Tips of HOW to learn JAPANESE GRAMMAR

Some people may think that Japanese grammar is not that difficult because it does not have so many tenses like English, however, the problem is Japanese grammar has tons of structures to learn and remembering all of them is not an easy task. So today, we would like to share some tips of how to learn Japanese grammar to help you learn Japanese grammar better.

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1 - Getting Suitable Books

Getting appropriate books is important to learn a new language, especially learning grammar. And by saying "appropriate books" or "suitable books", it means that we cannot just learn Japanese grammar from some random books. We need something that can guide us through this difficult learning Japanese journey. Its hard to define "suitable books" for everybody since each person may have different preferences, so in this case, we will recommend some of popular Japanese learning books:

     a) Minna no Nihongo

This one is probably one of the most common Japanese learning books as it is used in almost all curriculums, Universities, schools, Japanese learning center, .etc... The book, or books serie to be more precise, provide 50 lessons in total and it covers Japanese grammar level from beginner to intermediate (N5 - about N3). We could say the books serie provide somewhat standard learning structure with lots of exercises and English translations. Another choice would be Shin Nihongo no Kiso and it also has the similar structure to Minna no Nihongo so it is also a close choice.

     b) Japanese the Manga Way

This one is very interesting, especially for those who interested in manga. Different from standard Japanese learning structure, Japanese the Manga Way delivers the lessons in form of... manga, just like its name suggests. To be more details, each lesson will deliver knowledge through scenes just like in manga. Also there are romaji form of written Japanese above, along with word-on-word translations and English translation version of the sentences. And of course there are grammar and vocabulary explaination. If you do not like to learn in old school style, this one should give you a new approach to learn Japanese grammar.

     c) Genki

Genki is probably the most popular Japanese learning book nowadays, and yes it is really good at it. Each lesson from the book comprises of 2 sections: Conversation - Grammar and Reading - Writing, along with many exercises to practice. The Conversation - Grammar is pretty well done as grammar structures are showed in the real-life conversation. Overall, Genki is recommended by many people and it is also recommended for people who wish to learn Japanese alone.

2 - Enroll in a Japanese class

Enrolling in a Japanese class does not necessary means that you have to enroll in a real-class, you could also join online class. This tip is ideal for beginners because most beginners will likely to get lost during their Japanese learning journey, therefore, a guide hand is important to assist them until they are familiar with Japanese and be able to learn alone. Some people may wonder whether real-life class is better than online class, and vice-versa. To answer this question, we have to say there is no common answer for it. For those who have time and want to have assistance from real people, it is recommended to enroll in a real-life class. But for those who prefer to self-study then having online course is probably better choice as it will require more effort and self-determination. Afterall, it is still a good idea to have a Japanese class for beginners, whether getting an online course or enrolling a real-life class is a matter of needs.

3 - Practice Japanese writing

Writing will require a firm foundation of grammar, and of course, if we think about it, writing is also a good way to learn grammar. So how to practice Japanese writing you may ask? Actually it is very simple. There are many ways to practice Japanese writing, and one of the simpliest ways is to write diary in Japanese. Just start writing diary with basic grammar structures, then when we learn more complicated structures, we can gradually apply what we have learned in writing diary. However, just to make sure that you have some Japanese document to compare in order to check your Japanese grammar. Since probably we don't want to show our diary to other people easily so it is a good idea to have something to compare grammar.

4 - Try to work hard on exercises

This one is more like an advice than a tip, however, we have to say in order to learn Japanese grammar, doing exercises is extremely important. If we want to remember a grammar structure, we will need to practice it. The more we practice, the better we remember it. Of course when saying this, we don't mean that we must focus on doing exercises because it will distract us from learning other Japanese language skills. Keep it balance, but don't get lazy, afterall, we can be pretty lazy when it comes to doing exercises.

So those are the tips of how to learn Japanese grammar! Some of us may want to listen to the best way to learn Japanese grammar, but as we mentioned before, it will depend on each person's needs and preferences. The best way can only be found when we get serious. Stay tune, have fun and good luck in your Japanese learning journey!

Source: Blog Akirademy

Interesting lesson from Japanese manga - Doraemon

Doraemon is a Japanese manga series created by Hiroshi Fujimoto, which later became an anime series and an Asian franchise. The series is about a robotic cat named Doraemon, who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a schoolboy, Nobita Nobi. A majority of Doraemon episodes are comedies with moral lessons regarding values such as: family, real life, courage,…

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1. Good guy has both good appearance and intelligence

The choice of the girls has always been the guy who had good appearance and intelligence. Therefore, Dekhi has won the hearts of Shizuka. Despite Nobita always are bursting with envy, and takes every skill games but Shizuka still close to Dekhi. So, he should be hard to “repair his head” if not all day whining F.A (forever-alone).

2. Power of money

2. 

Without this condition, then if you wanted to impress a girl, you must have lots of money. Look at Suneo, though he is short and pointed beak but his friends always make voluntary to play with him (because of his attractive toy). Although not self-earned money, Suneo is very intelligent to take full advantage of his parent’s richness. In the real life, money is a magnet which attracting both girls and boys.

3. Never stop dreaming

Doraemon pulls many fantastic gadgets out of his magical pouch, and their function tends to not make very much sense, but they serve to inspire imagination. Doraemon’s creator Fujimoto once stated that his stories are meant to expand a child’s imagination. Many of Doraemon’s adventures are based on dreams and imagination, which will inspire you to dream big too.

Never stop dreaming

4. Might is right

The strong are always right, they have power and they can do whatever they want. Look at Giant - who make his friend self-conscious and frightened because of his power.

Giant is clear evidence for " Might is right"

5. Be friendly and intelligent

Doraemon is very friendly and intelligent, not to mention long-suffering because of Nobita’s antic. In the real life, people usually think of the bad behavior of others. So if you follow Doraemon’s habits, you will focus on other’s good point and have better relationship

Doraemon is a good-hearted robotic cat.

6. In this world, there is no perfect person

Anyone have weaknesses, including superheroes. If you take advantage of the gap, you will easily intimidate the enemy. The proof is that despite dozens property security context but Doraemon has a maintained fearful of the mouse. And that's always loopholes for Nobita to indulge his hobby.

Doraemon has a special place in everyone’s heart. This Japanese manga is not only bring me back to old memorises but also give me the good lesson that i will never forget.

Source: Blog Akirademy

5 RECOMMENDED WEBSITES to learn JAPANESE LISTENING

Commonly people will try to search for books and CD to practice Japanese listening skill. However, beside finding books and CD outside, we can always look for Japanese listening materials through the vast pool of information on the Internet. This time, we would like to share 5 recommended websites to learn listening Japanese.

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1 - Youtube

Talking about websites for Japanese listening skill, many people may only focus on the websites dedicated only to Japanese learning. But as the matter of fact, entertainment websites such as Youtube, one of the most popular video websites, can also be much helpful for learning listening Japanese. On Youtube you can find pretty much everything you need to learn Japanese, from music to Japanese learning video, and even film, movie or anime. As for listening Japanese, there are several good channels and videos such as Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com or JapanSocietyNYC, all provide good contents and illustrative presentations. Because listening Japanese also means that we have to be able to listen to daily-life, real-life conversation, it is best to look for real-life context materials. And on Youtube, you can find lots of them. Even though Youtube is a good source for listening Japanese learning, the downside is that you have to dive in this enormous information source, so you might get confused during the searching period for the best-fit materials for you.

2 - NHK

In the previous post, we recommended NHK for Japanese beginners, and this time around it is a good idea to bring it out again. As we shared, NHK, or NHK World (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai - Japan Broadcasting Corporation), is originally an international broadcasting service, Japan’s public broadcaster. NHK World provides 48 lessons in total, each lesson is delivered through audio file so it is suitable for both studying Japanese and Japanese listening at the same time. The lessons' topics are varied, from University, dormitory to Japanese culture, shopping, .etc..., all lessons are well presented and it is best-suit for beginners. Another special trait of NHK is that since it is public broadcaster, you can always find interesting news, information, knowledge about Japan and its culture. If you are in advanced level, it is recommended to check out NHK website in Japanese. 

3 - FluentU

Even though we covered FluentU in previous post, it would be a waste if we do not mention it this time. FluentU is famous for its language learning service, but what makes it special is the way it delivers the knowledge. Unlike normal method which is offering lessons, each lesson has a topic and specific knowledge, and after that doing the exercise, FluentU utilizes the advantage of audio, video to help people learn new language, in this case is Japanese, in the best way possible. FluentU provides a wide range of videos, vary from entertaining videos to news, discovery videos. Each videos have Japanese subtitles and we can always check out the definitions and usages of the new words. Also there are tons of  videos which surround real world stories, knowledge. After all, isn't it fun to watch the videos you want alongside with learning about Japan and Japanese listening skill?

4 - Crunchyroll

Some people may know this website, Crunchyroll is in fact a website about anime and manga, and many people may wonder: "What is anime website doing in here?". For people who may not think about it, anime can helps a lot in learning Japanese listening. If we search Google for "learning Japanese through anime" or "learning Japanese listening through anime" or anything similar, we can actually find a lot of results. For anime or manga or Japan lovers, anime is a good approach to learn Japanese in general and Japanese listening in particular. Crunchyroll has a enourmous storage of anime and it is constantly updated, and it can be easily accessed with a small fee of 6.95$ per month. Besides Crunchyroll, there are many other websites which offer similar service. Some pages may even offer service for free, however they are not recommended.

5 - JapaneseTest4You

Unlike the 4 recommended websites above, JapaneseTest4You focuses on JLPT tests and exercises so for people who are trying hard to be able to take on JLPT exam, this one is suitable for their needs. This website has tons of exercises for JLPT listening practice, from JLPT N5 to N1. You can do the exercises directly on its website, it provides answers and the transcripts so that you can always be able to check the results. Besides Japanese listening materials, it also has exercises and tests for grammar, reading, kanji, vocabulary. In overall, JapaneseTest4You offers good exercises and tests for JLPT training, the only downside though is that the website looks a little bit plain so it may not appeal to you at the first glance.

So those are 5 RECOMMENDED WEBSITES to learn JAPANESE LISTENING. Good luck and have fun in your Japanese learning journey!

 Source: Blog Akirademy

How to learn 1000 kanji in 2 month

Japanese is a very unique language for several reasons. It has a different sentence order (subject object verb) than most other major languages. It has three different writing systems, too – hiragana, katakana, and kanji. For some people kanji is nightmare, I mean who like to memorize 2000+ symbols to support for learning a language ? Whatever you like or don’t like kanji, here some tips for you to learn 1000 kanji in 2 months.

• 5 things may distract you when learning japanese online
• 3 tips for choosing online japanese course
• 5 Recommended JAPANESE LESSONS WEBSITES for beginners

How NOT to Learn the Kanji

Before we get into my system, I should clarify some ineffective kanji study methods. Your Japanese teacher, Japanese friend, study buddy, etc. may very well encourage you to do one or all of the following. Don’t listen to them.

1.Stroke by Stroke

This is how a lot of Japanese classes will encourage you to learn the kanji. That’s because they teach kanji in the same way that Japanese children learn them—stroke by stroke, over the course of 10+ years.

There’s another word for this method: masochism.

Seriously, this is torture. I’m not saying it’s impossible to learn this way. I’m just saying that it wastes an unbelievable amount of time.

Are you scared to learn kanji ?

2. Learning Each Kanji as a Whole

Kanji are made up of parts… and those parts have meaning. So you should learn the parts first, then the kanji as a whole.

3.Using Only 1 Kanji Study Tool

A lot of people will write books and blog posts and just about anything you can think of in which they tell you about “the best, fastest, most awesome way to learn the kanji”…which, as coincidence would have it, is their way. Not only that, but pay us money for it, too.

No!

There are a ton of useful kanji study tools and methods out there. But the only way to learn kanji fast and effectively is to combine the best methods into one super-method. And that’s what this 97-Day Kanji Challenge is all about: an amalgamation of the best tools and tactics available for learning kanji.

How You SHOULD Learn the Kanji

1. Learn the Ways of the  部首(ぶしゅ)

Kanji can be pretty formidable beasts if you try to take them down all at once, but if you break them down into smaller pieces they are a lot easier to learn. A lot of kanji (but not all kanji) can be broken down into smaller pieces called kanji radicals or 部首(ぶしゅ) in Japanese.

Learning series of kanji

2. Learn Kanji in Compounds

It is a lot easier for you to internalize a kanji’s meaning if you learn it through compounds (two or more kanji used together to form a word). This way it will give you a general feeling of how that kanji is used. This is especially true for more complicated (N3+) kanji that have more abstract meanings.

3. Learn Kanji Separately

Huh? Wait you just told me to learn them in compounds. Yes, I did, but taking a little bit of time to learn them separately and study their general meanings can also be beneficial. This is because it will help you be able to recognize words that you haven’t learned yet in the reading sections of the test.

New words that you have never seen before are very common on N2 and above. These words are typically glossed with a definition in Japanese, but it will be quicker and easier if you can glance at them and give a best guess. Time is really important in the reading sections of the higher tests, so any time you can shave off some time, it will pay huge dividends.

4. Practice Calligraphy or Simply just Writing Kanji

This technique is not for everyone. There are a lot of people who pick up kanji relatively well and have little need for writing the kanji because they will be using a computer or cell phone to write Japanese most of the time. It really has the biggest benefit for those who want to be able to write Japanese as well as read.

Having said that though, it can be beneficial in that it will help you see the difference between similar looking kanji or 似ている漢字, which you’ll be tested over in the second kanji section of the test.

You can go to a real Japanese calligraphy class if you happen to be in Japan. There is also Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun for DS (for any region) that does something similar for all 2000 of the joyo (common use) kanji.

That’s all what you should and shouldn’t learn kanji. After 2 months, you possible learn 1000 kanji or just not scared at kanji at all. But for now, why not check our websites for more learning Japanese online!

Source: Blog Akirademy

Amazing Tips to Learn to Speak Japanese for Kids

Japanese is becoming more and more popular nowadays, and there is no wonder why so many people want to learn Japanese, even kids. But learn to speak Japanese for kids is not an easy thing to do. Therefore, we would like to share some tips to help kids learn to speak Japanese better.

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1 - Have a Japanese speaker at home

Kids learn new language by hearing and speaking

For most of the time, kids learn new language not just by learning the knowledge, but also by hearing, or to be more precisely, copying what people tell them. So in this case, it is always a good idea to have a Japanese speaker at home so that kids can talk and learn to speak Japanese at the same time with them. You will be surprised of its effect. Yes, it is also not a easy thing to have a Japanese speaker at home, however, if you are parents or brother or sister, you should try to learn Japanese alongside with the kids. Isn't it more interesting to learn new language with someone at home?

2 - Create a Japanese speaking environment

In order to learn to speak Japanese for kids, having an Japanese speaking environment is extremely important. As we mentioned above, kids does not only learn a new language through getting knowledge but also copying from other people. So if kids can learn to speak Japanese in a Japanese speaking environment, kids can absolutely learn to speak Japanese faster. This does not mean that all family members have to be able to speak Japanese or have to learn Japanese alongside with kids. The simpliest way is sending kids to Japanese learning center or class, Japanese learning center can provides 2 things: Japanese speaking environment, and teachers who can correct the kids everytime they make mistake. Overall it is a good way to learn to speak Japanese for kids.

3 - Visit Japan at least once

Fuji moutain is one of the most beautiful place in japan.

Visiting Japan is always a good idea since it is a wonderful country with fascinating culture, technologies, and cuisine. When kids come to Japan, they are not only get used to the real-life Japanese conversations but they also get to see Japanese's usage in reality.  What can be more exciting to learn to speak Japanese by living in the Japanese speaking society itself?

So those are some tips to learn to speak Japanese for kids! Stay tune, good luck and have fun in your Japanese learning journey!

Source: Blog Akirademy

50 most commonly used kanji in Japan

Are you learning Japanese ? Are you little overwhelmed about kanji as there are more than a thousand of them? Do not worry, here is a list of 50 most commonly used kanji in Japanese you should make reference. Wish you like it !

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1. Commonly used kanji about Number

one	一
two	二
three	三
four	四
five	五
six	六
seven	七
eight	八
nine	九
ten	十
hundred	百
thousand	千
ten thousand	万

Number in japanese kanji is very interesting !

2. Commonly used kanji about Position and Comparison

top	上
below	下
left	左
right	右
inside	中
large	大
small	小
previous	先
next	次
before	前
after	後

3. Commonly used kanji about Time

time	時間
month	月
hour	時
minute	分
day	日
week	週
year	年
late	遅い
early	早い
morning	朝
evening	夕
afternoon	午後
night	夜
second	秒

Fuji moutain is ふじ山 in japanese

4, Commonly used kanji about Natural world

mountain	山
river	川
soil	土
sky	空
heaven	天
stone	石
gold	金
water	水
fire	火
rain	雨
rice field	田
tree	木
woods	林
forest	森
flower	花
grass	草
bamboo	竹

5, Commonly used kanji about People and easy animal

man	男
woman	女
person	人
child	子
boy	男の子
girl	女の子
king	王
insect	虫
dog	犬
shellfish	貝
rice field	田
tree	木
woods	林
forest	森
flower	花
grass	草
bamboo	竹

As you can see, this 50 commonly used kanji are very simple and some of them are kanji radical. Just know about 214 traditional kanji radical, you can learn a lot of commonly used kanji. So easy, right ?

Source: blog.akirademy.com