In the last few years there have been quite a few tools coming out to help students learn Japanese. One of my favorites is Rikaichan. Rikaichan is an add-on for Firefox that will give you the readings and definitions for Japanese characters when you mouse over them. It is a great tool for anyone learning Japanese or for someone who wants to read a Japanese website.

But what about a way to learn Japanese when you are reading websites in English? That’s where Kanjilish comes in. It is another add-on for Firefox that, when active, changes the first letter of English words into the equivalent Japanese Kanji. For example, the word “new” will become “新ew”.

Now to be honest I wasn’t really thrilled with this idea. I felt it is better to learn Japanese by studying Japanese. However, after a recommendation from @zirchi  on twitter, I gave it a try. It turns out it is a great way to review the meanings of Kanji and a great companion to Remember the Kanji.

Kanjilish gives you options of which word meanings you would like to choose based on a few popular systems, Kanji in Context, Remembering the Kanji, KanjiDic, and remembering Traditional Hanzi.

The only bad thing I have to say about it, is that it does require slightly longer for pages to load. Not ridiculously long, but longer.

Give it a try and let me know what you think. Combined with Remembering the Kanji and Rikaichan, I think it’s a pretty good tool for learning Japanese.

Kanjilish

Since the current release of Chrome doesn’t handle plugins you will need to install the beta. It will ask you to do this if you try and install the plugin.  Give it a try and let me know what you think. I’ve got it downloaded and it seems to work just fine. In fact it was easier than Rikaichan because all I needed to do was one click.

Rikaikun Plugin

When it comes to learning Japanese, pride is the enemy. The more pride you have the slower your progress learning Japanese will be. The main reason for this is that pride limits your ability to learn new Japanese material and ask lots of questions. It usually gets worse the higher your level of Japanese goes. The higher someone’s level gets the more expectations the student puts on their Japanese and become embarrassed if they don’t know something. There are two simple steps you can take to keep yourself asking lots of questions and constantly learning.

Think of yourself as a beginner

If you always think of yourself as a beginner then it is easy to ask lots of questions. You also won’t worry about making mistakes (something that is a natural part of learning Japanese). If people feel you are eager to learn they will also be more likely to correct your errors, helping you improve even quicker.

Don’t give yourself any expectations

The second step is to keep expectations out of your language learning, especially expectations that you should know certain words. I have been studying Japanese for quite a few years and still come across new “basic” words all the time. Realising it’s okay to not know these words makes it easy for me to ask what they mean and how to use them.

The Best Language Learners

The best Japanese speakers I know work really hard to learn Japanese, and they love to study and to practice speaking. However, they also consider themselves novices in the language. While they have the confidence to speak, they are not afraid to ask questions and learn something new. In fact, they love finding new words and phrases they didn’t know. Don’t let your pride slow down your progress.

When it comes to studying it is easy to be lazy. It’s both easy to skip study sessions and to only study half-heatedly. Obviously both of these are counter-productive to learning Japanese. Since advanced Japanese grammar is based on the basics, you need to study often to keep them fresh in your mind. I have found that the best way to break bad habits is to create good ones.

Creating good study habits

To make sure that you continue with good habits make sure they are as easy to complete as possible. In the case of Japanese, it is important that you study often. If your Japanese study time is competing with TV time or going out with friends, you are a lot less likely to choose studying. Allotting time slots into your schedule for Japanese study will help make sure they don’t get passed up.

Since emergencies can always happen (and they always seem to), you should also create a backup plan. For instance, if you weren’t able to study in the afternoon during your regular study time because of an emergency business meeting, you can study the first thing when you get home. The back up plan makes sure that you don’t forget to study when you are the busiest.

Make Japanese Study Fun

I mentioned in yesterday’s article Learning To Hear Japanese that studying Japanese should be fun. Choose study materials that interests you and dig into topics in Japanese that you find fascinating. If you like tennis then find as many materials about tennis as possible. If you love the topics you are using to study Japanese, it stops feeling like studying. You are much more likely to get started each day if you are looking forward to it.

Give yourself Rewards

We are great at training our kids and pets using positive reinforcement. When a child does something we like we give them sweats or take them to play. For some reason though, we stop doing this once we become adults. Well, it’s time to pick it up again. You will be more likely to study hard if you know you will be rewarded for it. Your reward can be anything from buying something you wanted to a cup of coffee to going somewhere you want to go. The point is that you are getting something you enjoy for studying hard.

There are two keys to making rewards encourage better habits. The first is that you can’t cheat. If you don’t study then don’t give yourself a reward. This also goes if you didn’t complete your full study time. The second is that the rewards should be in proportion to your accomplishments. A reward for keeping your study schedule for a month should be bigger than the reward you give yourself after studying 30 minutes.

New Habits

In the beginning it may be difficult to stay on track. If you get thrown off your schedule then just keep getting back on. After you have managed to stay on track for a while, it will stop seeming difficult and just feel like part of your daily routine. And remember, the best time to start your new schedule is right now.

The brains ability to tune out various sounds and distractions is very helpful when you are trying to focus on something. However, it becomes a problem when your brain tunes out the thing you are trying to focus on. When it comes to learning Japanese, your brain can be quite lazy. Training your brain to recognize Japanese (rather than ignore it) will help you learn Japanese quicker.

Choose Interesting Materials

Learning a language should be fun. Learning Japanese is not an exception. One of the easiest ways to make learning Japanese easier is to choose materials that you are interested in. This works well because the part of your brain that views learning Japanese as work and wants to tune it out is overridden by the part that is interested in the chosen topic.

I am very interested in cars. So while it can be difficult for me to focus on an outdated Japanese greetings video, I have no problem gluing myself to the screen to watch Japanese TV shows about cars. I will also watch it again and again to make sure I understand. Not just because I want to learn Japanese, but also because I want to see the car videos again.

It is important that you study all of the most common Japanese words and phrases, but I have never really found this to be a problem when using “topical” Japanese when studying.  You will still learn the basics, as well as the special words used within your field of interest. Choose topics that interest you and learning Japanese seems a lot more fun. Tim Ferris of The 4 Hour Work Week, who speaks several languages, gives also uses this method when learning languages.

Repetitive Focus Sessions

This method is a little harder and feels more like work, but quite useful. When you first start learning Japanese your brain doesn’t immediately recognize Japanese words and tunes them out (even though you may understand). By completely focusing your attention on listening you will realize that you can actually understand. As you do this repeatedly, you start to hear words and recognize meanings rather than just sounds. Each time you understand is like a light bulb going off inside your head. That feeling is quite rewarding.

Intensively focusing can be quite tiring, so I recommend that you do this in short sessions. Practice for a bit and then take a break. However, like anything, the more time you spend with the material the easier it gets.

I am currently learning to play the sanshin, a traditional 3 string instrument of Okinawa. I am also learning to sing traditional folk songs of Miyakojima宮古民謡（みやこみんよう）. Since Miyako”go”, or Japanese spoken in Miyako is so different and unrecognizable (even to native Japanese) this is the method I use to learn the words. It’s kind of like learning to sing in another language without understanding the language…at all. When I listen to the songs my brain wants to focus on other things. So I have to “train” my brain to pay attention by really focusing. Eventually my mind starts focusing on the words rather than tuning them out. It just takes a little bit of time.

Learning and communicating in a new language is a great experience. I can still remember the first time I really engaged in Japanese conversation. It was like I had passed through some invisible barrier. But what if you are traveling to Japan before you have had a chance to study much Japanese or need to get a point across you just don’t know the Japanese words for? The answer is actually easier than you might think. Do your best with Japanese and use simple, clear English where you don’t know the Japanese.

Japanese people are required to study English for 6 years in school. The problem is that the English teaching is focused on passing grammar tests rather than actually communicating. Since most of the English teachers are Japanese, they also don’t get the chance to hear English from native speakers. They do however learn a pretty large vocabulary.

So how does knowing this help you communicate in Japan?

1. Most Japanese people understand grammar and have a large vocabulary, but don’t have much listening practice. Speak very clearly, use simple sentence structures, and be sure to leave small pauses in between each word.
2. If you understand the Japanese alphabet pronounce the words using the Japanese syllables. For instance: hotel becomes “hoteru”.
3. Lastly, if you are not able to get your point across verbally, write it down.

* The article was rewritten due to the original being lost due to a problem with the server. It is basically the same, but the wording may be slightly different.

Unfortunately, I had a hacker attack my server and have lost a few posts. On the good side, I am currently trying out a very similar program called Anki. Once I have spent a little more time with it, I will review both and write another post on how to best use them. In the meantime please feel free to sign up to my rss feed to make sure you don’t miss the post!

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Let’s face it. You can only remember so much. The more you study the more you will remember, but you only have so much time. When it comes to learning Japanese, or any language for that matter, there is a lot to learn. You need to remember hundreds and eventually thousands of Japanese words, grammatical structures, and pronunciations. Not to mention kanji for those who want to be able to read and write. It can all seem a bit overwhelming at times. Especially if you are just getting started. The key is to be selective in what you learn.

When I decided I wanted to study in Japan, I tried to learn every single Japanese word and phrase I could. I figured I would tackle learning Japanese through pure quantity. This was a huge mistake. Having a large vocabulary is very important to speak a language fluently, but I wasn’t very selective in my learning. I would study every word that I came across regardless of how rare or useless it might be. I spent a lot of hours studying, but my level of Japanese didn’t improve very much. Basically, I had learned a bunch of Japanese words I couldn’t use. Since I couldn’t use them often, I also forgot them quickly.

So what should you do with words that you are unlikely to use or at least don’t need to use for a while? I recommend two options. The first is to skip them completely. This will help you free up time to learn words that will help you get speaking sooner. The second method is to write them down as you come across them in a dedicated notebook. You still won’t study them, but you will have them written down to study them at a later date when you decide you need to learn more advanced words.

When I first started doing this I felt guilty. Like I was taking the easy road, and that I wouldn’t get good at Japanese if I didn’t learn all I could. What if I needed this word down the road or couldn’t communicate well because I didn’t now advanced vocabulary. Luckily, I was completely wrong. Since I was studying less material and had more time to practice material I would actually use, my Japanese improved much faster. There were times (many times) that I couldn’t understand certain words, but it never stopped me from communicating well. Once I had the basics down strong, picking up new words as I came by them naturally was pretty easy. The confidence I gained in my Japanese ability helped me even more.

The entire first year that I studied Japanese I didn’t really learn much. As I mentioned in the free E-book 5 Tips to Learn Japanese Faster, a big part of this was due to the use of bad materials. Another big reason was that I didn’t really have a strong reason or goal for studying Japanese. I had an interest in Japan, martial arts, and the samurai. And I needed to take a foreign language. Unfortunately, these were not strong enough goals to to push me to focus on Japanese. It was only enough to keep me enjoying it and moving along at the slow pace of the class.

It wasn’t until I decided that I would study abroad in Japan and may want to work there someday that I really took studying Japanese seriously. Realizing I would be moving to Japan also helped me set goals to work towards. I wanted to learn to converse in basic conversation and learn at least a certain amount of kanji. Once I decided to work in Japan, I set new goals. Learning more Japanese words, more phrases, and more kanji.

These goals were attainable because they were very clear and also important to me. To gain a level of fluency in Japanese takes a lot of hours of study. That doesn’t mean it has to be difficult, just that you have to be dedicated.

The stronger your reasons are for learning Japanese the more likely you will be to succeed. Setting clear goals will also help you know exactly how much you have to study to get to the point you want to reach.

I suggest that you take some time to think about your reasons for studying Japanese. Try to paint as clear a picture as possible to why you are learning and what you want to achieve. Write down all the reasons you are studying Japanese and what level you expect to get to. During the times you are struggling you can look at it again to keep yourself inspired.

When I was studying Japanese in Japan, people used to ask me what did I think the most important part of learning Japanese was? If I could only study one thing what would it be? My answer, vocabulary. The more Japanese words you know the better you will be able to understand the conversation. Even if you don’t understand the grammar, you can convey your general meaning if you know the right Japanese words. However, the way that you study Japanese words are just as important. There are two important methods to gaining fluency with Japanese words. The first is the way you study the words. The second is the way you practice them.

Now I mentioned above that a large vocabulary is probably the most important aspect to speaking the Japanese language. It is even better if you can study them in a way that allows you to learn grammatical structures at the same time. The way to do this is to study words in context. Doing so will help you learn how the word is used and also give you practice learning related words and different types of sentence structures. I also find that learning words in context help me remember them quicker because I am creating a small story in my head rather than just trying to memorize.

The second part of learning words is to use them again and again. In college I would spend a night cramming to learn all the words before a test to get a high score. Once the test was over and so the practice also stopped, then the words were forgotten. In order to fully lock Japanese words into your memory, you need to use them over and over again. This means that you will need to continuously review new material until you know it very well. A program like Mnemosyne, a flash card program that tracks how well you remember words can be very helpful for this. Of course the best way to do review words is to use them in conversation. This will allow you to put them into context and to make sure you can both hear them and speak them.