Korean Job Discussion Forums

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

There was a thread not that long ago about something or other that descended in to which is more difficult to learn: Korean or Japanese. I can't find that thread to ask this so I thought I'd start a new thread. Can anyone recommend any Japanese textbooks? I'd like to start eventually taking lessons, but I'd like to start working on some of the basics now. I checked in Kyobo the other day for textbooks and there were very few. Any recommendations for dictionaries? Are there any classes for Japanese in the Seoul/Gyeonggi-do area or should I be looking at finding a language exchange/tutor?

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

Bump. Anyone tried learning Japanese whilst living in Korea? Any recommendations for books?

oskinny1 · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Location: Right behind you!

Try downloading Pimsleur for your listening needs. It will help you pick up some of the basics.

I took a class while in Japan and we used these books. The yellow one is an English translation of the orange book (books 4 and 3 in the list)

If you need to learn the alphabets, just make flashcards. I learned 10 a day while I was training it around town, they are just as easy as hangul, just more of them to remember.

Dixon · Joined: 30 Dec 2009

Check out alljapaneseallthetime, kanji koohii, anki and smart.fm. There, you can now study to complete fluency for free.

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

NovaKart · Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Location: Iraq

This site is good

www.japanese-online.com

You have to register but it's free. They have lots of example sentences but you have to already know hiragana and katakana. They also use kanji but they have the hiragana in parenthesis.

andrewchon · Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:02 pm Post subject:

I go to these sites:
http://japanese.about.com for grammar and kanji
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/pc/aesop/index.html for reading, listening to Aesop's Fables written in Japanese
http://language.tiu.ac.jp for reading

You can also install KeyHoleTV and watch/listen to some Japanese TV and Radio on your computer (free).
GenkiJapan site has some fun beginners videos.
Ken Tanaka has some hilarious (to me) videos on YouTube

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

Thanks for the suggestions. All very helpful.

Dixon · Joined: 30 Dec 2009

Young FRANKenstein · Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:22 pm Post subject:

I've used the various Minna no Nihongo books and workbooks as well as the Japanese for Busy People series. Good for quick lessons.

There is another one to help you learn hiragana and katakana, but the name escapes me now (it's in my office). It's a Korean text, though, and uses pictures to help learn both alphabets. I'll post again when I go to my office and get the name of the textbook.

lost at sea · Joined: 27 Nov 2009

I have studied Japanese for 4 years in university and for the past 2 years on my own. I also studied for one year at tokyo university of foreign studies.

I have experience with every book and site listed so far and I can say a few of them are pretty good but the rest are next to useless.

Learning kanji from the heiseg book is, 'mehhhhhh' in my opinion. Well, learning kanji from any book is next to useless. It's easy to spend 5 hours memorizing a single kanji and each of its 2-13 readings. It's another thing to be able to use those kanji and meanings correctly, and a whole other thing to be able to look a ta sentence and read the kanji.

I believe it's best to learn kanji in context and not study them individually (or, very little individual study if any at all).

The best way to do this is not available in any book to
my knowledge. I have tried a good number of books and websites and software. The best way to study kanji and vocabulary at the same time is available from a nice little website. The website is readthekanji. It used to be open and free for everyone, but a few months ago it became a pay site. However all old accounts were grandfathered into life accounts so I ended up with 2 life accounts.

It's really a great website that prepares you using the JLPT kanji and vocabulary lists. You can adjust your level. If you're not too serious about studying, there is a free 'alright' application out there. It's available on Facebook. It's called Kanjibox. Look it up~ it also prepares you for the JLPT, but it's not as effective in my opinion. There is not much context available and you seem to rely on multile choice test taking skills rather than language skills to answer many questions, but readthekanji is not multiple choice, so it makes you use your memory and recall skills. It's much better.

http://readthekanji.com/

http://kanjistory.com/kanjibox-for-iphone/
http://apps.facebook.com/kanjibox/

As for textbooks, the most common books used in universities are Genki, minna no nihongo and yookoso. I have used all 3. Tokyo university of foreign studies uses minna no nihongo and I think it's a fairly good book. You can buy it in Yongsan at the daekyo book store as well. They have a bunch of Japanese books there. The textbook comes down to what kind of learning is best for you. I personally learn better by seeing grammar forms and memorization which MNN is good for.

http://www.thejapanshop.com/home.php?cat=311
http://www.thejapanshop.com/home.php?cat=270

I don't recommend yookoso. It's quite outdated in my opinion and it uses a method of romanization that is uncommon.

Rosetta Stone is another mehhhh, in my opinion. I am about to finish work, but maybe I will post some more info later. If anyone is interested they can pm me or something.