Nihongojouzu

Japanese Language Refuge

Via del.icio.us, a collection of excellent online Japanese resources with the curious name 日本語駆け込み寺　(Japanese Language Refuge - and that's refuge as in "Womens Refuge"). An extensive Japanese grammar - almost 500 'grammar points' described - and a comprehensive collection of business Japanese with usage notes. All in Japanese. Intermediates and up, go for it.

Tags learning Japanese | business Japanese | Japanese grammar

METI Press Conferences: How to Speak Politely

The 経済産業省 (METI - Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry）website has a massive collection of briefings given at press conferences. These speeches are a rich source of polite language to be mined by advanced level students. Things to take note of when reading the speeches:

-How to use introductory words like: 最初に、なお、今回、次に、また、今後

-Juicy set-piece phrases such as: 資源の乏しい我が国にとって (for resource poor Japan...)

-敬語(polite language) in action. Whilst it is essential to hit the books at some point to learn how to morph verbs into their 尊敬語　(honorific) or 謙譲語　(humble) forms, as with the rest of the Japanese language, usage is king and you could do a lot worse than imitate high level bureaucrats and pollies.

Some examples, ripped from a press conference on Feb 24, 2006:

ご承知のとおり                             (as you know...)
私からは以上でございます。            (that's all I have [to say])
私は今朝も申し上げたかと思いますが  (I think I already covered this point this morning..)

Go forth and speak...politely.

Speedanki.com

Speedanki is a Japanese Language Proficiency Test focused kanji flashcard website. Select your level of test and you can drill away at kanji compounds until the cows come home (or register your name and have your progress recorded). Easy to use but the number of compounds is not exhaustive - 4級 (110), 3級 (230), 2級(1092) and 1級(1220).

Links

General Pages on Japanese
Jim Breen's Japanese Page. Jim Breen is a guru so do yourself a favour and check out his site.
Charles Kelly's Online Japanese Language Study Materials has a brilliant collection of quizzes, from basic Japanese in romaji to kanji compounds found in newspapers. And the man has an awesome beard.
Sabotenweb is just a collection of links.
JapanEd is a commercial site but they have some useful free articles on learning Japanese, downloadable as pdfs.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test
Meguro Language Centre has a site chock full of downloadable goodies from simple flash quizzes and kana drills all the way to 175 page pdfs containing lists of the JLPT Level One grammar, vocab and kanji.
JLPT Grammar A rough draft of a grammar covering the first and second levels of the JLPT.

Audio files
NHK has short language lessons. Good basic listening material.
Japanese Online has a series of dialogs with matching audio files (downloadable as zip files)

Kanji
Kanji Clinic Awesome site. Articles from the Kanji Clinic column appearing every Thursday in The Japan Times.
Kanji Study Guide Based on the Heisig method. Lots of info on each kanji. The kanken schedule is cool.

Online Dictionaries
ALC, publishers of Nihongo Journal, have an online dictionary
Rikai is an amazing online dictionary.
Goo - yet another online dictionary.
Hira Hira no Hiraganamegane slaps furigana on webpages.

Language Learning
The English-Learning and Languages Review: lots of strong words about how languages are learnt, and polemics on current language teaching orthodoxy.

Miscellaneous
So you want to learn Japanese.... Reasons why you shouldn't.
Collin’s Guide to Japanese Self-Study One guy’s advice based on his experience. A little formal, but sound advice.
Hentai dictionary: Japanese perversions, fetishes and AV slang.
Mangajin magazine went bust a few years ago but Wasabi Bros Trading Company are selling back issues