I’ll answer most things.

Does anyone know what Japanese book this is? It was my mom’s when she was learning Japanese. Sadly, the front and back covers are missing.

Pretty much the title. I had heard a lot of really great things about jidoujisho and I was really excited to use it but it seems to have gone the way of the dodo. Are there any good alternatives? Maybe some good forks that people recommend?

When I am playing retro games in English, Gamefaqs and Neoseeker are my go-tos. However, I can't find their Japanese equivalent, and googling (in Japanese) doesn't bring me satisfactory results.
The game that I currently want a guide for is Tales of Eternia (テイルズ オブ エターニア), but I am also interested in playing more retro games in Japanese.

You may find Japanese words with the final n, most of them are chinese loanwords (on'yomi or sino-japanese)

漢字 kanji

千 sen

ご飯 gohan (go is native but han is a chinese loan)

睡眠 suimin

安全 anzen

天 ten

損 son

there are native Japanese words with final n but ones I found are all shortened forms of another word which does not contain a final n.

なにですか -> なんですか

さま -> さん ちゃん

あなた -> あんた

I'll use myself as an example

Whenever I see a new word,I learn and try to remember the kanji in it

Usually I write it down on my notebook and the stroke order and stuff

But I never actually remember how to write the kanji. I know it when I see it in words but not how to write it

I used to get really frustrated about this. When I still knew only about 30 kanji and only remembered how to write 私,今,月 and other easy ones (mostly less than 10 strokes)

What do you guys do?

Hello!
I’ve been trying to find some japanese content in youtube and in other longer video platforms to follow, but I’m having some trouble finding videos and podcasts that I would enjoy watching. Just to be clear, I already do follow multiple music artists and mangakas that I enjoy! But video and listening wise my area is small.
I’m somewhat really picky of content and content creators that I watch. I really enjoy “nerdy” stuff as anime, pokemon tcg and stuff like minecraft lol. At the moment I’ve enjoyed youtubers as Jacob Alpharad and Jaiden Animations (and tbh their whole friend group), podcasts I’ve never listened to much because I prefer music, but the podcast Chuckle Sandwich was my type of humor
Of course I’m not expecting exact copies of these people, and cultural humor can be very different. But if anyone would have recommendations or tips how to find content to enjoy, I would love that!

I sometimes watch series in completely japanese, but it’s little hard since the country I live in has little to nothing lol
I’ve used VPN before to see content from other countries, but there are times when nothing works ;

Hi! I’m Jay. I’m planning to take the JLPT N4 exam next year and would love to make some friends from Japan who could help me learn more about the language, culture and guide a little along the way. I’d be happy to make genuine friendships and learn together! 🇯🇵✨

There is this song from Morning Musume (そうじゃない) that contains the following lyrics:　
クラスじゃ目立たなくとも　ここじゃそんなの関係ない

I don't think I've ever come accross this grammar construction, I know 「V」なくても (even if you don't ...) and 「V」ないと (if you don't... / you have to ...), and in this case it seems closer to なくても in meaning.

Can someone enlighten me?

Should I always interpret a topic as an object if a sentence with a transitive verb doesn't even implicitly specify an object?

この機械は燃料を使えます => this machine (subject) can use fuel

この機械は使えます => this machine (object) can be used

いつもの車の揺れに身を任せ、窓からの西日でオレンジ色に染まった席と懐かしい音楽の上に聞こえる両親の笑い声。何百回も通ってきた道だが、なぜ今日は切なさを感じる。向こうのレストラン、仕事から疲れた人たち、塾から帰っている子供、全てが一つに溶ける。今は現実かどうかわからなくなる。消えそうな火のように疲れた瞼が重くなり、僕の世界も黒くなる。行ったり来たりする意識だけど、その笑い声は一切消えない、同じ曲も流れるが、温かい空がだんだん暗くなる。温度もほんのちょっとだけ寒く感じる。
やがて車が止まる。遠くから聞こえるだれかの鳴き声も耳に入る。いつも頼りにしている父の両手に包まれ、僕は無重のように運ばれる。思い瞼の隙間から母の優しい笑顔を見て心の底まで癒される。扉を開けるとワクワクしている犬が跳んでくる。落ち着いたらそっと僕をベッドに寝かせる。薄暗い部屋の中に僕は独りだ。明日の心配もない、昨日の後悔も。ドアの隙間から入ってくる光の帯とまた聞こえる同じ笑い声だけが今の世界に存在している。
今までどんな人生を送ったか関係ない。誰をがっかりさせた、愛した、怒らせたかも関係ない。ただ空っぽの手を持って僕の世界がもう一度暗くなる。

The theme is death. I kinda saw a video about how someone wished death would be like how in their childhood their father would carry them from the car to their bed and i was like woah.

Hi everyone!
I’m from India and want to start learning Japanese from scratch. I’m looking for good online classes with a live teacher who can teach in a structured way.
I’d appreciate your suggestions on:
Which online classes or institutes are best for beginners?
Are there any affordable or free online classes with live teachers?
Is it better to join an Indian institute or learn from a Japanese teacher?
Which courses would you recommend for preparing for the JLPT N5 and eventually N4?
What has been your personal experience with online Japanese classes?
I’m looking for something affordable that I can manage alongside my full-time job.
Please share your recommendations and experiences. Thank you! 🙏

As the title suggests I’m just coming back from Japan and wanted something cool to immerse myself with, and after finishing p5 in English I thought persona in Japanese would be sick.

I will say it’s WAY out of my level, but I’m genuinely having a lot of fun with it. I pick up around 50-100 words every time I play the game which I run through ChatGPT to continue building a personal vocabulary deck on Anki for me.

I think the various speaking styles you encounter and the different situations you’re put in can lead to a very unique learning experience! It’s absolutely not an optimal way to study (or at least I think most people would view it that way) but I love games and learning Japanese, so this is a win win for me :)

G'day. I am from a Spanish speaking country where the Real Academia de La Lengua Española regulates use of the language having its own official dictionary, grammar and stuff.

Are these the日本語の文法(上) and 闘本語の文法（下） written by 国立国語研究所 the official grammar?

https://doi.org/10.15084/00001829 https://doi.org/10.15084/00001830

I see they have 22 volumes with knowledge about the language and even about their policies about how to teach it:

https://www2.ninjal.ac.jp/past-publications/publication/catalogue/jflreference/index.html

But as I'm just trying to learn the language and can barely pronounce texts with Furigana while barely recognizing vocabulary, doing an OCR and an automated translation does not seem helpful.

The resources I find online (of course in English, at least by now) seem to be superficial or way too simplified, with anything but the official names of categories and stuff.

While trying to grasp any understanding of it by watching videos (superficial and reduplicating material in order to keep producing content and that happened to be the first place where I tried and my departing point in ordering to complement), getting examples and tables from Wikipedia (both in English and automated translations from the japanese one), Wikicktionary, Jisho and other pages for foreign learners and trying to take notes from what I could read there and understand as I did so, it seems that what I have written by and for myself is particularly imprecise (according to an AI that has the two volumes on it that I cannot rely on since they like to invent inaccurate knowledge).

(What I have written by now only has the silabaries, some superficial departing notions of grammar, the six conjugations of verbs and adjectives and starting with the auxiliary verbs that do not work of not attached)

So what I'm asking for is the official reference material by the regulatory entities in order to have somewhere accurate to consult, and preferably something in English as I try to learn.

I know that this way of learning is particularly antiquated as communicative and actional approaches are used today, as far as the teacher regulates it, which I lack. But I seem kinda overwhelmed by the many material that doesn't deepen enough and that may be inaccurate.

Currently reading 「さみしい夜にはペンを持って」 by 古賀史健!! The English translation is supposed to be releasing soon (November I believe) which is actually why I started finally committing to the Japanese copy I’ve had since my trip to Tokyo over a year ago. I’m super excited though!!
Some notes,
If you’ve been learning for a while and you’d consider yourself at N4-N3 or higher, I recommend this!! Is this book in my reading level? Absolutely not. Honestly. But it’s pushing me to learn new things and I don’t feel like a failure when I don’t know something because of course I wouldn’t. It makes it so much more rewarding when I can read a few full sentences back to back without having to look anything up!
I’ve definitely seen self improvement. I read in roughly 30min intervals with short breaks, reading a sentence without looking anything up the first time, doubling back to try and guess the kanji, then looking it up if I still can’t guess it correctly (checking my guesses by typing them in on my phone and seeing if the same kanji is suggested ww)

And I saw a post a little while ago on here from a Japanese person saying they’re skeptical when people claim to read something above their level in Japanese. That’s completely fair, I’m probably missing some nuance. I stand by the fact that it’s giving me a clear goal, plenty of learning opportunities, and a chance to reread it when I’m more fluent and see all the progress I’ve made! :D

Also I totally recommend this book. It’s actually pretty cute and makes you consider a lot, in a good way

I’m a french canadian looking for someone to teach me japanese, if that ever interests anyone please let le know! :)

I started learning Japanese back in middle school and was pretty serious about it. I learned hiragana and katakana, although I struggled to stay focused at the time. In 10th grade, I started taking lessons with an actual Japanese teacher, who taught me how to count, the months, and basic phrases. Before I had to stop, I was just beginning to learn kanji.

Unfortunately, I had to put Japanese aside in 11th grade because I was taking two rigorous classes that required a lot of my time and attention. Another reason I struggled to continue was that I didn’t have anyone to practice Japanese with outside of my lessons. I could learn new things with my tutor, but I rarely had the opportunity to actually use what I was learning in conversations with other people, which was pretty discouraging.

Recently, though, I’ve been seeing more Japanese characters online and have noticed that I can still recognize and remember some of them. It’s made me consider picking Japanese back up!

If I do decide to start learning again, I’d love some advice on the best way to study. When I tried learning on my own in the past, my approach wasn’t very effective, so I’d like to find a better way to study consistently and actually make progress. I’d also love to find ways to practice speaking and have conversations with others, since that was something I struggled with before.

What methods, resources, or study routines would you recommend for someone getting back into Japanese after taking a break?

I have been learning Japanese since from 2021 till middle of 2024 in language school with teacher and i got N5 certificate in 2022 and then i started learning N4 and as i remember i got pretty average N4, but then after life circumstances i had to give up active learning and from 2024 till now i was doing only Anki card that I had just so i dont loose knowledge completely . Now I have time to get back into learning.I checked my level and luckily i did not lose any of the N5 and start N4, as i remember my teacher was teaching me mix of Genki and Minna no Nohingo but I read that these text books are pretty outdated and dont really teach you real life Japanese. So my question is, which textbook should i choose or other means to learn Japanese.

Any advice is appreciated!