Studying Japanese with an Android Phone

Recently I've started using a android phone (the Samsung Galaxy S). Smartphone's using Android are pretty much a small computer in your pocket and there are lots of helpful applications to use when studying Japanese.

The Galaxy S has unicode support as standard and has no problem displayed Japanese characters.


Music

I use the inbuilt music player to listen to Japanese audiobooks - when commuting and sometimes at night (the speakers are good enough for it to play music loud enough to hear even on a bed side table). It plays .m4a files which is the format my audiobooks tend to be in - which is great, few other music players seem to do this.


Anki

I keep my anki deck on the phone itself. When reviewing I plug the phone in using USB and tell it to mount itself as a hard drive. (This needs to first be set up in the phone settings). As I take the phone everywhere, I now have anki everywhere with me.

Even better there's an anki app for the android; Ankidroid.

 You may wonder what this strange black and white box is to the left - it's a type of barcode and they've used in a Japan for a few years now. Android has an application called Barcode Reader. This particular barcode is for ankidroid. Using your phones camera you can have it recognise this image and it will automatically give you a prompt to download ankidroid - cool right?

Ankidroid works well for me but at this time I don't get pictures or sound, hopefully this will be resolved in subsequent updates.

Vertical Text Reader

Have you heard of Project Gutenburg? It's a collection of free ebooks (mainly books that are old enough to have no copyright). Well there's something similar for Japan - Aozora. But a lot Japanese books have the sentences going from top to bottom instead of left to right on the page.

To read the book easily you'll need a specialised app and Vertical Text Reader fills that niche.

DroidWing

DroidWing is a dictionary viewer for android. You need to have some EPWING dictionaries files but then you can used this dictionary view to search them. It also sports a recently searched items list. The barcode is to the free version but there is also a paid-for version (they're the same but the paid one helps support the developer so if you use it a lot consider upgrading). You have to type the paths to the dictionaries in manually which can be frustrating.

Droid Comic Viewer

This comic book viewer is a great way to read manga or just folders of scanned jpgs. It has the nice pinch to zoom action but also has a number of other annoying actions enabled by default (tap too hard the page turns, press the screen in a certain place the page turns - these can all be turned off so it's no problem.) Excellent file browser too, something I wish DroidWing had.

Simeji

You can view Japanese - but how do you input it? There's no standard way to enter Japanese on the Galaxy S (though it does have Korean annoyingly :D). Simeji comes to the rescue and provides a number of different keyboards to enter Japanese. Unfortunately it totally replaces the default English input and I rather like the English hand writing recognition. My preferred method for inputting Japanese would also be handwriting which isn't supported (a lot of DS apps do an excellent job so it can't be that taxing! There is an app called HanWriting, in beta, that handles korean, chinese and Japanese but it's not quite good enough to be usable yet, in my opinion.)

There are lots of other apps out there but these are the core ones I use.

How to say 'Yes' in Japanese

There seem to plenty of searches for this information so I thought I'd add an extra post giving the equivalents for Yes in Japanese.

English has lots of ways to yes:
I agree, sure, yup, yeh, yeah, that's right, yes, ok, okay etc

It's the same with Japanese.　

The most often heard Japanese equivalent for yes is はい (hai prounced similar to our "Hi!").

To me はい　seems to have a certain military quality. It's sometimes used a little like "Yes Sir!". If it's prounced like a question "Hai?" it means "What are you talking about?"

そうです　sou desu (don't pronounce the 'u's). This is a little like right
うん　unn This is a bit of nasel sound, and is a little more casual like yep
ええ　e (like you're going to 'elephant' you stop at the first 'e') This means 'right' 'yes'

Japanese people use OK to. Okay is a pretty multinational word. Though in Japanese I mostly hear it used like 'OKです'　ok desu.

了解　りょうかい　ryoukai. This is similar to 'Roger!'.

How to use japanese subtitles

The first trick to using Japanese subtitles is actually finding them!

I'm mainly concerned with download Japanese dramas here. To use Japanese subtitles on your DVD just press the subtitle button :D That said most DVD subtitles in Japan seem to be translated independently of the Japanese dubbing.

The best resource is the daddicts forum. Particularly the subtitle one. If you are lucky there will be a link to the Japanese subs file for the drama you want. Usually .SRT filetype. It's best if you also downloaded the drama from daddicts too because then the subtitles are more likely to have the correct timing.

Now I love VLC it's plays almost anything, but at the moment it's support for Unicode subtitles is broken. All you will get is little boxes :(

The only way I've been using Japanese subs is via Windows Media player, which I certainly do not love, but hey, it works. I just rename the .avi and the .srt to the same name, play the avi and the subs are automatically picked up. Works like a charm!

This thread in 'reviewing the kanji' also has some good links to subtitles.

Five Recommended Japanese Dramas

We all know watching Japanese dramas is a good way to bulk up language ability. But with so many dramas out there, it may be difficult to easily find something that suits you. To help out here's a list of 5 Japanese dramas I've enjoyed!

1. Zettai Kareshi 絶対彼氏

It's about a girl who ends up with a robot boyfriend living in her apartment. I don't why but I really like this series and it's one of my main learning tools. I listen to it a lot! It has robots what's not to like?

The Japanese used here is often used in an office setting so it's reasonably polite. This means it's pretty easy to pick up for those of us who've mainly learnt from text books.

Drama addicts is a wonderful site that has bit torrents of many Japanese dramas - including zettai kareshi.

2. Densha Otoko 電車男

Densha otoko is about a geeky guy who meets a woman on the train and tries to win her over with advice from the internet. There are lots of good characters.

From a Japanese language perspective it's good because there's a lot text being typed on screen as the person speaks. So there's a double dose of Japanese learning for you. The story is pretty easy to follow even without understanding the dialog so it's not a bad drama to get one's feet wet with.

It's also based on true story. If you want to watch it daddicts can come to the rescue again.

3. Liar Game ライアーゲーム

Liar game is about conning and con artists. A shadowy organization has constructed a competition where the winner becomes rich but the losers get massive debt. It's an interesting story. Less drama more intrigue - which seems to be a rare thing in a lot of Japanese TV. So if you fancy a change - check this out!

4. Iryu 医龍

Iryu is about a renegade surgeon who's framed and thrown out of his hospital but he's drawn back into the world of medicine. It's good to learn from because the main character is a man and he's cool, so he speaks cool. So if you want to speak like a cool man then maybe this is the drama for you.

It's a nice small run of 11 episodes - though there is a second series. It should n't be hard to find on drama addicts.

5.Nodame Cantabile のだめカンタービレ

Nodame Cantabile is a drama about a conductor and some musicians at music school. It's quite light hearted and fun. There's also a slight comic styling to it, but not so much that it gets in the way.

It has a lot of casual language but it's pretty easy to understand. There's also a humorous 'foreigner' role - the actor is Japanese but with a fake nose and an odd way of speaking.

Like most everything - it shouldn't be too hard to find on drama addicts.

How do I write stars using IME Japanese input? ☆

If you're asking 'What is the IME?'. It stands for Input Method Editor, apparently. But basically if you write a word in katakana or hirigana then the IME will let you change that word into one or more kanji symbols.

For example:

ほし　→　星

Cool right?　But there's not just kanji hidden in the depths of the IME - there are other fun symbols.

 ー＞　「→、⇒」　Cool arrows.
ほし　→　「★、☆」 A few different stars.
おす　→　「♂」 Female symbol.
めす　→　「♀」 Male symbol.
おんぷ　→「♪」 And a musical note!
ゆー　→　「Ю、ю」I have no idea.
から　→　「～」　the from to sign
かっこ　→　「〔〕、<>、　《》、　【】」　and various other bracket pairs
きごう　→　「゛、゜、〇、´、＇、＄、ヽ、ヾ、ヽ、к、з、㊥、」　and lots and lots of other symbols　ヾ（〇＿〇）
ろしあ　→　「д、ф　。。。」 the Russian alphabet
[] →　「「」、『』、【】」　all the various brackets
ばつ　→　「×」　small cross
こめじるし　→　「※」　super cross yay

I think there's also a way to 'extend' the IME but I don't know how to yet :(

What are the words in Japanese writing

スキャン＋サンドイッチで「Scanwiches」らしいです。サンドイッチの断面を淡々とアップする、という謎のブログですがｗ、躍動感あふれる写真がなかなか素敵です。

Above is some Japanese test, that I've taken from Idea*Idea a cool Japanese lifehacker like site.

If you're new to Japanese, or Eastern Languages you may have trouble seeing the words. What are the Japanese words - there don't seem to be any spaces. Without learning some basic Japanese and at least hiragana and katakana it's going to be hard to parse Japanese words from Japanese text.

スキャン ＋ サンドイッチ で「Scanwiches」らしい です。

Overall Japanese sentences work a lot like English - they end with a fullstop. Though the Japanese fullstop tends to be a little bigger.

First Japanese word:
スキャン

This word is written using katakana. It's often used write foreign words or used for emphasis - like WRITING IN CAPS in English. An English rendering of the above would be sukyan. This is an English loan word, can you guess the meaning?

It's 'scan', like to use a scanner.

Second Japanese word:
サンドイッチ

This also katakana and it's another load word - rendered in English it's sandoicchi. Perhaps you can guess it's means 'sandwich'.

Third Japanese word:
で

This is more commonly referred to as a particle (in English like 'a', 'an' and 'the'). It's written in hiragana which is normal for particles. It's rendered in English as de. It commonly indicates an action occurring somewhere or a action occurring by some method. It's much easier to understand it's usage by looking at lots of examples.

Japanese people often have trouble knowing when to use 'a' and when to use 'the', even if they're quite advanced at English. Imagine trying to explain the difference. It's similar with the Japanese particles - they're exact functions are hard to explain because their use is quite subtle.

I've bolded all the particles in the small paragraph at the top. This roughly breaks the sentence up into it's words.

Forth Word, not Japanese
「Scanwiches」

This word is written in English - or romaji. It's a brand new word scanwiches. The article is talking about cutting up sandwiches and then scanning them into the computer using a scanner to get a picture. These pictures are then scanwiches.

Fifth Japanese word:
らしい

Hiragana again, so it's a Japanese word, rendered in English it's written 'rashii'. In this context means apparently.

Sixth Japanese word
です

A very important Japanese word (hiragana of course) it is somewhat like 'is, am' and is found at the end of sentences. It's rendered in English as 'desu'.

So putting it all together:

[scan] + [sandwich] [action-by-which-something-occurs] [scanwichs] [apparently] [is/are]

Making it English friendly:

By adding scanning and sandwiches apparently we get "scanwiches".

Using Anki with Smart.fm

Anki is an awesome space repetition system ( clever flash cards.). I use it everyday to review the Japanese I'm learning. One question a beginner may ask is "Where do I get good sentences to use with Anki?"

smart.fm is the answer. It has over 10,000 sentences with a picture and a sound file. It also has it's own online learning system. I prefer to use Anki, because I can use it offline and it's under my control)

My method

This the way I add cards. It probably requires the use of firefox. There are plugins for anki that allow mass importation of smart.fm cards - but they don't include the picture for copyright reasons. My way you get everything.

I open anki and select 'add new card'.



This brings up the add card window



Then I find out what sentence I'm up to in smart.fm.


Then I copy the text to anki - pretty obvious right? I set the English text to white, so I can only view it by highlighting. I want to minimize the amount of non-Japanese material I'm exposed to, while reviewing.



Next the image, I hover the mouse over image and hold down the left mouse button. Then holding the left mouse button down, I drag the image way down to the task bar. Then I hover over the anki taskbar icon.



After 1 or 2 seconds the anki window will be activated. So then I drag the image up to anki and finally release the mouse button. The images are a bit big, but they look fine when I review :D



Next the sound. I right click the blue sound icon and say copy url.



Then I paste that link into the firefox url bar and press enter.


This causes firefox to automatically download the mp3 file. So I go to firefox's download window


I right click on the file I've downloaded and selected "Open Download Location". This opens a folder with the mp3 file highlighted.



I drag the mp3 to the task bar like I did for the image. Hover over the anki task bar icon and then drag and drop the mp3 file into anki. This plays the file and adds some data to the textbox.



Then I add the card. This probably takes me 5 seconds or so per card.

Vocabularly

Is it easier to understand grammar when you know all the meanings of the words in the sentence?

Almost certainly yes.

Is it easier to understand the jist of any Japanese material if you understand all the words?

Once again yes.

Is it a good idea of learn vocabulary from big lists?

Not if you want to produce correct sentences. If you don't know how the vocab is used, you may produce unnatural phrases:

I did TV.
I played ski.
I did sleep.
I rode the car.

So, it's best to learn vocabulary in context?

Yes. Short easy to understand sentences that demonstrate the use and the meaning.

How do I find Japanese example sentences?

You're in luck, there is massive store of such sentences at smart.fm (formerly iknow). Each sentence has a picture and a sound file with a native speaker reading the sentence.




There are at least 10,000 such sentences, ordered by frequency of the words they contain (the Japanese word frequency list is a little out of date - the word 'typewriter' sneaks in there!). The best part - they're all free! Imagine knowing all those words - wouldn't everything else suddenly become a little easier?

Get to it.

What are 50 must read Japanese language learning websites?

Sometimes it's hard to get started learning a language - where are all the resources? What's the best method? Hopefully these links will set you on the right path!

1. Reviewing the kanji aka RTK

Learn the Japanese Kanji once and for all – excellent website / online tool. Save yourself months and months by using this.

2. Anki

A computer program that you can fill with flash cards. It uses a special algorithm to test you – making the spacing perfect for maximum retention.

3. Miro

Miro isn't Japanese software per say. But it can download Japanese TV and programs for you to watch – hassle free. Which is useful for the language learner.

4. Rikaichan

Rikaichan is an addon for the firefox webbrowser. Hover your cursor over a japanese word and it will tell the possible meanings and readings. Extremely useful.

5. Ajax IME

Can't install Japanese on your computer (for whatever reason) then use this – you can type Japanese directly into the editbox. Extremely useful

6. Japanese Pod 101

Podcast straight from Toyko with native Japanese speakers. Mp3 files for all levels

7. Japanese Culture Podcast in Japanese

Japanese dicussion about Japanese culture

8. Daily Yomiuri Podcast

News podcast

9. All Japanese all the time

This site is great – it lays out a course of study and has plenty of articles that will have you raring ready to go

10. Drama Note

Scripts for Japanese dramas. Excellent resource for puzzling out what someone is saying. There's a google search near the top use that to search for drama scripts. Usually there's a root page for a given drama and from there you can get all the episodes scripts. Remember to search in Japanese :D

11. AnimeSuki

Torrent site for unlicensed anime

12. JPop Suki

Torrent site for Japanese music

13. D-addicts

Full of south east asian tv. Lots of excellent dramas raw and subbed in Japanese. There's also Japanese tv – sometimes with adverts!

14. Crunchy Roll

Watch anime online!

15. Drama Wiki

Use this with D-addicts to find dramas you might like – or find dramas with similar actors – useful if you're trying to emulate a particular person.

16. Namiko's Japanese Language Blog

Namiko has been writing a short blog post in English and Japanese since the mid 90s. There's also a detailed explanation of the Japanese used.

17. The JLPT Study Page

Sentences and grammar points taken from Japanese Language Proficiency Test with excellent translations. Great source for sentence mining.

18. 2 chan

The Japanese message board. This thing is massive and scary and very unlike western forums – there's no moderation or nice formatting. Everything is just out there like a giant chalk board.

19. The Dirty Guide To Japanese

A quick overview of the entire language!

20. Tae Kim's Guide To Japanese

Excellent series of articles going over the basics of the language in a very straight forward clear manner.

21. Japanese Verbs Guide

Online book / guide to how Japanese verbs work

22. Jim's Japanese Grammar Summary

Summary of Japanese grammar all on one page.

23. A logical Japanese Grammar

Another site going over the main points of Japanese grammar

24. JGram Grammar Wiki

A wiki that covers grammar mainly associated with JLPT tests. Each point has a comments section that is sometimes more enlightening than the main article.

25. Goo Japanese Dictionary

Great example sentences

26. Yahoo's Japanese Dictionary

Another good dictionary to search

27. ALC Japanese Dictionary

Of all the dictionaries this seems to give the most examples.

28. Excite Japanese Dictionary

Often my first stop! Japanese explanations are quite simple – there are also English explanations and many examples.

29. Sanseido Online Dictionary

Good terse Japanese definitions.

30. Kanji Dictionary (English Frontend)

Has all the reading plus sound clips!

31. Nihonho2

Japanese language and grammar reference – in Japanese.

32. TBS News Online

Tokyo Broadcasting system news – lots of news video feeds.

33. Asahi Shinbun

Japanese online newspaper

34. Yomiuri Shinbun

Another good quality Japanese newspaper.

35. 100 Japanese Things

Fantastic blog that takes something Japanese

36. Daily Kids Japanese News

Sometimes adult news can be a bit much

37. Inspirational Japanese Learning Log

This log cover's 'Sheetz' journey from begginner to advanced Japanese speaker

38. Mixi

Japan's answer to facebook – though if I remember correctly you'll need an invite.

39. Japanese Wikipedia

Pro-tip – if you don't the Japanese

40. Joshu Grammar Section

This has grammar points broken down with examples and explanation. There also seems to be a lot more to the site but this is what I've found most helpful.

41. NIHONgo for it! Blog

Blog by Akiko a native Japanese teacher in Japanese. She breaks down lots of cool idioms and also goes through kanji. Here I learnt nakoze means slump

42. Japanese Game Scripts

This has Vagrant Story

43. How to read a Japanese Manga

Extremely thorough guide to purchasing and reading a Japanese manga with limited Japanese knowledge. A lot more informationhere than the title would suggest.

44. Nico Nico Douga

The Japanese equivalent of YouTube – you have to manage to register to watch though!

45. Genki Self Study Room form the Japan Times

Useful for the very basics.

46. Spoken Online Picture Books

Stories for children – that are read!

47. My Neighbour Totoro Japanese Script

Everyone studying Japanese has probably been exposed to this movie. Learn it that must faster by using the script provided here.

48. NHK Japanese Lessons

NHK is little like the BBC in the UK

49. Kuromomo's diary

Kuromomo's blog of herself and her cat

50. Famitsu

Japan's No1. Gaming Magazine website (good blogs too)

Picture supplied by Bethany L King, Bobby13 and skyseeker

Ripping Audio from Japanese video and movie files

An excellent way to study Japanese is to watch movies and videos. The more you watch the same videos, the more you pick up on new words and phrases. Wouldn't it be great if you could some how get the audio track and put it on your ipod! Or actually cut out phrases and then insert them into an SRS (spaced repetition system like Anki) giving you repeated, focused exposure.

So how to do this? I use two free, open source tools. The first is VirtualDubMod. This lets us rip the audio stream from the movie as a wave file.



So after downloading virtual dub mod and running it, you should have something like the above. Now open one of your movies. On opening it may display some warnings, generally you're fine to ignore these.

Clink on the "streams" menu and select "stream list". You should get a window that looks like the following.



Choose the save wave button and it will write out a wave file containing all the audio for that movie. Cool right? This is now ready to go straight to your ipod but it's probably a little on the large size, it'd be smaller if it was an mp3.

So how do we make it into an mp3. Well, this is were our second piece of free software comes in - Audacity. Download that. You also need to go here and download this. It's a tool Audacity uses to make mp3s.

Load up audacity.



Now go to file open and open the wave file. This may take a little time, then you'll have a little wavy line representing the audio (pretty technical right?). At this point you can select a small part of the line and just save that out as an mp3. If you say you wanted to break some dialogue down into phrases. Or you want Jack Bauer shouting "Toooonnnnnyyy" as your new ring tone. By default the entire sound is selected so to make an mp3 all we do is go to file "Export as Mp3". Then you can fill in some info about the file you're going to create and that's it!

*When you first make an Mp3 Audacity might ask you where the encoder is. That's the second thing you should have downloaded. Just point it to the directory where you saved it.

Happy learning!