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macraiistudies · 5 years

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Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

ASL University

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Without Walls

Intro to Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Catalan Sign Language

Intro to Catalan Sign Language

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Chinese I. II, III, IV , V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I & II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for HSK 1

First Year Chinese I & II

HSK Level 1

Mandarin Chinese I

Mandarin Chinese for Business

More Chinese for Beginners

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Online Courses here

Resources Here

Faroese

Faroese Course

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I & II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French for Beginners

French Language Studies I, II, III

French:Ouverture

Intermediate & Advanced

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I, II, III, IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Teach Me Hebrew

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Italian for Beginners 1 , 2, 3 , 4 , 5, 6

Intermediate & Advaned

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced Italian I

La Commedia di Dante

Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Japanese Pronunciation

Sing and Learn Japanese

Tufs JpLang

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Learn to Speak Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Introduction to Norwegian

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners

Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Spanish Vocabulary

Intermediate

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1, 2, & 3

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

Ancient Languages

More Language Learning Resources & Websites!

Last updated: March 1, 2017

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macraiistudies · 5 years

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Japanese conversation resources for beginners

Hey guys! I found some good conversation and practice videos, it's for people who are just starting learning Japanese, I personally find it very helpful so I can get used to talking in Japanese .

▪️Here's a playlist with multiple videos that includes words necessary for traveling and just a bunch of basic and necessary phrases and words.

▪️And this is the one I'm currently using Slow and easy Japanese conversation.

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macraiistudies · 5 years

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Hiragana and Katakana tips for Beginners

A little snapshot of my own hiragana and katakana characters.

Many beginners encounter problems while learning Japanese writing systems: hiragana and katakana. I decided to take a look at the most common, in my opinion, mistakes made by learners.

Remember, the stroke order isn’t there to make your life harder (although it does most of the time). It is really important to write the characters the certain way as any other way makes them look slightly or completely different.

Before I begin I would like to explain the particular way I write き・さ・ふ・そ.

There are, as far as I know, two different ways to write a character. The way I write them is more of a caligraphic approach (the second line). Mostly, learners tend to choose the first approach.

I switched the way to write this characters as ふ is faster to write (three strokes instead of four). そ・さ・き plainly look better to me.

Getting to the gist of the post now - common mistakes made by beginners.

1. Mirroring

Even though hiragana is more complicated (more strokes and more curvy ones), the characters are fairly more distinguishable. Learners might however make mistakes by mirroring the characters (き・ち・さ・く are the trickiest ones among them).

2. Confusing hiragana り and katakana リ

The hiragana ri り is shown at the left side. The first stroke should go down and then a little up (shown at the bottom). Because of this ri り could be written in hiragana as the 2nd and 3rd example on the left side show.

The katakana ri リ however doesn’t have a pointed end in the first stroke (as shown on the right).

While writing a word in hiragana or katakana, you must make sure you write the correct ‘ri’. You musn’t write a word in one system and the throw a character from the other system!

e.g. Writing リんご ( リんご ) instead of りんご

3. Mixing up similar characters

I think this mistake applies more to katakana. The most common mistake is writting shi シ insted of tsu ツ and n ン instead of so ソ.

Confusing so ソ and n ン

You should start by writing the small line first. Then the longer one. The longer line in so ソ should be pointing high, while the one in ン should be lower.

Many Japanese people tend to make n ン really flat and so ソ higher (like me in the first picture).

Notice that the longer line is written from different sides!

Confusing shi シ and tsu ツ

The same goes for this characters. Shi シ is n ン with two small lines, while tsuツ is so ソ with two small lines.

Confusing ko コ (the first one) and ユ (the second one)

Ko コ and yu ユ have similar writing patterns. The last stroke in yu ユ should be long and going past the first one.

Confusing ku ク(the first one) and ke ケ (the second one)

Ku ク consists of two strokes, while ke ケ of three. The first and second line in ke ケ aren’t connected with their ends. The same goes for the second and third line.

Confusing wa わ and re れ (and ne ね)

Easily mistaken characters in hiragana.

From left to right: ne, re, wa

Plainly, wa わ should have a round stroke (like a belly) and re れ a little pointed end (like a leg). Ne ね has a little circle inside.

Notice that all three of them consist only of two strokes!

4. Ro ロ and its stroke order

Ro ロ has the same stroke order as the kanji for mouth 口. Don’t write it like a plain square. It has three strokes, not four! It looks different than normal when written using four or even two strokes.

Notice that the kanji looks bigger than ro ロ in normal digital font.

Hope I cleared up some things for you. If you have some questions regarding Japanese writing feel free to ask me!

以上。

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macraiistudies · 5 years

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Beginner Japanese Resources

I’ve seen quite a lot of these going around, and have definitely taken quite a few pages out of their books, but I thought I had some bookmarks I’d like everyone to know more about, even if they already did. ^^ If you think something is wrong, or know something is wrong, then please tell me!

g r a m m a r

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar (easy acquaintance with grammar, but not much in-depth)

IMABI (best free grammar resource but too much information for beginners, or so it’s said. still very helpful.)

Tim’s Takamatsu/ Tim Sensei’s Corner (also good. i heard of someone who printed out the older website and got fluent in Japanese with this, so it’s probably worth checking out)

Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar (hands down the best grammar resource, bit pricey or you could just download these PDFs).

Bunpro (good for interactive grammar studies, free until may 10 and there’s a one month free trial for subscription after that)

g r a m m a r / b l o g s

Japanese Ammo (native speaker and tutor’s blog, she also has a Youtube channel here)

Maggie-Sensei (grammar articles are a bit mismatched but good for little references)

Tofugu (probably the best culture and resources blog I’ve come across. a must.)

Romy-sensei (Japanese teacher, blog is VERY helpful)

DJT Guide (for a beginner outlook on how to start and where, named because of the daily japanese thread that I don’t have too much information on but it’s a daily thread where people learning japanese shared resources/ progress/ motivational whatevers)

i n t e r a c t i v e l e a r n i n g

Delvin Language (shows clips and asks you to identify what’s spoken. Very good for listening and you can slow them down, though use that sparingly. kinda spammy tho.)

Japanese Class (found this a few years ago, but it’s a gamified site that helps you learn vocabulary with regular exposure. recommended.)

Japanese in Anime and Manga (for fellow otakus. a bit hard for me to navigate, but it’s along a similar vein as the above site. offered in spanish, chinese, korean and french, besides english.)

Erin’s Challenge (recommended for upper beginners, or lower intermediates, but there’s a lot to do now as well! very good for listening and reading- with transcripts and subtitles- in the form of a school life role-play. offered in quite a few other languages.)

Duolingo (not a lot of information, nor is it very in-depth. good for dabbling in, maybe. try the website, not the app, if you really want to use it.)

LingoDeer (BEST app for learning the language. You could do a lot on it alone, and it can probably take you up to a little above N5, but don’t keep using it standalone for long! also offers chinese, korean and now vietnamese!)

t e x t b o o k s

TextFugu (tofugu’s online textbook, made specifically for self-study, though it works good in conjunction with classes and tuition)

Genki (widely used, most recommended by people)

Minna no Nihongo (also very popular. some consider it better than genki.)

Japanese for Busy People (especially if you’re a little short on time)

Japanese for Everyone (generally good reviews, with a lot of vocabulary - an estimated 2500 maybe? convert djvu to pdf to use.)

k a n j i (course books)

Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course aka KKLC (a kanji learning course with vocabulary in it.)

Remembering the Kanji (aka the acclaimed ‘Japanese learner’s beginning holy grail’. but it totally depends upon what you’d prefer tbh. can make you recognise kanji and what they could stand for, but that’s about it.)

Kanji Damage (aka remember 1700 Kanji with offensive yo mama jokes. ridiculous? hilariously, it does work for some.)

WaniKani (people swear by this. you can try out the first three levels to see the magic, even if you don’t think it’s your style.)

l i s t e n i n g

mykikitori (for Genki 1 apparently)

Japanese Pod 101 (a good online course in itself, but the podcasts are the most helpful of the lot. @lovelybluepanda has made them available here.)

o t h e r s

DJT Resources (sub-link of DJT Guide but probably has all the Japanese resources you could ever want!)

Nihongo e Na (more resources, probably worth checking out)

Nihongo Resources (along a similar vein with the purpose in its name)

Jakka (the site is entirely in Japanese, but it has kanji for grade school, broken up appropriately)

Happy Lilac (kind of the same as above with kanji stroke order practice material, meant for Japanese children)

This may be repeated, because similar, if not the exact same, resources in DJT are categorised neatly here. @lovelybluepanda again.

check more masterposts, some of which have been compiled here by @languagesandshootingstars

日本語の森 (Nihongo no Mori) (Good Youtube videos for beginners and advanced learners alike! They even have their lessons separated by JLPT levels!)

While that’s it for all the Japanese resources I feel do not go around a lot now, I did compile some points Japanese beginners might be doubtful in and what I had found from my own research.

Genki or Minna no Nihongo?

Minna no Nihongo has more vocabulary (2100-2200 for 初級 levels i.e. the beginner books) while Genki boasts a little lesser (1700 for genki 1+2). Minna no Nihongo has allegedly more grammar coverage ( 〜ように、〜ために- used in native speech). However, the book is entirely in Japanese (there is a separate book for English explanations) and there is a separate book for Kanji too. The Answer Key is at the back of the book, unlike Genki which has a separate Answer Key.

Genki is said to be more beginner-friendly than Minna no Nihongo, but if you put your mind to it, you can do either tbh. Just choose any book and stick with it!

** If you’re planning to study in Japan anytime, remember that Japanese teachers usually use Minna no Nihongo. But better do your research as well.

Kanji?

Everyone can put in all the work they like in Kanji, but at the end of the day, Kanji is not the only thing about Japanese. You can totally use Anki or Quizlet or Memrise to drill it in, maybe even make your own flashcards and put in extra work! But to really get fluent in the language, talking to native speakers (helpful guide by @jibunstudies) is very important. Even if you don’t fully understand what they’re saying, you acquire more vocabulary and will get the nuance of basic sentences! And you get friends too, if you’re lucky!

Just for reference and no pressure, here’s the general requirement to pass JLPT levels, if you’re ever planning to take them!

Level Kanji Vocabulary Listening Hours of Study N5 ~100 ~800 Beginner 150 (estimated) N4 ~300 ~1,500 Basic 300 (estimated) N3 ~650 ~3,750 Lower Intermediate 450 (estimated) N2 ~1000 ~6,000 Intermediate 600 (estimated) N1 ~2000 ~10,000 Advanced 900 (estimated)

(… yeah, that looks way better on a computer ok.) Remember, estimated doesn’t mean it will take you that much time exactly. Everyone learns differently! And ‘talent’ can be overcome by enough hard work so ファイト!

頑張れ !

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macraiistudies · 5 years

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Tips when starting learning Japanese

▪️Learn the stroke order

Why is it important? In general stroke order is important because the hand written characters may look similar If written just randomly, the stroke order makes each character recognizable.

▪️ Print worksheets to practice Hiragana/Katakana

Personally I find it better to have physical material to study from. Also there are many free practice worksheets online.

This is the one I used

It contains hiragana and katakana practice+ a little quiz after each 5 characters, which is good practical practice for what you've already learnt. It includes notes on some particles and and also notes on certain confusing characters.

▪️Download a dictionary

It's vital for when you need to find a word. The best one is Takoboto.

You can search in English, Hiragana/Katakana or Kanji; including stroke orders of the Kanji.

▪️Apps are your friends

It's a life saver honestly, and is very convenient when I want to revise on the way to school.

Recommended apps:-

Hiragana pro

Katakana pro

Kana Dojo

Rosetta stone

JA Sensei

Busuu

Bunpo (Grammar)

Tangoristo which is similar to News Web Easy

▪️Surround yourself with the culture

To get used to the language try surrounding yourself with whatever you like whether it's music, anime, dramas, youtubers, visiting museums, listening to podcasts.

I hope this helps! Good luck!

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