JapanSugoi

Learning the Japanese language for fun, travel or work can be very rewarding. It’s not an easy language to learn, but one you’ve mastered the basics of kanji, katakana and hiragana, you’ll find it easy going if you continue your studies. For complete beginners, check out our extensive Learn Japanese section or our Learning Japanese category posts below where we’ve collected some instructional videos and online games and tools to help you.

At Japansugoi, we’ve included Japanese characters whenever we mention names of idols, celebrities, TV shows and places in our posts. To get the best experience in learning, make some new Japanese friends or do some language exchange with over 300,000 Japanese members at our own Japansugoi Friends community.

The new year is time for new year’s resolutions. Learning Japanese is certainly what many people (who read this blog) want to do but never get round to doing. To start the new year, we are encouraging those readers who want to learn with an easy lesson. According the the folks at travellinguist, there are 10 survival words/phrases you need to know especially when traveling in Japan. These include

Hello. Konnichiwa

Goodbye. Sayonara,

How are you? OGenki desu ka,

Very well, and you? Genki desu anata wa?

Thank you. Arigato

You’re Welcome. Do Itashimashite

Do you speak English? Eigo ga hanemasu ka?

What is your name? O namae wa nan desu ka?

Excuse me. Sumimasen

Where is the bathroom? Ote ara wa dochira desu ka?

Here is the video to help you pronounce the words/phrases correctly. Also check our our learning Japanese section for more tips and practice your Japanese with your new Japanese friends from our Japansugoi Friends community

Most visitors to Tokyo who have some time will probably make the visit to the famous onsen (hot springs) area of Hakone. Besides the hotels and traditional Ryokan (Japanese inns), one place to have fun is at Hakone Kowakien Yunessuni a unique blend of traditional Japanese onsen and water recreation services and activities.

Warau Inu 笑う犬の冒険 (Warau Inu no Bōken; Adventures of a Laughing Dog) is a classic Japanese TV ensemble comedy featuring comedy groups Utchan Nanchan, Neptune and with revolving cast members such as female comedy duo Othello オセロ and idol/talento Becky. If you’re beyond learning basic Japanese, watching these hilarious skits will teach you real Japanese and how the Japanese interact with each other.

Warau Inu comedy sketches

“I am a salaryman” panties and the bomb skit

In the following clip from Japanese TV, an old lady is interviewed about her pet tree sparrow who has apparently learned to say some words in Japanese. The sparrow has learned to say its own name Chibi-chan meaning “little one” as well as the very common phrases Irasshai (welcome), ohayo (good morning and kawaii (cute).

C’mon if a sparrow can say a few words, you can learn Japanese too!

We previously mentioned that reading Japanese websites was a good way to improve your Japanese. A very good dictionary/translation tool we recommend is Rikai.com. This brilliant site is a fantastic tool for many people learning Kanji but haven’t quite got it down yet. At their website, just type in the website URL you want translated and have the kanji translated for you in English and also its meaning in hiragana or katakana. There’s a bonus for Firefox users as there are 2 plugins (RikaiXUL or RikaiChan) so you don’t have to access the Rikai site directly for translations.

Rikai.com also translates backward (English to Japanese) and also in other languages (Chinese to English, English to Spanish)

We’ve previously featured a great online game to learn Japanese characters from Purdue university here.

We’ve also recently found an excellent online game from Dragon Media where you guess the correct pronunciation of each syllable by either clicking on the appropriate buttons or by typing in the your answer.  There are 4 basic sections, basic Hiragana and Katakana, Dakuten forms, Maru forms and Glides and if you need help, there is a very handy HINT button you can always press.

For more resources on learning Japanese check out our Learn Japanese section or read all posts regarding learning Japanese.

Next time you chat online with your Japanese friends, you can impress them with your knowledge of Japanese characters.