TheBright SilverLining

Welcome!  I'm Ren. They/Them pronouns.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Free or Cheap Japanese Language Learning Resources For Your Karate Class

I will update this list as I learn of any more useful ones. If you want general language learning resources check out this other post. This list is Japanese specific. Find lists for other specific languages here.

For the purposes of this list "free" means something that is either totally free or has a useful free tier. "Cheap" is a subscription under $10USD a month, a software license or lifetime membership purchase under $100USD, or a book under $30USD. If you want to suggest a resource for this list please suggest ones in that price range that are of decent quality and not AI generated.

WEBSITES

JLPT Matome - This website is organized by the levels of the JLPT Japanese proficiency test. It has lists of Vocab, Kanji, and grammar points as well as pages with more detail on each point for free. The paid tier has test simulations and flashcard drills but if you ask me, all of that is unnecessary.

Renshuu - This website/app has games, daily challenges, a dictionary, and a lot of other resources. There are some paid features like quizzes but the vast majority of the website's features are completely free.

Tofugu - This is a free website with articles and podcast episodes in English about learning Japanese with tips and culture points. The creators of this website also created WaniKani, a website aimed at helping people memorize Kanji.

Comprehensible Japanese - This is a website/Youtube channel with comprehensible input videos for learners from absolute beginner to intermediate. They have a number of free videos but most are behind a paywall. Their pricing is $8 a month, $80 a year, or $300 for a lifetime membership.

Tae Kim's Guide - This website and blog archive is mainly based around grammar explanations. You can also buy the website owner's book, but there's also a lot of free content on the website.

Tenyomi - This free website is based around reading practice and grammar lessons for beginners. It has a selection of short stories as well as a sentence of the day with a short lesson attached. It has a fairly large archive of these daily lessons to read through. All Japanese sentences also have audio and English translations along with their grammar explanations.

Pitch Accent Perception Test - This free tool works as a test to see how well you can hear pitch accent. I've seen some people use it as a training tool as well.

Condensed Audio Catalog - This is an archive of condensed audio anime. That's anime with the silent moments edited out so you can listen to just the audio over and over again. Some people say they like using this for study so I've included it.

Jisho - This is a free online Japanese to English dictionary that also has kanji explanations and example sentences.

Yomitan for Firefox and Chrome - This is a browser extension that works as a popup dictionary and also allows you to connect it to your anki account to create flashcards with it.

Kashi 1.5K Anki Deck - This is a free premade Anki deck that has 1,500 common Japanese words with pictures, audio, and example sentences.

Kakijun - This website is in Japanese and is a resource for learning proper stroke order for Kanji.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

Cure Dolly - This channel no longer uploads but it has a massive archive of videos on Japanese grammar as well as a dedicated playlist for absolute beginners.

Akane Japanese Class - This is a channel by a Japanese teacher that makes vlogs in Japanese for intermediate learners. She often films herself traveling, ordering food, checking into hotels, describing things in shops, and other daily life situations. She has subtitles available in various languages and is actually sometimes interesting to watch even if you're not learning Japanese tbh.

Learn Japanese With Tanaka San - This channel has an intermediate podcast, listening practice for beginners, and videos about kanji with cute little illustrations with various characters that works as a visual aid. The creator of this channel also has various free PDF guides linked under a lot of their videos.

Kaname Naito - This is a channel by a Japanese teacher who mostly teaches in English and makes videos explaining some of the more confusing grammar points.

Japanese Super Immersion - This is a channel by two native speakers who post videos of Japanese conversation and conversation practice videos for beginner to intermediate learners. They also have some more advanced dialogues for channel members.

Jiro, Just Japanese - This channel has videos in Japanese for learners. He has a podcast, travel vlogs, and a series of minecraft lets plays.

Nihongo-Learning - This channel makes listening practice videos on a variety of topics for beginner to intermediate learners. They also have videos about Japanese culture and news.

Speak Japanese Naturally - This channel is in a mix of Japanese and English and has explanations of grammar and vocabulary and tips on how to improve pronunciation. The creator of this channel also has a podcast aimed at intermediate to advanced learners.

iroironanihongo - This is a comprehensible input channel channel for beginner to intermediate learners by a Japanese teacher who teaches using manga, anime, and discussions of Japanese culture.

Daily Japanese With Naoko - This is a channel by a Japanese woman who makes daily life vlogs in simple Japanese for Japanese learners.

READING PRACTICE

Tadoku.org - This website produces a number of Japanese graded readers for various levels and a selection of them are free to read on their website.

Satori Reader - This website/app is meant for intermediate learners to practice reading. They have a lot of short stories and series, integrated flash cards, and grammar lessons. The free tier has a good number of free articles. The pro version is $9 a month or $89 a year.

Jareads - This app is on ios and android and has a number of news articles in Japanese with the option to save words to an in-app flashcard deck and check definitions as you're reading. There's also the option to sort articles by JLPT level. The app is free to use but requires watching ads to access some features.

Lingual Ninja - This website has a number of free little folktale stories, articles, and bits of JLPT reading practice with translations, audio, and some also have video.

I'm gonna list off a number of more affordable physical paperback graded readers now.

Japanese Short Stories for beginners by lingo mastery - $19 with significantly cheaper used copies available

Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English by Anne McNulty and Eriko Sato - $18 with used copies available

A Japanese Reader: Graded Lessons for Mastering the Written Language (Tuttle Language Library) by Roy Andrew Miller - $19 with cheaper used copies available.

Short Stories in Japanese for Intermediate Learners by Olly Richards - $15 with cheaper used copies available

PODCASTS

This spreadsheet has over 100 podcasts listed on it. Some specifically for learners, and others for native speakers.

Japan Radio - This app allows you to listen to various Japanese radio stations for free

SELF-STUDY TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIES

The Learner's Japanese Kanji Dictionary - This dictionary is focused around Kanji and has English explanations. Its official price is $25 but it's often on sale and used copies are available.

Lonely Planet Japanese Dictionary and Phrasebook - This book is especially useful for people looking to learn Japanese for tourism. It focuses on survival everyday language. It's around $12.

Miriam Webster's Japanese to English Dictionary - This is generally the cheapest bilingual dictionary on the market at $8.

Learn Japanese With Manga - This is a series of self study textbooks that uses comics as its teaching medium. Each book in the series is around $20 for a physical copy and $10 for a digital one.

Japanese for Dummies - This is one of the cheaper textbooks out there but reviews say it covers a bit less than stuff like genki or Japanese from Zero. Those more popular books are more expensive though. It's $28 for a physical copy and $17 for a digital copy and used copies are available.

Japanese for Busy People - This textbook series is aimed at professionals moving to Japan and teaches very formal Japanese. A new book is $30 but that doesn't include the workbook. Though from what I've seen it's often on sale and used copies are pretty easy to find.

Shin Nihongo 500 Mon - This book is better if you can already read some Japanese. There are a few books in the series for different JLPT levels. The basic premise of this series is that it has 500 questions to help you practice for the JLPT exam. I usually see them listed for around $20.

Vocabulary for the JLPT - This series has lists of vocabulary words for different levels of the JLPT with both English and Vietnamese translations if you speak Vietnamese I guess. Each book is about $22 new.

That's what I have for you! Please do suggest additional resources if you have any!

[madd-catter]

My high school class used Irasshai videos for learning, they're old (like learning the japanese word for "walkman" for example) but pretty good beginner videos, though I only vaguely remember that class. Apparently there's also textbooks and other materials, but I don't think my class used those. They also have the playlists on youtube if you don't want to watch on another website for whatever reason: Japanese I Japanese II

[bloggingboutburgers]

Day 3 of ace week and day I-don't-know-how-many of me trying to best articulate the issues I have with how asexual and aromantic characters are treated in fandom, forever hoping to get the point across

[fromhersoul]

Adult friendships be like “I miss you bro, let's hang out in November"

[questionablepastries]

[thehussy]

[starlitskvader]

[what-even-is-thiss]

The most sure sign that someone doesn’t know much about poetry is when they insist that poetry has to rhyme.

And the most sure sign that someone is a little too pretentious about poetry is when they say that they hate rhyming poetry.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Watching tumblr users in real time demonstrate that they don’t actually read poetry

[what-even-is-thiss]

“What if it’s just a paragraph?”

Then we’re having fun with prose poetry!

“Why isn’t it just written as plain text then?”

Blank space can be a part of the poem! Poetry can also be a visual medium meant to be looked at and how space is used can also create a mood!

“What is there besides rhyme?”

Meter, rhythm, alliteration, purposeful messing about with sentence structure, limited words, density of language, following or subverting tropes, playing with the visual aspect, playing with the performance aspect, any number of other things!

“I hate this particular genre of poetry and think it shouldn’t exist”

Try reading more of it to find some good stuff or perhaps don’t claim something shouldn’t exist just because you don’t like it!

“What is a poem then? Give me a definition of what a poem is.”

What are you, a cop?

[thebrightsilverlining]

your analyzes are genuinely awesome I love reading them (especially the persona ones). I hope you have a wonderful wonderful week!

Thank you! I hope you have a wonderful week as well!

[just-shower-thoughts]

Blind people must save a lot on electricity.

[cynopansy]

They do actually!

[mauve-moth]

I had a blind professor, last semester, and I swung through his office to make up an exam. It was a while before I knew he was in there because he was sitting with the lights off. I finally went in, apologized, and took the exam by the light of a nearby window (which was fine). Forty-five minutes into dead silence he panicked and yelled in this booming voiced, “WAIT, YOU CAN SEE!!!” before diving across his desk to turn on the lights. I’m sure he was embarrassed but I thought it was endearing and it highlighted a large aspect of disabled life that I hadn’t previously considered.

[hotmolasses]

Sort of relatedly I once had professor who was deaf, but she had learned to read lips and speak so she could communicate easily with hearing people who didn’t know sign language. One day she had gotten off topic and was talking a little about her personal life, so that one of the students said “Oh, I know, I grew up in Brooklyn too.” 

She stared at him for a long time and then said “How do you know I’m from Brooklyn?”

And he said “You have a Brooklyn accent.”

She said “I do?” and the whole class nodded, and then she burst out laughing and said “I had no idea!  The school where I learned to speak was in Brooklyn.  I learned by moving my mouth and tongue the way my teachers did.  So I guess it makes sense that I have their accent, I just never thought about it.”

[wrote-my-own-deliverance]

My moms a sign language interpreter, and she’s signed with people from all over the US. According to her, when she signs with people from the south they sign with a “drawl.” They have slower hand movements and exaggerate certain parts of the sign. People from the Midwest sign very fast and people from the south sign very slow.

So we were at a restaurant once and my mom started interpreting for someone who was trying to order and she was like “oh you’re from the south!”

And they were like “how did you know that?”

And she said “you sign with a drawl.” And they were really surprised that it came through that much.

It’s really interesting that even when not speaking verbally accents and heritage come through.

[urbanfantasyinspiration]

Humans are so fucking fascinating

[faggotry-enjoyer]

@official-linguistics-post

[emo-cultist]

There’s actually some really interesting history behind signing with a southern accent! Basically, in the south, Deaf schools were also segregated, and so over time, a new dialect of ASL developed known as BASL (Black American Sign Language) and when schools integrated, BASL was introduced to the ASL lexicon in the south. Very similarly to how some aspects of AAVE developed.

BASL usually takes up a little bit more space and has more movement, but the most noticable difference is that people who use BASL will use both hands for a sign (ex: to sign “grandmother” in ASL you have an open hand with your thumb on your chin and move it forward, to sign it in BASL, it’s the same thing but with both hands, one in front of the other).

[taldigi]

domestic fluff aside, implying that the IT are no longer invested in persona bullshit and must "pass on the torch" to the PTs or must "grow out of it" is one of the worst takes when A) the shadow operatives are right there, still dealing with persona bullshit. and B) if p4a is to be believed, the TV world not only still open and abusable (unlike the dark hour or the metaverse-) but it's still crazy dangerous and needs people to check in on it.

they're scary as teens, scarier as adults- and while some of them desire or need to spend time away from inaba for some reason or another, idk if I can really believe they'd want to stay away forever.

you can't tell me that teddie doesn't receive weekly pensions from the Kirijo group in order to send in TV world status reports or that Yu doesn't scamper back first thing out of college. I think it's mentioned somewhere that Inaba had a pretty big population surge and that they had been investing in bigger community events.. once that place gets internet, shits gonna get INVESTED in-

"Oowooh, inaba is so boring weh weh" no it's not YOSUKE because everyone KNOWS you're gonna crawl your ass back there after you score your business degree and realize life is better when you don't have to work for your parents in RETAIL. Then open that niche record store that will struggle for three years as grow your hair out, then get featured on travel blogs by music nerds wherein you make enough money to not have to worry when you inevitably get into arguments with Kanji about who's online store is doing better. It's called CHARACTR DEVELOPMENT maybe you should kiss YU about it.

where was I going with this again?

[babyanimalgifs]

This is the cutest thing ever

(Source)

[titkoks]

[mybigfatgaylife]

ok I'll reblog that

[poetry-protest-pornography]

I've seen a few of this guy's videos and they're all so funny. This is probably my favorite one though.

[what-even-is-thiss]

President Joe Biden ends his 2024 bid, endorses Kamala Harris: Live updates

Democrats in Congress say it’s time for Biden to drop out of the presidential election. Meanwhile, in Michigan, Donald Trump will hold his f

Well. No idea what’s gonna happen next but here’s the news.

[justsomeskullkid]

Im not a huge fan of aspec shipping discourse but i have some strong opinions rn. So, ive come up with a hypothetical. Imagine this:

Pretend that we’re back when there was NO LGBTQ representation in media. As in, you could think of literally example of a queer character if asked. (I know LGBTQ rep is still scarce, but not as scarce as it used to be, so just pretend it is that super rare).

Lets say that there is a canonically sapphic character in a show you like, let’s say she’s a girl. You get so excited because there’s literally NO rep in any other shows you can find. Excited, you go on the internet to look for stuff about her. However, when you get onto your social media of choice, all you see is fan content shipping her with a male character.

On the surface, this is completely fine. After all, the show doesn’t exactly specify her identity, she could be bi, pan, etc. Sapphic women can like men. But, you find it odd how the only ship art is with her and a man. She had chemistry with tons of female characters, after all. Why not ship her with them? It seems telling that most people ignore her queerness and just say “sapphic women can still date men” to excuse it, despite that being true.

When you post about how frustrating it is, people start getting mad, saying that you’re gatekeeping queerness. People ignore your points and just say “but queer people can be in straight relationships” even though you know that’s true. People say that “its just fan content, let them have fun.” Most people doing the shipping aren’t even sapphic themselves.

To you, it feels like the only piece of canon representation you have is being ignored completely. You know queer people can have straight relationships, you have no issue with that. It’s the fact that people are basically treating her like a straight character and ignoring her queerness that bothers you.

This is how it feels to see people shipping aro character. I know aro people can date. I’m aro and I hope to be in a relationship someday. Some of my closest friends are aspec and are dating other aspecs. But that’s not the point.

The point is that when aspec characters become canon, which is UNBELIEVABLY RARE, so many people choose to ship them anyways. Not only this, but people’s just treat them as if they were allo, just using “aspecs can date” as a cover for completely ignoring the character’s identity. Aspec relationships have nuance. They sometimes don’t look like a “normal” allo relationship.

You can ship aspec characters respectfully. You can:

Put them in a queerplatonic relationship

Put them in a romantic relationship that doesnt involve sex (if they’re allo-ace)

Put them in a sexual relationship that doesnt involve romance (if theyre aro-allo)

Put them in a relationship that’s sexual and romantic, but acknowledge that the relationship might be different than a one between allo people

Handle the ships with nuance and understand that even in a relationship, the character still isnt allo

And most importantly, listen to aspec people when they tell you something you’re doing is inaccurate or harmful.

Sorry for the rant but just… please listen to aspec people!!! We deserve good representation too

[aromanticofficial]

official aromantic post

[lumileil]

Cinderella in her original colour palette and pose but in my style

[prof-grace-aspen]

Look.

I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.

People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".

These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.

If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.

[catboymistyquigley-deactivated2]

if you want to vote for a third party, what you are going to do is vote for biden in november 2024 and then as soon as that’s done, start trying to get ranked choice voting in your state

we will ALWAYS be a two party system until voting reform happens, and voting reform won’t happen if project 2025 happens.

suck it up and vote biden, then put the next four years to good use

[prof-grace-aspen]

^^^

[bonesandthebees]

the twitter/tumblr divide has never felt more real than seeing twitter users get mad over the fact that their likes are private now meanwhile when tumblr introduced the mere option to make likes public the website rioted

[justpastryvideos]

x

[kiragecko]

[Video shows a person decorating a cake. The icing is a gradient of white to purple. It has decorative swirls of mixed black, white, and purple, as well as white shells, and purple and black ruffled streamers. One side has “i’d rather eat cake” in black cursive, with a line of black hearts going around the rest of the cake.

Voiceover: “As highly requested, here is a cake for all of my ace followers. A lot of you were saying an ace cake would be perfect for this series because of ‘all the memes, all the memes’ and I was like, ‘oh my gosh, what. are. the. memes?’

“And so I looked it up, and you’re totally right, I could not have missed this one. And also, wait to the end, because I added an extra special message just for you.

“A lot of you have expressed feeling sometimes overlooked by the queer community, or underrepresented during pride month, and I think you’re absolutely right! There’s not as much representation for the letters that come after L, G, B, T, but I do think it’s amazing how your community, in particular, has been able to stand up and be seen, especially on the internet, despite not seeing a lot of yourself in mainstream culture. So keep being you, the world needs you, and I hope this cake can brighten up your morning, and have a great day.”

End ID.]

[thebrightsilverlining]

If I can't find a workaround to trigger the old Chrome UI in the next day I think I will officially change over to Firefox. Is it silly that, out of all the issues with Chrome, this is what gets me to leave? Yes. But that just goes to show how important good UI design is.

[kaelio]

Saying "voting doesn't matter" might reach your younger peers online but it certainly hasn't reached Clangus Hargbarg who was part of the kkk in 1951 and still sends in his ballot. He hasn't missed a one.

[seymour-butz-stuff]