-learning and have helpful tips! (I’m just gonna give you all my bookmarks for this because omg I have a lot.)
Tofugu. (Lots of fun Japan stuff alongside Japanese-learning materials, huhu.)
Marugoto. (this site is cute ok but most of the stuff are not free but other stuff are useful!!)
JapaneseTease // easy to read Japanese manga for beginners.
Traditional Japanese Stories.
Japanese Level Up. // Japanese Language Quest Walkthrough.
NHK’s NEWS WEB EASY. (a news site geared towards kids, I think. might be useful for people who wants to test out their Kanji-reading skills, with furigana on them, too!)
Japanese in Anime & Manga. (a site that teaches you various forms of grammar in anime & manga, from school life to butler and samurais. It’s awesome, I tell you, but use this when you think you can differentiate between polite forms and impolite forms… well, it’s really fun to learn when you wanna take a break from all those textbook text blocks, you know. ^_^)
Not to forget, motivational/useful tips posts! (added more from my previous post, this time they’re more geared towards Japanese-learning.)
Language hacking tips on fluentin3months.
10 effective language learning strategies.
10-ways to language learning success.
25 ways to stop feeling overworked and overwhelmed (because I think this is important as well.)
how to get through the humdrum aspects of studying. (also, I love japanese-revision omg.)
Tips for Successful Language Study.
Fuwanovel’s How to Read Visual Novel in 2 Years time.
TheMadPuppy85′s Otome Guide for Japanese Beginners.
Also, my personal language-learning methods:
When studying, I read the whole grammar lesson, try to understand it, then write down the notes word by word as I pronounce the vocabularies along the way. I understand better after making notes as I process the lesson in my brain. (well, since I’m a read-write learner hehe.)
I try to write out the kanji when I can, but when I can’t, I use romaji, but I do make the effort to memorize the kanji. Err, I’m sorry but most of the kanji I write turns out odd. But if you’re good at it, then go for it!!!
I use Memrise for vocab, Wanikani for vocab+kanji+radicals.
I try to form my own sentences like, “She has a cat”, “I have three brothers”, since I don’t have any language-learning partners (sadlyfe) but if you’d like to, let’s be friends and practice together!!
Always, always pick up bits and pieces from songs and anime/live actions/whatever you’re watching/listening that are in Japanese. Do you know how much lyfe (and vocabularies) Daiya Stage gave me?!?11?!
Scheduling language-learning into your life is the way to go! Even if it’s as short as 30mins a day or 2hours full of concentration, as long as you do it continuously, it’ll help you a long way down the road. There will be days when you think you can’t make it, so it’s fine to take a break once in a while!
Last but not least, my personal tips/motivation:
Language-learning doesn’t have to be a chore. It’s something you should enjoy! I remember understanding what the Japanese tourists here said in a bus the other day and I felt so happy I felt like crying, I went to work with a smile so bright my friend went ? ??? …So take things one step at a time, okay? (I’m sorry for eavesdropping, dear tourists. T_T)
“Don’t learn too fast for the sake of finishing the textbook.”
If you think you’re slower than everyone else at reading katakana (I do, too) or even remembering grammar, don’t worry. You’re NOT dumb nor slow, you’re a wonderful human being! Even trying to memorize a kanji/verb a day shows that you’re working hard on it, and I’m proud of you! Good things come to those who work hard! ♡
Always remember to pick yourself up again. Take your time, and believe in yourself! If you really want it, go and get it! You can do it!!!
Even a session of Memrise course a day goes a longgg way, you know. ;)
Shia LaBeouf’s “JUST DO IT” because we all need it.
I can’t say that I’ve learn Japanese for a long time, but I learned Japanese first, then dropped it, then picked up Korean, and now I’m picking up Japanese again. It’s never, ever too late to learn what you want, and just do it at your own pace. No rush, alright?
Also, instead of looking for more resources and motivation, I think you should really start on opening that textbook/link/memrise course, you know. ;) Eheheh.
Never forget why you’re learning Japanese. Hell, at this point yall know why I learn it, right. Otome games!! Are!! Lyfe!! So, whenever I see Dynamic Chord, I went crazy and totally pumped up to learn Japanese, because that’s like, my main motivation to learn. So get a motivation, pin it to your wall! Pin it to your twitter page!! Pin it to your forehead!! No, I mean, pin it to your heart!! And remember your first resolve!!
If you have anything else to add, then please feel free to do so! You can also drop me a message if there’s anything you’d like to know, or if I’m missing something, etc. I was sleepy when doing this because it’s already past midnight and now it’s almost 3am, but near the end I clicked Ozawa Ren’s twitter (like I’m so done with this guy pls stop) and now I’m just gonna bYE. And thus, that explains my hyper-ness near the end. Sorry for that. #welp.
But anyway, hope this post has been helpful, even if it helps just one person! I know it’s cliche but really, if it helps you, I’m more than grateful and happy.
Stay positive yall, and remember, if you can dream it, you can do it!!! Thank you so much for reading my second masterpost, byeom~!
